Would you turn to the 120th Psalm? Back to the Psalms. We're in
John 6 for five weeks. Now we're back to the Psalms. Psalm 120. 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 Misek
and 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. Let's pray. Lord, how thankful we are for. The gospel. Of that blessed son. That causes us to be accepted
in your sight through what he did. Lord, we ask in his name
that your gospel would be preached in the power of your spirit and
that you would speak in power to our hearts for the Lord's
sake. Lord, we confess our sin, we
pray for forgiveness and cleansing, we pray that we might be found
in Christ. We pray for all your people, wherever they meet together,
that you bless them with your presence in the preaching of
your word. Lord, we pray for our friends of this assembly. They're going through severe
trial. We pray for your blessing upon them. We pray for those
of our number that are sick, that your will would be done,
that your healing hand would be upon them according to your
will. But Lord, give us each the grace to rest in thy son,
knowing that whatever he does is altogether glorious and we
rest in him. Bless us for Christ's sake, in
his name we pray, amen. Now you'll note at the head of
this psalm, it's called the Psalm of Degrees. the psalm of Greece,
and that actually means a psalm of ascent. And that title is
inspired and it's the title of the next 15 psalms, a psalm of
ascent. Now it can't be determined exactly
why it's called that, but most people believe it's because of
the ascent up to Jerusalem. Jerusalem was 2,800 feet above
sea level. high city, and you had to go
there three times a year and for these feasts. And it is thought
that these Psalms were actually sung by the people as they went
up the hill toward Jerusalem, a Psalm of ascent. And in the Psalms, there's five
different books. And this comprises one of the five books,
these 15 psalms of ascent or degrees. Now, I'm gonna read
this psalm in two ways, and I think it's much easier to do that with
a short psalm, but you always know that the first way to look
at a psalm is the words of the Lord. And these are the words
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, In my distress, I cried
unto the Lord. Now we read that he had strong
cryings and tears and was heard and that he feared. You know,
he's called a man of sorrows in the scripture and deeply acquainted
with grief. And we see this in his opening
statement. In this song, he said, in my
distress, I cried unto the Lord. Remember when it says he was
sore amazed, being in agony, in my distress, I cried. unto the Lord, and he heard me."
Now, Robert Harker suggested that he's talking about Judas
at this time because of verse two, deliver my soul, O Lord,
from lying lips and from a deceitful tongue. And it very well could
have been that he was talking about and praying with regard
to Judas, but he was living in a world that was hostile toward
him. There were false witnesses brought
up against him, and the world hated him. And here he makes
this cry, in my distress I cried unto the Lord, deliver my soul,
O Lord, from lying lips and from a deceitful tongue. Now, how
many false accusations were brought against the Lord Jesus Christ?
Deliver me from these lying lips, and this deceitful tongue. And
he says in verse three that he knows the Lord's gonna vindicate
him. What shall be given unto thee or what shall be done unto
thee thou false tongue? He knew that the Lord would vindicate
him. Sharp arrows of the mighty with coals of juniper. That's
God's judgment against the lying lips and the deceitful and false
tongue. And then the Lord says, Woe is
me. Now somebody says, how can the
Lord say that? He's the son of God. How can he say, woe is me? Well, he went, didn't he? He troubled himself. The scripture
says in John chapter 11, he troubled himself. And think about this. I want to say this reverently,
but if I was him living around people like me and you, I'd be
saying, what was me? He said, how long do I suffer
you? And these are the words of the
Lord as this man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He says,
woe in me that I dwell in Meshach, that I dwell in the tents of
Kedar. Now, uh, this is the, descendants of Ishmael. Salvation
by works. People like that are always going
to hate him. And he said, woe is me that I dwell in this. My soul, verse six, my soul hath
long dwelt with him that hateth peace. And all of his life. Those 33 years that he lived
upon this earth, he was dwelling with those who hate peace. That's why he's saying, woe is
me. He says in verse seven, I'm for peace. But when I speak,
they are for war and notice am is in italics. I am peace. Ephesians 2, 14 says he is our
peace. The joy and the peace of believing,
he experienced it. He had the peace he had with
his father. I am peace. But when I speak,
they are for war. They have no love for the gospel
that I preach. So we look at this, first of
all, as the words of the Lord himself. But now let's consider
them our words, our experience. In my distress. The word is also translated trouble. Affliction. Adversity. Anguish. In my distress. If you don't have it now, you
will have it. In my distress. I cried unto the Lord. Now I hope this is by his grace
what you and I do when we're in distress. Instead of getting
upset with our circumstances or angry with our circumstances,
we cry unto the Lord. I love the fact that this cry
is the same word translated call, same word we call upon his name.
When we're in distress, when we're in anguish, whether it's
or circumstances, or whether it's self-inflicted. A lot of
our distress is self-inflicted, isn't it? The problems that come
upon us, they're self-inflicted. We can't blame somebody else,
they're our fault. But does that mean we don't cry
to the Lord? No. In our distress, there's
nowhere else to cry. In our distress, in our anguish,
in whatever way it is, We cry unto the Lord and look at this
promise, every believer has, he heard me. If you're a child of God, if
I'm a child of God, amazingly, we have the ear of God. When I pray in my anguish, in
my distress, for whatever reason that might be, and there's myriad
reasons, whatever reason that might be. I call upon his name
and we have this promise. He hears me. The living God hears
me. The God of glory hears me. You want to talk about something
that's amazing. To think that you have the ear
of God. I cried unto the Lord and he
heard me. Now look what he says, verse
two. Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips and from a deceitful
tongue. Now, every one of us have been
lied on and misrepresented. Every one of us. But unlike our
Lord, anything bad said about me has some truth in it. Would
you agree with that? Anything. that someone says bad
about me or criticizes me, it's got some truth to it. It wasn't
that way with the Lord, but it is that way with me and you.
And what about this? Deliver me, my soul, O Lord,
from lying lips and from a deceitful tongue. You know, we can lie
to ourselves. and deceive ourselves. And you've
seen people do it, maybe you haven't seen yourself do it,
but you've seen people do it when they lie to themselves and they're convinced
what they're saying is true. They're convinced, I'm vindicated
in what I'm doing, why the whole time you can see they're lying
to themselves. You know, the scripture says
if a man says he has no sin, he, what? Deceives himself. And the truth is not in him.
He can't even be listened to. He's deceiving himself. And one
of the ways we cry for deliverance is from lying to myself and deceiving
myself. Give me the grace to come into
the Lord's presence in honesty rather than trying to present
something. And what about the lying lips
of a false gospel? I want to hear the truth, don't
you? I want to hear the gospel of God. I want to hear what he
has to say in his word. Deliver me from lying lips and
deceitful tongue. And this is a very sobering and
scary thought. In most of what goes on under
the name of preaching, lying lips. and a deceitful tongue,
inspired by Satan himself. And he's saying, Lord, deliver
me from lying lips, whether it's me being misrepresented. You
know, if you're misrepresented, you will be. I will be. The Lord
will take care of it. You don't need to try to straighten
things out. You don't need to try to get somebody to admit
you misrepresented me. No, the Lord will take your cause. If you're deceiving yourself
and lying to yourself, ask the Lord to give you grace to be
honest before him, that your spirit might be without guile
and deceit. And Oh, deliver me from the lying
lips of a false gospel. Now he says in verse three and
four, what should be given unto thee or what should be done unto
thee, thou false tongue, these lying lips he's speaking of.
Sharp arrows of the mighty with coals of juniper. Now he's not saying this that
he would defend himself, but he knows the arrows of the almighty
will take care of this. Uh, the sharp coals of juniper. Now he says in verse five, woe
is me. How many times have you said
that? In your own thoughts. For how
many different reasons? Woe is me. A difficult situation. What about Paul when he said,
Oh, wretched man that I am. Isn't that woe is me? Oh, wretched
man that I am, who should deliver me from the body of this death? The sojourning going on, woe
is me that I sojourn in Mesech and I dwell in the tents of Kedar. The Lord said in this world,
you shall have tribulation. It's gonna happen. And there's
so many different reasons, the troubles you brought on yourself.
How many times have you asked the Lord, would you be pleased
to get me out of this mess I've made? Be pleased to have mercy
on me. The troubles that you have no
control of. And I think the trouble he's most talking about, let's
keep reading. My soul hath long dwelt with
him that hated peace. The first thing that came to
my mind when I considered this, ever since I've been born again,
I've been dwelling in this old man that hates peace. I just find that to be my experience.
I've been with him a long time. I know him. Oh, wretched man
that I am. I believe that that's what he's
speaking of more than anything else. And if you have a new nature,
this is only a holy nature being born of God that even recognizes
this. If you're not born of God, this
doesn't make sense to you. But if you're born of God, you're
dwelling in this man that let's go to Roman seven for just a
moment. Let's look at how Paul speaks of this man. Verse 14, for we know that we is every believer. He's speaking as the representative
of every believer. We know, we know this, don't
we? We know. Somebody says, yeah, I know.
Yeah, you do. If you're one of the we's. We know that the law,
God's holy law, the Ten Commandments is spiritual, but I am carnal. Now he's speaking as a believer.
Only a believer speaks this way. I am carnal, sold under sin. Sold as a slave to sin, he says. Now, let me repeat. Only a believer
understands this, because only a believer understands what sin
is. An unbeliever looks at everything as things I do. And sin is in
things you do, but I'm talking about the heart, the wicked heart
that is always there. Now let's go on reading. This
is where he's talking about, I've long dwelt with him that
hates peace. For that which I do, I allow
not, I don't approve of it. For what I would, that do I not,
but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would,
I consent unto the law, it's good. Now there's no more I that
do it, but the sin that dwelleth in me, it's not me, it's him.
That's what he's saying, this man that I'm dwelling in, that
has long hated peace. For I know that in me, verse
18, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing, for to will is
present with me. Now, once again, this is only
a believer that can say this. I would never sin again. I would be perfectly conformed
to the image of Jesus Christ. To will is present with me. But how to perform that which
is good? What are the next three words?
I find not. That's my experience. I find
not. For the good that I would, I
do not. But the evil, which I would not,
that I do. Now, if I do that which I would
not, it's no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with
me for I delight in the law of God after the inward man." This
is that man that dwells with that one who hates peace. I find
then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with
me for I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but
I see another law in my members. Warring, remember he hates peace.
He hates peace. Warring against the law of my
mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in
my members, oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? He's talking about that old man.
And he calls him the body of this death. I thank God. through Jesus Christ,
our Lord." Aren't you thankful you can say that? I thank God
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then with my mind, I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. Like I said, a believer understands
this. He knows it. An unbeliever will
find all kinds of objections to this. It's because they don't
have a holy nature. They have never been born of
God. But if I've been born of God, I'll know this is my experience. Back to Psalm 120. My soul has long dwelt with him
that hateth peace. Now that it could be you've experienced
being around somebody that hates peace. They're contentious and
they're enemies of the peace of the gospel. And you're going
to be around people like that the rest of your life, as long
as you're in this flesh. And this can also talk about my old
man. He says in verse seven, I am
for peace. But when I speak. They are for
war. Every believer is described in
the Beatitudes. I don't think we could spend
enough time considering the Beatitudes because the Lord tells us there
what a believer is. Blessed are the poor in spirit. They have nothing to recommend
them to God. They're poor in spirit. What
a state of blessedness. Blessed are they that mourn.
They mourn before God over their sin. They hate their sin. They
mourn over their sin. Blessed are the meek. They're
meek before God. This is an attitude before God,
that everything he does is right and glorious and just. Meek before
God. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after righteousness. Blessed are the merciful, for
they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart.
That's the new heart. That's the clean heart. Blessed
are the pure in heart. And then he says, blessed are
the peacemakers. And that describes every believer.
Now, some people, I realize, are a little bit more contentious.
in their nature than others. But every believer loves peace. They love the peace of God. They
love the righteousness of Christ as their only peace before God. And they're not trying to look
for a fight. They're peacemakers. They preach the gospel of peace.
They believe the gospel of peace. Peace. And we can say, I am for
peace. But when I speak, Now what's
he speaking of? When I speak the gospel of peace.
That's what he's referring to. When I speak, when the gospel
comes out of my mouth and I speak and people find out what it,
I believe that Jesus Christ is my peace before God. I believe
that the only righteousness there is, is his righteousness. And
the only peace I receive is from knowing that his righteousness
is the only righteousness I have. And what peace I have from that. But when I speak peace, guess
what? They're for war. They do not
like this message. And here's why they do not like
this message. Because they're looking for peace
somewhere else. I'm looking for peace in what I do. I'm looking
for peace in what I think or what I feel or what I experience
or some experience I've had in the past. I'm looking for peace
somewhere other than the Prince of Peace. So when I speak peace,
what I'm saying is taking away what they think they ought to
have peace in. Hey, you're taking away my peace. You're taking
away what I'm hoping in. You're saying it's no good. They're
for war. Romans chapter 5 or Romans chapter
4 verses 24 verses 25 and Romans 5 1. Last verse of Romans chapter
4 says he was delivered for our offenses and raised again for
our justification. Now once you think about this
when Jesus Christ was raised from the dead you were justified. Isn't that glorious? You were
justified. I mean, when Christ was raised
from the dead, you stand before God as one who has never sinned. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. Therefore, being justified, literally
having been justified, by faith we have Peace with God. perfect peace. God is completely
satisfied with me. And I have the peace of knowing
that he is perfectly satisfied with me because of the Lord Jesus
Christ, putting away my sins and giving him, giving me his
righteousness. And I speak peace and somebody
that doesn't find this, a message of peace. They speak war when
they hear this message, but thank God for the peace of the gospel. Thank God for the Prince of Peace. Amen.