Psalm 129, the Psalm of Trouble. We made mention several studies ago that this series of Psalms, I forget now how many, called the Psalms of Ascent. What's happening here is the men of Jerusalem or Israel made their way up to Jerusalem for the celebration of the feast. they sung the song, and as they made this journey with anticipation to the feast, which was designed by God to cause them to see the gospel of Christ. They'd sing these inspired songs and call to memory all that God had done for them. And there's nothing like the gospel that would cause their hearts to praise unto God. But the question here, what a lot of folks don't understand is how can you praise God for the gospel when Christ had not yet come? Christ is the gospel. How did God save Old Testament saints? Well, you know that because we've been taught that, but the average person, even in religion, don't have any idea. How does God save Old Testament saints? Same way He saves New Testament saints. Same way He saves today. I want to read a couple of verses before we start the psalm, beginning in Romans 3. You don't have to turn there. Listen, though. Verse 24, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation. Jesus Christ is the propitiation. We're forgiven in Him. and stewed faith in His blood. His blood was shed in order to wash our sin away. To declare His righteousness, it's His righteousness that saves us. We don't have any. For the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. Now, the sins that are passed that are mentioned there is not the past sins of the world or my past sins or your past sins. Yet we know that when Christ died for our sins, He died for all of them, past, present, and future. But that's not talking about our past sins. That's talking about the sins of the Old Testament saints. They were paid by the righteousness of Christ and the faith and the shedding of His blood. So how could men know the gospel of Christ when Christ had not yet come? They saw Him through pictures and types. They saw Christ in the Ark of Noah. We see Christ in the Ark of Noah, don't we? They saw Him in the Passover lamb. He is the Passover lamb. They saw Him in the brazen serpent. He was the one that was high and lifted up, and those who looked unto Him lived. They saw him in the manna from heaven. Christ is the bread that came down from heaven, and all that eat of him have life everlasting. They saw Christ in the rock from which the water flowed. They saw Christ in the mercy seat. He is the mercy seat. They saw him in Joseph, who was sold, humiliated, and then exalted to the throne to save his people. That's a picture of Christ. They saw Christ in Isaac, who was the beloved son offered up, pointing to the father's giving of his son. They saw Him in Boaz, the kinsman redeemer. They saw Him in David as we've seen Him in 1 Samuel. They saw the Lord Jesus in all these feasts. The feast of the first fruits, feast of the tabernacle. Christ is the tabernacle. He is our first fruit. He's the first fruit of God. They saw Him in the feast of Pentecost. And this was a blessed time for Israel. They came together to worship. They came together to be taught of God, but on their way up to enjoy this blessed time together, they also begin, just like all men do, sinful men and women, men falling, men and women, they started to think about the world. They started to think about their troubles, and they started to think about their afflictions. You ever do that? That's what this psalm's about. In Acts chapter 14, Paul and Cornelius were preaching the gospel, it says in Lystra, Iconium, and in Antioch, and it says they were confirming, and that word means supporting and strengthening the souls of the disciples, all those who had met to hear them preach, and exhorting them to continue in the faith. And then it says, and, They added that we must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. That's the only way we're going to enter, through much tribulation. The word means trouble, anguish, affliction. And you and I require ongoing strength. Perseverance or preservation is an absolute must. We must continue in the faith. And the path to the kingdom is marked by trouble, continued pressure, discouragement, opposition, gonna try to push you out and get you to quit. It has some. Suffering's a big part of the journey. And real discipleship and true salvation demands strength and endurance and a constant afflicting and expectation to try. You can expect them. They're coming. Well, that's not a very encouraging message. It is if you know who sends them. It is if you know why he sends them. And it's through much tribulation, not just a little trouble, not just a little suffering, not just a little trials, but much, abundant. A great amount or quantity of is what the word much means. And it's a great quantity of all the above, so much that we should expect them. And that's what Psalm 129 is all about. This is a song of reflection of Israel's suffering, their constant oppression, their self-inflicted trouble. And really though, the psalm is about God's ultimate deliverance. And there's no sugar coating here. The Psalm says, many a time they afflicted. Life was hard for ancient Israel. And it's hard for us, true Israel also. Our enemies are real. Our persecution is prominent. And on top of all that, we ourselves are our own worst enemy. We don't have to go far to find enemies, do we? But this Psalm is really about the unshakable faithfulness of God Almighty to His people that's found only in Christ. And it speaks directly to the gospel. Verse one, many a time have they afflicted me from my youth. May Israel now say, many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, yet. But, it's always good news follows statements like that. Yet they have not prevailed. God's people always been opposed. You know, from Israel, from Egypt on, just faced hostility. Everywhere they went. The psalmist said from my youth, he could never remember a time when there wasn't trouble. And you know, the older I get, Harder it becomes me to remember a time there wasn't trouble. And a believer must always remember that their suffering doesn't mean that God's abandoned them. Why do we think that? Well, you know, I must have done something wrong. God, you know, has abandoned me. God had preserved Israel and all their trouble, and He preserves us too. Their preservation was proof of God's faithfulness. When I look back on my life and some of the troubles that I've gone through and see that I'm still here and that I'm still, by His grace, worshiping Him, I think that's proof of His faithfulness. It's our preservation. All right, we persevere because he preserves us. The enemy attacked but didn't prevail. God kept Israel standing and he keeps us doing the same. Our perseverance is not our doing, God does it. And Israel survived repeated oppression for one reason, the Lord stood with them. just like the sheep that wanders. The only reason that they're brought back in the fold is because the Lord went after them. That's what we're gonna look at in the next hour. And this points to the gospel. Our endurance is grace, not grit. Salvation's by grace, not works. The Lord was afflicted from His birth. From the time He was born, they sought to kill Him. He was opposed all the days of His life. I'm sure when he was working for his father in the carpenter shop that there was, can you imagine being God in the flesh and dealing with people like you and I? That in itself would be a very difficult trial, wouldn't it? Folks get on one another's nerves, much less if we were perfect like he was. But the enemy didn't prevail. In the end, they crucified him. He arose from the dead, proving that He prevailed in Christ. All the promises of God are yes and amen in Him. Believers face real trouble, but nothing can ultimately prevail against those who are united to Christ, one with Christ. So much so that when God looks at me, he sees his beloved son. That's the only reason that we prevail. That's the only reason he stands with us. That's the only reason we as lost sheep does he come and rescue us. He's working all things together for our good. Do you believe that? We ought to act more like it. I'm talking about me, I'm talking to me. The child of God is not exempt from trials, but our security is in Christ. And he always, always, always sees us through. Look at verse three. The plowers plowed upon my back. They made long their ferals. Now, there's a picture here, and it's really a brutal picture. Enemies treated God's people like a field to be ripped and plowed open. It foreshadows the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ, who took that cat of nine tails whip upon his back and just shredded his back, just shredded the skin, opened it up like you see with these big farm tractors cultivating the field. Our Lord Jesus bears the stripes his people deserve so that we can be freed from the bondage and sin. And I'm thankful for that. Though God's people suffered deeply, Christ, by the suffering of himself, the scripture says, by the sacrifice of himself, took the punishment that we deserve, that we earned, and that we merited. And Paul said, if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joined heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified him. You're not gonna get away from it. Suffering is part of the journey, as I say. It's through much tribulation that we enter the kingdom of God. And look at verse four, the Lord is righteous. Boy, that's the gospel. He hath cut us under the cords of the wicked. Now the cords of the wicked here picture bondage, picture the chains of sin. And Israel couldn't cut these cords, but God could and God did. And we can't cut them either. And that's the beauty of the gospel. that we couldn't and didn't break our own chains. God intervenes and breaks them for us. He does so by his righteous character because he's righteous. That's what he says. The Lord is righteous. His righteousness becomes our rescue. God cuts these cords, and it's a clean and a final cut. He destroyed the cords that held us captive. Sin's claim against us is severed. The judgment of the law is fulfilled. It doesn't have any claim on us. Well, it says right here, thou shalt not, thou shalt not, thou shalt not. You're doing all those things. You don't have any claim on me. Because in Christ, I didn't do any of them. Well, now that's going to give you a license. Our Lord's death and resurrection is the ultimate fulfillment of God breaking the grip that sin, death, and Satan had on us. The Lord is righteous. Therefore, in Him, we are righteous. By our union with Him, we're righteous. How righteous? How righteous you got to be? Perfectly so. There's something a believer never tires of hearing. I never tire of hearing about his righteousness. Paul said we declare his righteous, not our own. We don't have any. We can't claim any of our own. In religion, I got saved and I got lost. And then I'd go up and try to get saved again. Then I'd get lost. I dedicated myself and I rededicated myself. And if any of you were in Southern Baptist, you know what I'm talking about. I never ever had any assurance. None. Why? I'll tell you, I kept looking for something in me, some result, some fruit that gave me confidence that I was saved, and I didn't find any. So I'm lost again. And then the preacher was nothing more than just a spiritual cheerleader, would puff you up, you know, and feed you with all this, and you'd say, okay, you know, I'm... You'd rededicate again only to fail again, time and time again. I'd start over thinking, well, this time it's going to be different. I remember the first time as a young boy I said a word and bad word and it really bothered me and I. I promised the Lord I said I'll never. I'll never say it again. Probably one five minutes. I said it again. How many times did I do that finally to the point where I just said ain't no need to promise God anymore? Do that, because I'll wind up. It's better not to make a vow or a promise to God. Not keep it. It's better not to do that. It's better not to make a vow at all. But one day that stopped when God revealed to me that Christ finished the perfect work that He also required. So, what is now my hope? Again, verse four, the Lord is righteous. That's my hope. Isn't that true? He has cut asunder the cords of the wicked. He did. Salvations of the Lord. He did it. The wicked are the plowmen dragging blades across my back. That's the picture. Typifying bondage and oppression and domination. God cuts them asunder. God removes their control. He severs their ability to do me harm. He takes away their dominance over me. There's a This is a picture of God's interruption of the enemy's work against me. Their oppression is impossible to continue because God cuts them off. He breaks the cords of sin and Satan and guilt and condemnation, the powers that once bound us. Listen to what Paul wrote in Romans chapter 5 verse 1. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace, wherein we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also. Now you tell somebody you're going through a real trial, And then you say, but you know, I'm happy about it. They'll think you're. Tribulations, he said, with glory in them, plural, afflictions, anguish, burdens, persecution, trouble, trouble in the world, trouble within, trouble without. But then Paul goes on to tell us that trouble works, patience. I need patience. Tribulation works it. Experience, hope. Every single time the Lord gets us out of trouble, we learn a little bit more how to be patient, knowing that He always takes care of us. Isn't that right? Those of you that are older, like me, you've seen God deliver you time and time again. That ought to cause us to be more patient. And when trouble comes, instead of just throwing our hands up and saying, woe is me, we say, God's going to take care of it. God's going to see me through this. We experience his care for us over and over. Then we find ourselves having a little hope. This is the chain of God's grace. Tribulation brings patience. Patience, experience. Experience brings hope. It's a process. We don't just It's not just zip-zap, you know, it happens. Hasn't that been your experience? Hasn't He proven His faithfulness? He's a faithful Savior. He said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. You know what? I found that to be true. Now, if it had been me, I'd have left my Savior. But He's a faithful Savior. To the church at Smyrna in Revelation chapter 2, the Lord said, I know thy works and thy trouble and thy poverty. You know what that means? That means that he's fully aware of these things. Then he says, but you're rich. You just said, you know my works and my trouble and my poverty, how can I be rich? Because God, who's rich in mercy and for the great love wherewith he loved us, even when we where dead and sins have quickened us together with him. He did this to show us the exceeding riches of his grace and kindness toward us through Christ Jesus." That's what Paul went on to say. For by grace are you saved through faith and that is not of yourself. It's what? What is it? It's a gift. It's a gift of God. Why do we fret over trouble? Paul said all things are yours. In Christ they are. Everything in this world is ordered by God for our good and for His glory. Everything. All things. That's everything. Everything's all things and all things is everything. Now the plowers have plowed and they made deep burrows. That's what false religion does. The bondage of false religion, I believe, is just the worst. They put you under the law. You do this or else. You know, a believer wouldn't do that. You do this, God'll punish you. That's nothing but bondage. That's putting me under the law because I can't do what I should do, and I can't not do the things that I shouldn't do. Isn't that what Paul said? But Christ did everything perfectly. Religions always told me about sin, but they never told me what sin was. They told me that God was love. He loved everybody, but they never told me about God being holy. I cannot remember growing up ever hearing a message from a man that would told me that God was holy and that a holy God could not look upon me without me dying. I couldn't look upon a holy God without dying. Never told me how I myself could become holy so that I might have fellowship with God. Never told me that. As you say, God loves you. God loves everybody. That cheapens His love. It leaves out the reason God loves us, and that's the death of His Son. You leave that out, you've done everything but preach the gospel. That is the gospel. Christ doing for us what we couldn't do for ourselves. How many times have we said it? They never told me that God demanded what I couldn't provide. They never told me that without Christ, I could do nothing. Isn't that what the Lord said? Without me, you can do a few things. Without me, you can learn to accomplish great things. He said without me, you can do nothing. Nothing. It led me to believe that I had to do all these things to be saved. It was plowing deep burrows in my back. Bondage. Nothing. but bonded. Verse five, let them all be confounded and turn back that hate Zion. Now you know who Zion is, that's the people of God. God opposes those who oppose his people. Do you believe that? Oh, I've seen it. I have seen it happen. God opposes those who oppose his people. Those who hate Zion are those who resist God's covenant people and ultimately they resist God himself. You do it to me, you do it to God. You do it to you, a believer, you do it to God. And the verses of prayer for God to reverse their schemes and expose their hostility, their efforts will fail. Now God may use their efforts for a while to teach you patience and give you experience and help you to have hope. But in the end, they're going to fail. It says, put to shame and turn back. They don't just lose. They're confounded. They're embarrassed. They're humiliated by the outcome that God brings. God does the vindication for His people. Isn't that what He said? Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. You know, there's an old saying, payback is hell, or something like that. Yeah, it is, because God's going to be the one to pay it back. Vengeance is mine, he said. Be not deceived. God's not mocked. Whatsoever man soweth, he shall also reap. You reap or you sow a work against God's people, you're going to reap. You're going to reap the consequences, not benefit. God's not gonna allow hatred toward his kingdom stand. All hostility toward God ends the same way, shame and defeat, defeat. The only escape for any of us is to bow to the one who bore our shame on the cross. He bore our shame so we don't have to. Without Christ, everyone's turned back. In Christ, enemies become sons. Is this good news to you? Verse 6, let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up. Now the enemies of God don't have any lasting strength. Grass in ancient times on flat roofs often sprouted up because, you know, dust and dirt. Kind of like, you ever see little weeds growing in your gutters? The first thing that tells you is you need to clean out your gutters. But there's just enough dirt in those gutters for grass and wheat to sprout up quickly, but then they shrivel. The wicked who come against God's people can seem strong and vigorous at first, but there's no lasting power. God causes them to shrivel up and wilt away. Every life that is not rooted in Christ is just rooftop grass. That's all it is. Your enemies are just rooftop grass, just gutter weeds. Next time somebody comes against you, just let them say, you're just a rooftop grass, you're just gutter weed. Only those united to Christ bear lasting fruit because He provides the soil, He cultivates the soil, He plants the seed. He causes it to grow. He sends sunlight. He sends the rain. He's the sower. The sower is successful. Verse seven, wherewith the mower filleth not his hand, nor he that bindeth cheese his bosom. You know, the wicked who cause us trouble produce nothing of real value. They don't yield a harvest. The reaper's hands are left empty, he says. No sheaves, no bundles, no harvest. God prevents their labor from yielding any lasting results against God's people. I don't know. I've been going through a lot of trouble and trials and tribulations. Is it worth patience? Are you patient? Are you waiting on God to deliver you? And he will. Outside of Christ, every harvest ends empty handed, but in Christ, the harvest is not because of our strength, not because of our doing, not because of our planning, but because he's the one who brings forth the fruit. That's why it's called the fruit of the spirit. It's God's spirit. not fruit of our spirit. Our spirit reaps the benefits of it. In verse 8, neither do they which go by say the blessing of the Lord be upon you. We bless you in the name of the Lord. Now, it was customary in the times of Israel, ancient times, for those who would pass by a field where laborers are bringing in the harvest to bless them. The Lord bless you. The Lord bless your work. The Lord prosper you and what you're doing to those who are working in the field. But in this picture, there is no harvest. The field of the wicked is barren, so no one offers a blessing to it. Their word's so empty and fruitless that it draws no praise or recognition or goodwill from God or God's people. Nothing they have done is worth Commending their efforts produced nothing. No blessings. Outside of Christ, no man or woman's efforts produce fruit. Just barrenness. God withholds favor from those who oppose Him. Those who stand against God and His people stand outside of His blessings. And here's the Gospel teaching. They remain without the blessing of the Lord. All who don't trust Him. All that do trust Him are blessed. You know, we've talked a lot about, you know, today, everybody says, you know, have a blessed day. What we ought to say is He has. He has, thank you, but He already has. You can't. He has, but you can't. So, without Christ, no harvest, no blessing, just a curse. And Psalm 129 ends with this unshakable truth. The enemies of God may plow deep, but they never prevail. Their strength withers, their harvest fails, and their purpose against you collapses. Yet the Lord who has delivered his people in the past keeps them still. His people a wicked fade, but God's people endure. God's people prosper. Not. physically and materially, even as your soul prospers. That's the prosperity that's talking about. Men have just made a whole separate religion out of prosperity, this health and wealth gospel. It's not what he's talking about. Talking about spiritual prosperity. The Lord's righteous, faithful, and forever on our side. And the psalmist calls for us to look beyond our suffering. Can we do that? Look beyond it and trust in the justice and faithfulness of God, who is faithful to that promise. And His promises are in Christ. Enemies will afflict, trials will press upon us, troubles will come. But God's people are not destroyed. They're just made stronger. That old saying, what don't kill you make you stronger. That's a lot of truth in that. That's biblical. We prosper in patience and experience, which creates a great hope and assurance in us. Do you have any assurance this morning? If not, you're looking to yourself. If you do, it's because you're looking to Christ. It's just that simple. So today, remember, whatever burdens weigh on your back, whatever opposition that you face, You're in the hands of a righteous God who loved you and gave himself. He's plowed the fields of our sin. He's broken the cords of our enemy. We don't hope in our own strength, but in the strength of the Savior to triumph for us. Only one thing said, amen, so be it, I believe it.