My mornings are filled with sermon preparation and prayer, and I'm ready for this psalm tonight. It's a wonderful one, and I hope and pray that God will use it in your heart, in your life, as He has my own as well in the time of preparation. Psalm 126, I want to preach a sermon I have entitled, Looking Back Infuses Hope for Looking Ahead. Follow with me as I read the psalm in full. It is a song of ascents. When the Lord brought back the captive ones of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter and our tongue with joyful shouting. And then they said among the nations, the Lord has done great things for them. The Lord has done great things for us. We are glad. Restore our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south. Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him. It was Horatius Bonar, the Scottish Presbyterian pastor in the 1800s, who said, revival is a restoration of life that has been lost. restoration of life that has been lost. And then he continues, manifestly it is the work of God, not of man. It is certainly not the work of Satan, but God has risen up to do a work in our day that is worthy of himself, a glorious work in which human instruments are set aside and the Holy Spirit is the great indisputable worker." And then he said this in this revival culture in Scotland. He said, a work like this will not easily be overthrown. Do you long for days like that? Where he can say, we need a revival and we have seen God beginning to do a work of revival and a work like this cannot be overthrown. We can see the great things that God has done, but Lord, would you do it again? Would you do it again? Can you relate to that prayer? Lord, I've heard about, I've read, I've seen revival. I've read about it in the history books. I see it in the Word of God. Will you bring that revival again? Will you do that work? I think if we're all honest here tonight, we can thank God for his workings of old. We can thank God for all that he has done of old But we long for Him to give strength for the present. We long for God to bring divine blessings, not only now, but also in the future as well. I want to remind you, do you recall the people of Israel in the Old Testament? They sinned against God. They broke the law of God. They received the covenant curse, Deuteronomy 28 talks about, where if they disobeyed God, God would scatter them. He would send them out of their land all across the world, all across the nations. And that happened in the 6th century BC. Israel sinned and God sent them into exile. Jeremiah 25 is a great chapter that describes that in detail. And then God raises up a man by the name of Cyrus. He was a pagan, not a believer. He was a pagan. Cyrus was a king, and God raised up that man Cyrus to give the people of Israel permission to go back to their homeland of Israel after a 70-year captivity in Babylon. They were there for 70 years, but not only were they given permission to go back home, get this, they had provisions, they had protection, they had wealth, they had all that they needed to rebuild the temple that had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar 70 years earlier. Oh, God. We read what you've done, how you brought the people back to your land. We read the great things that happened at that time. We see what you have done. Would you do that again? Would you do that again in our day? Would you work powerfully in our day? Would you give joy and gladness in our day? Kind of like you did of old. Would you give that renewed joy afresh today? I think it was probably one of the lowest points in all the Old Testament. It was one of the lowest points in Israelite history. The year was 586 BC. Nebuchadnezzar, Jeremiah calls him the servant of God. Nebuchadnezzar was a servant of God. And the Babylonians came to Jerusalem and they destroyed the temple. They burned the temple. They exiled the Jewish people. The book of Lamentations is all about the lament over that destruction. And so the people of Israel, many of them died, but then many of them were exiled to Babylon where they lived for 70 years and they just adapted to life there in a foreign land. They adapted to life. Well, then after 70 years, they returned back to their land in three ways. Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Three different leaders that God brought about to lead his people Israel back home. Our psalm tonight takes all of that and says, Lord, we remember what you've done. Will you do it again? We remember the joy that people of Israel experienced when they could go back to their homeland. But we're laboring and we're working and we're tired. And it's hard. And we're discouraged. And we're sowing seed. But we need that joy. We need that joy. Can you relate to that? You read the history books about revival. You read about Horatius Bonar and the Scottish revival. And we say, oh, what you did of old and the joy that came with that. Will you do it again? Can you relate to that today? what I want you to see from our psalm this evening. Very simply, you see it in your outline there, the past gives hope for the future. And I think that's one of the great problems with modern day sort of thinking of our culture. Where do we get hope for the future? Well, it's not from within, and it's not from the things of the world. Where do we get hope from the future? From remembering what God has done in times of old, and that's what gives hope for the future that lies ahead. The past gives hope. for the future. Now, in verses one to three, what I want you to see is the psalmist is going to guide you and he's going to guide me to look back with excitement. Look back with excitement. Maybe a key word is the word testimony, testimony, testimony. Look at verse 1. When the Lord brought back the captive ones of Zion, we were like those who, who dream. And our mouth was filled with laughter and our tongue with a joyful shout when they said among the nations, the Lord has done great things for them. 70-year exile? Living in a foreign land? I mean, they, they totally acclimated into Babylonian life. Language, culture, customs, just the way and habit of life. It sort of became a little bit of the Jewish identity, sadly, when they were in exile. It was seeming defeat. It was tragedy. It was loss. They were under pagan foreign leaders. They were disciplined by God. And the psalmist says, wait a minute. God brought us back. God acted powerfully. And when God brought the captive exiles back to Zion, it was like too good to be true. That would be the modern rendition. It was like a dream. We were like those who rejoiced. We were like those who laughed. We couldn't believe what God has done. Let me tell you a story. It's kind of like when the Greeks were fighting the Macedonians. Before the time even of Christ, the Greeks were fighting the Macedonians and the Greeks won. And they received the announcement at the Olympic Games that the Roman Empire would allow them, the Greeks, to retain their liberty as the Greek people. Here's how the Greeks replied and notice the similarities. The Greeks replied, the joy was too great for us all to take it in. No one could believe that we heard it rightly. And they looked with one another in wonder, like it was a dream. That's the idea, the language here. I can't believe the news that I'm hearing. I can't believe that God has brought his people back from exile. Did you hear that? Is it really true? Are you joking? Are you serious? Really? Did God bring them back? Look at the end of verse two. It was even said among the nations. Well, yep, yep, their God Jehovah has done great things for them. It sort of became a common thing that their God has done great things for them. If you're taking notes, Jot this down. Here's what this teaches you about God. Number one, it teaches you that God is faithful. It teaches you that God is faithful. Why? Because God made promise, promise, promise, promise through Isaiah, many prophets, but Isaiah, that he will bring him back from exile. He's not only faithful, number two, God is trustworthy. He is trustworthy. God gave hope and he fulfilled it. God is absolutely trustworthy in everything that he says. Christian, you can take any of the hundreds of promises in the Bible and you can take it to the bank. God is trustworthy. Third, write down this word, power. It shows that God is powerful. That God can lead his covenant disobedient people back home after an exile. Not only is God powerful, fourth, it shows the guidance of God. The guidance of God. He guided them. He led them. He cared for them. What an amazing God of guidance. Number five, it shows the sovereignty of God, the sovereignty of God, that God would even move in a king's heart. Isn't that good news? God would move in a king's heart, a pagan king's heart. Cyrus was not a believer at all. And yet God would move in his heart, just like the heart of a king is in the hand of the Lord. Number six, it also shows God's compassion because God cares for his hurting people. God saw them in exile, kind of like he saw them in Egypt. God sees when his people are hurting. Number seven, all of this shows The grace of God. The grace of God. Mercy upon mercy upon mercy. Undeserved grace to the undeserving. Friend, tonight, this is your God. What we are describing here in our psalm is your God. He hasn't changed. The same God who worked powerfully of old is the same God who works in your life today. The same God who is faithful, trustworthy, powerful, guided, and sovereign, and compassionate, and gracious. He is your God. Israel's God is your God. Notice in verse 3, the people of Israel make it personal. The Lord, Jehovah, has done great things for us. We are glad. Now, if the people of Israel could say that about being freed from physical exile, Christian, can't you and I say that with infinitely more reasons? The Lord has done great things for us. We are glad. We are glad. Take your Bible real quick. Let me show you how this works in the Bible. Go to Joshua 24. I love the argumentation that Joshua does at the end of his book. He's about to die. The leader of the nation of Israel, they went through the wilderness. Israel finally entered the promised land. And now their leader, their leader's gonna die. What are we gonna do for the days ahead? We're worried, we're scared. What's God gonna do? God, through Joshua, they have a review of Israel's history. Look at verse 1. Joshua gathers all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and he calls for the elders of Israel and for their heads and their judges and their officers, and they presented themselves before God. Verse two, Joshua said to all the people, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, from ancient times, your fathers lived beyond the river, namely, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the river, and I led him through all the land of Canaan and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac. This is the patriarchs. Don't you remember how I called you to be a people through Abraham? Look at verse four. To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau, and to Esau I gave Mount Seir to possess it, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt. Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt by what I did in its midst, and afterward I brought you out. I gave you the exodus. I brought you out of Egypt. And then verse six, I brought your fathers out of Egypt and you came to the sea, the Red Sea, and Egypt pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. But when they cried out to the Lord, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians and brought the sea upon them and covered them. And your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt. Like, don't you remember? I brought you out of Egypt through the Red Sea with the miracle. Verse eight. And then I brought you into the land of the Amorites, who lived beyond the Jordan, and they fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, and you took possession of their land, which I destroyed them before you. And then Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel, and he sent and summoned Balaam, the son of Beor, to curse you. But I was not willing to listen to Balaam, so he had to bless you, and I delivered you from his hand. You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho." What's Joshua doing? I called your fathers, then you went to Egypt, I brought you out, and then I led you through the wilderness, and then I brought you into the promised land. Don't you remember all the great things that I've done for you? Don't you remember? I love verse 12. And then I sent the hornet before you, and it drove out the two kings of the Amorites from before you, but not by the sword of your bow. I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and cities which you have not built, and you have lived in them. You are eating of vineyards and olive groves, which you did not plant." What's Joshua doing in this transitional period? He's saying, don't fear. Look to the past and remember what God has done. I don't know about you, but maybe you and I can forget that. Maybe you and I can forget the great things that God has done, not only for the people of Israel, Old Testament and how God cared for his people, but let's not forget, back to our psalm, verse three, the Lord has done great things for us. I mean, you're here physically. Maybe not perfect health, but we have health. We have eternal salvation. There is cosmic preservation who upholds the universe and holds everything together, but Jesus. Global stability. I know the world might seem like it's a mess sometimes, but it's all going according to God's perfect plan. Scientific advancement brings glory to God. Promised forgiveness that He has given to us in the Son brings glory to God. We have end times hope that gives glory to God. You and I, in the psalm, can look back and we can say the Lord has done great things for us. Maybe not exile, but spiritual bondage to our sin has been broken in Christ. Christian, you and I should look back You and I can wonder. You and I should reflect. You and I should ponder. You and I should marvel. Oh, when the Lord did that great work, we were like those who rejoiced. Israel could say that. Every Christian, you and I can say that tonight as well. Can you take verse three and make that personal? Can that be your prayer tonight? Every child of God can do that. Every Christian can say, the Lord has done great things for us, therefore we are glad. That's the hope of the Christian. That's the hope of the Christian, that though we were in bondage to our sin, God set us free. Though we were dead in our transgressions, God gave us life. Though we were under the wrath of God, Jesus is the one who gave us deliverance by his death. Has God delivered you tonight? Has God restored your soul? So that you can say in verse three, the Lord has delivered me. The Lord has done great things for me. The Lord has redeemed me from spiritual exile. Praise be to God. That's the hope that we have in looking to the past. That's what Israel did. You know what? The psalm doesn't end there. Actually, verses four through six are pretty real. They're pretty down to earth. And maybe, in the amazing plan of God, you're here tonight to hear this. Point number two in your outline. Look ahead with expectation. Not only look back with excitement, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, look what God did, look at what He did, but look ahead with excitement. You see, I think one of the key ideas of the rest of the psalm here is expectancy, expectancy, expectancy. When life seems hopeless, you keep trusting in the Lord. When you're discouraged, You keep looking to the Lord. Look at verse 4. Look at the prayer. Restore our captivity, O Lord, like streams in the Negev. That's a, that's a, that's a area, region of Israel in the south. Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him. There are times when you feel like, I'm just sowing in tears. I need, I need revival. I need, I need you to restore me, oh God. I need you to do again now what you did then. I need you to restore the joy now that once you gave to your people. Lord, it seems so hopeless. Is there any good that can come out of this? Remember when Jesus was arrested in the garden of Gethsemane? Can any good come out of that? Yeah. Remember when Jesus was on trial before Pontius Pilate, and Pilate scourged him, delivered him over to be crucified? Could any good come out of that when all seemed hopeless? What about when they lifted up the Son of God to be crucified on the cross? Could any good come out of that when it all seemed hopeless? What about after he rose from the dead and he showed himself alive for 40 days, And then he left and he went to heaven. Could any good come out of that? But in all of these, there's triumph in our Savior. There is rejoicing. There is hope. God used all of it for good. But maybe you can relate tonight. Maybe the joy of the Christian life can be eclipsed by the difficulties that you face each day. The joy of the Christian life, the joy, the happiness, God has done great things for us, that can be eclipsed. It can be clouded by the difficulties that we face every day. Sometimes we may not say, the Lord has done great things for us. Sometimes we might feel, and we might say, I don't know if there's any hope that can come out of this. I don't know if there's any good that can come out of this. Lord, what are you doing in this? Is there any possible good that God could bring out of this? That's how the psalm is now directing us. With two images. First, a stream. Now, until you go to Israel, and until you're hiking through the south desert land, with these really steep valleys. The Arabs called it a wadi. Because when there was even just a little bit of rain up in the hills, like this torrential would just come flooding through the desert. That's the image of verse four. Restore our captivity like a sudden torrent of divine blessing. Lord, I need you to invade my life with divine blessing. That's what he's praying. Lord, I need you to unleash your blessing right now because I don't feel it. I don't feel it. More in verse 5 and 6 on that. Lord, I need you to bring the supernatural rivers of blessing. Lord, Lord, will you refresh us? I feel barren. I feel dry. I feel like a desert. I feel like a wilderness. Lord, I just feel like I need a refreshing stream from God. Is that anyone here tonight? Can you relate to that? Feel barren? Feel dry? Feel like a wilderness? And you cry out to God saying, God, restore me. God, revive me. God, bring joy to me like those rains that would come in those deep valleys in the desert of Israel. God, do that to my heart. Bring that blessing. But not only the first image of a stream, the second image is that of a sheave. If you and I can relate to verses five and six, take great comfort here. Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. You feel like you're going to and fro, weeping, carrying your bag of seed. I'm seeding, I'm seeding, I'm planting, I'm planting, I'm sowing, I'm sowing, I'm doing all the work. The text says, you will again come with a shout of joy, bringing the sheaves with him. What's the psalmist saying? I'm sowing in tears. I'm working. I'm laboring. I am working hard. I'm going through life. I'm doing my very best. I'm trying to serve God. I'm trusting God. But it just seems to be tears. Tears. Tears. The Psalm is telling you that your labor in tears will yield a triumphant harvest. Your tears and your weeping and your sorrows and your suffering will bear fruit in shouts of joy. Hear it like this. After the cold winter will come the life-giving spring. After the night of weeping, joy comes in the morning. After the thunderstorm, comes the bright cloudless blue sky day. The apostle Paul encouraged a weary church with a similar word, and you probably know it very well. First Corinthians 15 verse 58, therefore my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable always abounding in the work of the Lord. Why? Because you know your toil is not in vain in the Lord. So you're toiling and you're laboring. Oh, sure. And maybe, maybe there's, our mind might go to an evangelism application, but I think it's much more than that. It's Christian living. It's godly living. I'm, I'm toiling. I'm working. I'm, I've got my bag of seed and I'm casting the seed. I'm, I'm trying to honor God, but it's weeping. It's tiring. And it's hard. And it doesn't seem very fruitful. And you know, the Bible says, God is not unmoved by your sorrows. He feels what you feel. He cares about those who hurt. And one day, one day, all tears will be removed and they will forever be wiped away. Oh God, restore us. Remember the psalm. You look back, look at what God has done. Look at how he gave joy. Look at all the great things God has done. And yet here we are, we feel like we're living in a desert. We feel like there's just no fruit. We feel like it's just barren. We're serving, we're serving, we're serving with no fruit. And so you pray, restore us. Restore us, verse four. And then in verse 5, you have hope for the future. Why? Verse 5, those who sow in tears will reap with joyful shouting. You go to and fro, weeping, carrying your bag of seed. The psalmist, right here, based upon the authority of God's Word, he gives the promise. You will come again with a shout of joy, bringing sheaves. There will come a harvest for you someday. in God's time. So, beloved, whatever that is that's ailing you today, maybe it's a physical infirmity. Maybe it's emotional. Maybe there's a relational thing going on. Maybe it's family. Maybe it's marriage. Maybe it's parents. Maybe it's with children. Maybe it's at work. Maybe it's financial. Whatever could be going on where you can relate to the psalmist where he's like, I feel so barren. I feel like I just weep and I feel like I lack fruit. Take hope and take encouragement. Your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Your labor is not in vain in the Lord. On your notes there, I give you a couple of quotes at the bottom that I think are just so, so fitting. David Brainerd was a missionary. He definitely knew tears. He knew what it was to weep over his own sin, over the lost souls of men, over the littleness of fruit that he saw. He loved God. He worshiped God, but he felt so barren much of the time. And he prayed, oh, that I were a flame of fire. in my master's cause. C.T. Studd said, Christ wants not nibblers of the possible, but grabbers of the impossible. I love that. Another missionary to Africa, David Livingstone, fear God? And work hard. Work hard. Keep going. Keep going. Your labor is not in vain. So maybe you're a weary worker, a weary missionary, a weary evangelist, a weary father, a weary mother, a weary Christian. Maybe you feel barren and you're here tonight thinking, I need hope. You look to the past. See what God has done. And that gives you hope for the future. because you see how faithful and how powerful and how good God is. Don't forget to count your blessings. Don't forget the benefits of God. I want to close with you in Romans chapter 15. Turn there, if you would, please, Romans 15, and then we'll be done and we'll pray. In Romans 15, the apostle Paul has already given a wonderful, a masterful presentation of the gospel. Chapters 1 to 3 shows our great sin before the angry and holy God. Chapters 3 and 4 talks about how we can be counted righteous through the work of Jesus Christ and by faith alone in him. Chapter 5 through 8 is justification and security that we have in this gospel. Chapters 9 to 11 shows that God is faithful to his people. But then in chapters 12 to 15, the Apostle Paul says, here's how it affects your life. Now, look at Romans 15 verse four. Whatever was written in earlier times, that would include Psalm 126, all that God has done for Israel, all the Old Testament, whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction. Why? What's the purpose? So that, here's the purpose, through perseverance and the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope. Verse 5, now may the God who gives, you think, well, I can't do that. But verse 5, God gives perseverance. He's the one who gives the endurance and encouragement. He grants you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord, you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Church family, what we need is we need to look back and see all that God has done written for our encouragement, for our instruction, so that we would persevere, so that we would endure, so that we would continue on for the glory of God. He who sows in tears, he will reap with shouts of joy. Praise God for the hope that we have in a good God. Christian, keep going. Don't lose heart. Don't be faint. Don't give up. Don't get stuck in discouragement. Let the past workings of God give hope for the future. Amen? Father, thank you for your Word. Thank you for the power of it. Thank you that it is so helpful in our lives where we are tonight, so that we would honor you, so that we would live with perspective and focus, Oh Lord, maybe there are some who are here tonight who feel like they are sowing in tears. They are going to and fro, going back and forth in life, carrying the bag of seed, weeping. But one day, one day, we will have shouts of joy bringing sheaves with us. We long for that day when there will be no more toil, no more wearisome labor, no more sin. But till then, let us be found faithful. In Jesus' name, amen.