WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.240 So tonight we are continuing our series in the Psalms and we're looking at Psalm 126. 00:00:09.240 --> 00:00:15.439 Maybe a very familiar Psalm for us, and maybe possibly one that we've held on to at some 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:17.640 point in our lives. 00:00:17.640 --> 00:00:22.480 And the reason likely that we might have held on to, or the reason that we could have latched 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:28.679 on to one or two of these verses at some point in our lives is because the Psalms to do with 00:00:28.679 --> 00:00:35.519 us, it's concerned with the already and not yet, the already and not yet. 00:00:35.519 --> 00:00:41.079 So we're most likely reading a Psalm which was written after the Babylonian exile. 00:00:41.079 --> 00:00:46.039 The first party of Jews have come home, they've returned to Jerusalem. 00:00:46.039 --> 00:00:51.920 They are beside themselves with joy and excitement, but you fast forward to sometime in the future 00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:55.920 after that, after that excitement and that joy. 00:00:55.920 --> 00:01:01.320 And that's when the work begins, that's when the joy and the excitement of being released 00:01:01.320 --> 00:01:05.480 begins to weigh it off in a sense. 00:01:05.480 --> 00:01:10.200 And they have to get on with rebuilding the temple and rebuilding the community and have 00:01:10.200 --> 00:01:15.079 to get on with life and it's not easy for them to do that. 00:01:15.079 --> 00:01:20.159 They want to be able to meet with God in the temple, but work has to be done. 00:01:20.159 --> 00:01:23.680 Life has to be battled through by these people. 00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:30.440 They have been set free from their captivity, but it'll take time before everything as it 00:01:30.440 --> 00:01:31.600 is meant to be. 00:01:31.600 --> 00:01:38.640 There will be trouble before they can eventually meet with God as they want to in the temple. 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:46.640 And for us, for the one who is saved until the day that we get to be with him, there 00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:51.719 is work to be done, whether we are in the workplace, whether we are at home, whether 00:01:51.719 --> 00:01:59.519 we are building and maintaining relationships with one another, whether we are trying to 00:01:59.519 --> 00:02:02.959 be holy and failing at it and trying harder. 00:02:02.959 --> 00:02:05.719 There is work to be done, the psalmist says. 00:02:05.719 --> 00:02:09.360 And in the work, there can be tears. 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:10.360 It can be hard. 00:02:10.360 --> 00:02:11.360 It won't always be hard. 00:02:11.360 --> 00:02:14.159 It won't always be painful, but it can be hard. 00:02:14.159 --> 00:02:18.560 And it's certainly not always going to be easy. 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:22.960 Though we have been saved and brought into God's family, though we know surely about 00:02:22.960 --> 00:02:31.199 the shouts of joy that the psalmist mentions, that joy will be experienced fully and perfectly 00:02:31.199 --> 00:02:32.520 when we go to be with God. 00:02:32.520 --> 00:02:38.520 But until then, he says, we are in the already, but not yet. 00:02:38.520 --> 00:02:41.719 The Jews were set free, but they're yet to rebuild the temple. 00:02:41.719 --> 00:02:46.879 We have been set free if we belong to God and have been saved, but we're yet to know 00:02:46.879 --> 00:02:51.120 perfect peace and we're yet to be with him in eternity. 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:59.919 So between now and then, between our getting up on our rest, between our going to work 00:02:59.919 --> 00:03:06.840 and coming home, between us being saved by Jesus and at last going to be with him until 00:03:06.840 --> 00:03:10.840 then that is work to be done, the psalmist says. 00:03:10.840 --> 00:03:14.479 Whether we are building or we are waiting for others to come and join us, that it is 00:03:14.479 --> 00:03:23.039 work to be done, but the shouts of joy will be experienced again. 00:03:23.039 --> 00:03:28.599 Possibly in this life and to some extent, but more fully and completely when Jesus comes 00:03:28.599 --> 00:03:31.159 back and wipes away every tear. 00:03:31.159 --> 00:03:36.039 So what do we do between now and then? 00:03:36.039 --> 00:03:42.239 What do we do with ourselves in the already not yet, when it possibly even brings tears? 00:03:42.240 --> 00:03:44.480 What do we do? 00:03:44.480 --> 00:03:48.560 Three things tonight, just three points from the psalm. 00:03:48.560 --> 00:03:54.000 Three things that the psalmist does as he thinks about this time of returning to Jerusalem 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:56.280 and building life and getting on with it. 00:03:56.280 --> 00:04:01.400 The first thing he does, he remembers his fortune. 00:04:01.400 --> 00:04:06.400 He remembers the fortune that God has given to him. 00:04:06.400 --> 00:04:13.520 The start of this psalm is really the psalmist looking back. 00:04:13.520 --> 00:04:17.879 He's been freed from Babylon. 00:04:17.879 --> 00:04:21.399 The Jews, this first group have gone home with him. 00:04:21.399 --> 00:04:26.759 After 70 years in exile, they have been freed and they have been allowed back to where they 00:04:26.759 --> 00:04:29.519 belong. 00:04:29.519 --> 00:04:31.439 And this is described in one word. 00:04:31.439 --> 00:04:35.399 He calls it fortune or Zion's fortune, he says. 00:04:35.399 --> 00:04:40.759 And this translates literally or this phrase at the heart of it. 00:04:40.759 --> 00:04:47.599 It means to turn from something and to turn towards something else. 00:04:47.599 --> 00:04:53.199 So when you read a fortune in this sense, it means to turn or return. 00:04:53.199 --> 00:05:00.239 And when you read it here and when you look elsewhere in the Old Testament at the use 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:07.639 of this word, especially in the prophets, it's used to gait us up towards something. 00:05:07.639 --> 00:05:13.879 And for the first people to read these words or to hear them, it's gaiting them up towards 00:05:13.879 --> 00:05:14.879 something. 00:05:14.879 --> 00:05:20.879 So judgment is prophesied, we know that in the Old Testament for the Jews. 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:24.720 They have in some way said that they want to be the boss. 00:05:24.720 --> 00:05:27.800 They'll do a better job at ruling themselves than God ever did. 00:05:27.800 --> 00:05:30.720 They choose to do what they know is wrong. 00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:34.280 They choose to sin and go against what God has said. 00:05:34.280 --> 00:05:38.280 And so the prophets come and they warn these people that they're going to be judged for 00:05:38.280 --> 00:05:42.680 it and they're going to pay for it. 00:05:42.680 --> 00:05:44.160 But what else do the prophets say? 00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:45.680 What else did they bring to them? 00:05:45.680 --> 00:05:50.400 They say your fortunes will be restored. 00:05:50.400 --> 00:05:56.319 Jeremiah is one example and he uses this phrase a lot in his prophecy. 00:05:56.319 --> 00:06:01.719 Jeremiah 29, 13, you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 00:06:01.719 --> 00:06:08.800 I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes. 00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:14.039 Jeremiah 30 verse 18, that says the Lord, behold, I will restore the fortunes of the 00:06:14.039 --> 00:06:18.439 tents of Jacob and have compassion on his dwellings. 00:06:18.439 --> 00:06:23.000 Judgment is coming, but their fortunes are going to be restored. 00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:24.800 Their fortunes are going to be given back. 00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:29.800 They have disobeyed God and they will be exiled because of it. 00:06:29.800 --> 00:06:31.480 But there's going to be a great turning. 00:06:31.480 --> 00:06:36.960 There's going to be a change for these people. 00:06:36.960 --> 00:06:40.160 So look at how he describes it, how he describes this change. 00:06:40.160 --> 00:06:41.840 We were like those who dream. 00:06:41.840 --> 00:06:48.120 Then our mouth was filled with laughter and our tongue with shouts of joy. 00:06:48.120 --> 00:06:51.319 Then they said among the nations, the Lord has done great things for them. 00:06:51.319 --> 00:06:58.599 The Lord has done great things for us, we are glad. 00:06:58.599 --> 00:07:04.680 In a lot of ways, it is hard to identify with the psalmist here because he's talking about 00:07:04.680 --> 00:07:11.199 a literal exile which lasted for 70 years and then he's talking about homecoming, we could 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:12.199 call it. 00:07:12.199 --> 00:07:17.439 And that's alien to us, I think, in this part of the world and especially today, you know, 00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:19.480 70 years in exile under foreign rule. 00:07:19.480 --> 00:07:20.480 We can't imagine that. 00:07:20.480 --> 00:07:24.120 We can't put ourselves in their feet. 00:07:24.120 --> 00:07:28.080 It's not easy to identify with that. 00:07:28.080 --> 00:07:34.000 But one way, one way if you are a Christian, you can identify with that picture. 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:42.680 If you are a Christian, you were saved from captivity and you returned towards freedom. 00:07:42.680 --> 00:07:45.080 You were given fortune. 00:07:45.080 --> 00:07:50.240 Really, you were saved from something far worse than physical captivity. 00:07:50.240 --> 00:07:57.000 You returned towards something far greater than physical freedom and returning to a physical 00:07:57.000 --> 00:07:59.720 homeland. 00:07:59.720 --> 00:08:06.759 We know that in some way and in some stage, we've put our hands up to God. 00:08:06.759 --> 00:08:12.879 We know we've put our hands up and said that we think we are the better bosses. 00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:14.800 We know we've done what we've wanted. 00:08:14.800 --> 00:08:20.800 We know we've chosen at some stage or in some way to do exactly what God tells us not to 00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:21.800 do. 00:08:21.800 --> 00:08:24.639 We have chosen to sin. 00:08:24.639 --> 00:08:28.280 And in that state, the Bible says we are apart, we are lost. 00:08:28.280 --> 00:08:34.000 We are like the people here in captivity. 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:39.120 But the moment he reaches down, the moment he hears your calls for safety and sees your 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:44.680 belief, the moment he acts for you, he brings you out of that. 00:08:44.679 --> 00:08:47.639 And you're brought away from captivity. 00:08:47.639 --> 00:08:55.000 You are given hope, hope of a safe life here and hope of a perfect life in eternity. 00:08:55.000 --> 00:08:58.079 That's how we identify with the psalmist. 00:08:58.079 --> 00:09:03.319 That's how these fortunes are so great for us and even more so. 00:09:03.319 --> 00:09:08.679 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, he took them from fear and he turned them 00:09:08.679 --> 00:09:09.679 towards freedom. 00:09:09.679 --> 00:09:15.399 He took us from fear and he turned us towards freedom. 00:09:15.399 --> 00:09:21.719 If you are here tonight and you are trying to work this out, if you look at this psalm 00:09:21.719 --> 00:09:30.239 and you don't understand what to do, there are two sides that are very obvious in this 00:09:30.239 --> 00:09:31.239 psalm. 00:09:31.239 --> 00:09:36.199 Either you are out in captivity, living in a way that God has said not to, or you've 00:09:36.200 --> 00:09:43.040 heard the words of Jesus and you've believed the gospel and you've come to him and he has 00:09:43.040 --> 00:09:44.960 brought you out of that. 00:09:44.960 --> 00:09:49.960 And he's made you safe and he's given you the promise of knowing God and being in his 00:09:49.960 --> 00:09:50.960 care. 00:09:50.960 --> 00:09:55.879 And before we carry on with the psalmist, before we look at any more of these verses, 00:09:55.879 --> 00:10:00.800 you need to know where you stand with him. 00:10:00.800 --> 00:10:03.960 Because eventually this offer will be taken away. 00:10:03.960 --> 00:10:08.360 So you see now that you're living apart from him and you come to him and you're brought 00:10:08.360 --> 00:10:16.720 into freedom, or you carry on and eventually it will be too late and you will not be able 00:10:16.720 --> 00:10:19.200 to know his goodness. 00:10:19.200 --> 00:10:24.320 See what the psalmist talks about in his first verse and know that it can be yours if it's 00:10:24.320 --> 00:10:28.440 not already. 00:10:28.440 --> 00:10:31.200 Believe in the gospel like Jesus tells you to. 00:10:31.200 --> 00:10:35.400 Believe that he came into the world to deal with your trouble and your sin and not only 00:10:35.400 --> 00:10:39.480 your sin but your fear as well. 00:10:39.480 --> 00:10:45.840 And know that what the psalmist says about this unbelievable turning in his life, know 00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:51.280 that it can be yours as well. 00:10:51.280 --> 00:10:56.080 We were like those who dream that our mouth was filled with laughter and our tongue with 00:10:56.080 --> 00:11:01.440 shouts of joy. 00:11:01.440 --> 00:11:07.000 One way we can think about these words here that the psalmist gives us, in every way we 00:11:07.000 --> 00:11:16.400 can think about it, being saved, being a Christian is completely undeserved. 00:11:16.400 --> 00:11:19.120 And it's not something that we could ever have earned. 00:11:19.120 --> 00:11:20.800 That's what makes it so incredible. 00:11:20.799 --> 00:11:29.399 And that's what the psalmist is getting to in these words. 00:11:29.399 --> 00:11:33.559 The psalmist and the people getting on with rebuilding Jerusalem, they are in the work, 00:11:33.559 --> 00:11:35.559 they're in the middle of it. 00:11:35.559 --> 00:11:43.479 The excitement of being saved free is surely waiting off for them now. 00:11:43.479 --> 00:11:49.839 When you get up tomorrow, when we get up tomorrow, when work gets the better of us, when we 00:11:49.840 --> 00:11:54.960 are striving to build relationships with one another and with those around about us, when 00:11:54.960 --> 00:11:59.920 trouble comes and you don't know how you're going to get through it, remember your fortune, 00:11:59.920 --> 00:12:01.600 the psalmist says. 00:12:01.600 --> 00:12:06.120 Remember where God has taken you from already. 00:12:06.120 --> 00:12:13.440 Between now and at last, someday having complete rest and peace, remember your fortune. 00:12:13.440 --> 00:12:17.000 Remember where God has taken you from. 00:12:17.000 --> 00:12:22.759 A big part of our lives, a big part of the Christian life is to do with remembering. 00:12:22.759 --> 00:12:25.200 You see that throughout the Bible. 00:12:25.200 --> 00:12:30.720 You see Samuel raising up a stone, his ebonyzer, and he says thus far the Lord has helped 00:12:30.720 --> 00:12:31.720 us. 00:12:31.720 --> 00:12:36.360 He's looking back and he remembers how much God has already done for him. 00:12:36.360 --> 00:12:39.960 Jesus is out with the disciples on the boat. 00:12:39.960 --> 00:12:42.759 And they're worried because they don't have food. 00:12:42.759 --> 00:12:45.039 And they're complaining and they're moaning. 00:12:45.039 --> 00:12:46.159 And what does Jesus do? 00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:47.600 He hits them with that question. 00:12:47.600 --> 00:12:50.959 He says, do you not remember? 00:12:50.959 --> 00:12:53.879 Do they not remember what he's already done for them? 00:12:53.879 --> 00:12:57.159 Do they not remember how Jesus has already provided for them? 00:12:57.159 --> 00:13:05.719 A big part of our lives is taken up with remembering our fortune because it proves to us that God 00:13:05.719 --> 00:13:06.719 is faithful. 00:13:06.719 --> 00:13:11.159 And it proves to us how far he has already gone for us. 00:13:11.159 --> 00:13:16.759 Remembering your work and your rest when you're toiling and you feel the cost of being on 00:13:16.759 --> 00:13:18.079 Jesus' side. 00:13:18.079 --> 00:13:24.120 And whatever aspect of life that might be, remember your fortune. 00:13:24.120 --> 00:13:27.319 Remember where you came from and what you've been turned towards. 00:13:27.319 --> 00:13:30.839 God was faithful the day he took you out of captivity. 00:13:30.839 --> 00:13:36.279 He was faithful the day he took you out of Babylon and he will be faithful until the 00:13:36.279 --> 00:13:39.360 day that you get to be with him. 00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:45.519 Jesus, the Samus, waits for the struggle to end and he waits for these shouts of joy 00:13:45.519 --> 00:13:48.960 to return. 00:13:48.960 --> 00:13:50.840 He remembers his fortune. 00:13:50.840 --> 00:13:59.039 Remember your own and see how God has proved his faithfulness even up until this evening. 00:13:59.039 --> 00:14:05.639 So he remembers or he thinks about the people's fortune, but he doesn't stop there. 00:14:05.639 --> 00:14:10.080 He prays that it would continue. 00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:17.080 Verse 4, restore our fortunes, O Lord, like streams in the negate. 00:14:17.080 --> 00:14:21.759 So when they already, not yet, we've been saved, we've been set free, but we're not 00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:25.600 in a perfect state in any way at all. 00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:27.799 One day we will be with Christ in His presence. 00:14:27.799 --> 00:14:32.200 One day we will be set free from all our failings and all our faults. 00:14:32.200 --> 00:14:36.800 But until then we're living and we're working out our lives, all the faults and the failings 00:14:36.800 --> 00:14:37.800 included. 00:14:37.800 --> 00:14:45.600 And in that stage between being released from Babylon and finally seeing Jerusalem rebuilt, 00:14:45.600 --> 00:14:54.680 the Samus comes and he asks, or he prays, restore our fortunes. 00:14:54.680 --> 00:15:01.640 There is a shift in time here in the Sam, as he's writing this, once you reach this verse. 00:15:01.639 --> 00:15:06.279 If the Samus is looking back in the last three verses, he's in the present now, by the time 00:15:06.279 --> 00:15:09.480 you get to verse 4. 00:15:09.480 --> 00:15:13.799 And he's, where at one point he was remembering the joy and the sense of unbelief that this 00:15:13.799 --> 00:15:19.399 actually happened, we reach verse 4 and by now the joy is wearing off of him. 00:15:19.399 --> 00:15:24.399 But now the excitement is not as much as it was back in Jerusalem where he has to get 00:15:24.399 --> 00:15:29.100 on with business, where the people have to get back to work. 00:15:29.100 --> 00:15:30.100 So what does he pray for? 00:15:30.100 --> 00:15:31.240 What does he want? 00:15:31.240 --> 00:15:32.480 What do the people want? 00:15:32.480 --> 00:15:38.080 They want this turning and they want this restoration to continue. 00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:46.080 They want to experience the joy that they had again. 00:15:46.080 --> 00:15:50.960 When we say that we're not saying they want to be saved again, we're not saying they want 00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:56.840 to be released again, that's already happened, that's once and for all and we know that. 00:15:56.840 --> 00:15:59.159 But they want to know the joy again. 00:15:59.159 --> 00:16:06.639 They want to experience even a hint of that excitement again and that peace again. 00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:13.559 One writer puts it very plainly when he says, he asks God for the good times again. 00:16:13.559 --> 00:16:19.319 And when we think about that today, we think it's bound to be similar for us because we 00:16:19.319 --> 00:16:24.279 might have experienced great joy when we were saved, but that joy has not always been the 00:16:24.279 --> 00:16:30.919 same when we get up every day and deal with whatever worry comes and upsets us and frustrates 00:16:30.919 --> 00:16:32.399 us. 00:16:32.399 --> 00:16:37.120 The peace that we had knowing that we were made safe, we probably don't have that same 00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:41.199 peace when we get up for school or uni or work. 00:16:41.199 --> 00:16:46.399 That freedom that we experienced, we probably don't think about that freedom when you go 00:16:46.399 --> 00:16:51.079 out into the world and it tells you you don't need a God and you don't need to be bound 00:16:51.080 --> 00:16:55.240 to Him or believe in Him. 00:16:55.240 --> 00:17:00.639 Again it's hard in some ways to identify with the psalmist when he talks about this unbelievable 00:17:00.639 --> 00:17:01.639 joy. 00:17:01.639 --> 00:17:07.400 It's far easier to identify with him when he talks about the struggle and the pain and 00:17:07.400 --> 00:17:14.200 how distant these shouts of joy seem, how distant this joy of belonging to God seems. 00:17:14.200 --> 00:17:20.640 So see his prayer and make it your own. 00:17:20.640 --> 00:17:23.200 Pray in the already not yet. 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:27.640 Pray that God will restore your fortunes. 00:17:27.640 --> 00:17:33.800 We're not asking for wealth, we're not asking for health or anything like that. 00:17:33.800 --> 00:17:39.560 We're not asking for an easy life, but we ought to ask, we ought to pray that God would 00:17:39.560 --> 00:17:45.880 bring joy back to us and that He would bring peace to us again, the joy and peace of being 00:17:45.880 --> 00:17:49.200 cared for by Him. 00:17:49.200 --> 00:17:56.240 The psalmist asks for something in this verse, he asks for something amazing. 00:17:56.240 --> 00:18:03.080 He asks for this peace and this joy to come back like streams filling up the negabes, 00:18:03.080 --> 00:18:04.080 he says. 00:18:04.080 --> 00:18:09.319 The negabes is a desert or a dry land as it translates to in southern Israel and it's 00:18:09.319 --> 00:18:11.519 notoriously dry. 00:18:11.519 --> 00:18:17.080 It's completely dry and bad and it gets very little rainfall at all today or in Old Testament 00:18:17.080 --> 00:18:18.080 times. 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:26.559 The psalmist asks that joy would come to him like this desert filling up with streams. 00:18:26.559 --> 00:18:31.240 That's how they were freed initially, very quickly they went from being in exile to making 00:18:31.240 --> 00:18:35.960 their journey back and he prays, would we know that joy again? 00:18:35.960 --> 00:18:40.119 Will we know that peace again, even in the middle of our work and our toilet? 00:18:40.119 --> 00:18:42.839 Will we know joy even in that? 00:18:42.839 --> 00:18:47.599 Joy of belonging to God. 00:18:47.599 --> 00:18:54.759 In our lives pray that God would restore our fortunes, that even in getting up in the 00:18:54.759 --> 00:19:02.359 morning we would know joy that comes from Him and that peace would come to us quickly 00:19:02.359 --> 00:19:08.119 like streams filling up the negabes and pray that we would want to know Him more because 00:19:08.119 --> 00:19:18.119 of that and that we would learn to love Him more because of that. 00:19:18.119 --> 00:19:26.039 One more thing that the psalmist does, he takes assurance in knowing that these shouts 00:19:26.039 --> 00:19:31.919 of joy will be experienced again. 00:19:31.919 --> 00:19:36.319 So today between our getting up and our rest, between us being saved and going to be with 00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:42.799 Jesus, we remember our fortune, we pray that it would continue, we pray that it would continue 00:19:42.799 --> 00:19:51.439 to grow with us and we take assurance in knowing that we will experience joy again. 00:19:51.439 --> 00:20:00.720 In this life to some extent, but absolutely and perfectly at the end. 00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:08.680 In verse 5 to 6 the psalmist uses this picture of farming and in this time and in this place 00:20:08.680 --> 00:20:13.160 as it is written, farming and growing crops is difficult, it's not an easy thing to do, 00:20:13.160 --> 00:20:16.000 it's not always successful. 00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:23.039 Doing the work doesn't mean that it will bear anything and this is the other side of the 00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:25.600 streams of the negabes that we read about. 00:20:25.600 --> 00:20:29.519 On one hand maybe you will know joy coming to you quickly and you will know peace coming 00:20:29.519 --> 00:20:33.480 to you quickly because God says he can and he will do it. 00:20:33.480 --> 00:20:41.759 But on the other hand you're like the farmer going out with the seeds and God says even 00:20:41.759 --> 00:20:46.920 in that time, this is the other side of it, even in that time it can be painful and it 00:20:46.920 --> 00:20:52.119 can be hard. 00:20:52.119 --> 00:20:56.680 On one hand joy and peace comes in a moment but then he says there will be times when 00:20:56.680 --> 00:21:01.120 you will struggle on, there will be times in our lives and we'll be upsetting and we'll 00:21:01.120 --> 00:21:04.360 be difficult and we'll be frustrating. 00:21:04.360 --> 00:21:05.360 So what does he say? 00:21:05.360 --> 00:21:09.960 Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy. 00:21:09.960 --> 00:21:16.279 He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing shall come home with shouts of joy 00:21:16.279 --> 00:21:23.360 bringing his sheaves with him. 00:21:23.359 --> 00:21:31.479 Continue where God has called you in your school, in your uni, in your work, continue 00:21:31.479 --> 00:21:34.679 in it. 00:21:34.679 --> 00:21:39.799 Go out and sow, go out with your seed, get on with your work with some, he says, even 00:21:39.799 --> 00:21:49.839 if it brings you tears, even if it means you've got to cry through it and be assured that 00:21:49.839 --> 00:21:54.240 when you do there will be shouts of joy to follow. 00:21:54.240 --> 00:21:57.879 The God who gave you peace and joy when he saved you, he has not left you, he has not 00:21:57.879 --> 00:22:03.439 lost you but he will continue to give you this joy of being cared for and being free 00:22:03.439 --> 00:22:11.240 and he promises that this joy and this peace will never be taken away from you. 00:22:11.240 --> 00:22:19.559 In this life we will see it and otherwise more fully in eternity. 00:22:19.559 --> 00:22:24.839 Those two verses, they divide the rioters, they divide the commentaries. 00:22:24.839 --> 00:22:28.399 Some would say that this is to do with general life like we've been talking about tonight, 00:22:28.399 --> 00:22:32.919 it's to do with working and living with one another and getting on with our fears and 00:22:32.919 --> 00:22:34.799 our frustrations. 00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:42.319 Some would rather that it's to do with evangelism and going out with the word. 00:22:42.319 --> 00:22:49.319 I think it's fair to say that it picks up on both in this Psalm at least because the 00:22:49.319 --> 00:22:53.000 people who have returned, they are working, they are rebuilding, they are waiting until 00:22:53.000 --> 00:22:55.839 it is done. 00:22:55.839 --> 00:23:01.599 But it's likely that this Psalm was written on behalf of just the first group of people 00:23:01.599 --> 00:23:04.399 that returned to Israel. 00:23:04.399 --> 00:23:08.960 And so they are waiting for more to come back, they are waiting for others to join them, 00:23:08.960 --> 00:23:11.679 they are waiting for people to come home. 00:23:11.679 --> 00:23:16.720 There are many still trapped in Babylon and the people are longing that they would one 00:23:16.720 --> 00:23:22.960 day return and it's got to be like that for us. 00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:26.880 There are people in all our lives who have not known the joy that we have known and there 00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:34.240 are people who we talk to and we pray for and we try our best to show something of who Jesus 00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:40.720 is to them but they haven't believed yet. 00:23:40.720 --> 00:23:46.279 And Mark 4, Jesus tells the parable of the sword who goes out with the seeds with the 00:23:46.279 --> 00:23:49.799 good news and it's a tough life, he says. 00:23:49.799 --> 00:23:58.440 It's not an easy life to go out and speak about Jesus but we are told to go out even 00:23:58.440 --> 00:24:02.000 if it means doing it in tears. 00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:07.839 Speak about Jesus, pray that others would come in because God assures us they will. 00:24:07.839 --> 00:24:13.000 We don't know who, we don't know how but we know they will and we know He uses us to 00:24:13.000 --> 00:24:19.880 do it in our conversations and in our prayers and in how we live. 00:24:19.880 --> 00:24:29.960 John Payton, he was a late 19th century missionary from Scotland and he believed it was his calling 00:24:29.960 --> 00:24:35.160 to go out to the New Hebrides, a group of violence just off of New Zealand and to bring 00:24:35.160 --> 00:24:41.559 the gospel to these unreachable people groups and he was so sure about this calling and 00:24:41.559 --> 00:24:47.119 his pregnant wife was so sure about the calling that they took the sailing out, four months 00:24:47.119 --> 00:24:53.879 sailing from Scotland to this group of islands and only a few months of being there. 00:24:53.879 --> 00:25:00.960 John's wife died, the newborn baby died, many of his missionary team were either killed 00:25:00.960 --> 00:25:04.919 or they fled for fear of life. 00:25:04.919 --> 00:25:08.919 He faced constant threats to his own. 00:25:08.920 --> 00:25:15.920 But however we look at it, however we look back at that, he didn't neglect his call 00:25:15.920 --> 00:25:20.279 and over the years of translating the Bible and inviting tribes into his home, leaving 00:25:20.279 --> 00:25:24.200 and coming back again, he saw mass conversion. 00:25:24.200 --> 00:25:35.960 He watched these violent people come and believe and trust in God and you know for many years 00:25:35.960 --> 00:25:44.240 he, this man was sowing in tears but shouts of joy came soon afterwards for him. 00:25:44.240 --> 00:25:50.759 And however we get on speaking about Jesus, even if it means doing it in tears, God continues 00:25:50.759 --> 00:25:56.880 to bring people in and he uses us in that. 00:25:56.880 --> 00:26:04.039 So go out to where God has called you to go and in this time between now and rest, between 00:26:04.039 --> 00:26:08.920 toiling and going to be with him, remember your fortune. 00:26:08.920 --> 00:26:14.319 Pray that it would grow, pray that you would know this peace and this comfort again and 00:26:14.319 --> 00:26:21.000 be assured that even in tears, whether it's in our daily lives, in our daily living or 00:26:21.000 --> 00:26:27.720 it's in evangelism, even if that brings tears, be assured that there will be shouts of joy 00:26:27.720 --> 00:26:36.920 which will be perfectly and fully realized when we are brought into eternity. 00:26:36.920 --> 00:26:45.240 And look 14, Jesus, he tells the crowds, he tells them that whoever wants to follow him 00:26:45.240 --> 00:26:49.960 must count the cost of what it means to be a disciple and what we realize in that passage 00:26:49.960 --> 00:26:58.759 is that being a disciple has to take over all aspects of our life, whether with our family 00:26:58.759 --> 00:27:04.360 or our friends or in our work, we are disciples and there is a cost to it, Jesus says. 00:27:04.360 --> 00:27:14.400 But we come to Psalm 126 and we say there might be a cost but there is a great joy with it. 00:27:14.400 --> 00:27:20.280 Even in our tears, even in the struggle of living this life, the result is always going 00:27:20.280 --> 00:27:21.960 to be joy. 00:27:21.960 --> 00:27:26.840 Discipleship means joy for God's people. 00:27:26.840 --> 00:27:30.640 Living between now and going to be with him means joy. 00:27:30.640 --> 00:27:38.720 So remember your fortune, pray that it would continue and that it would grow and be assured 00:27:38.720 --> 00:27:46.799 that you will know shouts of joy in this life and absolutely when you go to be with him. 00:27:46.799 --> 00:27:47.799 Let's pray. 00:27:47.799 --> 00:27:52.839 Our Lord, we thank You for this Psalm. 00:27:52.839 --> 00:28:00.279 We thank You for the psalmist puts to us and we ask that we would remember his words, we 00:28:00.279 --> 00:28:06.120 would take to heart what it means to live in this already but not yet world. 00:28:06.119 --> 00:28:11.359 We thank You that You have brought us out of captivity, You have brought us out of Babylon 00:28:11.359 --> 00:28:15.319 and You have saved us and You have made us Your own. 00:28:15.319 --> 00:28:17.439 So help us to remember that. 00:28:17.439 --> 00:28:23.479 Help us to remember the joy that we had when we were saved and the joy that we had of even 00:28:23.479 --> 00:28:29.399 opening your word for the first time and knowing that it meant something to us and the peace 00:28:29.399 --> 00:28:30.399 that comes with it. 00:28:30.399 --> 00:28:32.799 And Lord, we pray that that would grow for us. 00:28:32.799 --> 00:28:37.599 As a church and individually, Lord, we pray that as this week goes on, we would grow in 00:28:37.599 --> 00:28:47.720 joy and we would grow in peace and that even if we struggle tomorrow with work, with school, 00:28:47.720 --> 00:28:53.639 whatever it might be, even in the struggles of that, we would know that joy follows on 00:28:53.639 --> 00:28:55.519 and joy comes to us. 00:28:55.519 --> 00:28:57.200 And so help us with these things. 00:28:57.200 --> 00:28:59.799 Remind us often we pray for Jesus' sake. 00:28:59.799 --> 00:29:00.799 Amen. 00:29:00.799 --> 00:29:02.799 Amen.