Psalms of Ascent - Psalm 120

[0:00] Thank you, team. Thank you, Josh, for leading us in worship and Whit and Emily. My name is Eric. I am one of the pastors here as well, and it's my privilege to open up the Word with us today. So we're going to be in Psalm 120, as Emily just read Psalm 120 this morning. And as you're turning there into Psalm 120, I just want to give us a backdrop here of what we're doing in this sermon series. So you'll see graphic up here, send to God together, Psalm 120 to 134. This summer we are going to be embarking on a sermon series on the Psalm of Ascends. Now what are the Psalm of Ascends? We're going to talk about that in a second. But one of the things I love about this artwork is that you see a mountain and you see this yellow circle, which represents the holiness of God, God's presence up on the mountain, up high and exalted and elevated, and his people go up to worship in his presence. The Psalm of Ascends, we've entitled this Ascend to God Together because that is what these psalms are all about. So I'm going to give us a background into what the Psalms of Ascends are and then we're going to work through the first one, which is Psalm 120. Simply put, the Psalms of Ascends are a collection of literal musical songs that all begin with the superscription. You'll notice in your Bible, regardless of the translation, you'll see something there in the very top and it says, a song of ascends. Now one of the things I want to just remind us of right off the bat is that those superscriptions in the Psalms are actually inspired. Those are in the original language. God intended for that superscription to be there.

[1:59] Now the headings in our Bible are not inspired. So in mine it says, deliver me, O Lord. That's what the translators of the ESV put in to describe the Psalm. But the little superscription that's right above your first verse is inspired. So you'll see a song of ascent is one that has this heading and that's Psalm 120 to 134. Now four of these Psalms of Ascent were written by King David.

[2:23] One was written by his son Solomon and the remaining 10 are anonymous. What's the story behind the Psalms of Ascent? Why are they so special? The original purpose and historical significance of the Psalms of Ascent are kind of debated, but at the end of the day, we do know what the purpose of these really were. One of the reasons that the Psalms of Ascent are used today and remembered today is because they were sung by worshipers of God as they went up to the literal temple in Jerusalem. And as they would go up to the temple of Jerusalem, they would sing these songs. But there's even another understanding of how they're used. This is one of those little nuanced views. And to this day, it's believed by the Jews in Israel and elsewhere, but also by many Christians, that there were 15 steps that led from the outer court called the court of women up into the inner, the second inner court, which is called the court of the Israelites. And the court of the women to the court of the Israelites was 15 literal steps to the top. And it's in Jewish tradition still to this day, they still do this, that as they take a step on one step, they sing the entire

[3:37] Psalm 120. They take another step, they sing 121 and on and on. It's believed that that was the practice potentially of priests as they would go into the temple to lead worship. But regardless of either of these views, one thing is clear, that God's people collectively sang these songs of worship as they went to his temple. They ascended to God together to sing.

[4:12] What's also amazing is that these Psalms of Ascent were actually sung during the three major feasts of Israel, booths, Pentecost, and Passover. And here's what's so amazing about that fact that helps us understand this whole genre of scripture, the Psalms of Ascent. It's this, that these songs, 120 to 134, were traditionally recited at the Feast of Tabernacles, all of them. There was a day in that week where the Israelites would come together and they would sing from 120 to 134 from start to finish, all of them together. Well, what is the Feast of Tabernacles? Why is that important? Why did they sing it in that feast? Well, this is actually really important. The Feast of Tabernacles, or booths, happened in the autumn, and the Feast of Tabernacles commemorated God's care of his people when they wandered in the wilderness.

[5:07] Why does that matter? Because at the end of the day, the Psalms of Ascent are songs of a pilgrim.

[5:19] They're songs of people who are traveling from one land that they are not calling home, that they feel foreigners in, to another land where they feel home, which is in the presence of God.

[5:33] So just as Israel wandered in the wilderness and wondered when they would be able to leave the wilderness and go to where God's promised land was, so too the people would sing in the Feast of Booths and remember that we are not home now until we're home with God. And so literally to ascend, when you see the superscription that says ascent, the word ascend means to physically go up.

[5:58] But it's not just physical. The application of this concept of ascending to God is also understood spiritually as our hearts go up to God in worship. We ascend to him. Well, why are these relevant to us today? Why is Psalm 120 to 134, this little collection, why does it matter to us today?

[6:17] Because the entirety of this collection conveys a spiritual journey from start to finish. There is a starting place, there's a destination in mind, and there's an arrival at that destination.

[6:31] For an example, Psalm 120 that we're going to look at today, it tells us where we're at. Psalm 120 says, In other words, where we're at when the Psalms of Ascent start is far from God. We're not near God.

[6:58] But then we're told where we need to go. In Psalm 122, as it progresses, which we'll see in a few weeks, Psalm 122 says this, So where are the people trying to go in their spiritual pilgrimage together? To Jerusalem.

[7:14] Let's go to where the Lord is. But then finally, the arrival at the destination, which Psalm 134 clearly portrays as the final Psalm in this collection, because it says this, In other words, they made it. The last Psalm, they're there, they're looking in the temple, and they see the Levites and the priests doing their worship to God. They've made it to the temple.

[7:39] Psalms of Ascent is about a pilgrimage, a spiritual journey of God's people from the place of abandonment and loss. They themselves leave there, and they go to the place where God is. It's a spiritual journey.

[7:55] And so that's why we're going to study it this summer, is because we are, too, as a church, we are on a spiritual journey, and we are journeying to where God is. Well, for Jerusalem, that was in the temple. For the Israelites, they needed to go physically to Jerusalem to worship God. For Jerusalem, the temple of God is the place where God's Spirit dwelled, His presence dwelled. For Jerusalem and Israel, that city is called God's holy city.

[8:25] But for us today, because the veil has been torn and Jesus has done a great work, we can worship God in heart, soul, mind, and body anywhere. And so our hearts ascend to God in the same manner. We go up to worship Him. The central idea behind the Psalms of Ascent is that God's people are on a journey in which the high and exalted God of the universe is the destination.

[8:55] It is first and foremost about God's people arising in worship on their way up to God's holy dwelling place. And so because we are a collective people of God here today as a church, seeking to worship Him in His presence, we recognize together that as a unified church body, we get the privilege of ascending to God in worship. So let's look at Psalm 120. We're going to start off this morning with the very first Psalm. It's short, it's quick, and I'll even use the word it's abrupt. You might have read this or Emily did a great job reading, but as you're listening, you're probably like, wow, that's the first one.

[9:34] It's quick, it's harsh, it's all these things, but there's a lot of beauty in all of that that I'm excited to pull out with you today. So Psalm 120, we're going to read it again here, but I want to ask a question quickly, and it's this. Have you ever felt unknown or out of place in life?

[9:58] Have you ever felt like the current circumstance that you're in either now or in the past, you look back, you say, I did not belong there. It was uncomfortable. I felt like it needed to be somewhere else. Well, Psalm 120 is for you, or more appropriately for all of us who know what it's like to be out of place. Psalm 120 is the beginning of the Psalms of Ascent because it describes the feeling of being far from God and far from His people and far from His temple in a foreign place.

[10:33] It describes the feeling of an individual who is being oppressed by the evil words and deeds of a foreign godless people and the desire to be close to God again and away from that distress. So let's read Psalm 120 together.

[10:50] 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.

[11:05] 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.

[11:18] Well, verse 1 gives us our application this morning. And typically, I'm going to give this as a secret of the preaching world. Maybe you already know this, you've discerned this, but typically in preaching, you want to take your application and work it through to the end and say, this is what we're called to do. Psalm 120 doesn't do that for us. So I'm going to give you your application up front and we're going to talk about it again at the end. But here's your application right off the bat because Psalm 120 gives it to us. In your distress, call to the Lord.

[11:56] In your distress, call to the Lord. It is significant that in this verse, the past tense is used three times. In my distress, I called to the Lord and He answered me, which is fascinating because this seems to be an individual Psalm. It's written by an individual most likely. Or it's also probably from the perspective of all of Israel that someone wrote for the whole group to identify with, a single perspective. And here's the single perspective. We're in a foreign place. I'm not in the place of God. But in the very top of the Psalm, here's the recognition. I called to God and He had answered me in the past. That's what it's saying. And so again, the perspective is, I long for Him and I will call upon Him again. But here's why the past tense is so beautiful, church.

[12:48] The past tense is so beautiful in this context because it tells us that the person that wrote this Psalm or the collective body that's in, that's entreating God with this Psalm, they believe God to be faithful. He did answer when I called. And the expectation is that we will continue to call. So hold on to that application. We're going to come back in a bit. Let's move on to verse two here. This is where the Psalm really takes on its shape and its form for us today.

[13:20] Deliver me, O Lord, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue. And immediately we find ourselves in a distressed environment.

[13:38] The writer of the Psalm identifies their circumstance as one of verbal violence. Verbal violence.

[13:50] The best way to interpret these two ideas here, lying lips in a deceitful tongue, is verbal violence. The psalmist finds themselves, or collectively Israel finds themselves in this psalm, in a symbolic place of hatred, evil, slander, corrupt talk, violent words from the culture around them.

[14:22] And the main affliction of the heathen land on God's holy people when they don't dwell with him, but are instead in a heathen land, is slanderous words. Lying, deceitful words.

[14:40] And the reality that we see in verse two is that living in a broken world means that we experience this deceitful and violent speech, and we too are perpetrators of this, apart from God.

[14:52] Our hearts often find themselves far from God in this life. And it's experienced like this that remind us of that. That we live in a world that loves lies, that loves deceit, because the father of this world, Satan, is the father of lies, and is the deceiver from the beginning of time, ongoing.

[15:18] That is his role, to deceive, to lie, and to be violent with words. And the heathen culture that does not believe in God, does not embrace him as true, does not recognize his presence, and his omniscience, and sovereignty over all things, forever and ever, that one who believes those things, deceives the world into also godless living.

[15:42] And we see godless living here. So much so that the psalmist says, Lord, deliver me from this. Which moves us into verse three. Three and four are stanzas here collectively, so I'll read them together.

[15:57] 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. Now this is interesting. This can be a little interesting, or hard to decipher what's going on, who's speaking, and is there a judgment being pronounced, or is this what the people are saying to the psalmist?

[16:16] And I'm going to clear this up. It was kind of confusing for me as well. Here's what's happening. This is the response of the victim, the psalmist, and the way that the psalmist responds as the victim to these violent words, this violent culture around him, is to cast a judgment against that violent speech.

[16:37] And here's the judgment, that God will give due what is owed. And there's two illustrations being used here. What shall be given to you? What more shall be done to you, violent, verbal violent people?

[16:50] And here it is. Two things. A warrior's sharp arrows, and glowing coals of the broom tree, which are both symbols of God's righteous judgment on verbal violence. And this is interesting illustrations.

[17:04] First, you've got the fire of, or excuse me, the sharp arrows of God's word against them. And oftentimes, sharp objects, but especially projectiles, in the Old Testament, refer to words being spoken.

[17:22] All through the Proverbs and the Psalms, you see words are metaphorically related as arrows or sharp objects. And here's the truth behind this one.

[17:34] The judgment upon the verbal violence of the world around the psalmist is this. That God will send his arrows of truth and conviction into those people's lives.

[17:45] And he will break apart their violent words. Now in the book of Revelation, at the end of all things, there's a picture of Jesus, and he's on a white horse. He's got a tattoo on his thigh.

[17:56] He's got the blood-dipped robe. It's an amazing picture of the King and King, the Lord of Lords. What's one of the pictures that we're given? That swords protrude from his mouth and go to judge the nations.

[18:09] It's a very similar picture. That the Lord's truth are, that they proceed out of his mouth and they cut to pieces all that is not holy. But there's a second picture here and it's, this is a really interesting one.

[18:24] If you're like me, you read this and you're like, what in the world? A broom tree. Okay. I get, I've even got a picture of like Harry Potter or something. There's like a big tree and there's brooms and like all the people got stuck in it and it's like whomping wool or something like that.

[18:36] It's not what this is about. Okay. The broom tree is one of the hardest woods in the Middle East. Why does that matter? First, because the broom tree is extremely hard to cut up.

[18:49] To chop a broom tree down is no fun. Especially if you don't have chainsaws. Then to make kindling out of broom tree wood is extremely difficult. Because again, very hard wood.

[19:02] And in this day and age, in the Middle Eastern culture here, in this time and place, this type of wood is known for something. And you have to think through this.

[19:13] Hard wood means that it burns a long time. If you take a piece of maple and you take a piece of pine, maple being a hard wood or something even better, something even harder, let's go with like walnut, very hard.

[19:26] And you take a piece of pine, you put them both and you douse them with the same amount of lighter fluid and you set them on fire. Which of those two is going to go quicker? The pine. It's not going to be close. The hardwood is going to last three, four, five times as long.

[19:39] The broom tree is one of the longest burning woods there is. Here's the picture. With glowing coals of the broom tree, as it heats up, the coals continue to stay and be hot.

[19:51] It's a picture of the longevity of God's wrath and judgment on unholiness. Literally, a clear picture of God's long and perfect justice on all that is unholy and wicked are coals of the broom tree.

[20:11] It's a metaphor that God's judgment will go into eternity on that which is unholy. So then we move into verse five and this is where I really want to spend a little bit of time with you guys.

[20:24] It says this, the psalmist returns back to his own state and inward looking and he says this, woe to me that I sojourn in Meshach that I dwell among the tents of Kedar.

[20:36] And this is where it gets really interesting. We have a slide here if you throw that up real quick. Hopefully you can see this okay. So this is the known world if you will, especially at the time the psalms were written.

[20:52] This is pretty much the whole world. Very little is known outside of this at the time the psalm was written. Here's Jerusalem. It's probably, looks familiar. Oh yeah, up the Mediterranean Sea right there.

[21:03] Here's Meshach. Here's Kedar. Meshach and Kedar are rough terms for geographical regions of the day. And these two regions have people, the Meshachites and the Kedarites, and they were known, they had a reputation in the Old Testament.

[21:24] They're quoted by two different major prophets who pronounce judgment on these two groups of people. But not only the people, which we'll talk about in a second, I want you to notice the geographic distance from Jerusalem.

[21:37] What's happening here is a poetic image. Now we have to interpret the Bible as it's interpreted through its genre. The psalms are meant to be interpreted poetically, which means that oftentimes if you read the psalm with a magnifying glass and you say, well, this is literally not the case.

[21:56] That can't be true. God's word is, no. Poetry takes on images and symbols and meaning that goes into a poetic realm and that's what's happening here. If we took a literal interpretation to verse five here, it would be impossible that an individual could both live, back, sorry, to the slide, that could both live in both these places at the same time.

[22:19] Can't happen. Woe to me that I am in both places. Instead, what's happening is a poetic image and here's what it is. Both Meshach and Kedar are foreign, distant lands from Jerusalem and they likely typify the sojourner experience.

[22:39] A sojourner is one who's away from their environment. They feel out of place with where they're at. And the eye of the psalm, of Israel, the singular person writing it, it's personified here.

[22:56] Two names summarize the Gentile world, the heathen world far and near. And it is Kedar and Meshach. Now, Kedar is roughly 400 miles from Jerusalem in the Arabian Peninsula and Meshach is roughly 500 miles north of Jerusalem, around the bend there, in modern-day Turkey.

[23:18] and Psalm 120 begins by identifying the psalmist and God's people as those that are far from the temple.

[23:30] Distant lands. Literally, Meshach and Kedar were representative at the time the psalm was written of the most distant lands from Jerusalem. Far.

[23:41] As far away as they could think, Meshach and Kedar. Approximately, these places are a thousand miles away from each other as well. But not only this, the people of Meshach and Ezekiel, Ezekiel calls the people of Meshach the following, Meshach and all of her multitude, her graves all around it, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, for they spread their terror in the land of the living.

[24:06] So that's what Ezekiel pronounces judgment on. They spread their terror in the land of the living. And then we have Isaiah, another major prophet, he speaks to the Kedarites and he says this, Thus the Lord said to me within a year, according to the years that have a hired worker, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end and the remainder of the archers of the mighty man of the son of Kedar will be few for the Lord of God of Israel is spoken.

[24:28] The Kedarites were known for inflicting damage on people as archers and they were wicked and they thought they had glory. Isn't that ironic that the archers are the ones that are going to receive the arrows of God?

[24:40] That's intentional. Poetic. So what do we have? We have this. In verse 5, we have the sojourner experience. Now sojourn carries with it the connotation of being an alien or one who is unknown and out of place.

[24:58] And this individual writes from the perspective of one who feels not at home but in a foreign land. To be a sojourner is to be one who feels unknown and out of place.

[25:14] Moses in the Old Testament knew what this was like. He, through an amazing set of divine deliverance, he was raised in an Egyptian household as a Hebrew and as he grew up, he realized that he was not an Egyptian but a Hebrew.

[25:29] And as he came to this realization, he flees to save his own life because he killed somebody and here's what happens. He goes into the wilderness, he marries a woman named Zipporah and it says this, that Zipporah gave birth to a son and he called, Moses called his son's name Gershom for he said, I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.

[25:53] Moses knew what it was like to be out of place. Egypt is not my home. Moses knew my home was with the Lord and the promised land that he promised our fathers.

[26:04] So Moses names his firstborn son Sojourner to remind himself and his son that we do not belong any place that is not with God.

[26:15] Do you ever feel unknown or out of place like Moses did? Do you ever feel like a sojourner? I'll give you a couple examples of what it might feel like practically for us to identify with being a sojourner participating in a new student orientation week at a college across the country as a freshman.

[26:32] I've never done that. Remember the first time I went to Seattle? Never been there. My parents were like, I love them but they were like new student orientation? Alright, see you later. I knew nobody. It was so overwhelming.

[26:44] I felt out of place. This is not my home. How about at your first formal dinner with your significant other's extended family? Yeah, I remember my first time. Driving down to Colfax had a dinner with Brooke's parents.

[26:58] Very different family culture from mine. Extremely to the point where I'm like, I don't belong here. This is crazy. Sojourner experience in some sense. Or we can get more practical and more real.

[27:09] Seeking refuge and shelter as a refugee fleeing from your war-torn dangerous country of birth. I don't belong here but I know I can't go home. I feel out of place.

[27:22] Think back on times in your life where you felt unknown and out of place. You felt like a sojourner. How did you feel? What did you long for? For me, when I was a member of the Seattle Pacific men's basketball team for three years, I felt like I was dwelling in Meshach and dwelling in Kedar.

[27:40] The guys in that team were friends to an extent but the culture was verbal violence. It was a culture that I had not been accustomed to. A culture that demeans the name of Christ.

[27:52] A culture that takes pride and joy in all sorts of godless living and lifestyles. That I was constantly being pulled in and having to make a decision.

[28:03] Will you participate or won't you? It felt like an experience. I don't belong in this culture and I struggled with that and I think in some ways I failed to love my teammates because I didn't know what to do.

[28:18] We all have places in our lives that we find ourselves far from God's dwelling place. Secular workplaces oftentimes carry with them the experience of being a sojourner. Like something doesn't belong.

[28:34] And at their core a sojourner is one who says I don't belong here. Which is why in verse 6 he doubles down by saying this Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace.

[28:48] Too long. Too long have I been far from God. Too long have I been in this violent place where I don't belong. And then we have the last section here which is peace.

[29:08] I am for peace but when I speak they are for war. Now peace the word here is shalom. It's much used it's much known. And this word is a condition of wholeness or goodness.

[29:21] One scholar says the following it is the at oneness that makes for goodness. That's shalom. Peace. And this sojourner says this I am for that wholeness goodness peace.

[29:39] And this is where we come to our our idea for this morning our takeaway that earthly sojourners in a world of violence long for God's peaceful presence.

[29:52] Earthly sojourners in a world of violence long for God's peaceful presence. peace. And this person identifies themselves as one who seeks to make peace.

[30:05] Which is in conjunction and in compliment to what Jesus says in the New Testament that blessed are the peacemakers. We have to ask the question from where do we get our identity to in love peace and to make it and to bring it into every phase and aspect of our lives.

[30:25] Where does it come from? Is it of me? No. My wicked evil heart without Christ will seek violence. Where does it come from? It comes from God Himself.

[30:37] The source of peace for every human heart that stirs with the violence of the world. And here's where true shalom comes from church. Christ.

[30:50] Christ has brought us peace with God through His atoning death. Peace is what defines the dwelling place of God as well as the people of God who have been brought unto the Holy Father through a sacrifice.

[31:05] Jesus, the one that propitiates, that makes a way on behalf of God's people who were once far off, identified with wickedness and violence and all of these things we see of the Chetanites and the Mechicites.

[31:18] Those people who once were like this, Jesus brings near through His peaceful atonement. He stands in the place and makes it that sinner and God can be at one.

[31:32] Peace. That's why Romans 5.1 says, Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

[31:44] This is also why Jesus says in John 14.27, Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

[31:58] So what about application? Let's return now back to Psalm 120 verse 1. In my distress, I called to the Lord and He answered me. What is the distress mentioned here by the sojourner?

[32:13] The distress that he feels or she feels is being in a foreign land instead of God's temple. So, the sojourner knows where to go.

[32:25] To the Lord. To the Lord. And this is where our wicked hearts can turn so quickly. When we feel we're out of place, we feel like a sojourner, we don't belong where we're at, and we feel as though something is wrong, and we must return to the Lord so quickly, my heart at least can turn.

[32:46] And instead of looking to God, to go back to Him and His peaceful presence that Christ has made possible through that life, death, resurrection, I turn to my own ways.

[32:58] Imagine traveling without a destination. Now, some of you may enjoy that notion. I'm going to go on a journey, I'm going to find what I'm looking for, I don't know where it's going to end, until the destination is horribly disappointing.

[33:13] Well, the Star Trek USS Enterprise perfectly embodies this worldview. Here it is, ready? Space, the final frontier. Now, if you're like 40 or older, you're like lived through the Star Trek generation.

[33:25] Space, the final frontier, these are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise and its five-year mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life, new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before. For the sojourner, sometimes it can feel like, well, I've got to find my way somewhere.

[33:43] I'm out of place, I've got to go somewhere. Is the end of man to endlessly explore, to endlessly seek, to discover new things, to journey into the darkness of the unknown for eternity?

[33:54] I was listening to a podcast recently, which Elon Musk, who's trying to get to all places around the galaxy, starting with Mars, he recently was asked, what's your motivation to keep pushing the boundaries of space exploration?

[34:04] To which he replied this, the more we expand the scope and scale of consciousness, the more we are able to understand the reality that we live in, the nature of the universe. In other words, the point of life is to expand boundaries and understand the universe.

[34:21] As thrilling as an exciting, as spontaneous, endless, knowledge-gaining journey can be, I want to encourage you this morning, that is not the Christian experience that God invites us into.

[34:34] Here's why. God is not inviting mankind to go out and try and discover him through ingenuity or prowess. instead, he has already revealed himself fully to us and shown us true reality that this, the kingship of Jesus and his eternal kingdom of glory, it's made known now.

[34:57] No discovery needed. Here it is. Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And it is when we feel a sojourner in a distant, far world that we need to remember this.

[35:13] This is why the psalmist says, I, in my distress as a sojourner far from your temple, far from you, I cried out. The sojourner here models for us what we do when we feel out of place in life.

[35:27] We call to God because in him only is true peace found. And the sojourner knows, I got to go to God, for he is my peace.

[35:37] The great privilege of the Christian is that our destination sets our vision. We have a perpetual hope in one day dwelling with God in fullness that we redirect our eyes and we shape our perspectives to.

[35:52] The world does not have the hope. Eternal sojourning is the world view of the day to continue to journey endlessly. Instead, the Christian, their journey is only toward Christ.

[36:05] Christ, we travel to him on his holy mount together. And this is what it means to be a sojourner on this earth. At their core, a sojourner is one that says, I don't belong, I have somewhere better.

[36:17] Which is why I want to read to you finally Hebrews 11, 13, 16. Listen to these words. Speaking about all of the men and women of the faith. These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, having seen them and greeted them from afar and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles.

[36:34] Same word, sojourners on earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they're seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land which they had gone out, they would have an opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country that is a heavenly one.

[36:49] Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. In other words, earthly sojourners in a world of violence long for God's peaceful presence.

[37:00] So look to Jesus, church. He is God's perfect embodiment of peace to us and for us. We are sojourners on this earth.

[37:14] And we will never feel truly at home until we set our eyes on Jesus and find our rest in him.

[37:29] When you feel like a sojourner, look to the one that brought you close to the Father. Father, when you feel like the road of life is untamed, wild, and open-ended, redirect your gaze to heaven where true peace is found. We may be sojourners here and now, but not for eternity.

[37:44] We will finally be where we truly belong, in the arms of Jesus, fully known and fully at peace. verse 1 and 1 and 2 and 3.

[38:04] Sunday and then next one we