Well, this morning we do continue our series through the Psalms, the Songs of Ascent, that began with Psalm 120. So please open your Bibles this morning to the Psalms, Psalm 123, which is, again, right in the middle of your Bible, page 656 in that Pew Bible. And like the rest of these Songs of Ascent, this song was sung by the Israelites as they gathered for worship of the Lord their God in Jerusalem at the temple. And we've seen ourselves together with all the saints traveling with them through these psalms. Today, however, we're going to be challenged to consider whether we can see ourselves in this psalm as easily. For too often our focus is too narrow. As individuals, we may not personally identify with being persecuted and oppressed for worshiping the one true God. That's not been our cultural experience, by and large. Probably not our personal experience, by and large. Therefore, we need this reminder from Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 that you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. There's a greater reality in belonging to Christ than we common here in our present day, and that is when we belong to Christ, we belong to each other. We belong to His body. Nowhere more closely than the body that assembles here each Lord Day, but to his body, universal, here and around the world and across the ages. And therefore Paul says to the Corinthians, if one member suffers, all suffer together. That's a statement of fact, not an urging to be compassionate. It's a statement of fact. When the church of Jesus Christ suffers someplace, the church of Jesus Christ suffers. In Psalm 123, we are called to not only recognize, but also to identify with the persecution and oppression of the church around the world. And to follow the lead of the psalmist, who shows the church that the way up, when you're fed up, is to look up. This psalm hinges on verse 3, which begins with the psalmist's prayer on behalf of many, and ends with an introduction to the reason for the prayer. So I want you to have that in mind as we read through our text this morning. Psalm 123, the word of God to us, holy and inspired, never failing. Hear it now. A song of ascents. To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, So our eyes look to the Lord, our God, till he has mercy upon us. Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us. For we have had more than enough of contempt. Our soul has had more than enough of the scorn of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud. So ends the reading of God's word. Well, we begin our sermon at the end of our text. and we approach it by remembering how it is that we feel when we're fed up. Now, most of us know what it feels like to be fed up at Thanksgiving. We can eat so much, and we get stuffed like the turkey, and we're sitting there feeling the pressure, and we're still bargaining for how we're going to get dessert. That's fed up. But imagine now how it would feel if you were force-fed. too much. Force-fed to the point of choking. And force-fed not on delicacies and delights, but on garbage from the landfill. It's a horrible picture that might revolve us and distress us in our bodies to consider. But it's the picture that we need to consider to understand and get a sense of the revulsion and the distress of the psalmist and his people, the distress of soul that they're experiencing that lifts up this psalm. The ESV translation is too tame here in verses 3 and 4. He says, for we have had enough, we've had more than enough. Our soul has had more than enough. That's true, but it just doesn't have the punch. King James gets us closer, he says, we are exceedingly filled. We're exceedingly filled, as we might say, we're fed up to hear with the contempt and the scorn of those who are at ease and are full of pride. The poll results suggest that many of you, if not most of you, are fed up with a lot of things. Fed up with the economy. Fed up with politics and politicians. With the immigration tobacco. With the health care system. With the education system. With the politically correct social agenda. You know what it's like to feel fed up. Now Psalm 123 certainly applies to how to respond when we get fed up in those ways. But it's concerned about a much greater problem. The strikes not only at our earthly disposition, but at the state of the church now and for eternity. The people of God in this psalm are fed up with contempt, derision, scorn, mockery. These are believers in Israel who have gathered together to worship their God as He's called them to worship. They're precious in His sight. And yet in the sight of the world and in some of their own brethren they're considered worthy of contempt, despicable, to be scorned, insulted, and mocked by those who are at ease and proud of everything that they have and who refuse to give thanks to God for all that He's given. Again, some of these were from outside. These are the enemies of Israel. We know that through the Scriptures. But some of these were in the nation of Israel. And these proud and easygoing people, they had life going according to plan, were ridiculing the pilgrims of God. Psalm 42 captures the impact. The psalmist writes, As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me. While they say to me all the day long, Where is your God? Well, what's the way up out from under that kind of pressure? The psalmist is going to tell us that the way up is to look up, which Israel did do from time to time until they didn't do it anymore. They preferred to go the route of lashing out, taking matters in their own hands, reaching out to others who were stronger than they to fight their fights for them, and eventually just to wait it out and run out of their own resources and they were dispersed to the nation. They failed to look up. They failed to look up and they thereby exposed the need for someone to come who would look up. For the Son of God to come, Jesus Christ in the flesh, who would endure contempt and scorn from those who are proud and at ease in this world and at always look up. The prophets foretold He would come. Psalm 22 puts Him on the cross. I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see Me mock Me. They hurl insults at Me. They wag their heads. He trusts in the Lord. Let Him deliver Him. He warned His disciples that He would be delivered over to the Gentiles, Who would mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him. And the apostles testified to how he was scorned in contempt by his own people, by Herod and his soldiers, and by the Romans who put him to death on the cross, stripped him naked to make him ashamed. And how did Jesus respond? Well, he didn't lash out. He asked the Father to forgive them, for they know not what they do. And he didn't reach out to any creature to save him. Not to any man, even Pilate, who said he had the power to save. And not even to Satan, who promised to spare him the cross, if only he would bow down and worship him. And he didn't run out of resources in himself. He came with no resources in himself. He emptied himself by becoming a man and living a life in our place that's completely dependent upon his Father in heaven. 1 Peter 2 tells us that Jesus continually looked up. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten. But what did he do? He continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He continued to entrust himself to his Father in heaven. And He did this for you. Peter says He did this for you. So that whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame. No matter what comes in this life, in the end you'll not be put to shame. And He did this to set an example for you to follow. Why? Why do we need an example? Because, dear Christian, Jesus promised that you too will face contempt and scorn for the sake of his name. He said to his disciples, I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. Indeed, Paul says, all who desire to live a godly life in Jesus Christ will be persecuted. And so here we are. today fed up with a lot of things but are we fed up with this are we fed up with the scorn of those who are at ease the contempt of those who are proud the contempt for our worship of God in Jesus Christ are you fed up with the attacks on the church around the world and the extermination of brothers and sisters for the cause of Christ. Our media and our political correct culture are hard at work to keep you from the plight of what's happening. If it makes the news that's in passing with a sigh and the spin cycle goes on and on and they're working hard to keep you paralyzed in the face of the growing contempt and scorn that's happening even here. began with name-calling of Christians, ignorant, intolerant, bigoted, homophobic. You've heard it. It's escalated to restrictions on your freedom to obey God rather than men without consequence. Our cultural gender blender is churning at high speed to cast off everything that God has said about the nature of men and women and the relationships they're to have one with another, it's happening everywhere and at a faster pace. You're seeing it now. And left unchecked, it will culminate in open persecution in the courts, in the streets, as it already has around the world. In our nation, we've enjoyed generations of relative freedom from this scorn and contempt, at least open? The curtains are drawing. Are you fed up with the scorn and contempt for the Lord Jesus Christ and the church that bears His name? How are you responding? What's the way up you've chosen? To lash out at your tormentors? Trading blow for blow, word for word, this for that. to reach out to mortal men who cannot save, to trust in legislators and judges to somehow turn it around. Or to just hang in there, baby. Maybe the Lord will bring us home or I'll go home before it all comes to an end. What's the way up? Well, the psalmist says none of the above. According to Psalm 123, the way up, when you're fed up, is to look up. As the psalmist does in verse 1. To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens. And as all the pilgrims do in verse 2, our eyes look to the Lord our God. The way up is to look up. Not to the hills, to Jerusalem, to the temple, but to God Himself. Enthroned in the heavens. Almighty in power, complete in authority, able to do all things, able to control every circumstance. He's God Almighty. Look up to the God enthroned who is our Lord, Yahweh. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who revealed himself to Moses and dwelled among Israel in the Holy of Holies. Who revealed himself to the world in the Son, Jesus Christ, who he sent here to live for his people, to die for his people, to be raised for his people, to ascend for his people to the throne and to give us the Holy Spirit that we might have life and the power to live as his people. He dwells among us, his people, and we with him, our God. The way up is to look up to the Lord our God in Jesus Christ our Savior. Hebrews chapter 12. Tells us to look to Jesus, the founder and the perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God for us. To look up to Jesus who promised that in the world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I've overcome the world. And who prayed for you saying, Our Father, I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. And who taught you to pray. Our Father, in heaven. According to verse 2, a picture for us of how we look up to Jesus. By faith we look up to Jesus in utter dependence and in perseverance. Like servants looking to their masters. This is the picture that the psalmist writes for us. Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God till he have mercy upon us. Servants in ancient Israel had nothing. They were owed nothing. They were utterly dependent on their masters. Therefore, they learned to stay near to their master, to watch his every move, to trust them, and to persevere in waiting for them, to provide for them good things from an open hand, and to provide protection against their enemies with a closed hand. They needed their master for everything. That's the picture we're given here. And so, in the same way, we, who have no resources of our own, who God owes nothing, are utterly dependent upon him for everything. even when we're pressed down, fed up with the contempt and scorn against Christ and His church. Therefore, we too are learning more and more to stay near Jesus, to study His every move as it's been revealed to us in the Scriptures, to trust Him, and to persevere in waiting on Him to provide all that we need from an open hand and to protect us from all harm with a mighty hand. And in faith, we look up to Jesus and we cry out for mercy. Have mercy upon us, O Lord. Have mercy upon us. Come quickly and bring relief. We're drowning here. Close the mouths of all who scorn your name and your church. Stay in the hands of all who oppress your people and oppose you. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Do we pray that way? Are we fed up to look up? We can trust that God will have mercy upon us when we call upon Him for mercy because according to His great mercy, He's already caused us to be born again through the resurrection of Jesus. He's already shown us mercy. And He will continue to show us mercy in Jesus Christ, our sympathetic high priest. Again, Hebrews, as we read this morning, tells us to, with confidence, draw near to the throne of grace that we may have mercy and find grace in our time of need. The door's open. The way is open. our faithful and sympathetic high priest is at the right hand, ready to hear, ready to answer and show mercy. Jesus will protect His church. Nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Even the gates of hell cannot prevail against her. Jesus will provide for His church. He's promised that when we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, All that we need will be given to us. He provides for us this morning. Feeding us through faith by the power of the Holy Spirit on His Word that's been proclaimed to you today and in the elements of this table that we'll receive in a moment. He will nourish us on Jesus Christ's own body and blood. Nourish our souls. Strengthen our faith. Equip us to more and more look up to Jesus. I know that when we're fed up, you and I often forget to look up. We can grow discouraged, and we're inclined to lash out, to reach out to others, or to give up. The psalmist has shown us that the way up when you're fed up is to look up to our merciful God and Father in Jesus Christ, our Lord, and to cry out for mercy. Proud for mercy, as did Jeremiah the prophet in Lamentations. Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall. My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They're new every morning. Great is your faith in it. Let's pray. Almighty God and Father, we thank you that this morning we can know you as a God of mercy toward us in Jesus Christ. That according to your great mercy you've set us free from our sin and our misery. You've given us life in his name. You've indwelled us by your spirit. And Lord, you equip us to know more and more our total dependence upon you in all things. We thank you for joining us to the Church of Jesus Christ. And Lord, we pray that you would open our eyes and our ears to see and to hear and understand how the Church and her members are scorned with contempt in this world. And we ask, Father, that we would be fed up so that we would look up. and that we would approach your throne of grace asking not only for ourselves, but for those who are under this reproach, that they might know your hand of goodness and that those who oppose them might know your mighty hand of opposition. We ask these things, Father, for you've shown us this in your word. We pray, believing it is your will for us. In Jesus' name, amen.