Psalm 120 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 encoat
with coals of juniper. Woe is me that I sojourn in mesic,
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." Now, the psalmist here, just coming on the heels of Psalm
119, Now we know that the Psalms were divided by the purpose of God. And when you read the 119th Psalm,
it is clear that the subject matter of that
psalm is the determination of the children of God to keep the
law of God. That is the theme of it over
and over again. The statutes of God are exalted,
and well they should be. The Word of God standeth true. Let every man be a liar and let
everything that God says be true, because it is true. It doesn't
make any difference if we think it's the truth. Now some people
believe the Bible because they think it's true. We believe the Bible because
we can't believe anything else. Now there's a big difference.
See, some people just decide, well, I'm going to believe the
Bible. And some people, they don't want to believe it, but
they can't help but believe it. And by nature, we don't want
to believe the Word of God. But by the grace of God, we're
compelled to believe it. By faith, we understand that
the things that are seen were made out of things that didn't
appear. And we know that by faith. Where did we get that? We got
that from God. Now, why do we believe it? We
believe it because we can't believe anything else. Now, if you can
believe something else, go on and believe it. I mean, if you
can believe that the world just came into being in some cosmic
clash of meteorites and comets and all of that stuff and it
just pooped into being and that's all right, go ahead. But you
see, just like Joshua, when he stood there on the cusp of going
into the land of Canaan, and he said, Choose you out this
day whom you will serve, whether it's the God of the Amorites
or the God of the Perizzites or whatever. He said, Go on and
choose one of them. And the reason he said, go on
and choose one of them, he said, because it doesn't matter which
one you choose. They're all the same. Just pick you one out and
choose one of them. But he said, as for me and my
house, we will serve the Lord. Now he didn't include the Lord
in that group of those for them to choose because men can't choose
God. The Scripture says, there is
none that seeketh after thee. Men don't choose to follow God.
God chooses men to follow Him. Now some people say there's not
any difference in that, but there's a big difference in it. Because
until the Lord opens a man's eyes to see the truth, he will
choose all manner of things. But none of them will be the
right thing. See, a man will not choose to follow the Lord.
He'll choose out a lot of things. Now he may choose a religion
that's real close to being what I'm talking about here. There's
a lot of them out there. They're real close. They almost
believe God's God. I mean, they believe He's got
a lot of power. They believe that He'll do things
for you if you'll be good and do right and all of that kind
of stuff. And they're close. It's a real
close thing. But you see, when God is pleased
to show a man His truth, He shows a man first off that He's God.
And there is none else. Isn't that what happened to Nebuchadnezzar?
He was pretty smart. He said, when my reason returned
to me, what he meant was, when God opened my eyes and showed
me what the truth was, he said, this is what I said, the Most
High ruleth in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth, and there is none that can stay his hand or say
unto him, What doest thou? I mean, that's just the place
we're brought, dear brothers. We didn't figure it out. I mean,
we didn't spend long hours in our study and come to the conclusion,
well, yep, God is absolutely sovereign. No, we didn't figure
that out. God just showed it to us and
we fought against it. We didn't want to believe it.
I didn't want to believe it because I like my own way too much. I
want to figure things out. I want it to be like I want it
to be. And that's what religion is. It's just men doing what
they want to do and calling it, following the Lord. Well, apart from the grace of God,
a man can't see, know, or understand anything about the truth of God. But by the grace of God, David
said, I know more than all my teachers. Now, what did he mean
by that? Well, he meant just simply what
I'm talking about. When God is pleased to teach
you who He is, then you know more than all the wise men of
the earth. Because, you see, here is wisdom.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That's what Scripture
says. It says also that the fear of the Lord is the beginning
of knowledge. Now, none of us know what we want to know. You
know, the Lord puts within His people a desire to know more
about Him, and we always feel like we don't know enough. When
you get to the place where you think you know enough, you don't
know enough. I mean, you are in a bad situation. But when we look at ourselves
and we think, well, we don't know anything. then we're just
about in the right place because that's just exactly where we
are by nature and we continue to be. And the only things that
we know are the things that God's pleased to teach us according
to the good pleasure of His will. But He does do that. And He does
do it because He causes us to fear Him. And the man that fears
God can't do anything but worship God. Man, it fears God can't
rise up in rebellion against him, can he? A man that fears
God can't disbelieve what God says, can he? He's just in a
mess. I mean, if you want to look at
it like that, he's just in a mess. I mean, he can't do but one thing,
and that is to fall down and worship God. as He is. And that is the beginning of
knowledge. It's the beginning of wisdom. And it is the work
of God in the soul of a man to cause a man to fear Him. Because
that's not the natural tendency of man. Man's natural tendency
is to try to figure it out. I mean, we want to figure it
out, don't we? We don't want somebody to figure
it out for us and tell us how it was. I mean, that's what we
want. But you see, that's not the way
the Lord is pleased to work in His people. But one of the things
that we discover is this, and that is that there is a Spirit
that worketh in the people of God, both the will and the will
of His good pleasure. He is pleased to indwell His
people, and He is pleased to teach them the lessons that they
need to know, but that they don't necessarily want to know. And
the first one of those lessons, or not necessarily the first,
but one of the overriding lessons that He is continually teaching
us. Now, keep this in mind. God is
not trying to do anything. And we ought not to use that
ever in our vocabulary. You know, sometimes we'll say,
well, God must be trying to tell me something. No. God's never
trying to tell you anything. God tells you things and He may
take a long time to tell you, but He's not trying to tell you
because when He wants you to know, He's going to show you
very plainly exactly what it is that He would have you to
know. And that is the unfolding of grace in a man. Now we're not all at the same
place. The Lord Jesus Christ has dealt
to every man a measure of faith according to the good pleasure
of his will. But here's one thing that's universal among the people
of God that we all know and we're really all on the same level.
There's no highs and lows. But it is what we are by nature. Now, I believe it's a true thing
that the Lord uses our whole lifetime to teach us that. And
we get to thinking sometimes, well, we know what we are. And
then He causes things to come into our life, and He causes
us to realize, whoa, man, we're even worse than we thought. See,
we think sometimes that we've kind of got a handle on it, but
then we realize, well, wait a minute. No. Where did that feeling of
hatred rise up within us? Where did that feeling of judgmentalism,
where did that come from? You know, when we want our enemies
to be destroyed, and the Lord Jesus said, pray for them that
despitefully use you. Do good to them that would not
do good to you. I mean, those are the things
that He is continually working in us to show us what we are
by nature. And when he says, when you give,
don't let your right hand know what your left hand's doing,
he's teaching us what we are, isn't he? Because we like for
people to know what we did. If it was a good thing, we don't
want that to go unnoticed, do we? I mean, what would be the
benefit of that if we did something and nobody ever knew about it?
That wouldn't be good. See, the Lord is teaching us
what we are, because that's what we are. We like ourselves, and
we like for other people to like us, but that's not the place
the Lord would bring us. And so whatever He's teaching
here, and what David is speaking about, assuming David wrote Psalm
121, is identifying the conflicts that we actually
have. Now he says here in the last
verse, I'm going to start at the end and come back to the
front. He says, I am for peace, but
when I speak they are for war. He said, My soul hath long dwelt
with him that hateth peace. Now, if you could take a psalm and
transplant it into the New Testament. I believe that this would be
Romans chapter 7. Now I don't know how familiar
you are with Romans chapter 7, but I know this, if the Spirit
of God works in you, you are familiar with what the seventh
chapter of Romans is saying. You might not be familiar with
the actual Scripture itself, but I am sure that you probably
are. He says over here in Romans chapter 7, he said, For I was
alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin
revived, and I died. And the commandment which was
ordained to life I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion
by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore,
the law is holy, the commandment holy, and just, and good. was
then that which is good made death unto me, God forbid, but
sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which
is good, that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful." Now he said the law is good.
It is just. But he said, but when the law
came, he said, when the power of the law was delivered unto
me and I saw what the law was, And I saw what I was in contrast
to the law. He said the law slew me. It killed
me. It just leveled me out. Was then that which was good
made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it
might appear sin working death in me by that which is good.
See, the law is a good thing. And it came and worked in us
death, that sin by the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.
Did the law make men sinners? No. The law showed men that they
were sinners. The law shows men that they are
sinners. And when we look at the law,
that is what we are taught. is that we are sinners. And that
is what he said. For we know that the law is spiritual,
but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow
not. For what I would, that do I not. But that I hate, that do I. He is a confused man. In fact, I have heard people
say about this passage of Scripture that this is talking about You
know, that's how I was before I got saved. And when I got saved,
I wasn't any longer like that. I just went about always doing
the right thing. Now, if a man's ever been taught
anything about himself by the Word of God, he would know that's
not true, wouldn't he? I mean, he knows Paul's not talking
about some state that he's now escaped from. But he is talking
about the way that he is. He said, For that which I do,
I allow not. For what I would do, that do
I not. But what I hate, that do I. If
then I do that which I would not, I consent to the law that
it is good. Now he said, If I am aware of
the fact that this is good and I do not do it, I am consenting
to the fact that the law is right. If I know I am not right. Now see, if a man thinks he's
right, he's not necessarily consenting to the law that is good, because
he's consenting to the fact that he's right. Paul said, I see
the law and I don't do it, and I know that the law is good,
and I consent that the law is good because I know I'm not good,
because the law shows me what I am by nature. If I then do that which I would,
I consent to the law that is good, now then it is no more
I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Now does he say that I
am not sinning? No. He is saying that I am taught
that the law is good and that I am a sinner and that it is
not my determination to say that sin is okay. But he said here,
he said, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth
in me. I have got a problem. And the problem is that I am
a sinner by nature. And I know it because the law
convinces me of sin. And when the Spirit has come,
He will convince you of sin, righteousness, and judgment.
And that is the work of the Spirit of God in men. For I know that
in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For the will is
present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not.
I know what's good. See, the problem is not in knowing
what's good, is it? Because every one of us can read
the things that the Lord has said in His Word and know what's
good. How do we know it's good? Because
the Spirit which is in us testifies that it is good. But that same
Spirit that testifies in us that the law is good also testifies
in us that there is no good within us. We are sinners and we know
it. And we are confronted with that
every time we see those things that we are taught in the Word
of God. How to perform that which is good I don't find. I don't
know how to do it. I know the Lord said to love
my neighbor as myself. Do you know how to do that? Could
you teach me how to do that? You know you can't teach me how
to do it, because you don't know how to do it yourself. We don't
know how to do it. We don't know the means why,
because we are men of flesh and blood. And these are high and
holy things. For the good that I would, I
do not. But the evil that I would not, that I do. Now if I do that,
I would not. It is no more I that do it, but
sin that dwelleth in me. So what's he saying? He's saying,
I don't say that what I'm doing is the right thing. He said,
I say what God says is the right thing. What I am is what I am
by nature, and that's not me. He said, that's not the law of
my mind. That's not the thing I confess
and say is the right thing. Now if I do that, I would not
no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then
a law," or you could say a principle. Now he's not talking about the
law in the sense of the ten commandments. He's talking about a principle.
He says, I find then a principle, that is, it work in me, that
when I would do good, evil is present with me. He says, I know
what the right thing is. Because the Spirit of God has
convinced me of sin, righteousness and judgment, but I also know
what I am and I don't do it. He said it's not me. He said
it's not the thing that I desire to walk in, but nonetheless I
do. For I delight in the law of God
after the inward man. The inward man. Now he's going
to go on and explain exactly what that inward man is. But
I see another law in my members warring against the law of my
mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in
my members. O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? Now notice that
he does not say the body of death. He says the body of this death. What is this death? It is that
very conviction of the Spirit of God that would show us what
we are and kill us. The law kills. The Spirit makes
alive. And I thank God through Jesus
Christ our Lord So it is. There's where the solution to
the problem is. It's in Christ. But look what
he says. So then with the mind, I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. So here is presented to us a
dichotomy of what we are in this world. The Lord has made us,
the scripture says, if any man be in Christ, behold, he is a
new creature. Old things are passed away, behold,
all things are become new. Now the work of the Spirit of
God in a man is to make him a new creature, to conform him to the
image of Christ. And how would he ever, how would
a sinful man ever confess that the law of God is just, holy
and right and all the things that God says are true? How could
he ever do this unless the Lord had done a work in him to transform
and change his mind? He couldn't, could he? Because
when we were in the flesh, that is when we had no spiritual life,
we didn't care what God said. Really, I mean, we might have
known what it was, but it wasn't the thing that was causing us
any problems, per se. I mean, we just went home and
did what we did and said, well, we'll work it all out in the
end. You know, I did the best I could. Whether it was 20% or
80% or whatever it might be, we'll just do that and then we'll
be satisfied. Well, Lord, we didn't do everything
right, but we got about 20% of it right. I'm going to tell you
what, 99% is better than 20%, but 99% is not good enough on
the basis of the law, is it? See, a man who's been awakened
by the Spirit of God, he can't be satisfied with anything less
than what God says. And that's what Paul's saying
here. He said, the good that I would, I do not. I know what's
right. I know God is right. Let God
be true in every man of our. But I find within myself an evil
heart of unbelief. And what is that? It's that old
flesh. is what we are by nature. But
you see, by the grace of God, we are not what we are by nature,
are we? We are what we are in Christ.
We are new creatures born again by the Spirit of God, and that's
the very reason why we consent to the law that it is good. Our
flesh, it doesn't care anything about the law of God. What does
it care about? It cares about the law of old
self. Because that's what the flesh
is. I mean, it's just a corrupt being. That's what we are. You're
no different now than you were when the Lord... I mean, in your
flesh, you're not a whit different than you were when the Lord opened
your eyes and caused the Spirit of God to come in you. Your flesh
never changes. It's going to be the flesh. Now,
by the grace of God, the Spirit of God does work in us. And he does subdue the workings
of the flesh. So that Paul could say to the
Corinthians, he said, speaking about those who were walking
in wickedness, and he said, such were some of you, but you are
washed. You see, the Spirit of God does
call God's people to be delivered from certain failings in the
flesh, but he never has not delivered us from the flesh. Now, we will
be delivered from the flesh. See, the graveyard is the precursor
to being delivered from the flesh. The resurrection is a deliverance
of the people of God from the flesh. For this mortal shall
put on immortality, and this corruptible shall put on incorruption. And the Scripture says we shall
be changed. Now, dear brethren, that is the
thing, you see, that Paul is crying out for in this seventh
chapter of Romans, and that is what David is speaking about
here in the 120th Psalm. He says, My soul hath long dwelt
with him that hateth peace. Now, you can go to a desert island
and live all by yourself. And you still will be dwelling
with him that hateth peace. If you're the only one there. See, that's the folly of thinking
that you can get yourself in just a right situation and you
won't have any more problems. I mean, that's the idea behind
it that the Roman Catholic Church teaches about becoming a monk,
you know, and going off and living somewhere in a hermitage, and
you just kind of cloister yourself away from all the problems in
the world. The only problem is you're going to be shut up with
the worst enemy you've got. When you go off somewhere all
by yourself, you're with your worst enemy. Isn't that right? I mean, isn't that what Paul
said? Because you see, it is that wicked nature that is within
us that wars against the law of our mind. We know what the
truth of God is, and He has caused us to love it in a measure and
to see that it is right and good. But because of this flesh, we
walk contrary to it. And so He says here, 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. Now, is he
saying, Lord, don't let folks lie to me? No. He said, Lord, I'm going to tell
a lie tomorrow. I'll tell a lie before I go to
bed tonight if you don't deliver me from it. Isn't that what he's
saying there? Because that is distressing. I mean, that's not distressing
to the man that delights in lying, is it? Because the law of his
mind says, just like I shared this with you before, old plaster
guy that I knew, and he was always telling a lie. But he would never
tell you the truth. He would rather tell you a lie
than he had to tell you the truth. But he told me it was all right
to tell a lie as long as it would get you out of a jam. It wasn't
wrong to tell one if you was in a jam and you needed to tell
a lie to get out. Well, see, the law of his mind
said it was all right to lie, so he wasn't troubled at all
when he would tell you a lie. He would tell you a lie in a
heartbeat. and think nothing of it. But you see, those in
whom the Spirit of God works are not like that, because the
law of their mind, by the grace of God, according to the working
of the Spirit, is that which causes them to confess that the
way of God is right. And they say, Deliver me from
a lying tongue. Deliver my soul from lying lips.
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." See, that wasn't the
place he wanted to be. And by the grace of God, He's
caused us not to want to be. in the flesh insofar as the wickedness
of the flesh is concerned. Now, there's nothing. Your hand
is not your problem. When we talk about the flesh,
we're not talking about your hand. I mean, you know, you don't
have to put yourself in handcuffs when you go into a store to keep
yourself from stealing something. Because it's not your hand that's
the problem, is it? No, it's this old fleshly mind
that would control us if it could, if it could. And it does indeed cause us a
world of trouble. But you see, the mercy of God
is seen in His dealings with His people. as he causes them
to see what their problem is. You can't deal with a problem
until you know what the problem is. Now, you know, a lot of people, well, most everybody,
if you're going to work on their car, They think you can just
fix their car. And so they come in and they
say, how much is it going to cost to fix your car? Well, most times
fixing the car is no problem at all. Most anybody can fix
the car. But that's not the problem, not
fixing the car. The problem is figuring out what's
wrong with the car. Because once you determine what's
wrong with the car, then just about anybody with average mechanical
skills could fix it. But you see, knowing what's wrong
with it is what the issue is. And that's what the Spirit of
God teaches us. I mean, He'll fix the car. Fixing
the car, the Scripture says, we shall be changed in what?
The twinkling of an eye. What's the twinkling of an eye?
It's not a blink. The twinkling of an eye is just
imperceptible. And so fixing the car is not
a problem. But you see, the Spirit of God
is teaching us what's wrong with the car. And it's a painful lesson. But
by the grace of God, He confronts us with it. And He shows us that
it's true. Now a lot of times people think,
oh, well, I don't think that's necessarily the way it is. Well,
just you go along long enough and you'll come to the same conclusion
Paul did. I don't know that Paul came to
that conclusion right to start with, but after a while he did
come to that conclusion. You see, a lot of times people
say, well, I'll just learn the Bible and everything will be
all right. I'll read a book. Somebody wrote a book on how
to pray and I'll learn how to pray. And I'll do this and I'll
do that and all of these things that men think they can do. But the Lord strips us if we
belong to Him. And the way that He strips us
is by showing us what we are because that does strip us. Because
all of us like our little robes of righteousness. But the Lord
keeps taking them off of us. One by one. It's amazing how
many layers of clothing we have on, is it not? I mean, you know,
we've got one layer after another. We're like an onion. You just
keep peeling them off and keep peeling them off. And they're
always there. And there's always something.
And there's always some excuse that we have in our mind But
the Spirit of God keeps bringing us back to the Word of God. And we say, well, the reason
that I don't love old brother so-and-so is because of... And
then we'll think of something that he does or he shouldn't
do or some other way. And we say, that's the reason
I don't love him. But then when the Spirit of God
teaches us, He doesn't teach us anything about, oh brother,
so and so, does He? Huh? He just teaches us about
us. And He says the reason you don't
love Him is because you've got a hard heart. The reason you
don't love Him is because you're not conformed to the image of
Christ. The reason you don't love Him
is because of you. All of our problems are us. I'm
convinced of that. I mean, the more that I am made
aware of what I am by nature, the more I realize every problem
I've got in life is because of me. And the thing that the Lord would
show, because, brethren, that's what the problem is. The other
things in life are really nothing. I mean, they're empty because
the one thing that the man who has been awakened by the Spirit
of God to see the perfection of the law of God is that his
desire is to be in keeping with that. And the only way that the
Lord didn't say for you to keep the law for somebody else or
for you to figure out how somebody else needed to keep the law or
whatever, no. He said this is my Word right
here. Here it is and you've got to
deal with it. And the more He teaches us about
ourself, the more we know that we don't even come close to it. But you know, at the same time,
we confess, Lord, You're right. You're right. So with the mind,
I myself serve the law of God. I know that He's right. He's
taught me that. I mean, I can't escape from it.
Now, there's times I kind of put something over that page
and I don't look at it, but He always calls me to know that
He's right. And he teaches me what I am.
Lord, deliver me. That's what Paul said. He said,
Oh, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? This
is a death, dear brethren. We're dead folks. When it comes
to being alive in Christ, how are we alive in Christ? As he
works in our mind to confess that all these things are true.
And he shows us what we are by nature. And so, you remember
when the prophet, I'm trying to remember, at the school of the prophets,
they had made a pot of stew and somebody had put something in
the pot that was poisonous. And one of them tasted it and
he said, Don't eat that. There's death in the pot. Well,
there is death in the pot. And we're the pot. May the Lord
help us. Show us what we are by nature.
Because as He shows us what we are by nature, the glory of Christ
will be ever more transcendent in our mind. Because He is that
one whom we desire. to walk and be like Him. May the Lord help us.