Well, we are looking in Psalm
120. It seems like only a few weeks
ago that we began in the longest psalm in the Psalms, 119. And of course, the recurring
theme throughout that gracious psalm was the reliance
that the Lord had upon the word of God. The law of the Lord,
he said that he loved. And so, we begin by looking at
this next group of psalms. There's about 15 of them, I believe,
and they're called Psalms of Degrees. Now, no one knows for
certain what actually the implication or the meaning of the Song of
Degrees is, but it's often considered that it was a sort of a musical
notation and that these were psalms that were sung in an increasing
manner, perhaps in the tempo or in the loudness with which
they were sung, or whatever, as the psalm progressed. But
anyway, be that as it may, and I don't claim to know what that
has reference to, but this is Psalm 120, and it is a song of
degrees. Coming off of the psalm where
the Lord, as we believe these psalms are, the words of Christ,
as he confessed his complete reliance on the word of God,
then this one begins in a note of weakness, of need. now the lord jesus christ didn't
need anything i remember as a young lad being taught in sunday school
and that sort of thing the thought was conveyed to me whether it
was ever taught outright or not that uh... the lord did the things
that he did with men because he needed men to to praise him
he needed he was lonely and he needed somebody to fill in, and
so he created man, and he said, well, man, this will be good,
you know, I'll get me something, and then lo and behold, things
didn't work out like he planned, and so he had to do something
else. Now, that might appeal to the flesh, and it might seem
to be a thing that would be right in the eyes of men, but the truth
of the matter is that the Lord stands in need of absolutely
nothing. had he never created the world
or any man or whatever, he'd have been full of glory and would
still be needing nothing even in the present time. And so it
is an amazing thing as we read this Psalm and we understand
that these are the words of Christ as he walked among men in the
behalf of men. being tempted in all points like
as we are, yet without sin, and yet undergoing all of the trials,
the troubles, the heartaches, the distresses that men in their
natural state find themselves in. And so we'll read Psalm 120. It says, in my distress I cried
unto the Lord, and he heard me. Deliver my soul, O Lord, from
lying lips and from a deceitful tongue. What shall be given unto
thee, or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue? Sharp
arrows of the mighty with coals of juniper. Woe is me that I
sojourn in Meshach, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar. My soul
hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace. I am for peace,
but when I speak, They are for war. And so the Lord says, in
my distress, I cried unto the Lord. Now, that's a place that
I believe every man who's ever been awakened by the Spirit of
God has found himself in, in my distress. Man that's never
been in distress has never been under conviction for his sin.
Because when the Lord is pleased to awaken a man to see what he
is by nature, he will be in distress. He can't help it. He doesn't
have to try to be in distress. See, some people, they think
you've got to try to work yourself up and get in distress. When
the Spirit of God is pleased to move in the heart of a man,
he will cause the man to be in distress. Now, a good example
of that, and we use this probably so much till it would, maybe
we wear it out, but the publican in the temple, when he prayed,
he was in distress. Now, the Pharisee, he wasn't
in distress at all, was he? He came there proud of what he
was. I mean, he was a religious man. He was there to serve the Lord. He had things to give to the
Lord. He said, Lord, I do all these
things. He even gave thanks to the Lord,
or in his mind he did. Scripture says he prayed thus
with himself. There's a lot of praying that
goes on that men do that is with themselves. It's not with the
Lord. Because the only prayer that day that was heard by the
Lord was the prayer of a man who was in deep distress. And
he said, oh God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And the glorious
thing is that the Lord hears the prayers of those who are
in distress. He doesn't hear the prayers of those that are
having a great time and everything's great and good and you know,
people just having a whooping big time and whatnot, but when
a man is broken hearted, the Lord hears that prayer. And so
it is. A man can't break his heart.
You can hear about men with broken hearts, but until the Lord breaks
your heart, you can't know what it is. But when you know yourself
to be a sinner, without any help whatsoever. There's not a thing
in the world a man can do. I was raised up and taught just
like most kids that are raised up in church and in some of these
Armenian type churches, to join the church and, you know, walk
down the aisle and shake the preacher's hand and do what they
call accepting Jesus and everything's gonna be all right. And I was
taught that stuff. And I followed through on it.
But I didn't know what it was to be in distress until such
time as the Lord brought me there. I wasn't looking to be in distress.
I mean, I didn't want to be in distress. I wasn't saying I hope
I can get in distress. But when the Lord brought me
in distress, I was in distress. And I needed something that all
the people, and many of those same people, and they meant well. But they just didn't have any
understanding. They tried to get me out of distress. And they
said, well, we remember when you joined the church. Well,
we remember when you was baptized. Well, we remember all these things.
You know all of this. And they thought these things
would bring comfort to me. But they didn't bring me any
comfort. They couldn't help me. See, when a man's in distress,
he can't be helped. You can't help him. Now, by the
grace of God, you can pray for him. And you can speak the words
of the gospel to him, which I hope you would, but you can't help
a man out of his distress. Nothing you can say. It's just
like when a loved one dies, you know, we try to comfort those
that have lost a loved one. And it doesn't make a difference
what you say. There's not really anything you can say that's gonna
help them. And it's doubly that way when
the Lord brings somebody in distress. And so, He said, in my distress,
I cried unto the Lord. Because see, when a man's in
distress, that's the only thing he can do. Old Jonah, he was
doing pretty good, wasn't he, when he got on the boat, going
away from Nineveh. I mean, when he paid the fare
of that ticket, he was doing fine. He got on that, he said,
man, he says, I've got this under control. But whenever things
changed, in in his mind at least how things happen i'm sure he
must have uh... when he saw the storm clouds
gathering up on the horizon he must have started having a little
uneasy feeling about those things and i'm sure the lord might have
been pointing those things out to him but you see the lord brought
jonah Jonah wasn't in distress when he was thrown overboard
the ship. Now, he wasn't liking that. And the Lord was starting to
deal with him. But you see, when Jonah got down in the belly of
the fish, and there was absolutely no help for him. I mean, if you're
swallowed by a fish and you're inside that fish, there's nothing
anybody's going to do for you. In the first place, nobody knows
you in there. See, nobody can really identify. Now, those who, by the grace
of God, have experienced those things, they can understand that.
But they can't get in the fish with you. And Jonah was in that
fish all by himself. And in his distress, he says,
I cried unto the Lord. And I said, salvation is of the
Lord. Lord, if you don't save me, I'm
going to perish right here in this fish's belly, and I deserve
it. See, that was the thing, really. He didn't start saying,
Lord, you know, I shouldn't be here. This isn't fair. No, he said, Lord, save me or
I'll perish. And sure enough, the scripture
says that the Lord heard his prayer. And the fish vomited
him out on the dry ground. And what a glorious thing that
was. In my distress I cried unto the Lord and He heard me. Now
the Lord Jesus Christ testified that the presence of God was
with Him. But yet we know and understand
that in the purpose of God, while the Lord walked with him and
blessed him in the course of his life, yet he underwent many
trials and struggles and heartaches in the midst of all those things
that brought him to the place where he would, as the scripture
says, he learned obedience by the things which he suffered.
And so he came to a place in our behalf So that we might know
what it is to be forsaken of God, he was forsaken. And in
his distress, none, he said, none did help me. And he said, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Because you see, even in the
midst of his greatest trouble, of the forsaking of God upon
his very soul, He could do nothing else but call out to him who
he knew was his salvation. Job said, though he slay me,
yet will I trust in him. Now, you know, it's a common
thing today in the religious world for men to try to persuade
other men to follow the Lord for all the good things they're
going to get out of it. might not be material wealth,
but I mean, you know, you need to get in here and serve the
Lord and all these things, because you're going to gain heaven.
You're going to get it by what you do. Job said, though he slay me,
yet will I trust him. See, a man who's in distress,
he's not concerned about all that stuff that he's going to
get. No, he just needs some help. And so it is. that he cried unto
the Lord, and he heard me. Deliver my soul, O Lord, from
lying lips and from a deceitful tongue. Now, who would be more
experienced in God's word? That, dealing with that, or having
those things. Now, you know, everybody has
told lies, and everybody's had lies told to them. Is that not
true? I mean, we would all agree with
that, I think. I mean, every man, as I was telling
you, you know, a few weeks ago, about the old fellow that told
me, he said, it wasn't wrong to tell a lie as long as it was
getting you out of a jam. Well, you know, that's generally
why people tell lies. So that would be a poor consideration
of when it would be all right to tell a lie. But the Lord Jesus Christ, he
knew firsthand what it was to deal with deceitful tongues and
lying lips. Now I think specifically perhaps,
we can't know this for sure, but this seems to be fitted very
well to his consideration of Judas. Because you see, Judas
was a man that was among the brethren. I don't think the Lord
hated Judas as a man among the disciples. I mean, I think that
he had the same tender care for him that he did for the other
disciples. But yet Judas was a man who while
in having this great blessing of being in the presence of the
Lord, yet in the wickedness of his heart, chose to betray the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now there's an act of free will.
Men talk about, they tell us, you know, that we don't believe
man has a free will. No, I believe man has a free
will. A man has a free will to choose what he can choose. And
see, every man will choose what he can choose. But the one thing
that a man can't choose to do, according to what Scripture says,
is choose to follow the Lord. apart from the mercy of god changes
hard to cause him to do it but see you won't ever choose to
do something that you don't want to do like on that a little bit
because that's a fact you choose to do the things you do because
you want to do them and when the lord changes you want to
then you will get change that people shall be willing in the
day of our power because the lord gives a man a wall to do
something. Well, Judas had a want to do
what he was made to do, or what he was created to do, what he
was by nature. And he had a lying lips and a
deceitful tongue. Oh, that we might be delivered
from such in our own mouth. You know, a lot of times we want
to be delivered from the lies of other people, but all we is
concerned about being delivered from the lies of our own mouth.
And not necessarily the lies we tell other people, but the
lies we tell ourself. See, that's the most damning
lies. Those are the most destructive
lies are those that we tell ourself. May the Lord deliver us from
such. Sharp arrows of the mighty with coals of juniper. Woe is
me. Now those are what shall be done
unto thee, thou false tongue. And then he says, sharp arrows
of the mighty with coals of juniper. That is, there's going to be
death and destruction to those who lie. The scripture says that
all liars are cast out from the presence of God. Now that's a
pretty strong thing, is it not? I mean, liars don't have a place
in the kingdom of God according to what scripture says. No. Where does that put us? I mean,
by nature. Were it not that someone who
cannot tell a lie, would not tell a lie, does not tell lies,
had he not imputed his righteousness to us in that respect, we would
certainly perish, would we not? for his righteousness is laid
to our account. But sharp airs of the mighty
with coals of juniper. Now I'm not sure about coals
of juniper, but I know a juniper and a cedar are real closely
related as far as the type of tree that they are. And I know
this, that I have burned cedar wood and it burns real hot and
that doesn't burn real long, but it burns real hot when it's
burning. And I believe that those coals
of the juniper has reference to the fact that the intensity
of the destruction which awaits those who are outside of Jesus
Christ, those who find themselves walking in their own righteousness.
And the Lord will surely bring the fires of destruction upon
them, and there is no escape from it. Woe is me. that I sojourn in Meshach, that
I dwell in the tents of Kedar. And so the Lord, as he traveled
in this world, through this world, even as we do, as strangers,
this world was not his home. He made the world, but he was
not of the world. and he walked in the world for
our sake. Woe is me that I sojourn in Meshach,
that I dwell in the tents of Kedar. The tents of Kedar. Kedar was the son of Ishmael.
And Ishmael was not that one chosen of God, was he? It was
in Isaac, shall thy seed be called. And so it was that that the Lord says, I dwell in
the tents of Kadar, that is, I'm among the inhabitants, the
people of Ishmael. I mean, we look around us and,
I mean, we don't know who the Lord's people are among the people
that we're among, but we can pretty well identify that the
majority of the people certainly are not seeking the Lord. They
certainly have a different mindset than what we do. I mean, all
you gotta do is turn the TV on and look at people that are trying
to build up all these different things like Brother Al was talking
about. And all the educational systems of the world seem to
be geared towards promoting the creature and not the creator. I mean, that's what it's geared
towards. Those are the sons of Ishmael. They don't have any desire to
give glory and honor to the Lord. Oh, they might in a passing way.
I mean, if you ask a lot of people, hey, did God create the world?
Oh, yes, they did. Yes, he did. But they don't really
believe that he did in the sense in which the Bible says that
he did. They believe in kind of some kind of a long drawn
out process of the way that he did it so that it can be explained
by men. These things can't be explained.
By faith we understand that God made the world. It's the only
way you can know it. You can't be taught it, but by
the grace of God. My soul hath long dwelt with
him that hateth peace. How much we see in this, the
long suffering of the Lord. How long Have I dwelt, my soul
hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace. And were it not
so, would we not all have been destroyed quite some time back. You know, we hate peace. He says,
I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war. You know, men,
In general, I would say in this part of the country, if you said,
I'm preaching the gospel, they'd say, well, that's a good thing.
You know, man, we like the gospel. I've heard the gospel ever since
I was a kid. I mean, yes, sir, I support you, you preach the
gospel. But then when you preach the gospel to them, they say,
oh, wait a minute now. as you get a little bit uh...
you're not actually telling me what i want to hear of course
what goes under the guise of being the gospel in the present
time by and large speak to every instance of all things but by
and large what men call the preaching of the gospel is a perversion
of the truth. It's not what the scripture says
about the Lord Jesus Christ, what he accomplished. The Lord
Jesus Christ didn't seek and try to do something that he failed
to do. And so it would be impossible
for us to promote and preach a gospel that would tell the
world that God loves every man exactly the same. He said, I'll
show mercy to whom I will show mercy. Now, the man who's not
in distress, he will find a reason to argue with that. But you know,
you could tell Jonah, when he was in the belly of the fish,
that the Lord has mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom
he will, he hardens. And he said, salvation's of the
Lord. He didn't have an argument about
that. A man who's in distress over sin is not going to have
any argument against the absolute sovereignty of a holy God. He's
not going to have any argument against him who died for a particular
people. He's just desiring and hoping
he's numbered among those people. He's not going to be angry that
that's the way that it is. I'm for peace, but when I speak
they're for war. You want to get religious folks
mad? Tell them God's absolutely God. That he does according to
his will an army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth and there's none that can stay his hand or say unto him
what doest thou. That'll quieten them down pretty
quick and then when they realize what you said. See, because most
people just in a passing way, they think they believe that.
But when you get to point out to them what that actually means,
no, they don't like that very much. Because they want a God
that they can control to some extent. See, they want a God
that they can get enough people together to pray and they can
cause Him to change His mind. Now that, you know, that's supposedly
the height of faith, is it not? When men can sway God? Oh my. The scripture does say
the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
Because what the prayer of a righteous man does is it brings him into
conformity with the will of God. And he rejoices. Father, Thy
will be done. See, that's, there's the greatest
prayer that ever was prayed by the greatest man that ever lived.
He said, nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. See,
that's the work of God in a man, to bring him to that place. Because
the Lord would indeed speak peace to his people. But the world
is against the Word of God and against the people of God. And
they will not... If the Lord carries His coming
and things continue as they appear that they will, the day will
come in this land, as it is in other places in the world, when
those who hate the gospel of Jesus Christ will be calling
for the people of God to be put to death. Now that sounds like
a kind of a strange thing to say, but it happens in other
places and I see no reason. We're on a pathway towards that
because the people of this world And as we see this stuff unfolding
before our eyes, they don't love the things of God. They worship
and serve the creature more than the creator. And they march and
rally in all these things that are directly opposed to the word
of God. And we're supposed to sit back
and say, well, that's okay. Well, we live in a free country.
Everybody can say what they want to say, but we must say what
the Word of God says. And it is that which is in opposition. There's not one thing that I
can think of that is proposed by most of the political parties
of either one. I mean, I'm not talking about
just the liberals. I mean, that's sure enough off a deep end. But
there's not anything, the conservatives, most of them think that you can
get everything straightened out by getting monetary policy right
and doing a few things here. They don't understand. That the
need of the country is not all these different laws and things
passed, but it's that the mercy of God might be poured out upon
us. I mean, that's our message to the world, is it not, that
we need Christ. I mean, our nation needs Christ.
It doesn't need a Republican in the White House. It doesn't
need a man that boasts about having done more for religion
than any other president. Look, I mean sometimes you have
to choose between the lesser of two evils. I understand that
in the realms of this world, in the governments of this world.
But dear brother, there's none of these people that are on the
political scene that's gonna help us. And it's vain for you
to think that whoever gets elected is going to help us. They're
not going to help us. They might stave off the absolute
destruction path that we're headed towards on a downhill slide. They might, you know, flatten
it out a little bit. But they don't have the answers. The conservatives don't have
the answers any more than the liberals. But Christ is the answer. May the Lord give us a heart
to call upon His name, to love Him, because He alone is the
Savior of sinners. And He does indeed hear the prayer
of those who are in distress. May He bring us into that place
and cause us daily to be in distress. but daily to know that he's that
one that can deliver us and does deliver us out of it.