Well, good evening, everyone. We're glad you're here tonight. We are going to be in Psalm 127. Psalm 127. If you open your Bibles there, please. Here's what the Psalm says. It's a song of a sense of Solomon. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain. It is vain. for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors, for he gives to his beloved even in his sleep. Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward, like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them, they will not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your precious word and your people who are here in the middle of the week to analyze the inspired scriptures. What a great psalm this is, and we pray that you would minister to all of us tonight through it. We'll thank you for that. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, as we read in the superscription, Psalm 127 is a psalm of ascent. It was written by Solomon. Now that in itself says something to us because Solomon was given specific wisdom of God that was very very rare. You'll remember that he asked God for wisdom and God said I'm going to give you wisdom beyond that of any other person who's walked on earth and he told Solomon that he would give him so much wisdom and knowledge that there has been no one like you before you nor shall one like you arise after you. So when you come to a psalm that's written by Solomon, it certainly is going to be very didactic in nature and it is of extra interest and investigation because we can learn a lot from it. This is a psalm that Dan Duncan preached at the dedication of our new sanctuary just about a year ago. He did a tremendous job of expounding the psalm, and if you want, you can go online to the dedication service and listen to his exposition. I thought he did a tremendous job. We're not sure exactly what the background of the psalm is. There have been various views on that point. But the main point of the psalm is pretty easy to see. And that is, unless God sovereignly builds, unless God sovereignly guards, unless God sovereignly blesses something, it's going to end up useless. And it will not end up producing what it should have produced. Now, God alone gives increase. The Lord's hand and blessings are either in the effort or they're not in the effort. And if he's in the effort, it can accomplish great things. If he's not in the effort, it doesn't mean anything. This psalm is designed to promote a conscience dependence on the Lord in everything from building to business to children. One of the great privileges and great necessities that God's people has is for God to be involved in blessing everything in life. All aspects of life need God in it. That is very clear from this psalm. Now, there are two realities in the opening verses you cannot help but notice. And the first one is the prepositional phrase, unless the Lord, unless the Lord. That occurs twice. Now Solomon uses that phrase to communicate a point and the point is the necessity of having the Lord at the center of everything. Everything that we do, everything we attempt. It is important that God's people recognize the need of the Lord's involvement in anything we are involved in. He brings this up because most people don't realize this. See, most people are prone to self-reliance. They rely upon themselves, and they kind of just bring God in if they think they need Him. They don't really think they need Him in everything. Solomon never believed in self-reliance for one second. What people need to realize is that they're entirely dependent on the Lord for everything. In fact, it was the Apostle Paul who, in talking about the God-man Jesus Christ, said, before all things, all things and in him all things hold together. So I think this is important that we realize that we have to have the Lord involved in everything about our lives and certainly this book of Psalms has promoted the idea that we need to be talking to God about everything. We need to be communicating with God about everything. Unless the Lord's in it, how's He gonna get in it? Well, we're gonna have to talk to Him about it. And we need to be communicating to God about our job, our children, our problems, our health, our finances, our dreams, our goals. I mean, we need the Lord involved in every aspect of our life. We need Him involved in everything. Unless the Lord. That's that prepositional phrase. Now, the second reality is the noun vain occurs three times. Now, there is in Ecclesiastes a book written by Solomon, Vanity of Vanities. This is a different slant of a Hebrew word here that he uses in this particular psalm. This word means empty in the sense of nothingness, nothingness. This specific word emphasizes something that's worthless. And by choosing to use this word, Solomon is saying is if God is not Involved in the matter if God is not in it. I don't care what it looks like to the world. I Don't care what it feels like to everybody in the world It is useless worthless and worth nothing The Lord is either in it or it doesn't amount to anything J. N. Darby said, unless the hand of the Lord and the Lord himself is involved, it will result in nothing. And so really, God alone is the key to success. I mean, that's pretty obvious from just those couple of grammatical points that we pointed out. Now, there are two main themes that are pretty clear to see in the psalm. The first one is, without having God in sovereign control, what one does is worthless. That's the first point in verses one and two. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors, for he who gives to his beloved even in his sleep. Now there are three clear vanity points that Solomon makes here in the first two verses. First of all, unless God sovereignly builds the house, the work is in vain. So there's the first thesis that he sets forth. Now, building anything certainly is going to require work. And there's no question God honors work. When you read Proverbs, it's pretty clear God does not honor sloth. But no matter how hard you work, without God's blessings, it ends up useless and worthless. It doesn't mean anything. Unless God is in it, no matter what one's skill, what one's strength, what one's smarts, it will amount to nothing. This is a nice way of saying all labor must be in a collaboration with God. Now he says unless the Lord builds the house, and the noun house can refer to an actual house. It can refer to a family. It could refer to the temple, which, of course, was the house of God. I think there's application there. Certainly, Dan Duncan pointed that out. It can refer to a family's pedigree, even a nation, or even building a dynasty. So the first point that Solomon wants to make clear is that unless God is at his proper place in building anything, No matter what the goal is, no matter what you're trying to build, unless God is at a proper place in it, you can labor all you want, but the end result will be it won't be worth anything. Now, if we put this in the context of the temple, Solomon had almost everything he needed provided to build the temple. David had pretty much provided all of the things that he needed to construct it. I mean, that's described in 2 Chronicles 2 and 3. But David taught Solomon something very important, and I would like you to see that from 1 Kings 2. And notice what he says to Solomon in 1 Kings 2, verse 2, I'm going the way of all the earth. Be strong, therefore. Show yourself a man. Keep the charge of the Lord your God to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies according to what is written in the law of Moses, that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn. even though David had supplied almost all of the materials to build the temple, he taught Solomon the importance of keeping God in everything, keeping the Lord and the Word of God in everything, so that he could succeed in life. Because David knew without the Lord you're not going to succeed. Now Solomon pretty much did keep the Lord first, except when he had that ten-year midlife crisis that he went through in which he did a lot of things that did not please the Lord. But in the big scheme of things, he pleased the Lord with his life. He built the temple. We also know he was involved in building beautiful homes. God blessed him. But when his son Rehoboam came into power, he undid and lost almost everything Solomon had because he did not keep the Lord first in his life. So this literally was something that was in this family that Rehoboam didn't listen to this teaching. He did not realize what Solomon was teaching here because he left God out and he ended up worthless. Augustine said that this principle should be applied to every minister who preaches any messes or teaches anything. If God's not in it, it's worth nothing. I think also the words of John Phillips are interesting here. He said this should be applied to every local church and assembly. Because no church is going to be built by super programs or slick advertising or by clever commercials on radio or TV. No church is going to be built that will last by crowd-pleasing music or smooth gimmickry or putting on plays or concerts or circuses. No church will be built by well-thought-out marketing strategies, by huge donations, or by some mission outreach program. No church that will be useful, no church that will ultimately be of value to God, will be built on some quick seminar or weekend retreat. Man can plan and organize and labor, and man can work and sweat, but the truth is in order for a church to be built, in order for anything to be built that accomplishes real eternal lasting things, God must be the one who builds it. He builds his church through prayer. He builds his church through careful teaching of the Word of God. In fact, that's what Paul said in 1 Timothy chapter 3, that the church is supposed to be the pillar and support of the truth. That's how God builds his church. And unless God builds the church, it isn't worth anything. You know, I think there probably are a lot of churches who will end up being worth zero. when the Lord Jesus Christ ultimately calls people to give an account to him. People labor to make impressive things for themselves and for their families. In the end, most of it probably will turn out to be useless unless God builds the life. Unless God is involved in building anything, it ends up useless. No matter what it appears to be, it's useless in the mind of God. That's what Solomon taught. The second vanity point is unless God guards the house, the watching is in vain. He says in verse 1, unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain. Now there's certainly need to have security. We believe in that. And it's certainly there's a need to have watchmen that are guarding things. We believe in that. But unless God is in it, it's useless. It's worth nothing. The preservation and the protection of anything depends on the Lord. There's a dynamic of the Lord's protection that is involved over His property that only can come from Him. And that's what most people don't realize. To most people, God's an afterthought. When we're talking about protection, He should be the beginning thought. Now we live in a country that's in many ways falling apart. We live in a country that does have an impressive military. And those in the military are supposed to guard and protect us. That's their job. But we've done something that I fear could bring us down as a nation. We've taken God and the Bible out of things. In fact, we don't even want the name of the Lord Jesus Christ mentioned What we're in the process of doing is trying to dismiss God from almost everything in the United States. Now, I think there's a great wisdom in having a great military, but if you don't have God in it, it won't work. It's not going to protect the people. Politicians all over the world are scratching their heads. They're trying to discuss and figure out a way to protect their constituency. Just look at what's happening in this country. It's falling apart. Our borders are a disaster. Drug addicts and criminals are flowing into this country. And it's almost like our border agents can't stop them. They're hired to protect the borders. That's their job. Something's lacking. May I suggest this country's done something horrible? It's tried to protect the country without God. And this isn't a real popular idea that I'm about to say, but Islam is a cult. It's a cult, just like Mormonism. It worships a false god. It has its own book. It demands people do weird things, like bow down certain times a day, not wear jewelry on certain days. It is a cult. People would rather in this country many talk about that cult and praise that cult more than the God of the Bible They'll talk about that is that this is just a great thing to have and they won't want Jesus Christ in the conversation But unless God guards the house or the nation or the city or the church or the airport unless God is the one guarding it and You're watching in vain. You're watching in vain. You can have the best security. You can have the best military. You can have the best equipment. You won't stop them. God can stop them. But you see, we've been duped into believing that we don't need God. This message that Solomon presents here is as timely for us today as it was when he presented it to Jerusalem. And basically he said, look, unless the Lord's guarding the city, you can put watchmen all over the place. You can put military guards that are armed all over the place, and you won't protect it. The third vanity point is unless God blesses the house, the worrying is in vain. Verse two says, it is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors, for he gives to his beloved even in his sleep. You know, there are those who desire to build a business, build something, and there's nothing wrong with that. They get up early, they get at it. Some of them stay up late. There are people who are willing to exhaust themselves in a frantic attempt to make a success of something. Now, certainly there's nothing wrong with getting up early and working hard. This particular part of the psalm is not designed to masquerade laziness for some delusional trust in the Lord. I mean, this is not the idea that I don't need to work, I just need to trust in the Lord. You have to do your work. Most successful people I know do that. They get up early and they get at their work. I mean, most people do that kind of thing. God does not honor sloth. I don't care what the field is. To do the job requires work. Good students, they study sometimes early in the morning or late at night. There's nothing wrong with that. But to succeed at it, to actually have it accomplish something, you need God. You need God in it. There are people who are so concerned about the success of what they're trying to build. They're so concerned and so worried about the whole financial situation that they get up early and lie awake nights. Many, many young couples think life's all about them. We need to get our education. We need to accumulate our wealth. We need to have a nice home. We have to save a good retirement fund. And there's nothing necessarily wrong with any of that. But they pursue that, leaving God out, leaving worship out. It's going to end in disaster. It won't amount to anything. What this psalm teaches is that you need something more than just your worry to succeed. You need God. You can work feverishly. You can fret. You can become a fanatic. In the end, without God, it won't matter. It won't amount to anything. And what Solomon says is that unless God is in it, it's all for nothing. It's all for nothing. It's useless. You can build it. You can guard it. You can sleep by it. You can work and worry about something without the blessings of God. It isn't going to matter. It won't amount to anything. In fact, Paul said this in the New Testament, be anxious for nothing. But in everything, by prayer and supplication, let your request be made known to God. In other words, keep God in everything. And if you do that, Solomon says at the end of verse 2, you'll be able to go to sleep at night. God blesses his people so that they can enjoy blessings and enjoy life. Instead of worrying, there's sleep. And old Ernst Henstenberg, an old Jewish scholar of the Hebrew text said, righteous people have good sleep that ungodly people never have. They have a sweet sleep, knowing that they're right in the hand of God. Now having made the critical points concerning the uselessness of leaving God out, now Solomon takes up the subject of the blessedness of having God at the center of things, and that brings us to his second theme. And that is, when you have God in sovereign control, what you do will be fruitful. That is the theme. Verses three to five. Behold, children are a gift of the Lord. The fruit of the womb is a reward, like arrows in the hand of a warrior. So are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate. God will bless and multiply those who keep him at the proper point of life. God will bless and multiply what they're doing. His hand will be in it if he's in it. And there are three blessings that he mentions here that God will give to one who keeps him at a proper place. Blessing number one, God will give the gift of children as a fruitful reward. That's what he says in verse three. Behold, the children are a gift of the Lord. The fruit of the womb is a reward. Now, it's interesting that the word in Hebrew build, unless the Lord builds the house, is bonim. And the Hebrew word for children is banim. Sounds very similar in its pronunciation. And what God is basically saying here is, I'm the one who allows fruit production to take place in any context. Whether it be the business world, the temple world, the spiritual world, or the family world. I'm the one who does it. Now, to many people, children are not seen as a blessing. They're seen as a burden. In fact, we live in a country where, if you want, you can just kill them before you have them because they're such a burden. They're going to slow the lifestyle down. So just abort it and kill it, which is murder. That's what it is. And that's what God will one day hold people accountable for doing. One of the heart-wrenching things for a parent who loves God to see is that his or her children rebel and wander away from the very godly principles you taught them and you can't do a thing about it nor can I. You train them up, you try to point them in the wonderful blessed ways of God and they make their own sin choices and off they go. God gives you children and you do your best to bring them up and they repay sometimes their parents with defiance. They turn their back on what's true. They turn their back on what's righteous. They turn their back on what's good. In fact, the world has devoured so many children that many don't even want to have them anymore. But even with that, God says, I want you to know this. I still bless my people who put me first in their lives. And if it isn't physical children, I'll give them spiritual children. I'm the one who does it. I will prosper them. God uses someone to get things back on track. And someone is some baby born somewhere that God produces that he's given to communicate his truth. That's how God works. It's a marvelous mystery of God here. But he's the one who is giving people the gift. The fruit of the womb is his reward. And I want us to see here, we don't produce children. God produces children. And I think because this is a Psalm of Ascent, there will be a sense in which it's time to go into the temple that those that God produced that were physically and spiritually our children will be seen at that point as a marvelous gift of God. I think this is going to be an incredible moment when in eternity there's this worship scene that ultimately takes place and the family is together, if they're believers, The family is together and the spiritual family certainly is going to be together. Which brings us to the second blessing, God will give children a strong protection. Verse 4 says, like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. In Solomon's day, Grown children normally cared for their parents in their old age. They defended them. They protected them They tried to keep take care of them and the idea here is that children grow up to become warriors Children grow up to become those who look out for their parents principles children grow up to be like arrows who support their parents in their old age and in the face of difficulty and That's what should happen And in order for that to happen, God has to do that. We as parents can't do that. Because we've all tried and sometimes we fall flat on our face. God has to do it. And the admonition here is just keep praying. Just keep talking to God about this. talking to God about the children because he's the one who can have them ultimately grow up to be strong and straight as an arrow. I think there's another principle that comes out of verse 4 also, and that is we should be strong protectors of those who have been our, trained us and raised us in the faith. We should be strong defenders of those that have been kind of like our fathers in the faith. That becomes our responsibility. I heard a lecture on theology given by a guy, oh, this was probably a year ago, and it happened to be at Dallas Seminary. And in the lecture, he's downplaying Chafer. I wish I would have been in that classroom. I wish I'd have been in that classroom, because I would have raised my hand, and I'd have said something and stormed right out of that class. Who does he think he is to criticize Louis Barry Chafer, who is the man who founded the very school he's teaching in? And he was the basis of the whole doctrinal system that they have. And here this guy is pretending like he's some arrogant peacock who has arrived at some level apparently above Chafer. He'll never be remembered like Chafer is ever. It's our job to grow up and defend those. Strong protectors of those who were our fathers in the faith and those who taught us. The third blessing is God will give children as a happy ambassador. I love verse 5. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate." The description there is you have the Lord involved in this child's life to the point that now they're dealing with enemies. They're in the gate. They're the leaders. They've grown up now and they're the ones who are, as it were, taking the bull by the horns. They're standing for truth. They're communicating the truth about the things of God. I mean, that's what we want. We want young people who come into the fellowship, and they grow, and they learn the books of the Bible. They learn the doctrines. They become now the strong soldiers. And they're the ones who can defend what's right and true. They're the ones who can stand up for what is good. That is a blessing of God to have that. What a great blessing of God. Just imagine what it was like to have been the father or mother of Joseph or Daniel or Moses or have been the parents of a guy like Joshua, I mean, who would actually protect the entire nation. I mean, there's no question that that kind of child would bring happiness to the parent. But the whole point of this psalm is this. No amount of human effort or work can produce any of this. No amount of sacrifice, no amount of worry can accomplish any of this. We need God in it. We need God in it. If we don't have God's blessings on it, it's worthless. But if God builds the house, if God is in it, It is a blessed, blessed organization. That's what Solomon taught in Psalm 127. Well, our time is gone tonight.