The life of the sons of God is
an enigma. That is, it's a mystery that
cannot be explained either to them and especially not to the
world. The world has no understanding
how that a man can be before the Lord and lament his barrenness
and yet at the same time rejoice in the fullness that we have
in Christ. And as the Lord teaches His people throughout their lives, they
come to realize that they are in both states quite often. failing
ourselves to have nothing and yet failing ourselves to have
everything. I mean, you know, how else can that be except by
the grace of God that he both, he's the one that causes us to
feel naked and he's the one that causes us to realize that we're
clothed upon with garments that the world cannot provide and
we cannot even imagine the glories that surround the people of God.
You know, it has not entered into our heart the greatest and
grandest aspects of the unfolding of God's mercy to the sons of
God. We think that we see it and we
rejoice it, but yet that greater glory is yet reserved for the
sons of God in the ages to come when the Lord will show the riches
of His mercy upon us. What a glorious thought that
is. And this morning we're gonna
read a psalm that is in the minds of many a kind of a sad psalm,
and it is sad in the measure in which it is at the present
time that it is written. It is a very somber note, even
as the temptation of the Lord Jesus Christ, when Satan tempted
That was not a joyful thing, was it? But yet the outcome of
it was great and glorious as the Lord Jesus Christ overcame
those temptations and triumphed gloriously over his enemy. And so we read in Psalm 137,
by the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept. when we remembered Zion. We hanged
our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof, for there
they that carried us away captive required of us a song, and they
that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, sing us one of
the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's
song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember
thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth. If I prefer
not Jerusalem above my chief joy. Remember, O Lord, the children
of Edom in the day of Jerusalem, who said, raise it, raise it,
even to the foundation thereof. O daughter of Babylon, who art
to be destroyed, happy shall he be that rewardeth thee as
thou hast served us. Happy shall he be. that taketh
and dasheth thy little ones against the stones. Now this is truly
a psalm of great lament because this is written. Some have surmised
that perhaps David wrote this psalm in a prophetic fashion
and vision. I don't think so, but possibly
so. uh... likely it was written by
uh... one of those who were carried captive into Babylon uh... you know Israel was uh... a blessed
people the nation of Israel the natural people of Israel uh... were or are a blessed people
were a blessed people as the Lord uh... poured out his mercy
upon them uh... but His purpose in bringing Israel
to the place that he did was in order to illustrate the redemption
that's found in Jesus Christ for the people of God, who are
the true Israel. For he is not a Jew, which is
one outwardly, but one which is inwardly, made so by the circumcision
of the heart, by the work of grace. by the fact of inclusion
in that remnant which the Lord loved from before the foundation
of the world, that remnant which He said He would save. out of
the earth, out of Israel even, for they are not all Israel,
which are of Israel. But nonetheless, the Lord brought
Israel to a pinnacle of grandeur during the reign of Solomon.
I mean, there's never been a kingdom on the earth with the opulence
and magnificence that the kingdom that Solomon had was. But the unfortunate thing is
that Solomon grew satisfied with that kingdom, and the nation
of Israel, along with him, they thought this was a good thing.
And they became enamored of that religion which they had. They became satisfied in that
place. But the Lord was not satisfied
with them in the sense that he was not pleased with their actions. But he was, in all of these things,
even though they walked in disobedience to him and he ultimately brought
the destruction upon them, it was according to his purpose
that he might manifest the glory of the salvation which is found
in Jesus Christ. And so as these children of Israel,
in thinking on the glories of the temple, as they thought back
and thought about how blessed they were, they wept. Now the unfortunate thing is
that we often do not realize the blessings that we have until
we're brought to a barren place. And when the Lord brings us to
a place where He takes away the comforts and the thoughts of
ease that we have, you know, it's even true of sickness that
the Lord often brings upon His children, but other trials that
He brings upon His children, and He brings them there not
to punish them or not to uh... just because he delights to see
them have heartache but he brings them there to cause them to realize
what a glorious God he is and what a blessing he is pleased
to give to his people and where their blessings are see a lot
of times we get satisfied with things and we forget where our
real blessings are our blessings are in the Lord they're not in
all these things that we have now we have a nice warm building,
it wasn't too warm when we first walked in here but uh... we have
a nice warm building that we dwell in but this is not really
our blessing is it? I mean because in reality I'd
rather be in a cold building where the Lord was and we were
in one yesterday up there in Georgia But if the Lord's there, it doesn't
make a difference. You know, I forgot about the
coldness of the building because the Lord blessed us. He was in
our midst and he fed us. And the fellowship, though few
in number, was still great. And so it's not these outward
things. And unfortunately or fortunately,
however you want to look at that, that by the rivers of Babylon
there we sat down and we wept now they might not have thought
before they got to Babylon how great it was the blessings were
that they had they might have counted them a like thing but
once they got to Babylon and they realized where they were
in the situation they were in then they could lament those
things by the rivers of Babylon there we sat down now and we
wept and the reason of their weeping was not because of the
situation they were in they didn't say oh woe is me I'm in a bad
situation no their lament was that they were no longer in Jerusalem. They felt themselves to be outcast
from the Lord. And they saw the glory of God
diminished in the eyes of the world as they thought of it. Now we know that the glory of
God is not diminished. The glory of God shone brightly
when Nebuchadnezzar overtook of the nation of Israel. When
He brought them into captivity, the glory of God shined even
then. But it just could not be seen
in the same light in which it was seen as the Lord blessed
Israel. And even later as the Lord was
pleased to manifest the glory of Christ as the risen Savior. Now it seemed a dark time when
He hung on the cross, did it not? But it was really a glorious
time, even though that glory was hidden from men, and it is
a place of great sorrow as we consider that He poured out His
soul unto death for us. But it's a glorious thing, dear
brethren, when we recognize that it was for us that He paid that
price. And then that glory is seen in
greater measure when he rose from the dead, even as it shall
be seen in the greatest of measures when he returns to gather that
purchased possession unto himself. And so, all of these things were
designed for the benefit of the sons of God. And by the rivers
of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered
Zion. Because that is the thing, when
the Lord causes us to remember the joys that there are in Christ,
when we are set up, when we're in a place of barrenness, and
not enjoying those things, then it is that we realize how glorious
that is, and we desire to be back in that place. When we remembered
Zion, we hanged our hearts on the willows in the midst thereof. Now, you know, there's few places
on earth that are more idyllic and peaceful than sitting by
a riverside and watching the water go by. Maybe you got a
fishing pole, you throw the line in the water, and you sit there
and wait for a fish to bite, and it's a peaceful thing, is
it not? I mean, the setting itself. But that's not what they were.
They were sitting by the river, but what did they do? They went. And they hung their harps upon
the willows. They couldn't sing. because the
sadness of their situation. But not the sadness, again, it
wasn't the sadness that gripped them because of their troubles,
but it was the sadness that gripped them because they were not able
to worship the Lord. in the fullness that they could,
or that they felt they could, in Zion, when they remembered
the fallen state of Zion. They hung their harps upon the
willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us
away captive required of us a song, and they that wasted us required
of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. Now
you know it's often true that religious men cannot comprehend
what it is that would cause the children of God to be sad. And
in fact, we have religions today that are built around the happiness
factor. They want everybody to be happy
all the time, happy, happy, happy. I mean, everything you do has
gotta be happy. You gotta have something making you happy and
jumping around. And because if you don't, then the Lord isn't
there. But you know, if a man is in
a place of sadness because of the conviction of the Spirit
of God, it doesn't help him for somebody to tell him, oh, you
just need to be happy. I mean, you need to get out of
that. You need to come on, brother, and jump around a little, and
you'll get your blood circulating and everything will be great.
And that's what these, that's what they're saying here. I mean,
they're that carried us away captive. They're the ones that
brought us into captivity in the first place. And they made
us, they said, come on, sing us one of the songs of Zion.
But they said, how shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange
land? I mean, how can we be happy when
the glory of God is trampled in the dust? How can we rejoice
when we see the enemies of God triumphing? I mean, how can that
be? We can't sing the songs of Zion
in a strange land. And dear brethren, we're in a
strange land. Now, we don't sing the Lord's
song in strange land. I mean, didn't the Lord say,
don't cast your pearls before swine? They can't understand
the happiness of God's people. The happiness of God's people
is not always known by a smile on our face and by pepping our
step and jiving and jooking or whatever. That's not how the
blessing of God comes upon the people of God. But oftentimes, when the Lord
is pleased to remind us of who we are and who Christ is, it
does not necessarily elicit in us a desire to jump and jive,
but it causes us to remember that it was our sin that put
our Savior on the cross. And that's a good thing, dear
brethren. Now, the Lord hasn't called us to a feigned sorrow
over that which he suffered for us. But it has called us to suffer
for Christ's sake. Now what does that mean? That
means that we are engaged in our mind and heart in the sufferings
of Christ. Now we can't, we don't help him
suffer for us, but we do remember it. And it is a somber thing. And we are not called to, again,
walk in vain sadness. But it is that which causes us
to consider and be serious in our mind. See, when we come to
take the Lord's Supper, Paul spoke to those who took
the Supper without a proper regard for it. They take it lightly. They take it without an examination. Now, the examination that is
done is not that which is to be done so that a man might find
out if he's worthy in himself to take it. That's not what it's
about. Because if we did that, we'd never take it. I mean, if
you was waiting until you got to the place where you had all
your ducks in a row and you hadn't committed any sins and you was
walking in a holy state and all of this, you'd never take it
if you was honest with yourself. Because we come to that table
as sinners, but we come there with a proper regard to that
which Christ did, discerning the Lord's body that was offered
for us. having a proper and true consideration
of it. How shall we sing the Lord's
song in a strange land? We cannot have that which would
satisfy the flesh at all times. Now sometimes our flesh is satisfied
and that in itself is not a bad thing. The Lord made us, did
he not? Flesh and blood. He gave us emotions. He gave us the ability to be
happy. I mean, you know, when we have
our children behaving and acting right and things are going good,
we're happy. I mean, are we not? In the flesh,
there's nothing wrong with that. But that's not the thing which
feeds the souls of the children of God. And the world has no
understanding of that. So the world thinks, well, if
you got a happy family, everything's great. Well, it may not be. It
may not be because the thing that is not, that's not our goal. That is certainly a blessing.
And we hope that the Lord would give such things to us. But the
blessing of the sons of God is something quite different from
what the world understands blessings to be. How shall we sing the
Lord's song in strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem,
if I forget what it is that is the source of my joy, what is
the source of our joy? It must be Christ. He is the
source of our joy. Oh, don't let me get so caught
up in the world that I forget that place of my rejoicing. Don't
let me sit down by the rivers of Babylon and have a good time. You know, let me be focused on
Christ. And that's what they said, let
me remember. Oh, if I do not remember thee, let my tongue
cleave to the roof of my mouth. Don't let me sing the Lord's
song in a strange land. Don't let me enter in and have
fellowship with darkness in this world. But let me understand
that the people of God are called to a holy worship. Christ in
Christ alone. I mean that's the place the Lord's
called us to be. If I forget thee, if I do not
remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.
If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. What is your chief
joy? What is the thing that gives
you the most delight? What is it? Is it something in
the world? The writer of this Psalm said,
don't let that be the way it is. Don't let me be satisfied
down here in Babylon. Remember, oh Lord, the children
of Edom in the day of Jerusalem who said, raise it and raise
it even to the foundation thereof. Now, There are some who take
issue, most especially with these last three verses in this psalm
because it seems to them to be a little harsh and judgmental. Well, the thing is that the Lord
is the one who is harsh and judgmental against those who would oppose
His kingdom and who would oppose His people. And the Lord Jesus
Christ came into the world to redeem His elect, but He came
to set forth in no uncertain terms that He would destroy the
wicked. Now those are two things that
go hand in hand, and the glory of God is seen in both of them. Now the grace of God is that
which shines most gloriously. Because remember, that's what
he told Moses when he said that he would show him his glory.
He said, I'm going to cause my goodness to pass before you.
And we're privileged to see the goodness of the Lord. But those
who are rebels against the Lord, those who would seek to tear
down the kingdom of God, those who would set themselves in opposition
to the kingdom of God, they are those who shall be destroyed.
The scripture's abundantly clear of that. Remember, O Lord, the
children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem, those who set themselves
against the kingdom of God, who said, tear it down. Now, we live
in an age when they're on every side, are they not? Ah, we don't
need all that stuff. A little bit of religion's okay.
The men of the world, they're not opposed to religion. Well, what they're opposed to
is the narrow view that some have that all glory belongs to
Jesus Christ. See, that's what men hate. I
mean, they don't mind sharing the glory. I mean, if a man can
get up on a stage and strut around and he can have a little glory
while he's giving the Lord glory, he thinks that's all right. Because
he's satisfied. I mean, people's laughing and
they like it and all that. And so he figures, well, you
know, it's the best of both worlds. I'm getting a little glory and
God's getting some glory. No. The Lord will have all the
glory. You know, there's no mixture
of the glory of God and the glory of men. Remember Lord, those who said
raise it even to the foundation, because you see that's what the
world and those who oppose the kingdom of God, they hate the
singularity of the worship of Christ. They hate Christ and
Him crucified. Now they don't mind talking about
Christ being crucified, but Paul said, I will preach nothing but
Christ and Him crucified. He said there's no other message.
We don't have anything else to tell anybody. We can't help anybody
apart from the declaration of Christ and Him crucified. And
the singularity of that is what men hate. And they say, raise
that. No, tear that down, that's too divisive. You see, we want
a religion that's inclusive. I mean, we want it to be that
God loves everybody and he wants everybody to come together. And we're all gonna live as one
big happy family. See, that's the way the world
says, they say, tear down that narrow-minded religion. We don't
want that. Oh, remember them, Lord. who said, raise it to the foundation. Oh, daughter of Babylon, who
are to be destroyed. You see, the ways of this world
are coming to an end, dear brother. And I was just thinking about
this. Look over here at Revelation
18. And this, I believe it's Revelation
18, let's see here. And after these things I saw
another angel come down from heaven, having great power, and
the earth was lightened with his glory. Now we understand
that this has a present fulfillment in the triumph of Christ, but
it has an ultimate fulfillment in the final day of judgment
when all things are settled. When the Lord says to his children,
come unto me. and he gathers his people. So
this has both a fulfillment in the present time, but I believe
has a fulfillment in the future as well. And after these things,
I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power,
and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily
with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen,
is fallen, and has become the habitation of devils, and a hold
of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful
bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her
fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication
with her, and the merchants of the earth are wax rich through
the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from
heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers
of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins
have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities."
Now the scripture says that he has cast our sins, those who
are in Christ, as far from him as the east is from the west,
and he remembers them no more. But that's not what it says here
about those who are the inhabitants of Babylon. That is those who
are the servants of this world and walk in the ways of this
world. For the God hath remembered her iniquities. He didn't forget
them. reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto
her, double according to her works, in the cup which she hath
filled. She hath filled this cup. See,
the wicked fill up their cup every day. They're not just some
little innocent bystanders going along the way, but rather they
have warred against the glory of God. They've hated the way
of Christ. They filled up their cup of iniquity.
How much she has glorified herself and lived deliciously. So much
torment and sorrow give I her, for she has saith in her heart,
I sit as a queen and am no widow and shall see no sorrow. Is that
not the song of the world? We're doing great. You know,
if we all just love one another and get utopia here on earth,
everything will be great. Therefore shall her plagues come
in one day, death and mourning and famine, and she shall be
utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judgeth
her. And the kings of the earth who
have committed fornication and live deliciously with her shall
bewail her and lament for her when they shall see the smoke
of her burning. standing afar off with fear of
her torment, saying, Alas, alas, the great city Babylon, that
mighty city, for in one hour is thy judgment come, and the
merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her, for
no man bithe hurt their merchandise anymore. The merchandise of gold
and silver and precious stones and of pearls and fine linen
and purple and silk and scarlet and all finite wood and all manner
of vessels of ivory and all manners of vessels of most precious wood,
and of brass, and iron, and marble, and cinnamon, and odors, and
ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour,
and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and
slaves, and the souls of men. and the fruits that thy soul
lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were
dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find
them no more at all. The merchants of these things
which were made rich by her shall stand afar off for the fear of
her torment, weeping and wailing. And saying, alas, alas, that
great city that was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet
and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls. For in one
hour, so great riches has come to naught. And every ship master
and all the company and ships and sailors and as many as trade
by sea stood afar off and cried when they saw the smoke of her
burning. Saying, what city is like unto this great city? And
they cast dust on their heads and cried, weeping and wailing,
saying, Alas, alas, that great city wherein were made rich all
that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness, for
in one hour she is made desolate. Rejoice over her, thou heaven,
and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath avenged you on her. And a mighty angel took up a
stone like a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying,
Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown
down and shall be found no more at all. And the voice of harpers
and musicians and of pipers and trumpeters shall be heard no
more at all in thee. And no craftsman of whatever
craft he shall be shall be found any more in thee. And the sound
of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee. And the
light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee, and the
voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more
at all in thee. For thy merchants were the great
men of the earth, for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood
of prophets and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the
earth." Now that's quite a frightening description, is it not? But that
is the depth, the power, the horror of the judgments of God,
which shall yet come upon this earth. And dear brethren, let no man
think that those things spoken of in this psalm here are more
terrible than the judgment that shall come. on the earth, happy
shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones. I cannot think of any more cruel
thing than that. A helpless infant dashed upon
the stone, but you see, the Lord would demonstrate his hatred
of sin. Now that's an awful thing. That's
probably the most cruel and awful thing that you could think of
doing in human form. I mean, to take a baby and just
smash him upon the rocks. I mean, that's just, it's an
incredible thing to even think of. And yet the Lord poured out such
wrath as that. of our Savior for our sin. So let not a man think that such
a judgment as this is terrible when it is upon the sons of men
who have committed iniquity against him. But remember that Jesus
Christ was that one who had no sin. and yet the Lord put the
judgment of our sin upon Him. Oh, what a glorious thing. Let
my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I remember not
to praise His name. He's worthy of all praise, dear
brethren, and we're worthy of none. I mean, we've not done
anything that would entitle us to a place of glory. Every time
that you're made to rejoice, it's because of the mercy of
God. You know, there shouldn't be any rejoicing in this world,
really, in the way they've treated Christ and the way they've had
disregard to the glory of God, to His worthiness to be singularly
worshiped. So every time we have any form
of joy, regardless of where a man is in the world, if he has a
reason to smile, it's because of the mercy of God. Because
what we should receive and what we have received are so far apart
that it's hard to even comprehend. But may the Lord take such a
psalm as this and remind us that we cannot sing the Lord's song
in strange land. We are not made to worship Christ
and be appealing. We're not made to have fellowship
with the unfruitful works of darkness. We can't embrace these
things. They're not for us. The Lord's
called us out. of the darkness and into the
light. May we walk therein as Christ is the light. Someone
have a question or a comment? Well, I think the United States
is part of Babylon, right? I wouldn't say it is Babylon,
but it's certainly Certainly all the nations of the earth
are that great Babylon. Babylon is the system of the
world. It is that city which men run
to. And the United States has certainly
forsaken God, if we ever were servants of His as a nation in
time past. I mean, a lot of people say that
we have been. I'm not so sure of that, as you
look at things. But nonetheless, the Lord's blessed
the United States. I mean, probably more so than
any nation on the Earth. But yet, what have we returned
unto Him as a nation? You know, we've not worshipped
Him and we've certainly spat upon His truth. So it would seem
to me that the United States is among the rest of the nations
of the world that will be destroyed because Christ alone will have
glory.