So I'm excited about this. We're beginning a brand new series in the book of Psalms. We're going to go through this, and I'm calling it Intimacy with God. You all want intimacy with God? I pray that you do. If you're new to the Bible and you're asking yourself, what exactly are the Psalms? Well, it's actually a hymnal. It's a book of songs that Israel would sing to the Lord. As a matter of fact, it literally means in the Hebrew, book of praises. Another misnomer is people sometimes think that the book of Psalms was written by who? David, right. Would you be surprised to know that David wrote 73, but there were many different other authors of the book of Psalms, including Solomon writing two, and even supposedly Moses. One of his songs is in here. So this is a collection of various different songs from different authors. Psalms is the most quoted book by Jesus and by the apostles, next only to Isaiah. So The divisions that are made in the book of Psalms, various different ones, the ones we're going to focus on today, the division or the subgroup of Psalms, is going to be what is called the Psalms or the Songs of Ascent. Have you seen that in your Bible? This marks 15 different chapters in the book of Psalms that deal with ascending, and you're going to find out what this means to ascend, but these are clearly marked. What are the songs of ascent? They are these 15 different psalms that cover 120 to 134. These are songs that would be sung in a very specific condition, a pilgrimage. You would be going to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem and therefore you would sing these songs as you went in preparation, your heart to be prepared to meet God. Did y'all know you gotta be prepared to meet God? You should know that. I mean, God is loving and merciful, so he reaches down to a bunch of sinners, and he intervenes in our life, and he saves us here and there. But he expects as we mature, as we come into his presence, that we have done some preparation. Right? This is clearly pointed out throughout Scripture. Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? What is the answer to that question? He who has, what? Cleans hands into pure hearts. You're going to see this in the Old and New Testament, that when you come, even in your devotional times, as you draw near to the Lord, this is a time for you to get your heart right. So if you have your Bibles and you're looking at them, you don't necessarily have to have them here, but you will see clearly marked in the scriptures, Song of Ascent. Sometimes it's written by David, sometimes it's not. But these are the Psalms and songs that were sung as you came closer to the presence of God. That's why they're ascending because you're getting closer to Jerusalem, but you're also getting closer to the throne room of God. It's like you're climbing steps into his presence. So it would make sense if you're singing these in order from 120 on that there is a progression. You're starting at step one, you're going to step two, step three, step four. Do you understand how that works? So one of the things that is exciting about this for me and the reason why I think it's providential that we're that the Holy Spirit led me into this and led us into it as a church is because, do you all know the moniker of this church? Let me get it, I almost forgot what it is, it's on our bulletins. It says something here about where eagles fly. That's you. And where this came from is the Lord, spoke to my heart when we were starting this church and said, this is a place where eagles go to fly. We've shortened it a little bit. But you are the eagles, and this is where you come because you want to fly. It's the same principle of ascending. An eagle wants to go higher, right? But he must first desire that, right? An eagle has to be like, I want to go high. I want to go over these mountains. And then there is the preparation. How does an eagle prepare to go soaring? You don't know. Neither do I. I don't know either. I know how we're prepared. But let me just say this with limited knowledge I do have of eagles. They don't flap their wings. What do they do? They stretch out their wings, they wait for the current, and they ride the current. There's very little flapping going on. It's minimal because they're soaring on what? The wind. So I want you to look at this as you preparing to stretch out your wings for the wind of the Holy Spirit to take you higher. You don't have to flap. You just have to stretch. And there is a little stretching involved in the Psalms. And let's look at the first one. Step one to soaring with God as an eagle. And this should not be surprising, but in some ways, to some people, it is self-awareness of yourself and the society that you're in. Do you all know God is holy? Do you all know that his ways are not like our ways and his thoughts are not like our thoughts? Do you all know we're saturated with a road that thinks a certain way, and guess what? It gets into us. And so if we're going to soar with God, we have got to be aware of this. We have got to be aware of how we've been conditioned. So the psalmist starts out here, 120a. He says, in my distress. He is stating before God what kind of condition he's in. The word distress means trouble, or it's a tightness or a narrowness. He is stating that he is in a very narrow kind of life. Remember the psalmist, Psalm 23, even though I walk through what? The valley of the shadow of death. I'm surrounded by death on all sides. And by the way, our life here on earth is surrounded by evil and death. The psalmist is told that God will spread a table before him and it will anoint him. But listen, it says it will do this, what? In the presence of his enemies. We are surrounded by enemies. They don't know they're enemies, but they're the enemies of heaven. They're the people that are under the influence of the demonic. But God promises to bless us and fill us in the presence of that. So the psalmist says, in this state of being surrounded by evil in a tight and narrow spot, I call to the Lord. And One of the ways of understanding this idea of narrowness or tightness, Isaiah uses this in a very interesting kind of metaphor. He speaks about being on a bed that was too short for him, and he couldn't stretch out on the covers. The covers were too narrow to wrap himself in. Do you understand this? Do you understand that there's not enough comfort in this world to wrap yourself in? You've got to go someplace else to get comfort. This world is not going to provide it. I don't care how much of this world you get. I don't care how much of the world's money you get, how much pleasure you get. It's not going to cover you. It's not going to comfort you. So the psalmist starts out by being self-aware of himself and his surroundings, but now he goes into confidence. He says, this is my condition. I'm in a tight spot, but I called to the Lord and he answered me. There's no doubt that the Lord is answering him. He is totally confident in that. And there he says, deliver me, O Lord. Do you all know why we pray this prayer and the Lord's Prayer, the prayer we were taught to pray, to be delivered from evil? What evil is it speaking about? Deliver me from what evil? All kinds of evil. Do you have evil in you? Yeah. Is there evil out there? Yeah. Do you need to be delivered from all evil? Yes. Do you understand? David prayed, cleanse me, search me, oh Lord. See if there's a wicked way in me. See if there's something in me that offends. Deliver me from this evil. But specifically, the psalmist, and this is very interesting, specifically, he wants to be delivered from lies and deceit. Here's what he says. This is the second verse. Deliver me, oh Lord, from what? Lying lips. from deceitful tongue. Doesn't say tongues, maybe he's speaking about his own tongue. Maybe he is aware of something that he is not unscathed by this. Have you ever lied? Have you ever been deceitful? Have you ever not told the whole truth? Why would this be a prerequisite to ascending, this examination of the tongue? Well, because when we use our tongue in a destructive way, and this is what he says in verse 3, he says, what shall be given to you? Speaking of the tongue and people who lie and use their tongues for deceit, he says, what shall be given to you? What more shall be done to you, O deceitful tongue? Then he says, the warrior's sharp arrow with glowing coals of broom trees. In other words, you've used your words to attack, but guess what? It's all coming back on you now. The fire you put out there, that fire is coming back, and it's going to burn you up. You wanted to burn others up, it's going to burn you up. Do you understand that when we use our tongue in destructive ways to speak lies, gossip, deceitful things, we think we're, you know, putting something out in the atmosphere that's going to change the opinion people have of others, but in actuality, it's changing their opinion of us. Not only that, but it's going to burn us down. Remember when Jesus says, judge not? Do you all know why he said judge not? He didn't say judge not because you really shouldn't judge. He knows how selfish and how self-centered we are. So he puts it this way, judge not that you will not be judged. People that are always judging others are always going to be judged. People that always make judgments about people are always going to experience this. And Jesus even says it this way, for what judgment you pronounced, it will be judged to you. With the measure that you used, it will be measured back to you. Be really harsh, and that harshness is coming right back. Do you understand why you've got to get your tongue right before you go into the presence of God? Do you understand that the angels never speak any words that are out of order? You understand that everybody in heaven is speaking words that are only holy and here you come. Cursing about your neighbor this and your neighbor that and family members this and family members that and now I'm going to have my devotional time. Oh really? Oh really? Where's your tongue been? I want to praise the Lord. Where's your tongue been? We're going to get to James in a bit here. God says, if you come to me like that, without getting this rectified, I'm going to fling it back at you. The Bible says, with the merciful, you show yourself merciful. With the blameless, you show yourself blameless. Speaking of God. With the purified, you show yourself pure. But with the crooked, you make yourself seem torturous. you come before God not dealing with your sin, your words, there's going to be something coming back at you that is just as twisted as you have used your tongue to twist the truth. I don't know how God does this, but He does. The psalmist, as he ascends, goes into what we could call a woe is me. He recognizes what kind of place he's in, what kind of thing he's been conditioned by. So he says, woe to me that I sojourn in Meshach. Now, Meshach is one of the descendants of Noah. It's actually his grandson. And that whole line was not very pure. But it gets worse. I dwell in the tents of Kedar. And Kedar, does anybody know who Kedar is? These are the descendants of Ishmael. And Ishmael, wow, Ishmael. Here's the prophecy that the Lord gave to Ishmael and all of his descendants. He shall be a wild donkey of a man. He's going to be a, he's going to kick and kick and kick. He's going to rebel against everything. He's wild. obstinate, stubborn. But it gets worse. His hand is against everyone. That's Israel. I'm against you, I'm against you. Matter of fact, nobody does it right. You know people like this. You bring up anything and they got a critical thing to say about that person. Nobody does it right. Their hand is against everyone. Listen, therefore, same principle, Everyone's hand is against him. You're going to be a person of war? Everyone is going to be against you. When was this spoken? 4,000 years ago. Who are the descendants? The Palestinian militants. 4,000 years ago. And are they still against? From the river, to the sea, to the abolishment of God's people. Not all of them. There's even Palestinian Christians and peace loving, but there's a spirit here. Hamas. Do you all know who Muslims come from? They come from Ishmael. They even say that. They denounce Isaac as being the son of promise. They say Abraham's son of promise was Ishmael. So what does that mean? It means I can be a man of war. It means I can make pronouncements like death to the infidels. It means I can say stuff like jihad is the answer. 4,000 years ago. I don't know if the Bible is true. Well, you better wake up. The Bible is not mocked. This spirit is still alive. And the psalmist is saying, I'm surrounded by it. And woe is me, because this is my condition. Too long, he says, I have had my dwelling among those who hate peace. And by the way, it's not just a spirit that is on Ishmael and his descendants. This is a spirit that's on the world. And if you're dwelling in it, in other words, you're friends with it, that same spirit is going to be upon you. Remember Isaiah, when the Lord appeared to him, he said the exact same thing that the psalmist says here. Woe is me. The Lord is in my presence. Woe is me. Listen to what he says. For I'm lost. I have no idea. I'm clueless. Why? Listen. I am a man of unclean lips. The first thing he goes to in the presence of God is his lips. I didn't realize it. I didn't see it. But this has been the problem. My lips. have been unclean. And then he says, I dwell in the midst of a people with unclean lips. I've been influenced by that. Why didn't I see it before? Because I lost sight of the Lord. But now that I'm in his presence, I see it clearly. And so he begins to repent. And the Lord takes a coal fire from the altar and puts it on his tongue. That's what a lot of Christians need right now. You need to lay your tongue out there and say, man, it's been unclean. I need a coal, a fire. I need something to forgive my words. The Bible says when this coal of fire came upon his lips, it touched his lips, it says your guilt is taken away, your sins are atoned for. Why? Because he repented of his words. Do you understand how this works? See, you come into the church, right, from out there. I know people that are newly saved and the last thing that gets sanctified is their tongue. I'll hear the F word. I said the F word because that's what I hear some Christians say and I'm like astounded. I'm astounded that you haven't worked on that yet. I'll hear other curse words coming out of their mouth freely just like that. I'll hear them curse and make accusations against people, gossip, slander. You haven't dealt with that. Now this is the kind of message that a lot of people here are going to be, oh brother so and so or sister so and so should be here to see this. No, no, no. Take this all in. Make this all very personal. Be like Isaiah said, no, no, no. Woe is me. He's talking to me. He's talking about my tongue. So we need, if we're going to ascend and go higher, you've got to make an effort to clean up how you speak, and especially about other people. The psalmist in verse 7 closes by saying, I'm for peace, but when I speak, they're for war. All I want to do with my tongue is bring peace, but when they go to bat, it's about war. They want there to be war. Do you know what Jesus classified the peacemakers as? If you're a person who's always bringing peace and not strife and not division, you know what you're called? You're called a son or daughter of God. It's like you came from heaven. because your primary objective in life is to bring peace wherever you go. Remember Jesus telling his 70, he says, you gotta go out and when you enter the house, the first thing, listen, first say, before you say anything, before you even say hello, first say what? Peace be to this house. I'm a son of peace and the first thing I wanna bring is peace. Listen, listen to me. The angels are appalled And the Holy Spirit is deeply grieved when he sees the kind of conduct that goes out in the world in the church. When he sees brothers and sisters slandering and gossiping and making accusations against one another. You are a son and daughter of peace. And what you bring in every situation is peace. And you bring that with your mouth. The wisdom that comes down from heaven is first pure, James says, and then it's what? It's peaceable. If you're a wise person, you will always be a peaceable person. If you're a fool, you'll always be ready for war. You'll always be ready for anger. You'll always be ready to bring division. Righteous people sow peace by making peace. Do you see how important this is? Do you see why this is the first step to even go any further? If you're not a man of peace, don't even start on the path. If you haven't dealt with your tongue, don't come any further. In Romans, it tells us that the kingdom of God is about three things. It's about being right, it's about peace, and it's about joy. If you're coming to these gates, you've got to get righteous, you've got to be about peace, and there's gotta be a spirit of joy upon you. If not, listen to me, the gates of hell, and you might be under the influence of the gates of hell, it's all about unrighteousness, it's all about using your words for war and division, it's all about bringing anguish. This is hell. Does James back that up? You better believe he does. He says the tongue is a fire. The first thing he says, it is a world of unrighteousness. You want to know what's really unrighteous about you? It's your mouth. You want to know really what you need to work on first? It's your mouth. Listen, the tongue is set among our members. What does it do? It stains the whole body. It stains you and it stains the church when you use your tongue in a way that isn't appropriate. setting on fire the entire course of life. You're setting yourself on fire, you're setting everything on fire. And then he says, it is set on fire by hell. What is the root? Well, we'll see it in just a second. But I've been a pastor long enough, over 40 years, I've seen people burn churches down with their tongue. I've seen people, family members, people that actually were in families together, accuse one another and then bring lawsuits against one another. And then, I mean, they didn't care whether they burnt the family down, the church down, the kingdom of heaven down. They were going to get what they wanted. You see this. Listen to how James describes this kind of tongue. Listen to what is at the root of it. Listen what is at the root of the gates of hell so you can protect your life from this. He says, but if you have what? Jealousy. A lot of this comes down to jealousy. Somebody has something that I want. Then there's selfish ambition. I want something for myself. James says, if that's your heart, you're jealous, and there's something you want, and you don't care how you get it, listen. He says, this is earthly. This is unspiritual. And then he says, it's demonic. Beware of jealousies, because your tongue is getting ready to set things on fire when you're jealous. Ever been jealous of somebody and said some things about them because you were jealous? You ever had ambitions? And you didn't like this guy being here, and you were here, and you're like, let me bring him down with my words so that I can go up here. Be careful. What is this, James says? This is false to the truth. This wisdom is not coming down from above. This is sent from hell. Listen, he closes it with, he says, where there's jealousy, selfish ambition, the same two things. He says this is your old nature and this is the nature around you. It says there's going to be disorder in every vital practice if you can't get this under control. So let me close by giving you some personal preparations if you want to fly. Now listen, if you're listening to this and say, man, I love ripping people up. That's my deal in life. I love criticizing and gossip and slander. I love that. There is the door. And I say that because maybe you'll leave and rethink it and come back and be a person of peace. Desire first, then preparation to be a person of peace. And here it is. Gonna lay it out really quickly. Because one of my questions as I was going through the songs, I said, is this really that big of a deal? Really tongues and lying? I mean, couldn't there be other stuff like sexual immorality? Listen, this is James. Talking about drawing near to God. He says, if you draw near to God, he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched, mourn, weep. And by the way, if you don't have the self-awareness to know that you're a sinner, you're in sorry shape. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourself before. Listen, but here it is. Listen to this. Do not speak evil against your brother or sister. He's talking about drawing near to God and then he says, wait, make sure you're not doing this. Remember Jesus, if you're coming to worship me and you have a gift and you haven't made it right, go make it right before you even come. One more. This is Psalms and it says, the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, his ears are toward their cries. The face of the Lord is against those who do evil. What kind of evil? Who's righteous and who's evil? None other but the impetuous Peter quotes this. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, his ears are open to their prayers. But listen to what he says right before it. Listen, whoever desires to love life and see good days, What does it say? First thing, let him keep his tongue from evil. Wow. And his lips from what? Speaking deceit. I don't think James is wrong. I don't think Peter's wrong. They are telling us how to get close to God. And they're saying to us, listen, deal with it. Listen, let him turn away from evil. What evil? Tongue and deceit and do good. What good? Let him seek peace. Let him be a man of peace. Let him pursue peace. Let him be at peace with all of his brothers and sisters, and yes, even all of his family members as far as it's possible. The Bible gives you a chance for a good life or a bad life. And this right here is what's going to determine your life. You say, really? Proverbs. Guard your heart, speaking also of your tongue with all diligence, for from it flows the spring of life. Remember James says your tongue is like a rudder. It will determine your course. He says we all stumble in many ways. If anyone doesn't have fault in what he says, he is a perfect man able to control his whole body. Yeah. Your altitude will be determined by step one. Can you get your tongue under control? I'm saying this only because this is my final warning. Because as I was studying this, I was like, Lord, really, this is some really hard stuff here. And I felt the Lord say, they need to know how serious it is. This is Proverbs. Again, the dishonest man. He spreads strife and a whisper separates close friends. This man is also a man of violence. Right? He entices his neighbor and leads him in the way that is not good. Notice the dishonesty, the lying, notice that the strife, notice that the whispers. Have you ever had a careless whisper that separated people? Final admonishment, final scripture to whoever has ears to hear. This is such a big deal. that Paul says to Titus, listen, you cannot tolerate it in the church. He says, for, ask for a person who stirs up division, after you warn him once, and then give him a second chance, warn him twice, but then after that, if he doesn't listen, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped, sinful, and self-condemned. Do y'all see this? The hardest thing I've ever done as a pastor is deal with people that for whatever reason could not bring themselves to a peaceful end of something. And I was like, and I think I warned them more than twice. And then I had to say, well, you got to find someplace else to go. Because this house here, we protect the peace. I said, in this house here, we protect the peace. People don't come here for drama. People don't come here for gossip and slander. They come here for God. And our God is a God of peace. And you will either be a person of peace or you will not. You will either take this first step and say, I will get this tongue under control. I will stop cursing people and gossiping and slandering others. I will bring it under the control of the Spirit. And I will be. person of peace. Thanks for listening to this message from River Mountain Church. If you'd like some more information visit our website RiverMountainChurch.org