God, that apart from God, there is only emptiness and foolishness that leads to one place, that place outside of the camp where there's darkness and weeping and gnashing of teeth. Solomon ends Psalm 127 by stating that children are a reward, a blessing, the fruit of the womb, that a man who has many children is blessed by the Lord, this ending transitions perfectly into this week's Psalm, Psalm 128. In our journey through the songs of ascent, 128 is the ninth in the collection of 15 songs. The Songs of Ascent are songs that Jews sang as they traveled in family caravans to the city of Jerusalem to celebrate feasts, festivals. These feasts, these songs are reminders of God's mercy, grace, deliverance, provision, and protection of his people. The author of 128, like 127, speaks to God's work in the family of the righteous. He writes to us about how those who fear the Lord are blessed by the Lord. That the curse of working the land all the days of our lives will be a blessing to us. How the blessings of the Lord will spill over from the husband to the wife and than to their children. That the city built upon the righteous will be governed by the righteous, that good may be done in the community for the duration of the life of the man who fears the Lord. The author then closes by stating the blessing of right of the righteous man to see his children hence live along in prosperous life and calling for the for peace upon Israel, there are five points that we will encounter in this psalm. Our first point, which can be found in verse one, is that all who fear the statement, that all who fear the Lord are blessed. The second point that can be found in verses two through three is how they are blessed, the description of how those who fear the Lord are blessed. Point number three is the repeating of the blessing in the verse, I'm sorry, point number three can be found in verse four itself, which is just the repeating of the blessing in verse one. Verse four, I mean point four, which can be found in verse five, is the blessings beyond the family to the community And finally, our last point, point five, which is in verse six, the blessing of a long, fruitful life. Now, if you haven't already, please open your copy of God's Living and Active Word to Psalm 128, and I will begin reading in verse one. Psalm 128 and verse 1. A song of degrees. Blessed is everyone that fears the Lord, that walketh in his ways, for thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands. Happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house, thy children like olive plants round about thy table. Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord. The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion, and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children in peace upon Israel. So let's see what verse one has to say to us this morning. Verse one, blessed is everyone that feareth the Lord. So my question is, what is fear? Fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain or a threat. uh... that is usually the definition that comes to mind when we read the word uh... when we read the word and quite frankly before i knew what it meant uh... to fear the lord i would become confused by this phrase uh... thinking of the definition of you know something dangerous and likely to cause pain or A good indicator that the definition I read isn't what is meant by the author is that blessed is everyone precedes fear of the Lord. The fear the author is referring to is a reverential fear. It is a deep respect or wonder and awe towards the power and the authority of the Lord. It is It is the beginning of wisdom, knowledge, love, and obedience. The second half of this verse, that walketh in his ways, tells us what everyone who fears the Lord looks like, that the believer who fears the Lord is obedient to the Lord. So combined, verse one is stating that Every believer is blessed to know the power and authority of God, and because of this wisdom of God, of who God is, the believer will live his life in obedience to God. Verse two. Psalm 128, verse two. For thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands. In verse two, the author starts to describe the blessings of the believer. The curse, and this is the first half of the verse, everybody. The curse that brought death to man also cursed the land to produce thorns and thistles, and the man was cursed to work the unfertile land to eat. It sounds like a hopeless situation and sometimes it really is. I mean, if you really think about it, infertile land is almost barren and it can be barren. Just rocky soil, pH levels can be off and which they will only allow for certain weeds to grow and weeds Most of that plant life is thorny, and some may even be toxic. But a fertile land that is worked can become fertile land. And in all this, the believer, the one who fears the Lord, will work the cursed ground, and the Lord will not let his labors be in vain. The wisdom of the Lord brings peace, to the believer in all circumstances. Happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. Even as he is in the field with a plow, the believer, even as he picks all the rocks out of the dirt, which you usually have to do with that type of soil, you have to remove all the rocks. Anybody who's ever lived on a farm or has done any work with plows or anything like that on kind of partial barren land, you would understand removal of the rocks is very important. Through all the hard work, the believer will be happy in doing the labor because he knows that the Lord will provide him with the fruit of his labor. The family will be sustained by the fruit of their labor, therefore filled with happiness. This is an example of how God works all things together for the good of his own. The cursed man cultivates the cursed ground and the Lord brings forth the fruit. Verse three, thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house, and thy children like olive plants round about thy table. In verse three, the wife is described as a fruit-bearing vine. The believer's wife would be fruitful whether she bears children or not. A believing wife will be loving, kind, helpful, encouraging, consoling, supportive, submissive. They will make life enjoyable as the wine from grapes that come from the vine. The second half of this verse explains that the children are like the olive plant that made life better. The olive tree, much like children, requires much time and cared to become a fruitful tree. The olive produced could be eaten and the oil, and oil can be made from the olives. They proved to be useful. The children are a reward of the womb as described in Psalm 127. The more children you had, the more work could be done This contributed to the overall well-being of the family. A blessing to those who fear the Lord, the blessings described in verses two through three are generalized blessings for the people of Israel, but it is a common blessing for ancient times to have many children. Verse four. Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord. The author's benediction begins with restating that the man who fears the Lord is blessed. This reiteration is placed here to emphasize that it is not only child producing families that are blessed, but all who honor God, all who honor God will be blessed. That not everyone who honors God will be married or will they have children, but they too will be blessed, just not with the blessings that are described in verses two through three. Welcome. Verse five, the Lord shall bless the out of Zion and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. The connection, the Psalmist is making as he travels to the family and the family caravan to the Holy city. is that out of Jerusalem, where the temple of the Lord is, where the people come from all over to worship the living God, from that dwelling place of the Lord on earth, the Lord draws his people upon himself to bless them, Jerusalem itself being a blessing to Israel, It is the place where mercy is sought out, where confession is brought to the Lord and sacrifice is made to cover the sins of men. The God-fearing will be drawn to Zion to worship the Lord, to honor him in obedience to him. The second half of this verse explains that the blessing that the Lord will bestow upon the God honoring is that they will not only see the prosperity of their own homes, but they will see Jerusalem prosper. That their communities will thrive and flourish as a blessing for obedience to the Almighty. This blessing will be permanent the duration of the righteous man's life. Verse six. Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children and peace upon Israel. Verse six is stating that because the man who honors God and comes to worship him corporately when he is commanded to do so, and he follows the ordinances that the Lord has expressed in his commandments, that the Lord will bless that man with a long and full life, a happy, prosperous life filled with the joy of raising children, which I can testify is a great joy, and even beyond that, seeing grandchildren. I imagine it is a double dose of joy because your baby has produced a new baby. I imagine that it is living parenthood all over again without having to do much parenting. You can love them, play with them, teach them the things of God and give them back when you're done. sugar them down and send them home. But again, children and grandchildren are both a blessing that God has given to the righteous. They hope that a God-fearing people will continue into the future and that the Lord may be glorified in the new generation. That the children of God will be at peace and the hope of peace may be carried out with the new generations in Jerusalem. Brothers and sisters, we all belong to a single body, a family from above which we were chosen from before the foundation of the world. We were called out from among the world that we are to be holy and blameless, and that we should be blessed by honoring our Lord in wisdom and understanding of his heavenly things. We are drawn together from our homes to gather every Lord's day to corporately worship him in spirit and in truth. Granted, we don't travel by foot for days on end, nevertheless, we come from all over to worship our Lord. Our blessing of salvation and adoption as sons into the royal family is by far the greatest blessing that we have been blessed with. And we owe it all to one man who was perfectly obedient, who perfectly feared and honored the Lord, a man who was blameless sinless and holy, our Lord Jesus Christ. This morning, I only have one point, but I have three sub points to show how Jesus fulfills this claim. That Jesus perfectly feared and honored the Lord. So my first sub-point, we'll call it A, Jesus relied on God's word to overcome temptation. The second point, he never claims that he is doing his will, but always does the will of his father in perfect obedience. And C, he is blessed forever, seated at the right hand of the Father. So Jesus relied on God's word to overcome temptation. Jesus, as he was faced with temptation, being tempted by the devil in the wilderness, he fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, he was in a weakened state. But he totally relied on the power of the word of God to deliver him through the ordeal. He fully entrusted himself to the Father and his word to conquer the temptation that he was faced with. In fact, there was no hesitation in how Jesus responded to the devil in Matthew 4, chapter 4, verses 1 through 11. The devil tells him to feed himself, and Jesus was hungry, and he responds with scripture, Deuteronomy 8.3. He says, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. What Jesus is telling the devil in this moment of weakness and hunger is that there is a better and eternal food that will feed the soul and that will ultimately lead to eternal life, and that is the word of God. And the devil then tells him to throw himself off the pinnacle of the temple to prove that he is the son of God, and Jesus again responds with Scripture, Deuteronomy 6.16. It is written, he tells the devil this, it is written thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Jesus is responding again in a weakened state that the devil should not test the Lord. Finally a devil tells him to worship him and in return he would give Jesus every kingdom Jesus responds with Deuteronomy 6 12 through 13 and Jesus says to the devil be gone Satan for it is written You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve the devil then flees in the angels come to minister Jesus and This story is a great example of how we as Christians should fully rely on God's word in times of temptation. He was weak, tired, hungry. Jesus was weak. He was tired. He was hungry, thirsty, but depended on the Father's word to overcome the temptation he was faced with. He was expressing his deep respect wonder and awe toward the power and the authority of the Father's word and fully entrusted himself unto that very living and active word to see him through the temptations he faced in the wilderness. My second point is that he never claims that he is doing his will but always does the will of his father in perfect obedience. Jesus never claims that he came to do his own will, but to do the will of the father. Jesus always gave credit to the things he did to the father. He was selfless in his giving, being that they are one, having the same nature in mind, He can only act in accordance with the Father's will, and here are several examples in Scripture we can find. John 4.34, Jesus said to them, my food is to do the will of him who sent me to accomplish his work. John 5.19, then Jesus answered and said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, this son is not able to do anything from himself except may see the father except what he may see the father doing for whatever that one does These things also the son does likewise John 5 30 verse chapter 5 verse 30 I Cannot I can do nothing on my own as I hear I judge and my judgment is just because I seek Not my own will but the will of him who sent me Mark 14, 36, and he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible to you. Take this cup from me. Yet, not what I will, but what you will. These examples display how Jesus and the Father are one and how Jesus, the Son of God, God in the flesh, perfectly honors his Father by completely and obediently fulfilling the will that was set before him. He accomplished all the work that he was set out to accomplish and completed all that needed to be completed. Jesus kept every commandment of the Father perfectly. By his obedience, Jesus is all righteous and fulfills the law to the uttermost. Philippians chapter two, verses seven through eight. But emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. The will of the Father for Jesus to obediently die on the cross was so that the one trespass that led to condemnation for all men would be forgiven and by one act of righteousness that leads to justification and life for all men, Romans chapter 5, 18. Beloved, this Jesus, our King, is the obedience that we can never be, but because of the love with which he loves us, he became our obedience to the honor of the Father. We became obedient for us. I don't know anybody in this room who is obedient. I'm not. And I'm not boasting on that either, just so that we're clear. It is a very mournful thing to be that way. He is blessed forever, seated at the right hand of the Father. Because of Jesus's perfect reverence for the Father, he is sinless, holy, blameless. He fulfilled the law perfectly, and his life of obedience made him all righteous. He fulfilled the will of the Father in perfect obedience. So therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Philippians Chapter 2, verses 9 through 11. He was resurrected and ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father, blessed forever and ever. Amen. Brothers and sisters, our King Jesus became our righteousness, our obedience, perfectly fulfilled the law by perfectly fearing the Lord. He has blessed us with the most joyful blessing that we could be blessed with salvation and adoption as sons. Rest in Christ, brothers and sisters. He completed what we could never complete or achieve. His spirit dwells within us, so I encourage you all to love one another, build each other up, carry each other's burdens, that we may be built up together into one temple of the Lord, blessed from on high forever and ever. Jesus paid it all, all to him we owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow. Let us pray together. Our gracious and merciful God, we thank you, Lord, for this beautiful Psalm 128, Lord. We thank you for our perfectly obedient King Jesus, Lord. He fulfilled everything that we could not. And by his stripes, we are healed, Lord. We thank you, Lord, for this time that you have allowed us to have together in this study of Psalm 128, Lord. I ask, Lord, that you might bless Brother Greg as he comes up and feeds your sheep, that your spirit may be present among us all. And that all the things that are done today may glorify you, Lord. And I ask all these things in Jesus' name, amen.