Do please open your Bibles this evening to the Psalms, to Psalm 120, if you open your Bible in half it should be about right there, page 655 in the Pew Bible. Tonight we begin a new series through 15 Psalms, Psalm 120 through 134. Each of them identified in your Bibles as a song of ascent. Each year, all the men of Israel were commanded to appear before the Lord in His house, to make pilgrimages there for three feasts that we remember as the Passover, Pentecost, and the Day of Atonement. And all the pilgrims, the men for sure, and any families that attended them would sing these songs on the way. From where they lived, up Mount Zion to the house of the Lord in the city of Jerusalem, to the temple. We're told in Luke chapter 2 that Jesus, Mary, and Joseph took this pilgrimage every year for the Passover, and we are safe to, I believe, conclude that they sang these songs on their way. At the end of their journey, as they entered the city gates and made their way to the temple courts, we might think of the priests joining them to sing with them, to perhaps sing to them these songs, to usher people of God into the presence of the Lord. And in this series, we're going to move in sequence from 120 through 134, and along the way, we're going to see movement. Tonight in Psalm 120, we see the people sojourning away from the house of God. In Psalm 122, we find them standing within the gates of Jerusalem. In Psalm 132, we find them involved in participating in the worship of the Lord in His temple courts. Now that Christ has come, these psalms have been fulfilled. All that they point forward to has been fulfilled in Him. And these now belong to us, His people, in the New Testament. And as we heard and were reminded this morning, as those who are joined to Christ through faith, we've already come to the Mount Zion, the heavenly Mount Zion, the city of God, Jerusalem. The assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven. We're already in the presence of our Lord in the heavenly Jerusalem through faith in Christ. And yet, We still are body bound in this world, which is not our home. Still making our way for that final ascent. Body and soul to stand with our Lord there. And so along the way we are those who long for that day. Long for the consummation of all things, the perfection of all things, the making right of all things, what the Hebrews would call shalom, peace. Not just an absence of conflict, but a harmony of all. The way it was designed and created to be, and we long for that day. And that's where we're going. But in the meantime, we're like exiles in this world. We are sojourners in this world. We are resident aliens, pilgrims on our way. And we begin tonight in Psalm 120 where we are. In exile. Yearning for shalom. For the end of the road in the presence of God. Temporary residence cognizant, that is, aware of our distress. Called for salvation. Confident of God's justice. And to carry on toward home. Looking forward to that day. So hear now this word of God from Psalm 120. Psalm 120, a song of ascents. In my distress I called to the Lord and he answered me. Deliver me, O Lord, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue. What shall be given to you, and what more shall be done to you, you deceitful tongue? A warrior's sharp arrows, with glowing coals of the broom tree. Woe to me that I sojourn in Meshach, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar. Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace. I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war. Here ends the reading of God's Word. Well, this psalm is all packaged up in verse 1 and it unfolds throughout the rest. Verse 1, in my distress I called to the Lord and He answered me. In my distress, he describes in verses 2 and then 5 through 7. We understand his distress there. I call to the Lord with the prayer of verse 2. He answered me with the promise of verses 3 and 4. That's how we're going to unpack this tonight. We begin with the psalmist in difficult circumstances. He's cognizant, he's aware of distress. He feels no peace, no security. He lives among people who are hostile to him in their words, if not in their deeds. At least one, if not many of them, have lying lips, a deceitful tongue. They're lying to him. Confuse his understanding to rattle his faith. They're lying about him. To ruin his reputation, to make him the object of scorn. He's not welcome there, for he is. In Psalm 64, David calls such people evildoers, who sharpen their tongues like swords and who aim bitter words like arrows. Jesus said such people are like their father, the devil. A murderer from the beginning, a liar and the father of lies. And their attacks are like those of their father, as Paul describes in Ephesians 6, as fiery darts. That's an unfortunate translation. Fiery arrows, weapons of war, designed to pierce through and to burn down. The psalmist had good reason to cry, woe to me, in verse 5. Woe to me. He is for peace, but he's living among people who hate peace and who are for war. He's distressed. And he calls to mind two nations to picture for us the kind of pressure he's feeling. He uses them as metaphors for those who have lying lips and a deceitful tongue. the nation of Meshach, and the nation of Kedar. I sojourn in Meshach. I dwell among the tents of Kedar. We take these as pictures because these places are so far apart that the psalmist would not likely live in one or the other, and certainly not in both. But when we recognize what the Scripture tells us about them, they're apt pictures for the kind of attacks he's feeling from the mouths of his neighbors. both of these nations were known for their archers as weapons of war they made them mighty in war both were known for that in the scriptures also both would be judged by God for their attacks against his people they were enemies of God and so in Ezekiel 39 and Isaiah 21 we hear about the Lord's judgment on these nations and it's interesting that they're judged in a way that they lose their archers they lose their bow and arrows They lose their mighty archers for war. They are undone of their power. And we see the picture he wants us to have in mind. I'm under attack by deadly enemies in my own neighborhood from their own mouths. How do we relate to this psalmist's distress? Well, we can certainly relate personally and morally. Personally, we know that words can hurt longer and more deeply than sticks and stones. We know that they can linger and leave not a mark. And we know morally from God's law that it's wrong, that it's sinful to use our words in this way, to destroy someone's reputation by false testimony, to murder someone in our heart and to express it from our mouths. We know, and we can relate to those. We've been the recipient of both. We've been the deliverers of both. But do we relate to those attacks that come against the people of God because they belong to God? Do we relate to being under attack for the cause of Christ? To be known as one of his people in the midst of his enemies? Israel as a nation chosen by God knew this distress. To attack Israel was to attack the Lord. To attack the psalmist, one who believed in the Lord, was to attack the Lord in whom he believed. And so the psalmist's distress is not simply that he's hearing harsh words against him. He's distressed because he's hearing words that are aimed at him and the Lord that he serves, the Lord that he loves. He's distressed like David was distressed at the words of Goliath taunting the armies of Israel. Because to taunt the armies of Israel was to taunt the Lord their God. Jesus Christ, the true Israel of God, came into this world and he endured all that this psalmist foreshadows. All that we see here that's displayed poetically is a picture of what he would endure in his life. The psalmist's distress was born by Jesus from lying lips and deceitful tongues throughout his life, even unto death. The laundry list of all those words is too long to recount, but we just look to the night in which he was betrayed and we see both. We see at his trial, so-called, the false witnesses that were brought forward to accuse him. And we see outside the courtroom his disciples, who hours earlier said, Lord, I will never fall away. And three times he denied him. Jesus knows this distress. He came to face this distress. He came to bear this distress that we ourselves caused him. He came to pay for this distress. And through faith in Jesus, we are joined to Him. We are His church. We are His people. And to attack the church is to attack Jesus. To attack a Christian is to attack Jesus. That's Saul discovered on the road to Damascus. Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? And so as His people, Jesus warned us that we would face this kind of assault. He told us in John 15, if the world hates you, know that the world hated me before it hated you. And if they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. The apostles Peter and John also said, we ought not be surprised to have this kind of distress in this world. Are you distressed by such attacks? Are you distressed by lying lips and a deceiving tongue because you belong to Jesus? I suspect that most of us feel little of that distress in our time and in our place, at least for now. But if we have our eyes open at all and our ears open at all, we are aware that our brothers and sisters around the world are under this distress all the time. Not only in words, but in deeds, even to the cost of their life. Are you distressed by this attack? The psalmist was distressed. And in his distress, he called for salvation. He cried out to the Lord. Deliver me. Is that the first thing that we do when we're distressed by the attacks against Christ and his church? Or are we tempted like Peter? I hate to pick on Peter, but he's a good guy to see ourselves in. Are we tempted like Peter who repaid evil with evil when they came to arrest Jesus? He pulled out a sword and cut off an ear. Are we tempted like Peter who cowered in fear when he was called out as a disciple and he said, No, I never knew the man. Or are we tempted like Israel to go to others to get what we're after, to bring deliverance through men, mortal men who cannot save. What do we do under this distress? Do we cry out to God or do we seek other ways? The psalmist says he cried out to God. He entrusted himself to the Lord and he called out for salvation. I called to the Lord, deliver me. Oh Lord, deliver me, save me. He called on the God who had made covenant with him as a person of Israel, as a child of God now, who made covenant with Israel to be their God and for him to be his people. He cried out to the God who promised to hear from heaven and to answer the prayers of his people. And so trusting in Yahweh's covenant love, his faithfulness to his promises, he's almost prayed, deliver me, O Lord. Deliver me from lying lips and deceitful tongue. Save me. Get me out of here. Get us out of here. set me free, bring me home. I want to know your peace that passes understanding. I want freedom from this turmoil. In his response to this attack, we hear echoes of Isaiah 53 that anticipate how Jesus would respond to these attacks. When he was oppressed and he was afflicted, he opened not his mouth. He did not retaliate. As Peter describes in chapter 2 of his first letter, when he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten. Instead, what did Jesus do? As the psalmist pictured, he would do. He entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. He trusted in God, his Father, to make things right. And Peter goes on in that chapter to say that those for whom Christ suffered and died, we have been called to follow Jesus' example. And he says, this is a gracious thing. When mindful of God, to entrust ourselves to God, to endure sorrows when suffering unjustly. And as the people of God who are joined to Christ by faith, as we grow in this mindfulness of God, as we grow in entrusting ourselves to the one who judges justly, we grow more eager, more apt, more quickly to cry out to God in our distress. the psalmist's prayer of faith was answered. Immediately, it seems, in verse 2, I called to the Lord and He answered me. The answer makes the psalmist confident in God's justice. Why is that? Because the Lord answered with the promise that He was bringing judgment on His enemy. I'm going to answer your prayer. I'm going to bring judgment on those who afflict you. And he promised to bring judgment by what we understand as strict justice, no mercy, to pay back in kind for everything that these attackers would do to his people. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. In verses 3 and 4, the psalmist announced to his attackers the judgment that they were bringing upon themselves by their attacks on God's people. It's kind of hidden from us. The lying lips and a deceitful tongue had uttered an oath when they made these threats, when they made these attacks. They'd uttered an oath. An oath that is intended to bring back on themselves everything they threaten if they don't carry it through. As children, we did this before I knew what I was doing. Cross my heart and hope to die. If what I say does not come about, cross my heart, hope to die. Well, the pagans will say, so may the gods do to me, and more also, if. Men, if I don't do to you all that I've said I'm going to do to you, if I don't carry through every one of my threats and accomplishment against you, may the gods do to me all that I've said and more. This is the kind of oath James warned against me. Well, they prayed to idols that have no ears to hear, but Yahweh heard. The Lord God, His people heard, and He answered them according to their very words. He echoed back their oath in the question, What shall be given to you? And what more shall be done to you? You deceitful tongue. You asked for it. You got it. And he echoed back their hostile words in the answer, a warrior's sharp arrows with glowing coals of the broom tree. It's kind of cryptic to us. What he's picturing here are weapons of war, the weapons of Kedar, the weapons of Pichek, the weapons of archers that would deliver burning coals over the walls onto the heads of their enemies. And so in answer to their deceitful words, shot like arrows from lying lips. The Lord delivered true words, shot like arrows from His divine hand. Mighty warrior to deliver burning coals of judgment down on their heads. Strict justice. Poetic justice. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. I will repay. That's the promise that the psalmist was given when he cried out to the Lord to deliver me. And whatever judgment the Lord may have brought in time and in space to the answer of this prayer. It was just a picture. It was a foreshadowing of the final judgment that the Lord is going to bring against all of his enemies. Jesus Christ came into this world to save the enemies of God who will repent and believe on him. He came into this world to take to himself this judgment. Divine arrows, a burning coal. And he would take them for his people to the cross. And there he would suffer this judgment for all who will trust him. Apart from him, this is the judgment that comes. Apart from him, this is what all men will endure. So today, if you've called out to him and you've called out to him alone to save you, deliver me, O Lord, you can know that you will never face this judgment. He's faced it for you already. And so in Him, according to His promise, we no longer are waiting for the judgment to come. We're waiting for our Savior to come and usher us into the new heavens, the new earth, to shalom, to peace of God. And we wait for that day. We wait for that day when our faith will be sighted. And as we do, we carry on toward our heavenly home. We carry on persevering in a world that is not our home. Which is where we find the psalmist still in verses 5, 6, and 7. We find the psalmist who called to the Lord in his distress. The psalmist who has answered with the encouraging word of the promise of judgment to come. We find the psalmist still living, sojourning amongst the enemies of God. Still in the world. Too long have I had my dwelling among them that hate peace. Too long. The opposition continues. And it will continue until that day. The psalmist says, I am for peace. After all the people of God who have been given peace with God through faith in Christ and were called to peace with one another and even with our neighbors, even with our enemies. I am for peace, and yet he is as we are still yearning for that peace of God that is yet to come. But living among those who hate peace and are for war. Therefore, as we carry on toward home, as we carry on toward shalom, we do so along the narrow way of peace. We are for peace not just with our words, we are for peace in how we live. And that narrow way is the way between two ditches. Two ditches that we're warned against in Scripture. On the one side is the ditch of compromise. Making peace at all costs the most important thing and giving up who we are and what we stand for. The ditch of compromise that Paul warns against. Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. That John warns against. Do not love the world or the things of this world. And on the other side is the ditch. of personal vengeance. We don't go into that ditch because vengeance is mine, says the Lord. I will repay. The path of peace entrusts our life and our afflictions and our distress to the one who judges, to the one who has promised to bring in this judgment. This path of peace was commanded by Jesus and it was laid out clearly by Paul in Romans chapter 12. You know these verses. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse them. Repay no one evil for evil that you have thought to do what is honorable inside of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he's thirsty, give him something to drink. For by doing so, you will heap burning coals on his head. I hope you hear the echo of Psalm 120 right there. When we answer war with peace, hatred with love, cursing with blessing, enemies with care, They see and they hear the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives. They're given a witness to that which Christ has done for his people and they are presented with the choice of choices. Will they believe or will they wage war? And in the face of all this peace and this love, if they wage war, the promise comes. The coals that are heaped on their head are the coals that come with these arrows of war. It's the same picture. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with guilt. That's how we carry on in this life. That's how we carry on yearning for the peace that is yet to come. That's how we carry on, trusting that God will bring judgment to set it all right. To this way of peace we have been called through faith in Jesus, And for this we are equipped by the power of His Spirit. Okay, I believe you, pastor, how long? How long must we carry on? Too long, the psalmist says, that's how it feels. Too long I'm stuck in this place surrounded by my enemy. But how long is a determined time? The Lord has established from before the foundation of the world. A time that he gave the Apostle John a glimpse into in the Revelation, chapter 6. There, John reports that the souls of those who have been slain for the word of God and for the witness they have borne, they cry out with a loud voice. So, sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long? How long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? How long? Rest a little while more, they're told. Rest until the full number of the martyrs has come in. All those who will receive the attacks of God's enemies for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Those who will give their lives to this distress. When that number is full, then. That's how long. And so until then, whether that's tonight, tomorrow, A hundred years from now. A thousand years from now. Until then, we carry on toward home, step by step, day by day, encouraged by the promise that Jesus leaves us at the end of Revelation chapter 22. Behold, I am coming soon. I'm coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, my judgment, to repay each one for what he's done. Surely I'm coming soon. to which we can say only, Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. Bring us home. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the words you've given us from the psalmist tonight, the song of ascent that reminds us that we're on our way, that we are not home yet, we've not entered bodily into the peace that is ours in Jesus Christ, and you've called us and equipped us to carry on in a world that's opposed to Christ and his church. We thank you, Father, that when we cry out, you hear. Help us more and more to entrust ourselves to you who judge justly, to trust your promise that you'll set everything right. To trust Jesus when he says, I'm coming soon and bringing recompense with me. And help us, Lord, to walk this narrow way of peace, not taking matters into our own hands, not giving way to our enemies, that we might bear witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ all the way. We ask for your strength, your power, your direction from your word. In Jesus' name, amen.