Well, let's take our copy of the Bible and go to Psalm 120. As you're turning to Psalm 120, I am thankful that Jeremy prayed for his Sarah and Sarah Brown as well, and that we can pray as a church family for these pregnant mothers and for the babies that are growing in the wombs and that God would have mercy to them and give much abundant strength and grace to all the moms that are pregnant so that they can have the energy that they need and the grace that they need to keep going and to keep persevering. and to serve the Lord with joy. We want to look at Psalm 120. And last time that we were here and I was together with you, we finished Psalm 119 and had such a wonderful time in that great Psalm, that great hymn. extolling the Word of God. And tonight in 120, we begin a new section in the Psalter, 15 hymns, Psalms 120 to 134, often called the Psalms of Ascent. And I hope that maybe if they're not familiar to you, that they will become very familiar to you. That it'll become kind of a traveling playlist, as it were, as you live your life singing God's Word, reflecting on God's Word, and that these will not just be ancient hymns written a couple thousand years ago, but very relevant and very pertinent to you and me today as well. Psalm 120. Follow with me as I read from the inspired title, Song of Ascents. In my trouble I cried to the Lord and he answered me. Deliver my soul, 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? Sharp arrows of the warrior, with the burning coals of the broom-tree. Woe is me, for I sojourn in Meshach, for I dwell among the tents of Kedar. Too long has my soul had its dwelling with those who hate peace. I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war. Our Father, we thank you that we have the Bible in front of us, the Bible open. Lord God, there is nothing that is more precious and more profound in our lives than the reading of the word and the preaching of the word. Lord, it is when the Word of God rightly goes forth that we can say, thus says the Lord. And we want to hear from the living God tonight. We want to be taught and equipped and strengthened and edified and established in the faith. For those who are here tonight, who are not yet gathered in among the redeemed, we pray that in this very message, you would cause them to be sovereignly born again, that they would come to faith by looking to Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. And Lord, for those of us who feel really out of place in this dark culture, We pray that you will encourage and refocus our own minds and hearts that we will look to your word and find comfort tonight. In Jesus name, amen. Do you ever feel like you just don't fit in to this world? Do you ever feel like the culture in which we live, the generation in which we find ourselves, the times in which we live, biblical language, the epic, the seasons in which we live, you just think, I don't fit in here. The things that I desire, they don't desire. And the things that our world desires, I don't desire. and you feel a little out of sorts. Maybe you can relate to these words from Hebrews 11, those who confess that they are strangers and exiles on the earth. They make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. because they desire a better country, a heavenly one. Hebrews chapter 11 verses 13 to 16. Can you say that today? I mean, is that your heart today? That I just feel like I'm a stranger in exile on this earth. I am looking for another country. I am looking for another world. I am longing for the better country, the heavenly one. Is that your heart today? Kind of like Jesus, even as a young boy, his mom and dad took him to Jerusalem as the customs of the law told them to do. And what did Jesus say in Luke 2? I have to be about my father's business. There's so much of the world going on, but I've got to be about the things of my father. It's like the more that you grow in Christ, the less desirous you become of the things of the world. The more that you grow in Christ, the more hungry you become for heavenly bliss, which is really being with Christ, your Messiah, forever. Forever. And yet you and I live in a world that hates him. You and I live in a world that would rather belittle him and spit upon him and trample the blood of the cross. Oh, friend, let us remember that God has told us in the Word of God that as we grow in Jesus Christ, it is totally normal for you and I to feel out of place. For you and I to feel homesick for a heavenly world. Homesick for a heavenly world. It's nothing new. In fact, in the Old Testament time, Deuteronomy chapter 16, the Lord even told the nation of Israel, three times a year, all the males shall appear before me in the place where I will put my name. That's Jerusalem. Deuteronomy 16, verse 16. And the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Booze, and you shall appear before the Lord. I want you to come and worship me with the people of God. Well, guess what? We come to a portion of the Bible that functioned as the hymn book for the pilgrims as they would leave their home and they would begin their journey to Jerusalem from wherever they lived. It's kind of like the traveling playlist. I have children. We get in the car for any length of time and the kids will say, what are we gonna listen to? What's the playlist? What's the audio book? What are we going to listen to today? And for the ancient Israelites, as they would travel to Jerusalem for the pilgrimage festivals, God gave them a little mini hymn book within the larger book of Psalms that we call the songs of ascents. There are 15 of them. So mom and dad and family and children, they pack up and they leave home and they journey up and down the hills and up and down the valleys and on the roads to Jerusalem, to the temple, with the throng of pilgrims to worship the Lord together. And isn't it so kind of God to give this little hymnal, a little traveling playlet, Maybe you're a Spotify person here. Here's your Spotify playlists right here as you're traveling to Jerusalem to worship. Because without simple reminders, we often forget essential truths. While we are living in this hostile world, we long for the fellowship of God. We long for the fellowship of God's people. We need the gathering of the saints. We need the oasis, as it were, of the worship of God's people. Because maybe at your work, You don't have a whole lot of believers that love Christ. Maybe at your work, you don't have a whole lot of people spurring you on toward love and good deeds and the things in the gospel. And you think, I need these reminders as I'm traveling on to glory. Psalms 120 to 134 is the hymn book within the larger Psalter hymn book. Let me give you the context. At that time, it would be the pilgrims who would leave their homes and they would travel and journey to Zion for the three pilgrimage festivals. And their eyes were on Zion and they would sing over and over. They would sing the Psalms as they would approach Jerusalem. Well, you and I don't pack up our bags for three pilgrimage festivals to go to Jerusalem. We just don't do that. But what you and I do do that is similar is that we are traveling in a dark world as we journey on toward heaven. We are journeying toward heaven to be with Christ forever. Our eyes are on Him, and we need the traveling hymnbook, as it were. We need these times of refreshment with the people of God, because we are constantly reminded, I don't fit in here. I don't fit in here. Is something wrong with me? Is something wrong? I'm just a pilgrim passing through this world, journeying on like Christian to the celestial city. Remember Hebrews 11, 13, we are strangers and aliens on the earth. 1 Peter 2.11 says that we are aliens and strangers. 1 Peter 1.11 says those who are aliens and scattered. More on that a little bit later. So I want to help you tonight as you think about living in this hostile world, longing for heaven, homesick for heaven. We are journeying toward glory. While we are homesick for heaven, what should you remember? And in your notes there in front of you, I wanna give you four personal pastoral phrases to put in your mind. Very simple, very practical. And church family, I hope that you can take these little phrases and you can apply them to your life as we look at the meaning in the text together. Number one, in your notes, let's begin with my past. My past. Look at verse one. In my trouble, I cried to the Lord and he answered me. It's the psalmist saying, God, I know that in my troubles that I've had, I've called out to you and you know what? You've got a track record of answering my prayers. Verse one is really a very simple way of reminiscing, remembering, recounting. Let me rehearse what God has done. Lord, I have cried to you in my troubles. Oh, the Hebrew verb at the end of verse one, and he answered me, is a rare form in the book of Psalms. It's meant to convey immediate consecutive answer. Lord, I cried out to you and you answered me. Lord, I cried out to you and you answered me. It's like he's remembering all of the past occasions where God answered prayer. Remember, Remember the blessings of God. Hasn't God done that for you, pilgrim, as you're traveling through this world? Hasn't God provided for you and answered prayers of yours? Hasn't he saved you when you were in a helpless state? Did not the Lord deliver you from the evil one and from all the hateful schemes of the devil? I love Deuteronomy 15, verse 15. Remember that you were in bondage to your sin and the Lord redeemed you. Ephesians 2.12, remember that you were separate from Christ, but now you've been brought near by the blood of Christ. You were separate, you were alienated, but now you're brought near. Is that true of you today? Can you say, you know, my past, I can look back and see the track record that God has been faithful. All I have needed, thy hand has provided. Great is thy faithfulness, O Lord. Unto me. Remember that old Baptist, Tim? Count your blessings. Name them one by one. Count your blessings. See what God has done. Let the past record of God's faithfulness spur you on as a pilgrim when you feel out of place in this world. God, you've been faithful. You've been faithful to me. Number one, in my past. Number two, in your notes, look at this, my present. Well, now we come to a very real situation that I bet maybe you and I can relate to. Look at the very clear imperative command to God, verse two. Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips. Now, that's interesting. The word deliver is an emphatic Hebrew form. There's a little letter that a verb can put on the end that makes it all the more urgent, and he does it here. But not only is it that, it's a word in Hebrew that means I feel like the claws of a roaring predator are around me, and I need God to deliver me out of that grasp. Lord, I need you to deliver me from, not an animal, but from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue. You know what the psalmists could say? I feel like I live in a very lying and deceptive generation. I wonder if the Psalmist could say, yeah, I turn on my YouTube, I go to my phone, I turn on the nightly news, I go to my social media, if he had all that. And he says, just lies, lies, lies, so much deception, it's everywhere. The Bible talks about a perverse generation. The Bible talks about an adulterous generation. The Bible talks about a stubborn generation. Here, verse two, full of lies, full of deceit, full of evils. Let's just say it. We live in a culture that is very professionally driven by lies. Every level of culture, every level of society, the professionals from the highest on down, everywhere you turn, it seems like there's lies, there's deception everywhere. Isaiah. lamented this in chapter 59 verse 4. Isaiah said, no one pleads honestly. The people trust in confusion and they speak lies. Jeremiah, I mean, Jeremiah lamented the same thing. Jeremiah 9.5, they teach their tongue to speak lies and they weary themselves in committing iniquity. When was the last time, I'm not gonna say have you, I don't think that's right. When was the last time you were on the receiving end of gossip, slander, a false accusation, pain, verbal attacks, untrue, unkind words, piercing words, cutting words, a demeaning joke, and you've been on the receiving end, and you think, that hurts. And our culture is okay with that. It's like it's so commonplace in our culture that to actually tell the truth is now becoming abnormal. The psalmist can relate to you. He says, here's my present. Here's where I am. I am living in that kind of village, community, city. culture, country, my present situation is this. God, I need you to deliver me from liars. Maybe, maybe you've been there. Maybe this psalm is for you today. Maybe something has happened to you today. Maybe something will happen to you tomorrow, where you'll come back to the psalm and say, this is my present. God, I need your help. So what do you do? In your outline, number three, you need to have the right perspective. Look at my perspective, verse three. Now, it's like the psalmist is gonna turn to the ungodly person. What shall be given to you and what more shall be done to you, you deceitful tongue? You liar, you deceiver. What's gonna be done to you? What's gonna happen? you know, the liar who used to wound with his tongue, he will receive the vengeance of the Lord. Verse three is the question, verse four is the answer. The question is what's going to be given to you? What's going to be done to you? Verse four, here's the answer. Sharp arrows of the warrior with the burning coals of the broom tree. church family. Their English translations are a little bit different on this. There are some that have glowing coals or juniper trees or burning charcoal or broom tree. All of this meant to convey the idea that God is a warrior and the wicked man will feel the sharp arrows and the sharper fires that come from God. I mean, beloved, do you see verse four with what kind of arrows must God have? Think of how precise they must be and how penetrating God's arrows are. Think of how perfect and timely the arrows of God are and how unstoppable the arrows of God are. They will come upon the wicked. What's the perspective? He doesn't take matters into his own hands. He doesn't say, I'm going to go back to my culture and try to change my whole culture. He's not all about political reform and political change and all that kind of stuff. What he's doing is his proper perspective is this. I'm going to leave it in the hands of God. The Lord said, vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. I live in a culture of lies, and I've been on the receiving end of lies and slander, but I'm not gonna return insult for insult. I'm not gonna repay them. I'm gonna leave it to God. Very simply, here's the lesson for me and you. When these situations happen and you feel homesick in this hostile world, we must choose to not react emotionally, but rather we should choose to respond obediently and thoughtfully while trusting in the Lord. I wish I could tell you that you won't have these verbal attacks. I wish I could tell you that child of God, Christian, believer in the Lord Jesus, you're not going to be slandered. I wish I could tell you that, but I would be a false teacher if I told you everything would be fine, peace, peace. It's not. Rather, you are going to receive difficulty. You are going to be slandered. You are going to be insulted. You are going to be reviled. Jesus said, blessed are you and people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven. Beloved, let me give you a sobering word for a minute. Verse four are verses in the Bible that ought to cause all of us to tremble. For two reasons. Number one, with the holy fear, because thank you, Lord, I'm saved from your judgment. But we also tremble with the holy fear, because all unbelievers will face this judgment from God if they die in their unbelief. Listen to Psalm 140 verse nine. As for the wicked, burning coals will fall on them and they shall be cast into the fire. Revelation 21 verse eight. All liars will have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. God is not messing around with liars. He says, all liars, if that describes one's life, a habitual, unconfessed pattern of lying, that's what describes them. God says, their part is the lake of fire. God makes it clear in Isaiah 14, 23, I will sweep them with the broom of destruction. Child of God, pilgrim. Come back to it. What's the perspective? You and I live in a culture of lies. And what do we do? Verse 3, what's the question? What's going to be done? Answer verse 4. God will shoot his arrows at the right time to all the wicked. And church family, what we need to do is maintain the proper perspective that we would be quick to confess our sin, that we would put off all lies and slander and all gossip and all sinful speech, and that we would talk and live in a way that pleases the Lord. Leave it in the Lord's hands. Vengeance is mine. Well, what about in your outline? What do we do next? I mean, okay, so here we are. We're traveling with the ancient Jewish people going to Jerusalem. What do we need to do? Look at verses five through seven. Here's your outline point number four. My pilgrimage. My pilgrimage. Woe is me. That's kind of interesting. Woe is me. That's a Hebrew expression that is saying, I am appalled. That's what he's saying. I'm appalled at what's going on. I can't believe it. I am grieved. I am lamenting. Notice the verbs. Verse 5, I sojourn in Meshach. Verse five, I dwell among the tents of Kedar. Verse six, too long my soul has had its dwelling with those who hate peace. I sojourn, I dwell, I have my dwelling. Where? Verse five. Do you see in your Bible two words? They're places here, Meshach and Kedar. Do you see those? Those are like polar opposites geographically. Meshach is way, way up to the north. Be like modern day Turkey. Kedar is way to the south, in like modern day Egypt. The point is not, here's where I live. These are like opposite parts of the compass. It's like saying, I find myself in a pagan world. I feel like I live in Vegas and New Orleans. I feel like I live in LA and New York, London and Paris. I feel like I live in the midst of the pagans, of the godless, of the worldly people, of those who live for the world. Real quick, can you resonate with verse five? Because none but the wicked enjoy the company of the wicked. 1 John 2, do not love the world nor the things in the world. So, the godly man who is being weaned off of the world while living in the world, we think, I'm appalled by what's going on here. I can't, I don't get it. I don't fit in. I don't find a home here. He says, too long, verse 6, I've had my dwelling with those who hate peace. Verse 7, I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war. Why can he say that? Well, I am for peace because I am, I am a man who has been given a peace from God, the God of peace. I am a man who loves to speak peace because I have been given a heart of peace from God. I want to have peace with other people, as far as it depends upon me, live at peace with all people. I want to proclaim peace in Christ. But the psalmens, they're for war. You can go to your lost neighbor and say, I know how you can have peace in your heart, peace with God, peace with the Lord Jesus Christ. I know how you can do it. You can give them the words of peace and they might respond with words of war. The psalmists can relate. It's like when you go to somebody and you say, I'm here to help you. I care for your soul. I care for your eternal well-being. I want you to repent and believe and come to Christ and be delivered from the wrath to come. I am for your peace. And they respond by insulting you, mocking you, ridiculing you, tearing up that tract that you give them, spitting in your face. I'm an alien here. I'm a stranger here. I don't fit in. I am for peace, but they are for war. I want to take a quick moment here before we bring this to a close. Christian, I want to encourage you. You have this in your outline there. Why are we aliens and strangers? And maybe on the one hand, there's a little bit of a self-examination here. Just make sure this is you. You don't want to fit into the world. That would not be good. That would be a bad indicator. For a true believer is called out from the world, even though we live in this culture. Why are we aliens? Number one, we have been recreated for another world. We have been recreated for another world. We are aliens and strangers, number two, because we have a new master. You know who your master is not anymore? Satan. You know who it is now, child of God? Christ. Third, we are aliens and strangers because we have new affections. We have new longings. We have new delights. We have new cravings. Like, you're at a prayer meeting. You're here to hear the Word of God preached. That's a desire that is another worldly desire. Fourth, we are aliens and strangers. We know that loving and living for this world leads to eternal damnation, right? If you make yourself a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. James 4, verse 4. Also, we are aliens here because we grow more in Christ and we long more for heaven to be with Christ. It's like we're homesick. We see our world growing darker and our hearts are growing brighter for Christ. And that doesn't fit together. We are made for another world. We love the things that the world hates and we hate the things that the world loves. We cherish Christ, the Savior whom the world rejects and the world despises and the world abhors. Brethren, Can I remind you, for you who have come to believe upon Christ, for those of you who have turned from your sin and you have trusted in the Lord, we have a new kingdom. We have a new king. We have a new homeland. We have a new Lord. We have a new allegiance. We have a new family. We have a new love. We have a new guidebook. We have a new heart. We have a new congregation of believers. We have new desires. We could go on and on with what God has done in our hearts. If you ever feel like you're out of place in this world, I'm for peace. I know where people can find peace. But when I share it with others, it's like they're for war. You know who can relate to you? Jesus. There was never a man who walked this world who was more perfectly called the Prince of Peace. He departed this world and he said, my peace I give to you. And yet, what did the world do to him? What did the world do to him? Well, for the love of Christ, they opposed him. For the good works of Christ, they wanted to stone him. For the compassion of Christ, they ridiculed and they mocked him. For the warnings that Christ gave, they rejected and they cast them away. For the tenderness of Christ, they plotted his murder. For the truthfulness of Christ, they lied and they maligned him. And for the salvation of Christ, they spit upon him and they trampled him. Oh, Christian, what a Savior. What a Savior we have. You are a pilgrim passing through this world. Just like your Savior. And you are journeying on to heaven like your Savior. And though you may feel more and more and more like you don't fit in here, because you don't. That's the work of grace in your hearts. So be homesick. Be homesick for heaven while living in this hostile world. But I wanna close by asking you to turn with me to 1 Peter 2. Will you go there, 1 Peter 2? And as you're turning there, just really quickly, here's what's going on. In 1 Peter 2, the apostle Peter is writing to suffering Christians. Boy, they are really, well, they're scattered, they're aliens, they're scattered throughout different parts of the Western Asia Minor world. And in chapter two, look at their nature. Verse nine, you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession. What does that mean? You're made new. You're a new creation. You're a people for God. That's your nature. But you know what? You're a stranger if that's the case. Look at verse 11. Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers, Just get used to it. That's who you are in this world. We don't fit in. We're strangers here. Because we have a new nature, we are therefore strangers. And what about verse 11 and 12? Your behavior should be different. Verse 11, beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, keep reading, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may, because of your good deeds as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. So keep journeying. Keep journeying. Don't lose heart. Keep journeying on toward heaven. Keep being a faithful pilgrim. and keep living for the Lord, abstaining from fleshly sinful lusts, God will help you and he will be glorified with you. I think C.S. Lewis nailed it when he said this, if I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, then the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. Christian. That's true. Let's journey on to heaven together. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your Word. Thank you for the power of it. Thank you for the clarity of the song of ascents, this traveling pilgrim psalm as the traveler would leave home and head toward Jerusalem. Oh God, may that be our prayer and our perspective on the pilgrimage of life that we would lift our eyes upward and look to you, the Prince of Peace. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.