Would you turn to the 125th Psalm?
Psalm 125. They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which
cannot be removed, but abideth forever. As the mountains are
round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people
from henceforth even forever. For the rod of the wicked shall
not rest upon the lot of the righteous, lest the righteous
put forth their hands unto iniquity. Do good, O Lord, unto those that
be good, and to them that are upright in their hearts. As for
such as turn aside into the crooked ways, the Lord shall lead them
forth with the workers of iniquity, but peace shall be upon Israel. Let's pray. Lord, we ask that we might be
of that number that trust in the Lord. What a blessing of grace that
is. And we ask that you would create
this faith in each heart here, according to your will. Lord, we confess our sin. We're a very sinful people. We
pray for forgiveness and cleansing. We pray that we might be found
in your son. Lord, speak to us for Christ's sake. Be with all
your people, Lord, those that are going through trials. We
ask that you would bless them for your glory and their good. We pray for the leaders of our
nation. We are so thankful that you are in control of everything.
We pray for your presence with all your people wherever they
meet together. Bless us for Christ's sake. In his name we pray. Amen. Notice verse one. They that trust
in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot, notice that
word, cannot be removed, but abideth forever. Now this psalm
speaks of the eternal security of every believer. I just meditate
on that thought. The eternal, infinite security
of every believer, and I love the way they're described in
verse one as they that trust in the Lord. Now, you can't trust
someone you don't know. Isn't that evident? You can't really trust someone
you don't know, but if you know him, All who know him have this
in common, they trust him. We trust a person that we know. They that trust the Lord shall
be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever. Now this trust is in the Lord. In the Lord's place, isn't it?
It's a place. It's a place you're at. You're
in the Lord and your trust is in the Lord. Your trust isn't
in your works. Your trust isn't in yourself.
Your trust isn't in your experience. Your trust is in the Lord. In him, Colossians chapter two,
verses nine and 10, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily and you are complete in him. Your completion, your acceptance,
The favor God has toward you is in Him. Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us in
all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Now that's our trust, it's in
a place, in Him. That's all I have confidence
in, being in Christ. I don't have any confidence in
anything else. I don't have any confidence in my preaching, my experience.
My only confidence is simply being found in him so that when
God sees me, all he sees is his son. Our trust is in him, nowhere
else. And notice what it says, they
that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot
be removed, but abideth forever." Now, Mount Zion physically could
be removed. Dynamite, bulldozers, you get
rid of it. You could flatten it out. That's
true of anything. This is talking about the church,
Zion, the seed, spiritual Israel. I love the way it says they cannot
be removed, but they abide forever. And that forever is because of
our eternal union with Jesus Christ being in him. Uh, it's
eternal. It never had a beginning point.
Now this, this. is so astounding. But if I'm in Christ, I've always
been in Christ. Eternally in Christ. There was
no starting point. If there could be a starting
point, there would be an ending point. But every believer is
eternally in Christ Jesus. And that's where our security
is. You know, something that begins in time, it'll end as
well. But in Christ Jesus, I am eternally
secure. I cannot be removed. This is eternal. My trust and
my confidence is in him. Now, verse two. As the mountains are round about
Jerusalem, and that's a physical fact, the geographical or geography
or whatever you want to call it, there's mountains that surround
Jerusalem. surrounding them. As the mountains
are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people
from henceforth, even for evermore. Now, the Lord, think about this. I don't care what you're going
through. The Lord's first cause behind it. And he's too wise
to err, he's too kind to be cruel, and he is round about you, surrounding
you, whether you're aware of it or not. His chain of salvation,
I love to think about this, whom he, the five golden links of
salvation, somebody once named this, and there are no weak links,
whom he did foreknow, Then he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
then he also called. Whom he called, then he also
justified. Whom he justified, then he also
glorified. You're surrounded. Turn with
me for a moment to 2 Kings 6. I love this passage of scripture. And this is true all the time. Now, the king of Syria was after
Elisha because Elisha could see what he was going to do. And
we read in verse 13 of 2 Kings chapter 6, and he said, go and
spy where he is that I may send and fetch him. And it was told
him saying, behold, he's in Dothan. This is where Elisha was staying,
that the king of Syria wanted to get him. Therefore sent he
thither horses and chariots and a great host and they came by
night and compass the city about. And when the servant of the man
of God was risen early. Now this is that same servant.
Remember when Naaman came and comes to Elisha's house and Elisha
didn't even go to see him. He just sends a servant. This
is that same servant. And when the servant of the man
of God was risen early and gone forth, behold, and host compassed
the city, both with horses and chariots. And a servant said
unto him, Alas, my master, how shall we do? And he answered,
Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be
with him. And Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray thee, open
his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes
of the young man and he saw and behold, the mountain was full
of horses and chariots of fire around about Elisha. And that
is true of every believer, whether I'm aware of it or not. It's
always true. The Lord is round about his people. That's where our security comes
from. Completely surrounded by his almighty love and grace. As the mountains are round about
Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people. His people. Thou shalt call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins. Now the Lord
is round about every one of his people. How long? From henceforth
even forever. It is eternal. Now my salvation, Interestingly, as I hope I'm
growing in my understanding of the scriptures, I see more clearly
how eternal salvation is. I was saved in the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. My salvation was accomplished.
It was finished and completed then. So that which began in
eternity is going to continue through eternity. That is the
privilege of every child of God and eternal salvation. Verse three, four, the rod of
the wicked, the scepter of the wicked is the word, the power
of the wicked. Now, do you remember when the
Lord teaches us to pray? A part of what he teaches us
to pray, and I hope this enters in with us, deliver us from evil. Deliver us from the evil one. Deliver us from the evil one. Deliver us from the evil of this
world. Deliver us from evil, the power
of the wicked. Now notice this promise the Lord
makes to these people that the Lord is surrounding. He says
the rod of the wicked, the power, the scepter of the wicked shall
not rest upon the lot or the inheritance That's what lot means. That's the land given you by
lot. That's God's purpose, what his
purpose for every single believer, the lot of your inheritance.
Our inheritance is of grace. Our inheritance is in Christ. Now the lot of. The rod, the
power of the wicked, shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous,
lest the righteous put forth his hands into iniquity. Now, we're affected every day,
every moment, with the lot, I mean, with the rod of the wicked. Long
as you're alive and you still have an old man, you're affected
by that. As long as the devil's alive,
you're affected by that. As long as we live in this present
evil world, you're affected by that. And what I thought about
is where the Lord said to his people in John chapter 13, you're
clean every wit, but your feet need to be washed every day.
Don't they? You're walking through an evil
world with an evil nature, and your feet need to be washed every
day, although you're clean every whit. Now, you're going to be
affected by the rod, the scepter, the power of the wicked, of evil,
but it's not gonna rest on you. It's not gonna stay there. If
it did, if the Lord allowed that to happen, what would you do?
What would I do? For the rod of the wicked shall not rest,
continue upon the lot of the righteous, lest the righteous
put forth their hand unto iniquity. And that's what would take place
if the Lord let this rest on you. Guess what? You put forth
your hands into iniquity. You'd leave the gospel. You'd
leave the way of Christ. You would, I would. But the Lord
is not going to allow that to take place. Now that is my security. Not anything in me, but the Lord's
not gonna let it happen. Why? Because he loves me. Why
does he love me? Because I'm in his son. He loves
his son. And he loves me with the same
love he has toward his son. And he's not gonna let anything
happen to me. That's that is our security that he's not going
to let the power, the scepter of the wicked rest upon the righteous,
the lot of the righteous. Now, I don't know of anything
that that is more glorious to think about than this. When God
looks at me, he sees one who is righteous. Righteous in the scriptural sense,
I've never sinned. I've never sinned. That's what
righteousness is. If you have any sin, you're not
righteous. In the righteousness of Christ, being my personal
righteous before God, I have never sinned. And that's how
God sees every one of his people. Now you don't feel that way about
yourself, I realize that. I don't feel that way about myself.
But how God sees is how it is. And this is how God sees every
one of his people righteous. And he's not going to let the
rod of the wicked, the power of the wicked rest upon the inheritance,
the inheritance of grace of the righteous. Now, look what he
says in verse four. Do good. Oh, Lord, unto those
that be good. and to them that are upright
in their hearts. Do good, O Lord, unto those that
be good. Now, you've got to be thinking
of certain scriptures. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. Or perhaps you've thought of
when the rich young ruler came to the Lord Jesus and said, good
master, what good thing shall I do that I might inherit eternal
life? The Lord said, why callest thou
me good? There's none good but one, that is God. The Lord rebuked this young man.
He understood that the rich young ruler was saying, look, I'm good.
I haven't reached your goodness. What good thing can I do to reach
your level of goodness? And the Lord says, there's no
men that are good. You believe that? There's none that doeth
good. No, not one. Yet the Lord Jesus
Christ is good in me. Is he good? Oh, the goodness
of Jesus Christ. And if I'm in him, you know what
that makes me? Good. As He is, is He good? Oh, you know He's good. As He
is, 1 John 4, 17, so are we in this world. And the scripture
quite often calls people good men in that sense. Now, we know
what the Lord meant when He says there's none good, no, not one,
but there are good men. You know who those men are? You
know who those women are? They're people who are in Christ.
If Christ is good, they're good. And so when we hear that spoken
of as describing a person, he's a good man or he's a good woman,
and that's described quite often in the scripture. That's because
they're in the Lord Jesus Christ. They have a new man. They have
a new nature. They've got a holy nature, a
nature that does not commit sin according to the scripture. That's
good, isn't it? Now that is referring to every
believer and we read where The psalmist says, do good, O Lord,
unto those that be good. Now that describes every believer.
And this encompasses this promise, Romans 8, 28. And we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God. Not everybody, only those who
love God. And who are those who love God?
Those who are thee called according to his purpose. Everything the
Lord does with me and you, if we're in Christ, is good. It's
all good. And the psalmist says, do good,
and he will. That's encompassed in that promise
in Romans 8, 28. Do good. Lord unto those that be good. And here's who they are to them
that are upright, verse four, to them that are upright in their
hearts. Now, I remember as a young believer,
when I would read the Beatitudes, And I would read blessed are
the pure in heart. I would always kind of struggle
with that because my heart in my experience is anything but
pure. So what is the Lord talking about when he says blessed are
the pure in heart? Well, he's talking about that
new heart that God gives. The new nature. The clean heart
David prayed for when he said, created me a clean heart. Oh God. When he makes that request,
he's saying my heart is filthy. Creating me a clean heart. Oh God. Oh, I want the Lord to
create in me this clean heart. Now this is the upright heart. It's upright. It's not perverse. It looks to Christ only. It is
perfect in Christ Jesus. And these are the ones who the
psalmist describes as good. They have these upright hearts. Why do you persevere in faith?
Why? There's one reason. God gave
you a heart to do it. He gave you a new heart, like
he gave Caleb another heart, another heart, one that he wasn't
born with. And that's why he was so courageous and faithful. Upright in heart. Every believer has that. You
have a heart that by the grace of God is not going to depart
from Christ. It's going to continue to look to him. Now he says in
verse five, as for such as turn aside into
their crooked ways, the Lord shall leave them forth with the
workers of iniquity. Now there are those who turn
aside to their crooked ways. Christ said, I am the way. Any other way is a crooked way. I am the way. He's the way to
the Father. That means the only way I can
get to the Father is if I'm in Him. He said, no man cometh to
the Father, but by me. No other way. I am the way. All other ways to God are crooked,
perverse ways. I don't care what way it is.
They're kind of like we considered last week, the broad way. There's a lot of people on that
road. There's a lot of ways to destruction. There's only one
way to glory. But there's a lot of ways to
destruction, the broad way. But he speaks of this crooked way. Notice it says,
the Lord shall lead them forth. And don't miss that. Those who
turn aside to their crooked ways, the Lord shall lead them forth
in that direction. Turn with me to 2 Thessalonians
2. Second Thessalonians chapter
two. Now we beseech you brethren by
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together
unto him that you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled
neither by spirit nor by word nor by letters from us. As that
the day of Christ is at hand, let no man deceive you by any
means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling
away first. Men going after their crooked
ways, and that the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition,
who opposes and exalts himself above all that's called God,
or that's worshiped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple
of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember you not that
when I was with you, I told you these things? And now you know
what withholdeth, what restrains that he might be revealed in
his time, for the mystery of iniquity doth already work. Only
he who now letteth will let. He restrains him until he'd be
taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked be
revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his
mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.
Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all
power and signs and lying wonders. Very impressive. And with all
deceivableness of unrighteousness in the parish because They receive
not the love of the truth. If they might be saved and for
this cause, who shall send them strong delusion? God shall send
them strong delusion. Those who go about their crooked
ways, the Lord leads them as an act of his justice. All the
Lord's got to do with us, with anybody, is leave us alone and
we're going to go in the wrong direction. Just write that down. And for this cause, God shall
send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that
they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had
pleasure in unrighteousness, but were bound to give thanks
always to God for you. The reason you believe, we're
thanking God for it. He chose you from the beginning. So back to Psalm 125. As for such as turn aside unto
their crooked ways, the Lord shall lead them forth with their
workers of iniquity, but peace shall be upon Israel." Now, when
you see that description of the Lord leading the wicked astray
after their crooked ways. Now that's not saying the Lord's
trying to get them to tempt them to evil. All the Lord's got to
do is leave you alone and you'll go in that direction and I'll
go in that direction. God tempteth no man with evil, neither tempteth
he any man. Every man is tempted when he's
led away with his own lust, but that's the Lord in control of
all of that. He's completely sovereign. But I love the way he says, but
peace shall be upon Israel. Who puts this peace on Israel?
The Lord does. It's on Israel. Now, what is
this peace? Ephesians 2.14 says, he is our
peace. He is his person, his work. He is our peace. What a peace that comes from
the Prince of Peace. Don't you love his name, the
Prince of Peace? He is our peace. Listen to this Romans chapter
5 verse 1. Being justified. Being justified. Having been justified. By faith
we have peace with God. through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Justify. Now, if you're justified, there's
only one reason you're justified. It's because God justified you.
That's wholly His work, isn't it? It doesn't have anything
to do with you. It's what He declared you to be because of
what Christ did in your behalf. Having been justified. That means you stand before God
as one who has never sinned. You're not just as if you never
sinned. You see, if you're just as if
you never sinned, you still sinned. But no, you've never sinned. You stand perfectly righteous
before God. Having been justified, by faith
we have peace with God. The Lord's satisfied with me.
He's at peace with me and by his grace, I'm at peace with
him. You see, the only way that you'll be at peace with God is
if he's at perfect peace with you. If you think he's got something
against you, you're going to resent him. You're going to find
fault with him. You're going to murmur and complain
if you think he's got something against you. You're not going
to, but if you see that he's a perfect peace with you, perfectly
pleased with you, he's justified you, you'll have peace. Peace
be upon Israel. I love that scripture in Colossians
chapter one, verse 20. It says this with regard to the
work of Christ and having made peace. Now let that drift in. He made your peace. Have you
made your peace with God? Oh no, he made my peace with
God. That's our confidence. Having made peace by the blood
of his cross. By him. to reconcile all things
of himself. By him I say, whether they be
things in heaven or things on earth, and you that were before
time enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now have he
reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present
you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. Peace be upon Israel.