Psalm 127 In reading in verse 1 Except the Lord build the house
They labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the
city, the watchman waketh but in vain. It is vain for you to
rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows,
for so he giveth his beloved sleep. Lo, children are an heritage
of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows
are in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children of the youth.
Happy, happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them.
They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies
in the gate. I pray the Lord would enable
us to look at these five verses of scripture here this morning.
And as we look at this, I'd have you keep just a couple things
in mind. First would be this, man's responsibility. Man's responsibility. There's
reference to man's responsibility in these verses. To man's work, to man's responsibility. But don't get too scared about
that, okay? Because we have a responsibility.
You know, we have a responsibility to work and provide for our families. We have a responsibility to love
our wives, to hear God's word. We're responsible to hear God's
word. We're responsible to believe God's word, to raise our children,
to raise our children under the sound of the gospel. We're responsible
to do these things. This morning, I have a responsibility
to declare the truth to you. I have a responsibility to bring
a message from God's Word, to tell the truth, to tell the truth
about man and his sinfulness, to tell the truth about God,
who's holy and perfect, and to tell the truth about the Lord
Jesus Christ. Who he is and what he's what
he's done for his people And we all have a responsibility
to to hear that word To hear that word and to believe to believe
on his name to trust him As our only god and only savior Second
all that said God is absolutely and totally sovereign in all
that he does. The scriptures declare that he'll
have mercy on whom he will have mercy. He'll be gracious to whom
he'll be gracious, that he saves whom he will save. God is absolutely
sovereign. It's not of him that willeth,
it's not of him that runneth, but it's of God that showeth
mercy. So with these two points in mind,
let's look at this passage of God's word this morning. Psalm
127 verse 1, he says, except the Lord build the house, they
labor in vain that build it, except the Lord keep the city,
the watchman waketh but in vain. Now back in Ecclesiastes 9, we
read this, whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, Do it with all
your mind. Do it with everything in you.
Are you a builder? Are you a watchman? Whatever
God has given you to do, do it with all your mind. Don't work like you're working
for a man. You're working, work as if God, because He is, watching
everything, everything we do. Work as you work unto the Lord. But don't lose sight of this.
Don't lose sight of this. In John 15, 5, he said, I'm the
vine. I'm the vine. You're the branches.
He that abideth in me and I in him bringeth forth much fruit. For without me, you can do nothing. We're totally and completely
dependent on Almighty God in all things, except the Lord build
the house. Except the Lord build the house,
they labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the
city, the watchman, he wakes in vain. Hebrews 3, 4, every
house is built by some man, but he that builds all things is
God. Who does the work? Who are we
totally and completely dependent upon? Who gets the glory? Who gets the glory in these things?
It's all of God, the Lord Jehovah, except the Lord build the house. You see that? And that word build,
it means just what it says, okay? It means to build or to make. It doesn't mean to remodel. It
doesn't mean to make it better. It doesn't mean it's what they
call a fixer-upper. We're not fixer-uppers in God's
sight. He's the builder. He's the master
builder. Okay? Except the Lord build. Except the Lord make. This is
His work. It's all His work. He says, Behold,
I will make all things new. I'll make all things new. Anything
apart from God doing the work, no matter what it is, anything
apart from God doing the work is vain. And that word vain,
it means it's evil. It means it's useless. Remember there when they built
the Tower of Babel? Those men, they gathered together,
turn back to Genesis, Genesis 11 Genesis chapter 11 Look at verses 3 & 4 Here we read They said one to
another Go to, let us make brick and burn them thoroughly. And
they had brick for stone and they had slime for mortar. And
they said, go to, let us build us a city. Let us do these things. Let us build us a city and a
tower whose top may reach unto heaven. And let us make us a
name. Lest we be scattered abroad upon
the face of the whole earth. That could be another excerpt
from man's religion. Let us. Isn't that what false
religion says? Let us, let us make. Let us build. Let's build the biggest place
in town that everybody can look at and say, oh, look what those
people have done. Let us make, let us build. Let
us make us a name. Not to glorify God. but to glorify
man, to glorify himself. If the Lord build not the house,
they labor in vain to build it. Their efforts, their efforts
might be genuine. Their efforts might be sincere. But listen, without Christ, it's
nothing. It's vain. It's vain. It's evil. You know, when a house is built,
it's there's something put there that wasn't there before. It's
again, it's not a remodel job. It's a this is it's a new it's
a new structure. God must God must make us a new
creation. That's what he does. That's what
he does for his people. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become become become new. It's his building. It's His, it's His work. And in the same manner, the salvation
of a sinner, it's His doing. It's salvation. Salvation is
of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. He is salvation. He's altogether
become our salvation. And listen, just a few things
here. It's by His will. Salvation is by His will. It takes a work of God's sovereign,
eternal, electing love and predestination to save a sinner. Turn over to
Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1. Look beginning in verse 3 of
Ephesians 1. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. According as he hath
chosen us in him, excuse me, from before the foundation of
the world, that we should be holy, that we should be holy. Imagine that, that a sinner,
a sinner can be made, a sinner can be made holy. Blessed be
the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who had blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places According
as he had chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that
we should be holy and without blame Before him in love having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself according to the good pleasure of His will it's according
to his will and It's by His blood. Salvation is by His blood. The salvation of a sinner requires
a blood atonement. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission. Blood must be shed. Look at Romans 3. Turn to Romans
3 with me. Let's read the beginning of verse
24. Romans 3 verse 24, being justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath
set forth to be a propitiation, a sin offering, through faith
in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that
are passed through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at
this time, his righteousness. It's his righteousness that he
might be the just and the justifier of him that believeth on the
Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is by his providence,
by God's providence. His ordering and directing all
things, all things. Bob, you said this in your prayer
this morning, that the sunshine And the clouds, you know, there's
days that we wish for nothing but sunshine, but but we need
clouds, don't we? There's there's there's there's
good weather what we call good weather and bad weather and all
these things But he orders and directs all things By his will
to accomplish his purpose in the salvation of his people We
know we know always always I always have to write that down, because
I always want to say all things. I just want to rush in there
and say all things work together. But he said this, we know, we
know. Oh, we're quick to forget though,
aren't we? We know all things work together for good to them
who are called according to his purpose. Them that love God,
them that are called according to his purpose. Salvation is
a work of his sovereign and irresistible grace. the electing love of the father,
the redeeming love of his son, and the invincible love of the
Holy Spirit, and drawing his people to himself. Paul writing
to Timothy, he said this, he said, be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be
thou a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God. who has saved us and called us
with a holy calling not according to our works but according to
his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ and this
wasn't this wasn't just made up it was as it was going he
said before the world before the world began God saves his
people salvation is by his sovereign and irresistible grace and listen
he saves us He saves us by his gospel, through the preaching
of his word. The world by wisdom, the world
in all of its wisdom, all that we have to see, the world by,
it knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that are lost. Why else would Brother
Gabe be traveling to New Jersey this morning, and Cody traveling
up into West Virginia, and God's people gathering together? All
the work it takes to get these little ones dressed and brought
to the service on a Sunday morning. We were talking about that last
night. It doesn't seem like how much we can get up at five o'clock
on a Sunday morning, and it's still a struggle to get everybody
dressed and here to hear God's word, the preaching of the gospel. We must hear the preaching of
the gospel. Paul, writing the Romans, he
said, I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation. To everyone that believe, everyone
that hears and is given faith to believe. Salvation, it's by
his will, it's by his blood, it's by his providence, it's
by his grace, it's by his gospel, and it's by his preserving and
keeping. Look back here in our text. Look here again. Except the Lord
build the house, they labor in vain to build it. Except the
Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. Except the Lord keep the city. Except he hedge it about. except
he protect it, except he save it, except the Lord keep the
city. The watchman, he wakes in vain. The watchman's efforts are useless. They're just completely, they're
evil and they're useless. I'll share a quick story with
you. About less than a year ago, less
than a year ago, just a little after midnight, Our phone rang. Now, I don't, I don't know about
your houses, but typically anything after about 10 o'clock, if the
phone rings, we're, we're a little concerned about it. You know,
do you want to answer it? No, I don't want to answer it.
Well, Carrie, Carrie had texted, you guys know, Carrie Bob, Dr.
Carrie had texted Abby several times and said, do you see all
these flashlights up above your house? Do you see that car parked
in your driveway? We're like what what what's what's
going on so? Carrie had called and she repeated
all these things because we hadn't responded to the text so I went
outside and Just kind of see what was see what was going on
And I was immediately met and we live in a quiet quiet neighborhood
immediately met by sheriff's deputy and he looked Pretty sincere. First thing he told me was get
that flashlight out of my face. And so quickly, quickly I did. But he said, I said, what's going
on? He said, there's a murderer on the loose. He said, there's
a suspected murderer on the loose. He said, go check your cars.
Make sure the doors are locked. He said, get a hold of your neighbors.
Make sure their doors are locked. Make sure the houses are locked.
And he said, I'm telling you, he said, if you've got a gun
in your house, you get it. He said, this man has killed
four people. And he said, he's on the run. And he had wrecked
his car about a hundred yards from our house. Well, locked
the doors, went in the house, grabbed, got a shotgun on one
side of the bed and a pistol on the other side. And, um, didn't
sleep, didn't sleep the whole night. Didn't sleep the whole
next day. Next night, we're going to bed,
and I'm thinking, this is going to be another sleepless night. All I could think about was my
family and our safety. And about 3 in the morning, about
2 or 3 in the morning, this verse of scripture came to mind. Accept
the Lord, keep the city. The watchman waketh, but in vain. You know, we turned the lights
off and went to sleep at that point. You wanna say, you wanna
think, oh, wretched man that I am. How can I sit here and
be consumed and worried about these things? The Lord protects. The Lord keeps his people. This thing was on national news.
There were probably two or 300, Deputies and and our men running
up and down the streets every five minutes But my friends it
Except the Lord keep the city the watchman's efforts. They're
useless. They're they're they're vain
Except he keep the city Listen, he keeps our he keeps our physical
bodies and we're we're thankful But more importantly He keeps
our souls He keeps His people. We are kept by the power of God
unto Him that is able to keep you from falling and to present
you faultless. Not only does He keep us, He
presents us faultless in the sight of a holy God. Consider
that with joy, with exceeding joy. To the only wise God, our
Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now
and ever. Amen. Aren't we, aren't we thankful? Aren't we? Listen, he keepeth
the paths of judgment and he preserveth the way of his saints. He does, he does it all. Just
as, just as he did for Joseph. Think about Joseph's life, just
as he did for David. How often was David on the run? He kept him. Just as he kept
Rahab when the city was at siege, and he brought her out. And just
as he keeps and delivers the souls of all of his sheep. All for whom he died. Look over
at Psalm 121. Look right across the page there.
He says, I'll lift up mine eyes into the hills. From whence cometh
my help? My help cometh from the Lord,
which made heaven and earth. He'll not suffer thy foot to
be moved. He that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he
that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is
thy keeper. The Lord is the shade upon thy right hand. The sun
shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord
shall preserve thee from all evil, and he shall preserve thy
soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going
out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even, even forevermore. Oh, there's comfort. There's
comfort to be found there, isn't there? That we can, there's a
place we can rest. Knowing this, it's God's work,
not just in the saving of his people, but also in the keeping,
in the keeping of his people. Look at look at verse two of
our of our text. He said he said it's vain It's
vain for you to rise up early It's vain for you to sit up late
to eat the bread of sorrows for so he giveth his beloved sleep
If a man's going about to establish his own righteousness He's not
going to sleep. He's not going to rest if he
does it's a false. It's a false rest Would you seek
your salvation by the works of the law? They build, they watch, they
rise up early, they sit up late, and here's the question that
ever has to burn on their mind. Have I done, have I done enough?
Would you trust in your, have I done enough? Or have I not
done those things that I shouldn't be doing? Never sleep, never,
never rest. They eat the bread of sorrows.
I'd read that Martin Luther, He said he used to beat himself.
He'd beat himself with a whip one time, at least one time,
to the point that he was unconscious. Another time he went out and
cast his body into the snow. And that's what works religion. That's what it does to a man.
Constantly beat ourselves up. Haven't done enough. We can rest. Listen, He saves.
It says He gives it. He saves. He keeps. He gives
His beloved sleep. Turn to Acts 12. Acts chapter 12. Our rest, our comfort, our hope
is in what He's done. It's in His blood and His righteousness. But look here in Acts 12. Look beginning at verse 1. An
example of how the Lord keeps His people. Now about the time
Herod the king stretched forth his hand to vex certain of the
church. And he had killed James the brother
of John with a sword. And because he saw it please
the Jews, He proceeded further to take Peter also. He was gonna
kill Peter as well. Then were the days of unleavened
bread. And when it apprehended him, he put him in prison and
he delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers. Now that's a larger
number of people than usual, but just to guard one man. Herod's
not taking, he's not taking any chances that Peter's gonna, he's
gonna make sure Peter's not gonna escape, right? Well, let's read
on here. Peter, therefore, was kept in
the prison, but prayer was made without ceasing to the church
and to God for him. And when Herod would have brought
him forth, it was Herod's desire to kill him. The same night,
Peter, Imagine how concerned he had to be. This man had this
power over him. Look what it says here. Peter
was sleeping. Sleeping between two soldiers. Now you think about that. Where
was Peter's rest and comfort? He was in Christ, wasn't he?
Bound with, not only was he between two, but he was bound with chains
and the keepers before the door kept the prison. That's man's
method right there. But God overrules, doesn't he? And behold, the angel of the
Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison. And he
smote Peter on the side, and he raised him up, saying, Arise
quickly. And the chains fell off his hands. Despite man's
efforts, God's going to save his people, isn't he? God's going
to free his people. Well, let's read on here. the believer the believer listen
the believer can rest right now right now resting in his love
and in his righteousness the righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ right now we can rest in him Peter was resting right
then but we'll rest in eternity as well the eternal our eternal
souls free from fear free from doubt and free from sin there
remaineth therefore a rest under the people of God. David, when
he was fleeing Absalom, he said this, he said, I cried unto the
Lord with my voice, and he heard me. He heard me out of his holy
hill, and I laid me down, and I slept. I slept, and I awaked,
for the Lord sustained me. The Lord provided for me. Now
back to our text here, back to Psalm 127. Quickly, let's look
at these last three verses here. Verse three, lo, children are
an heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his
reward. As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children
of the youth happy. Happy is the man that hath his
quiver full of them. They shall not be ashamed. but
they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. Now listen, consider
what a blessing it is to know this, that the Lord, the Lord
builds the house. The Lord keeps the house. And
then thirdly, he fills the house. He fills his house. Children, he says, they're an
inheritance. They're not a wage. but they're
a gift of God's, they're a gift of God's grace. And I tell you,
I was just thinking about that, how the Lord fills his house.
Looking back there in that Sunday school this morning, these young
ones, these young ones to be raised up at an early age under
the sound of a gospel. I think that's a great blessing
to a congregation when the Lord's pleased to bring in young children
to hear the word. And he says, there are arrows
in the hand of a mighty man. Spurgeon said this, I thought
this was good. We must have our children in
hand while they are yet children, or they're not likely to be so
when they're grown up. We must point them and straighten
them and make them arrows. in their youth. I thought that
was good, but may we be faithful. May we be faithful to bring them
to the worship service. Again, that's no easy task. And you know, for a little one,
some of us old ones, sitting 30, 40 minutes to hear a message
preached, that's hard. But we know this, that's the
only way they're gonna hear it. is if they're under the sound
of it. May we be faithful to bring them to the worship service,
to teach them, to teach them according to the word. May it
be said of our children what Paul said of Timothy, from a
child, from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which
are able to make thee wise unto salvation. As fathers, we're
instructed to bring our children up in the nurture and admonition
of the Lord. Don't provoke them to wrath.
He said, don't provoke them to wrath. I often think how quickly I forgot
that six and seven and eight-year-old boys were six and seven and eight-year-old
boys. I wish I could have learned that
a little better when our boys were young. Don't provoke them
to wrath, but bring them up raise them up in the nurture and admonition
of the Lord. That's our responsibility. And
just, and maybe, maybe the Lord would be pleased to save them,
to reveal the gospel to them, to save their souls, to put them
in his quiver. You know, arrows laying around
are gonna get bent and broken, but you put them in that quiver.
where they're safe and secure. And they're arrows in the hand
of a mighty man to point them, to direct them. He who is mighty
to save, he's a mighty man. To think our God would preserve
and keep them and point them in the way he would have them
to go. Boy, don't we have every reason every reason to be thankful. Almighty God, in his mercy and
grace, he builds the house. He keeps the house, and he fills
the house with his children. Turn with me to one more passage
of scripture, and I'll close. Look at Hebrews 3. Hebrews chapter
3. Look beginning with verse 1 of
Hebrews 3. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers
of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of
our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him that
appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.
For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, and
as much as he who hath built the house hath more glory than
the house. For every house is built by some
man, but he that built all things is God. As Moses was verily faithful
in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things
which were spoken after, but Christ, but the Lord Jesus Christ
as a son over his own house. whose house are we? We're his house, we're his, and
he builds, listen, we're believers in Christ, living stones, a spiritual
house in whom Christ himself dwelleth. But as Christ is a
son over his own house, whose house are we if we hold fast
the confidence and rejoicing of hope firm to the end? Well, we've got reason to, to
rejoice, don't we? We have reason for a good hope
because He builds the house, He keeps the house, and He fills
the house. All right, I pray God would be
pleased to bless His Word and all things.