Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah.
! It is wonderful that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah,
either by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray for us
that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself?
The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian,
we really, I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the
Bible, they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will do
what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a non-Christian
checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't hesitate to send us
questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the types of things
that you're really struggling with. So God bless.
Standing, let's bow our heads in prayer.
Father, sometimes your Word completely shocks us. It doesn't say things that we think it should say,
and not only does it shock us, Father, but sometimes it confuses us. And Father, if we're honest,
sometimes it's a bit of a blow and makes us wonder about the whole Christian thing and knowing you.
So Father, we ask that we thank you for your Word. We know that everything you wrote, you wrote because
you love us and you want us to know you better and to follow you and to walk in truth and goodness
and beauty. We ask that your Holy Spirit would fall with gentle power, quiet our minds, and help us to
receive all that you desire to give us this morning through your Word. And we ask this in the name of
Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated.
So, you still see some of these things in the local news, but my wife and I live in one of those parts
of Ottawa that had all the Canada Day floods. We, in fact, had a six, seven, eight inches in,
in, we live in a semi-detail, a split level. And so the bottom level, we had, I don't know, six, seven,
eight inches of water in our basement. And boy, at the time, it felt really hard. And we, you know,
I, turns out it happened to all sorts of, all of our neighbors throughout the neighborhood. And
Louise and I now really think that God was very kind to us in terms of the limited amount of damage
that we had. But I think it was the day after I decided to look at my insurance policy to see if
the flood was covered. Good Lord, I think that was written by a lawyer to confuse you so you couldn't
understand it. I have the vaguest, I have, I have the vaguest idea in the world whether I would have
been covered for anything that happened to me. Now, as it turns out, we didn't need it. But I mention all
of this because one of the things about our church is that I want to be a church where there's never
buyer's regret. So, you know, if I thought that I had some money coming because of my insurance
and it turns out I had none, there'd be some regret about it. And I want us to be a, I believe
Christianity is true. I think it's good. I think it's beautiful. I think Jesus really did rise from
the dead. I think he died on the cross because he loves you. And I think he is calling you to be his
child and to follow him and that God desires you to be not only in union with Christ but
to be in union with him and to grow in beatitude. And I believe all of those things. And so I don't
want there to be things that come up. Some of you might, if you have friends who are ex-evangelicals
or skeptics, they might throw this text at you. And so that's why we're looking at it. When I,
in our summer psalm series this year, all of the speakers were to choose between 120 and 150.
And I chose last. And I always look through those psalms just to make sure there's some balance to
what people pick. But if there's a psalm which is really problematic, I make sure that I'm going to
preach on it because it's partly how I help you as the congregation to read the Bible and to have a
confidence in it. So that's why we're looking at this psalm. There might be a couple of other times
in this sermon where it's a bit gruesome. I'm not going to apologize for it, but I am going to let
you know there's some things in there that might be a little bit gruesome to you. I mean, we already
got it, right? So what we're going to do, by the way, like as I, you know, as I like worked on this
psalm this week, like I realize how important this psalm is and how important the hard bits of the Bible are
for Christians if we want to grow and know more about ourselves and more about God. But I'll show
you what I mean. So get out your Bibles. It's helpful to me and helpful to you. If you're going to learn
how to read the Bible for yourselves, it's helpful if you have a Bible with you. Just let you know that
if you can't read your phone without being distracted by Facebook or TikTok or Instagram, there's this weird
invention called paper books. And what you should do is bring one of a paper book with you on Sunday.
If you can look at it online, but, and without being distracted, then that's fine. But I invite you to
take your Bible so you can read for yourself and see if I'm skipping things or twisting things or
anything like that. And it's Psalm 137. And what we're going to do is I'm going to read the whole psalm
again. We're going to look and spend a couple of minutes in that really hard part at the end.
And then I'm going to read this whole psalm again, but go a bit slower and explain
some of the language and the imagery to you. What I can tell you right now, though, is that
I do spend time looking in commentaries to look in the original languages. This is a well-translated psalm.
It's not going to be one of those cases that I say, oh, well, if you actually read in the original
language, it doesn't mean this. No, no, no. This is a very well-translated psalm.
So it says what it says. So let's hear it together.
By the waters of Babylon there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion. On the willows there
we hung up our leers, for there our captors were quiet of the songs and our tormentors, mirth, saying,
sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land? If I forget you,
O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill. Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth. If I do not
remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy." Now just sort of pause here.
Even without necessarily knowing what the symbolism is and historical context, you can really, I think,
hopefully capture the first part of the psalm in particular has been well beloved by Christians. It
captures deep emotion and longings and yearnings and there's just something heart-tugging about that part.
And then it takes this sudden turn. You have this profoundly emotional, sad, and yet longing psalm, and then this
dark turn. Look at verse 7. Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites, the day of Jerusalem, how they said,
lay it bare, lay it bare down to its foundations, O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed.
Blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us. Blessed shall he be who takes your
little ones and dashes them against the rocks. And as I said, that's well translated.
So, like, whoa, right? Whoa. Not, not whoa is in terms of whoa is me, but whoa, like, what on earth is going on here? I could well imagine
people hearing this for the first time. I think of some of the people I share about Christianity with,
who know that I'm a Christian, they probably would say, I could never accept a book from God that would
have something like that. And I could never, if you say that God wrote that and he wrote it as something
for us that we can pray, I could never worship a God that would say something like that.
And, in fact, I might even say, George, this is barbaric. Like, do you pray like this?
Is that what you actually do?
So, what's going on? So, one of the things, one of the ways, not the only way, but one of the ways to
understand what the Bible is, is it's ultimately a word from God. Every word is, every individual word
in the sentence and the paragraphs, the whole bit, it's all God's word. And part of what the Bible is,
is both a mirror to help us understand ourselves and a window to help us understand who God is
and what he's done in Christ and what he's calling us to. That's one way to understand what the Bible is.
Not the only way, but it's an important way. It's a mirror and a window. And so, when we read this again,
here's the problem.
Almost every single Canadian agrees with verse 9.
They say, no, no, George. Bashing babies' heads against, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, George.
Like, virtually no Canadian agrees with that. And I say that almost every Canadians agree with this.
It wouldn't matter if I'm in the hippest, trendiest coffee shop, which I couldn't tell you what it is
because I'm closer to hip replacement than hip. And I have no idea what that would really be,
unless one somebody told me. But whether it's a Tim Hortons, like the one just down the street with
lots of street people, Canadians agree with this. They say, no, they don't. Yes, they do.
What's one of the most popular types of YouTube videos? Instant karma. You know what that is?
Instant karma is where you maybe have somebody having road rage and they're exploding in anger.
And then the next thing you see is that there's a cop car behind them.
And the person having road rage is arrested. And it's called instant karma.
But what is it that most Canadians would agree as a fundamental moral principle?
What goes around?
You know, what you do is going to happen to you.
Isn't that what most Canadians think?
That's what most Canadians think.
So look at verse 8 and 9 again more slowly.
Why is it that the psalmist prays verse 9?
Look at verse 8.
O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed,
blessed shall he be who repays you
with what you have done to us.
What did the Babylonians do to them?
They took their babies and smashed their heads against the rocks.
And what the psalmist is praying is what goes around comes around.
Now, I think like most people, we're a bit shocked with this.
You see, often what happens is that we miss the opportunity for the Bible
to be a mirror to help us to understand what we actually say
and what we actually think.
And I think most of us would want to sputter
and try to make some exceptions about it.
But what the Bible does here is vastly better and vastly wiser.
Vastly better and vastly better.
In fact, what often happens is because we get caught up with the problem
and don't have any self-awareness,
we miss the opportunity of the psalm.
So now let's go back and read the psalm from the beginning.
But if we read it from the beginning,
I think maybe the way it was designed was that we go,
whoa, what's that last line?
Let me read this over again.
And now if we read it over again in light of the last line
and the line just before that,
now there's an opportunity for us to have a profound empathy.
See, one of the functions of literature in general,
whether it's poetry or like books, stories,
is that it allows us, when it's well done,
to enter into the lived experience of other people,
that's empathy, and then have compassion on them.
So let's now take this opportunity and reread the psalm
in light of what has happened to the person who's written the psalm.
Go back to verse 1.
By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept
when we remembered Zion.
Now, Babylon's...
So what's partially happened here is...
It's not partially.
What's happened is that in 586 B.C.,
Babylon, under Nebuchadnezzar,
has destroyed Jerusalem and conquered the nation of Israel.
And the nation of Israel will not be a nation again.
In fact, they won't fundamentally be a nation for centuries and centuries
and centuries and centuries and centuries,
but they're destroyed.
Jerusalem is destroyed.
And many of the people from Israel,
who haven't died in the conquest,
have been taken back to Babylon.
It's an attempt to completely cut off their ties
to that original land.
And that historically happened.
And what happened, though,
bits and pieces like this,
is that Babylon ended up becoming
what I would call a synecdoche,
which is a really, really weird, rare word
that virtually nobody ever uses,
a synecdoche.
I'm probably not pronouncing it really correctly.
And what that is,
is, like, if I say Wall Street,
you all know that I'm not actually
talking about a street in New York City.
I'm talking about capitalism.
I'm talking about America and economic might.
If I say Hollywood,
I'm not just talking about a little neighborhood
in the greater Los Angeles area.
I'm talking about movies
and all of that type of thing, right?
Bay Street, the same type of thing.
You know, Parliament,
you're talking about government
and all of those types of things.
And Babylon ends up becoming in the Bible.
After this time,
if you read the Old Testament prophets,
you read the New Testament,
even in the Old Testament,
who shows up in the Old Testament
is the whore of Babylon.
And it becomes a symbol.
So that to say it,
you're not just thinking of something
that happened in history once
and a place on the planet.
Babylon represents and is a short form
for concentrated human
and demonic power,
organized, active,
against, and hostile to the Lord
and to his people.
That's what Babylon is.
Babylon is a concentration
of human and demonic power
that's hostile to the triune God
and is active against the triune God,
not just sort of sitting there
passive-aggressive,
but active-aggressive
against the triune God
and his people.
And that's what Babylon
ends up representing.
It is in a...
And so that's partially how
when we now read it,
I mean, obviously,
the person writing this psalm
wouldn't know that that was God
was setting the stage for Babylon.
It's part of the wisdom of God
causing Scripture to be written
that this word that is,
for him,
a specific historical event.
He is...
In fact, it's so moving.
If you realize that what's happened
is the person
and the group of people singing this,
they are sitting in the center
of the people
who have conquered them.
And they are in a place of beauty.
I mean, many of us on our holidays,
we want to go to water
because there's something restful
and beautiful about water,
about beautiful waterways
and rivers
and all of the flourishing
that goes with it,
irrigating of land for flowers
and trees and fruit and beauty
and birds and bees.
We're going to the ocean
and there they are
in a place of profound beauty
where the Babylonian people
would think it was an honor
that they could go
and wander amongst that
and see it.
And they are sitting there weeping
because they remember Zion.
Now, I'm going to explain
Zion imagery in a moment.
You'll explain why
that's an important word.
But they're there weeping.
And then, so what do they do?
And the problem isn't that they're,
they can't,
the point of the psalm isn't,
listen, stop,
don't remember Zion.
It only makes you sad.
Forget Zion and be happy.
No, no, part of this is
sometimes we need to remember
even when it makes us sad
because as we'll see in a moment,
that remember,
this particular remembering
is really important
in terms of them
turning their complete life around.
Look what happens
in verse 2 and 3 first, though.
On the willows there
we hung up our leers,
like a type of guitar slash harp.
On the willows there
we hung up our leers,
for there are captors
required of us songs
and our tormentors mirth,
saying,
sing us one of the songs of Zion.
I'm going to say it.
All week as I've been working
on this psalm,
I've just been back
thinking of the video footage
that came out
after that horrendous attack
on Israel on October 7,
2023.
And part of what was so horrendous
about that
was not only what they did,
but the fact that
they were so proud of it,
so gleeful about it.
And the video footage
of them bringing women
who'd been raped
and murdered
in the backs of trucks,
and they howl with delight
and old men
and old women
and young children
and young men and women
all clapping
and cheering
and laughing
of what has happened.
It is so horrific.
And so how do we read
these verses 2 and 3?
They've had their babies
heads bashed in.
And they are in the place
where even if the people
around them
hadn't done it,
they have no shame.
They have no guilt.
They have no embarrassment.
They are proud of it.
They are gleeful about it.
And they want to rub
their noses in it.
You see,
if you understand
what's happened
at the end of the psalm,
it opens the door
for you to enter
into it emotionally.
And that's why
you can't read this psalm.
For me,
I couldn't read it
without thinking
of what happened
on October 7, 2023
to the Jewish people.
So they're there.
They're surrounded by people.
And it's actually
very interesting.
The word tormentors there.
You see the word tormentors
in verse 3?
I can't remember
the name of it.
There's a literary term for it.
But it's the only place
in the Old Testament,
and I think the only place
in ancient Jewish literature
where this word appears.
So that's why you'll see
some translations
translated a little bit differently.
But where the word comes from,
part of the image
behind the word
is literally
just like seeing those scenes
in Gaza
where the people
are cheering and whooping.
I'm not recommending
you see this movie,
but there was a movie
that came out
a little while ago
starring Charlize Theron
about a kayaker
and she ends up being chased
by this really, really crazy guy.
And there's a scene in there,
a crazy evil guy
who wants to kill her.
And there's a scene in there
regularly
where he's howling.
Howling.
And that's the word
tormentor there.
It has added this idea
of howling.
Think of Western movies
where you have the bad,
the terrible,
the evil rancher
coming to an innocent homesteader
and they've just burned
the house down
and killed the dad
and all of that.
And the cowboys
are running around
howling in glee
and excitement
about the evil
that they're inflicting.
And that's the root
of the word tormentor.
This psalm,
once you realize
what the ending is
and these people
are sitting there
and they are surrounded
by people continuing
to howlingly,
laughingly mock them.
Sing us one of the songs
of Zion.
And you also actually see
there part of the importance
of the word remember.
You see there
the beginning of their
internal freedom
and defiance.
Because what did they do?
Hung up their harps.
Not going to do it.
What are you going to do us?
Bash my kids' heads in
against rocks?
You've already done that to me.
Not going to do it.
And then it turns
into this thing
of longing and yearning.
Look at verses
the next section.
The psalm is three triplets.
One to three,
four to six,
and then seven to nine.
Each one two lines.
And look what happens.
Look how it moves
into something
that ends up
into longing.
How shall we sing
the Lord's song
in a foreign land?
Now just,
I'm going to talk about
this more in a moment,
but notice the end
of verse three.
Sing us one of the songs
of Zion.
Verse four,
how shall we sing
the Lord's song
in a foreign land?
To sing a song of Zion
and to sing the Lord's song
is to sing the same thing.
But partly how we start
to understand
what's going on here.
If I forget you,
O Jerusalem,
let my right hand
forget its skill.
Let my tongue
stick to the roof
of my mouth.
If I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem
above my highest joy.
You know,
when you tell people,
you know,
forget about it.
Stop thinking about that
and move on.
You ask them to forget about it
because you ask them
to do something.
If you ask people
to remember something,
like remember who you are,
remember what you're called,
remember the mission,
it's you remember
to do something.
And that's the same thing
which is going on here.
And they're saying
that they want,
and so what's going on here
is Zion and Jerusalem
and the Lord.
It's in this particular context,
it's another synoptic.
It's on one hand,
of course,
Zion is a mountain.
On the other,
and one hand,
Jerusalem is a particular place.
But in this particular case,
it connected with the Lord.
It's a bigger reality.
It's referring to
that place
where God is personally present,
His loyal love
is experienced,
His rule and affection
for you
is experienced
under His sovereign rule,
and that's what's being
represented here
by the words
Jerusalem and Zion.
And that's why
if you look at verse 6
when it says,
if I do not set Jerusalem
above my highest joy,
that's why it's not blasphemy.
You see,
for an Orthodox Jew
and for us as a Christian,
if we were to say
that Jerusalem
should be our highest joy,
no, no, no, no, no, no.
The Lord should be
our highest joy.
So that's why
the Jerusalem, Zion,
the Lord,
they're all intertwined here
and it's a synecdoche
and it's depicting
something very, very, very profound.
And it's something
which I've noticed
has been happening
in small ways
in our culture.
I've had,
I know of people
who have become Christians
over the last
seven or eight years
and part of the reason
they have become Christians
is because
there is so much
evil going on
in our world
and rather than evil
making them think
that God doesn't exist,
it leads them to think
God has to exist.
Evil can't be
the ultimate thing.
And these people
have experienced
something completely horrendous.
They've seen their friends
and neighbors killed,
they've seen their children killed
in a very, very cruel way.
They are in captivity,
they are being tormented
and this experience
of profound evil
is said,
above the evil,
above the fog,
above the clouds,
there must be the sun.
there must be God.
There has to be God.
And I mean,
on one level
we can say
that the highest joy
for every person
is an empirical thing,
we could figure out
what anybody's highest joy is,
but we all understand
and this is something
that's hard for Canadians.
Canadians on one hand,
I think the average
secular Canadian
doesn't believe
there is really
anything transcendent,
but on the other hand
they also wish
that there was.
that there was
a highest joy
that really deserves
to be our highest joy.
And what a way
to describe
the true and living God,
the good,
the true,
and the beautiful,
who is God
where my highest joy is.
What is it partially about
to become a Christian?
Partly what it means
to be a Christian
is to be so trained
by the word
and so encouraged
by the Christian community
and so gripped
with their memory
of the gospel
that God begins
to grow within you
an ever deeper longing
and yearning
for the highest joy.
To make our realization
that any joy is good,
but beyond the joy
of joy of joys
of joys
is the highest joy
of joy.
It's not just something
completely irrelevant
because above the pain,
above the evil,
above the devil,
above Babylon,
the true and living God exists
and in his presence
is the fullness
of joy.
Why did Jesus go to the cross?
For the joy set before him
in obedience to God,
the joy that he desires you and me
to enter into
in union with him.
But meanwhile,
there is the weeping,
but their weeping
has turned
to longing.
Now we look
at just a couple of
lessons from that final part,
the hard part.
It takes a very,
as I said,
dark turn.
It's interesting,
this psalm,
but, you know,
by the way,
one of the byproducts
of this psalm for us
is that,
especially with lots
of new Canadians
coming amongst us,
but it doesn't even have
to be new Canadians.
It could be that
we might know people
and not realize that,
you know,
that seemingly well
put together woman
or maybe a woman
who doesn't seem
to be very well
put together,
a man,
that they endured
decades of sexual abuse
or some other type of abuse
when they were younger
and endured
some horrendous pain,
which is just,
thank be to God,
I never had to endure.
But we can have people
coming from
northern Nigeria
or other parts
of the world
who have endured
horrendous evil.
And this psalm
is partially a call
for us
to be aware
of the fact
that this is really
in the world
and to pray
that God
would make us
the type of person
that that person
who just needs
to be able
to share
with somebody
who isn't going
to give them
a glib answer
but is willing
to just hold
their hand
and let them weep
while you pray
for them
in your mind.
That's the type
of people
God wants us
to be in Christ.
Because there are
people in the world
who have experienced
shocking evil.
One of the things
that this psalm does
as we go into
these last three verses,
I'll just read it
and I'm going to say
a few more things.
Remember,
Lord,
against the Edomites.
Who are the Edomites?
The Edomites are like
a code word in the Bible
for people who
they're the fellow
travelers of Babylon.
They have a historic
hatred of God's people.
Remember,
O Lord,
against the Edomites
the day of Jerusalem
how they said,
lay it bare,
tear it down
to its foundations.
O daughter of Babylon
doomed to be destroyed,
blessed shall he be
who repays you
with what you have
done to us.
Blessed shall he be
who takes your little ones
and dashes them
against the rock.
This is a constant testimony
against the glib
podcasters
and commentators
who try to act
as if there is not
real deep,
deep horrific evil
in the world.
Verse 9 is prayed
because that verse 8
reveals what the Babylonians
have done to the person
praying.
You know,
so there's several things
sort of in closing
about this.
One of the things
that we have problems with,
remember I said
at the beginning,
I think if I was to share
this scripture text
with some of the people
that I feel
that are comfortable
enough with me,
I know of,
you know,
one or two people
in particular
who I think
would maybe ask me
if I read that psalm
to them,
George,
is that what you pray,
verse 9,
before you could explain
what was going on?
Because I think
a lot of people think
that the normal way
you should respond
to the Bible
is to say,
therefore go and do this.
That's not the normal way
that you respond
to the Bible.
You do this
when there's a command,
but there's a lot
of other things
going on in the Bible,
but the more telling thing
about it
when we read the Bible
is to ask this question,
is it I,
Lord?
Is it me?
So for some of us,
because we all know
that part of the problem
is that,
I mean,
I know this very personally
in terms of my own family,
is that churches
can be a place
where there is horrific evil
done by pastors
or Sunday school teachers
or people in the church
in terms of sexual abuse
and to hear this psalm,
it's an opportunity
from God
for us to say,
is it I,
Lord?
And if it is,
if I'm that tormentor,
if I have a problem
with mocking,
maybe not as extreme as this,
but of really mocking,
is it I,
Lord?
And then if it is,
if the Holy Spirit
convicts you,
it is,
to call out to him,
to pause in the service
and to call out to him,
Lord,
have mercy upon me.
Please help me
to put this to death in me.
Help me to repent of it.
Help me to make
an amendment of life
as much as I can
and turn and talk
and live a different way.
Am I the one consumed
with such hatred?
The other thing
is that
if you're the one
who's been really broken,
by this horrendous evil,
to realize that
this psalm
is a message to you
that God knows
your pain
and he's encouraging you
to call out to him
in prayer
without holding back
and without filtering.
See,
God's a big God.
If you say things
that aren't theologically correct
or aren't really
the right way to do it
or too bold
or,
you know,
too plain,
he's not like talking
to a human being
who might get offended.
He hears.
He processes.
He,
he,
I mean,
he'll just say no
to some of the things.
But you,
you have permission
to pray
and you have permission
to ask the Lord
to show you people
in the body of Christ
that you can maybe reveal
a little bit
about the horror
that you experienced
so that you can sit
with them and weep.
see,
that's why churches
that do this psalm
and never do
the last two verses
are not helping
the congregation
at all.
It's in the hard bits
that you really get
the hard bits
that you need
about yourself.
The other thing
about this psalm
is that it,
it,
it's a,
there's another way
that it's a bit
of a mirror to us.
I have to be careful
here of my time.
I'm,
I'm moving on,
but,
you know,
we could look at this
and say,
so,
so part of the,
here's part of the problem
when we pray.
So we should pray,
for instance,
there's horrific things
going on in northern Nigeria,
absolutely horrific things.
Islamist warlords
going after Christians,
killing,
burning,
raping,
kidnapping,
all that horrific,
horrific thing.
We should pray
that that is brought
to an end.
But we don't realize
is praying
that it's brought
to an end
might mean
that Nigerian
special forces
go and kill them.
We go,
oh,
and part of what
this psalm does
is it makes you realize
what you're actually
praying for.
You know,
if you pray
that people,
you know,
in the Pakistan
intelligence services
who hunt down Christians
and then do horrific
things to them,
if you pray for them
to,
to stop
and to be converted,
you're actually
praying that they
will turn their heart,
but when they turn
their heart
and become a Christian,
they'll end up
being killed themselves.
Like,
but,
but Bible's not saying,
it just brings out
more clearly
what we're praying for,
but it doesn't tell us
to stop praying.
We always pray
for justice.
We always pray
for deliverance.
That's what we pray.
This is just being
a little bit more specific
about what it means
that they get
what they deserve
without us really
fully thinking about it.
it,
it helps us
to think about it,
but not,
not in a way
that's depressing,
but connected
to longings
and yearnings.
But,
we could wonder
how is it
that a person
could go
from such deep
longings
and yearnings
to the highest joy
to praying
in such a dark manner?
Well,
I can tell you
how to find
a person like that
very easily
so you can actually
talk to them
about why it is
that somebody
can go from
such high thoughts
to such dark thoughts
in a moment.
When you leave here,
go home
and look in a mirror
and you'll meet
that person.
Say,
no,
yeah,
think about it.
How is it
that we can go
from listening
to praise music
and just
we're,
you know,
maybe when
my wife's here
but if she's not home
and I'm hearing
some certain
happy praise music
I'm doing
a little bit
of a dance.
Really embarrassing,
terrible dancing
by the way.
I would get
so red
if anybody
saw me.
How is it
I could go
from something
like that
to saying
something cutting
ten minutes later?
Why is it
that that's where
how is it
that human beings
can go from
maybe sitting
and seeing
the most
spectacular sunset
coming out
over the Rockies
and then 15 minutes
later having
a terrible fight
with another person?
What is it
about a human being
that there's
such a riddle?
And the Bible
describes it
human beings
on one hand
because we were
made for God
we have a longing
and yearning
for God
but at the same
time we want
to do evil things
at the same time
we want to hide
from him
and in some ways
this psalm
is also describing
the riddle
of what it means
to be human
and it also
then ultimately
shows us something
about the need
that we have
how can somebody
who has such a mystery
and so odd
and so riddled
in a sense
ever be saved?
Well that's the beauty
of who Christ is.
This psalm
is sitting up
before us
the riddle
of what it means
to be human
the riddle
of profound evil
and we realize
that some evil
the just result
the just punishment
for that evil
should be death
and we might not think
our just evil
that we've done
deserves death
but maybe we've never
looked at the cumulative
effect of it
or listened to all
of the people
whom we were hurt.
If you live to be
as long
as old as I am
and if God was
to list all
of the people
over the years
even though they've
forgiven me
the hurt that I've done
maybe you would say
that something like
death George
maybe that does
right for you.
Jesus is the only one
he is God's son
he can stand for all
he is the new Adam
he is the only one
whose longing
and yearning
for God
as the highest joy
never faltered
and he is the only one
whose life
never took a dark turn
he is the only one
who could possibly
stand in our place
and when the Bible
says that he's been
tempted in every way
as we are without sin
he understands
the power
of those desires
to pray for vengeance
and he never
succumbed to it
and so it's only
in union with him
that I can really
have the punishment
that I deserve
dealt with
only in him
and that leads
to my very final point
if this psalm
was the only psalm
the only passage
in the entire Bible
that talked about
things like this
then that's how
we should pray
verses 8 and 9
but it's not
the only one
the resurrection
the death and resurrection
of Jesus changes everything
so you should always
pray for justice
you know you should pray
not only that those
forces of evil
and wickedness
in northern Nigeria
that they stop
you should pray
we should pray
that they are defeated
and are no more
that is a good thing
for Christians to pray
but because of Christ
there is another part
that they don't know
in this psalm
but we know
is that we should also
pray for their conversion
if we remember
before God
the persecuted church
we should pray
that their tormentors
will stop
will turn
but we should also
and we should feel free
to pray that they get
what they deserve
but we should also pray
that they get
what they don't deserve
what no human being
deserves
which is grace
and receiving grace
doesn't mean that you
still don't get
what you deserve
I think I have you
with me
I'm going to give you
two or three more minutes
so there's a very
interesting fellow
by the name of David Woods
who he's the fellow
who was used by God
to bring Nabeel Qureshi
to Christ
if you haven't read
the spectacular book
Seeking Allah
Finding Jesus
by Nabeel Qureshi
you should read that book
very very very good book
and David Woods
was a guy
who was used by God
to have Nabeel
come to Christ
from a devout Muslim family
but how David Woods
became a Christian
is amongst other things
is he was in jail
because he attempted
to kill his stepfather
and while he's in jail
and he's an atheist
and he thinks Christians
are the biggest morons
in the world
in jail
he ends up
being
becoming
like a cellmate
and a friend
with this fellow
who had committed
a whole pile of crimes
gotten away from
gotten away with all of them
became a Christian
and then realized
that he had to go
to the police
and he turned himself in
and pled guilty
and David Woods
thought this guy
was the biggest moron
in the world
and so he delighted
that he would try
to defeat that guy
from being a Christian
now as it turned out
it ended up
that God used that guy
that David Woods
became a Christian
but the point is this
if we had a death row
in Canada
it's completely appropriate
for me to go and visit
somebody on death row
and hope and pray
that they would become
a Christian
but because they become
a Christian
doesn't mean
they don't suffer
the consequences
of what they've done
on this side
of the grave
and so it is
how do we pray
Father for those
in northern Nigeria
who are hounding
our brothers and sisters
in Christ
and not just our brothers
and sisters in Christ
but others
and urging
and killing them
and doing horrific
things to them
Father we pray
that they will be defeated
we pray that they will stop
we pray that they will
and we also pray
that they will come
to Christ
that's how we pray
because we read
Psalm 137
as followers of Jesus
I invite you to stand
bow our heads in prayer
Father this is
this is on one hand
a very hard word
but a word we need
to know
and so Father
we ask that
when we come across
those parts of your word
that really are hard
help us Father
just to remember Jesus
and his resurrection
and his death for us
and his love for us
and trust that
even though it seems
hard at first
this is a good word
for us
that we need to hear
and we need to learn
and help us Father
even when we're reading
some of the worst parts
of the Bible
Father may we be open
to your Holy Spirit
convicting us of sin
for us to say
is it I Lord
have I done this
and Father
we give you thanks
and praise
that the gospel
that knowing Jesus
died for us
that everything
that we've ever done wrong
has been dealt with
in him
that he paid
the penalty for that
and when we're in union
with him Father
that we are completely
and utterly forgiven
and the price
is completely paid
Father
that is such a profound truth
such an undeserved gift
and make the gospel
so real to us Father
that we are emotionally
and intellectually
able to start to look
at those things
in our lives
for which we need to repent
and amend our lives
and help us Father
in your mercy
and in your kindness
in the power
of the Holy Spirit
as your word
has more hole on us
as the gospel
becomes more real
Father help us
to amend our lives
help us to make amends
help us to repent
and fill our hearts
Father
with an ever deeper
longing and yearning
to be in your presence
where there is
a fullness of joy
and we thank you Father
that in Christ
that fullness of joy
is the final word
about us
and we ask these things
and pray these things
in the name of Jesus
your Son
and our Savior
and all God's people said
Amen
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