So, if you will, turn in your Bibles this morning to Psalm 128, that's near the middle of your Bible, page 657 in the Pew Bible, as we take up our series through the Songs of Ascents. Last time we considered Psalm 127, and like it, this Psalm 128 is a wisdom psalm, that these psalms orient us to truth that we can too easily lose sight of. And they guide us in how to live as pilgrims in this strange land as we make our way home to glory. Psalm 127 showed us that the good life God calls us to is not something that we achieve by our own efforts, but it's something that He gives us as a blessing. In Psalm 128, the psalmist continues to expand on the theme of blessing. This is a psalm of blessing. I've entitled this sermon, A Beatitude for the God-Fearing. A beatitude includes three things. A declaration of blessing. Blessed is the identity of who is blessed and the condition assuring their blessedness. That's what makes up a beatitude. So listen for all these parts as we read this psalm this morning. that has blessing in every verse. Sometimes it's the word. Sometimes it's a picture. Sometimes it's the blessing itself. But every verse is a blessing for us this morning. So here, now God's word, Psalm 128, a song of ascents. Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways. You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands. You shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house. Your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. The Lord bless you from Zion. May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life. May you see your children's children. Peace be upon Israel. Peace be upon Israel. Here ends the reading of God's Word this morning. Well, verse 1 opens with a declaration of truth. A matter of fact. Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways. That's just the way it is. To be blessed is to enjoy God's favor. To enjoy His favor in His very presence. As Adam was created to enjoy, as the God-man, Jesus Christ, does enjoy. And as everyone who united to Christ is being recreated to enjoy. That's the journey that we're on, is to enjoy God's favor forever. But what are the conditions that assure such blessedness? That's what's set before us this morning. And the conditions are the fear of the Lord and obedience to His ways. The fear of the Lord, the beginning of wisdom, is the primary condition from which the consequence flows that we will obey His will. Those who fear the Lord will obey His will. This is the bottom line according to Ecclesiastes. The last word of that book, fear God and keep His commandments. For this is the whole duty of man. Verse 4 says nothing less, even though it only mentions the primary condition. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. It's a way of bookending the first half of this psalm. But that's the condition. We read the law this morning from Deuteronomy chapter 5, as Moses did to the people of Israel. And we heard the Lord's heart. We said, oh, that the people would fear me and obey my commandments. That's his desire for his people. And then in chapter 6, Moses went on to say this to the people. Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you that you may do them. Obey. that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son's son. That theme, which runs all through Deuteronomy, is the theme of this psalm. We don't understand this psalm unless we have some sense of the covenant relationship God has with his people, especially Israel. And we'll see it pop up throughout this message today. Later in Deuteronomy chapter 28, the Lord puts a point on His purpose, His point on these conditions when He promised blessings for obedience and cursing for disobedience. And so there we see the problem, don't we? That if we do obey, the blessing is ours. If we don't obey, it's not. But we know the story of Israel, do we not? They disobeyed. Instead of meriting blessings, they merited curses. And the Lord convicted them through the prophet Jeremiah, saying to them, the fear of me is not in you. And he kicked them out of the land. All the children of Adam, us included by nature, disobey God like he did. So the scripture says in many places, no one is righteous. No, not one. There's no fear of God. Before their eyes. That's a big problem. Unless the Lord provides a solution, blessed is no one. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love for us, we're told He provided the solution by sending His Son into the world. He came down from heaven, not to do His own will, but to do the will of His Father in heaven, to obey. And He was obedient. In all things, even to death, even to death on a cross. And for our sake, God made him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God, that we might become the righteousness that belongs to obedience. Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord who walks in his way. Blessed is everyone who through faith in Christ has entered into that way. Through the narrow gate, to walk on the narrow way, more and more working out our salvation with fear and with trembling for it's God who's at work in us to will and to work for His good pleasure. You see it. In verses 2 to 4, the psalmist paints a picture of promised blessing that I've entitled, Blessed Shall Be. You see the word shall in there much. These are promises made that shall be for those who are blessed because they fear the Lord and walk in His ways. Now this picture may give us pause, especially if we're married and have raised or are raising children. Singing the versification in the Psalter may have given us pause. It's a picture, perfect picture. I don't know about you, but that doesn't look like my house. We have to understand this rightly. This is not a prescription of what to do to be blessed. This is a description of what it looks like to be blessed, and it's a maximal picture. It's a proverbial picture. It's an ideal picture of what ideal fear and obedience brings. This particular picture speaks to the head of a household about his work and his family. We must not misunderstand. It does not limit blessedness to those who are married with children. And it doesn't limit blessedness to those who have everything going smoothly in their home. That's not what this is about. So verse 4 at the end of this picture tells us to stop and to look at it. And so we shall this morning. It will be our longest point because we import so much romance into these verses we need to unpack it and understand what the Lord is telling us here. It's not the picture we want to put in here. Verse 4 says, Behold, look at this. Thus, in this way, looking back at verses 2 and 3, in this way shall the men be blessed who fears the Lord. The picture itself in verses 2 and 3 is painted from Deuteronomy. The colors that are used are from that book, and it paints this picture with only two broad strokes. It paints blessedness with regard to work and with regard to family. It's not exhaustive. It paints a picture. In verse 2, we get the picture of what the blessing is on our work. Verse 2. Blessed shall be your work, is what it's saying. You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands, and it shall be well with you. These are not, we can't import anything we want into these words. These have a frame of reference. They have a source, and they come from Deuteronomy. These are blessings that the Lord promised to His people. In Deuteronomy 28, He promised all who faithfully obey, the Lord will make you abound in prosperity. The Lord will bless all the work of your hands. And by implication, you won't get cursed. The curse would be that the fruit of all your labors would be eaten by somebody else. In Deuteronomy 5, He promised all who walk in His ways, it will go well with you. Therefore, you won't be cursed. You'll not be oppressed and crushed. You see the picture where blessings and cursings, these are the pictures of blessing that come from Deuteronomy. The people of God in Israel understood this when they heard it. We want to import white picket fences and hallmark cards and all kinds of things into this picture. Now, you will need to work. You were created to work. And your work will still be hard. For we live in a world that's still under the curse of Genesis chapter 3. But when you work, as you were created to do, when you work in the fear of the Lord and in obedience to His ways, it will not be in vain. And in answer to prayer, the Lord will use your work to provide for your daily bread, and He will give you satisfaction in your work. Blessed shall be your work. Verse 3. blessed shall be your family now we may miss the significance of the symbols here as well we can go to the grocery store and buy these off the shelf but for Israel they were listed among the blessings that God gave them when they came into this land this promised land this land of plenty this land not only of milk and honey but land of vines and olive trees vines and olive trees from which come wine to gladden the hearts of men and oil to make his face shine great blessings great riches that God gives to his people so when it comes to your family he looks at the wife and the children blessed shall be your wife your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house she'll be like a fruitful vine not because she may have many children but because she will have many virtues she will have the many virtues of an excellent wife that we find for example in Proverbs 31 in concentrated form like nowhere else she will fear the Lord honor her husband be beloved by her family trustworthy, praiseworthy, industrious, strong, dignified, hopeful, wise, hospitable, charitable, and kind. Proverbs 19 says that house and wealth are inherited from fathers. But a prudent wife? She's from the Lord. She will be within your house. Within the inner courts is the image that's given here. not because she's barefoot and pregnant, but because she has been set apart from the world and she's faithful and committed to her family. In contrast to the adulterous woman of Proverbs 7 who is wayward and whose feet are not at home, your wife will be within your house. Therefore, according to Deuteronomy 28, she'll not be cursed, she'll not be carried away to be ravished by another. And blessed shall be your children. Your children will be like olive shoots around your table. They'll be like olive shoots, rich in blessing and promise that the Lord makes to spring from you, that you may nurture them, that you might discipline and instruct them in the Lord through years of patient cultivation until they reach maturity. They bear new fruit. And, perhaps, Lord willing, be given children of their own. And these blessings will be around your table. Where you may enjoy them. Where you may see, every time you sit down, the covenant faithfulness of God, generation after generation. They'll be around your table. Therefore, they'll not be cursed. They'll not be taken from you and given to another. That's the picture. Now ultimately, the blessings painted in this picture, verses 2 and 3, were not given to Israel. Because they did not fear the Lord and because they refused to walk in His ways. And it's set before us in Scripture today, as it was set before them in Scripture, to remind them that they need someone to do this for them. We cannot inherit this perfect picture on our own. It's beyond our reach. It's too good to be true on our own. Like Israel, we deserve curses. But we receive blessings instead by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone who earned them. In Christ, we are called and equipped to more and more fear the Lord and walk in His ways, and therefore to more and more experience this blessing in our homes. in our work. In Christ, your labors shall be blessed. Blessed shall be your labors in Jesus Christ. Jesus taught us to pray. Did He not give us this day our daily bread? He did. But at the same time, we're commanded in Scripture to work with our hands so that we may have something to share with anyone in need, Paul says. Jesus taught us to ask our Heavenly Father for the Holy Spirit, to give us the Holy Spirit, the power for us to live the Christian life. And at the same time, Paul directs us to exert ourselves in that Christian life, presenting our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable, which is our spiritual worship. Pray and work. Blessed shall be your labors. In Christ, blessed shall be your families. Now, if you're single, he blesses you with freedom. Freedom to be concerned primarily for the things of the Lord and what to do to please the Lord. You have an undistracted life. If you're married, he blesses you. He blesses you to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. To be concerned about and obedient to his will with regard to your spouse, Husbands, loving your wives as Christ loved the church. And wives, submitting to your own husband as Christ submits to the church, as the church submits to Christ. And should the Lord give you children as parents, that you would be teaching them to fear the Lord and to walk in His way. In Christ, blessed shall be your labors. In Christ, blessed shall be your families. That's true. It's to be believed. is to be prayed for and worked for. The devil will tempt you to disregard them. The world will tell you to do otherwise. And your own flesh, well, your own flesh is going to get tired. But the fact remains that blessed is everyone who fears the Lord and walks in His ways. Therefore, if you are trusting in Christ as your Savior, and you're resting on Him for His strength and His power, and you're walking in the step with the Holy Spirit more and more, then blessed shall be your labor and blessed shall be your family. In the last part of our psalm, verses 5 and 6, the psalmist closes with a benediction. Bestowing a blessing to be received by faith. Right here, right now. Blessed be. He announces it in verse 5. The Lord bless you from Zion. The Lord's benediction, His blessing, comes from the heavenly Zion by the Holy Spirit through an earthly ambassador. To the people who first heard this psalm, probably a priest in the temple. For you hearing it today from a minister here in this pulpit. But it comes from Zion. And it comes by the Spirit. And it comes to you, His people, to gather together corporately. We use that word and sometimes I think people think we're talking about a business. The body. It comes to us, the body. gathered together in worship. This is where the hands are raised, the words are announced, and you are to receive and hear and believe that God's blessing comes to you. It came to Israel when they gathered on Mount Zion in the city of God, the earthly Jerusalem, when they assembled in the temple to worship the Lord. And it's coming to you today who have come to Mount Zion in the city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and assembled here to worship the Lord. And you are to receive it this morning through faith. Each one of you, as members of this body, anyone trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ, this is yours to receive today by faith. To receive and have. To enjoy. To live according to. The psalmist sums up his benediction in verse 6. Peace be upon Israel. peace, the ultimate blessing, shalom. If you remember back to our first song of ascent, 120, that's what we're longing for. We're longing to get to the fullness of this shalom in the presence of our God forever where we will enjoy perfect peace and security. That's our goal. That's where we're headed. It's a peace that passes our understanding. It's a peace that will be fully realized then but is ours today really and truly through faith in Christ. who earned it for us. He lived the perfect life before the face of God. He suffered the turning away of God's face on the cross. He was raised on the third day from the dead and did this all for his people. He did it so that we have peace with God. We have peace with God, Paul says, Romans 5. It's now. The Old Testament, Israel anticipated his saving work with all the ceremonies and the sacrifices of the temple. But we today in the church, the Israel of God, Paul calls us, the Israel of God, we celebrate his finished work when we gather together in corporate worship, which is where the Holy Spirit meets us through means that impart grace to us, the preaching of the gospel, the administration of the sacraments. That is for the church here together gathered it is a blessing in real time in a real place from a real God to real people at the end of verse 5 at the end of verse 5 and beginning in verse 6 between the announcement of the blessing and the blessing itself summarized in verse 6 the psalmist sandwiches in something that we need to pay attention to he directs us for how to respond to this benediction now it's not merely a wish or even a prayer as the translation before us might suggest when it says may you see. It's kind of this open-ended maybe thing. That's how we can misinterpret it. The language is actually very strong. It's what's called an imperative which is something that is actionable. And what he's telling the people of God to do is to look and to see something. To look and to see what the Lord is doing, even when it doesn't seem like he's doing anything, look and see. Look and see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life because it's the Lord who prospers Jerusalem. The prosperity of earthly Jerusalem waxed and waned through their history according to whether they feared the Lord and walked in his ways or not and ultimately all prosperity was removed from them. But the prosperity of heavenly Jerusalem is established firm and secure in Jesus Christ. It can never be removed. Christ is building this church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And so we can pray as Paul did for the Ephesians. This is a prayer we can pray for ourselves, individually, for ourselves, corporately. It's an important prayer that we'd have the eyes of our heart enlightened, that we might see something, and that we might know what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, in the church. See the prosperity of Jerusalem. See the prosperity of Christ's church. And look and see how the Lord uses you and the riches of Christ's gifts to you for the prosperity of the church. Look and see. Paul reminds you that each is given a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good, a spiritual gift, we might say, for the common good. Each saint has been given something for this body. Look and see. And Peter urges you to use it to serve one another as good stewards of this grace. Look and see, the next part, first part of verse 6, look and see your children's children. It's the Lord who sustains his people generation by generation. I think we have at least five generations in this church. Look and see your children's children. Consider the generations that have come and have gone throughout the history of this world of those who fear the Lord and walk in His way. The love of the Lord for His people is steadfast. It's from everlasting to everlasting. And his righteousness is to children's children. Israel broke covenant, forsaking his love. But Jesus Christ kept covenant. And for all of us who trust in him, we are allowed, we are brought in him to enter into this steadfast love, and it is ours, and it can never be taken away. And look and see how the Lord uses you for our children's children. Not only parents who bring up children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, that is our duty toward them, but also fellow saints who use His gifts to help as we often promise to do at a baptism. That's what we're asked to do when we say that. That we will, Lord helping us. That's what we're promising to do, that we will look and see our children's children and we will give ourselves for the sake of the generations for the well-being of the church of Jesus Christ. And even if you have no children or are not able to hold grandchildren in your arms, you can by faith look and see our children's children baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, raised and trained by many of you in the instruction of the Lord and coming, Lord willing, one day to stand here and make professional faith. Receiving the promises of the gospel as their own. You see, generation after generation, the Lord is faithful. Look and see. The Lord's blessing on this church is not empty. It is rich. It is more vibrant than we can feel. Pray that the Lord will enlighten the eyes of our hearts to see. and to give ourselves to it. Psalm 128, here's the truth of the matter. Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord who walks in His way. Blessed is everyone who is trusting in Jesus Christ for salvation. Because apart from Him, you're not blessed. And hold fast to Christ, not only to save you, but also to sanctify you, to work through you, to make you holy as He is holy, praying to our Father for all that you need, striving to keep step with the Holy Spirit with all that you have. And this is the promise for you. Blessed shall be your labor and your family. And finally, blessed be the people of God. Receive by faith, right here, right now, this benediction from your God as your own. The Lord, bless you from Zion. Peace be upon the Israel of God. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we come this morning thankful for your word that has spoken so richly to us. Showing us that in ourselves there is nothing for which we would be blessed, but that in Jesus Christ we have our sufficiency and that in him we know all your blessings. All your promises are yes and amen in him and they are for us, your people. So Lord, help us to live going forward more and more with this awareness. This is who we are. This is what we have. This is what you're doing. That we might give ourselves to it, Lord, with all that we have. Asking you for all that we need. And trusting that you are faithful to your promises. That you will bless and are blessing your church, even here, even now. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.