Psalm 120
Once again I forgot to record the sermon. My notes are below.
Psalm 120
This world is filled with lies. We are lied to from the moment we are born to the moment that we die. We, all of us, are constantly surrounded by lies.
All sorts of lies. Lies about people – parents - you’re so unfair. Leaders - Putin is a great president who stands against woke values.
Lies about the world – David Attenborough – look at the marvels of what evolution has produced. Chatting to a guy who was so insistent that your truth is your truth that even if I believed that the pavement on which we stood was made out of marshmellow that would be true for me.
Lies about what will make us happy – follow your heart, do really well in your exams. How to achieve it. Heard the story of a cyclist who won one of the grand tours. Children, you can do this if you just believe. Tell that to the guy who came last. By definition most of us will be average but our world tells us that we will all be exceptional.
Lies about what will make us good – what it means to be good – what is good in the first place. lies about God – harsh, unfair, cruel to allow all this suffering ini the world or a big fat santa claus in the sky, who loves everyone as they are. He’s Allah, or Zeus or there are loads of gods or no gods at all. And Jesus Christ is certainly not his son, Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead.
We are surrounded by lies. They are taught in school, they are taught in universities, taught in homes, in churches, they are on billboards, on laptops, and on smart phones. Cannot go out a single day without hearing a lie. And the scary thing is You cannot stay in by yourself, with no one talking to you, entirely on your own without hearing a lie.
And those lies are distressing and they are dangerous.
Beginning a series in the songs of ascents. Psalm 120-134. We think they were sung as you made your pilgrimage to Jerusalem. As you ascended to the house of God. And in this, the first of the songs of Ascent, the psalmist begins in Meshech and Kedar, symbolically miles away, outside the promised land and in distress because of lies. Vs1 “In my distress, I called to the LORD.” . Vs1 In my distress I called to the LORD and he answered me. Deliver me, O LORD, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue.
The danger of lies
What is a lie and why is it so bad. A lie is something that is not true. Their words do not conform to reality. There you are standing with the cricket bat, cricket ball, next to the broken window. Mum asks you who did this. And you say – they did. A really simple image, gets at some of it, a lie is a relabelling project. Borrowed this from Jonty Rhodes… A lie takes something that is good – and will label it evil. It will take something that is dangerous and label it safe. It will take poison and label it food. Someone that is innocent and label them guilty. Take something for a particular purpose and label it to be used for another. Imagine someone did that in your house with all your food and all your cleaning products. So they took the bleach and labelled it custard and the custard and labelled it bleach. And so on. If you believed the labels your house would end up filthy and you would end up dead.
That is what has happened in this world. The world is a mess and we are dying. And it is all because of lies.
In the beginning God made the world and he made it good because he is good. Loving. Generous. Worthy of all our love, worthy of all our trust. But there was one tree he commanded us not to eat. To teach us to trust him, to love him for his own sake. And the devil used that to say look God is holding out on you. God is stingly. You can be like God!. And you won’t die. Relabelled God himself. And we believed satan. And we plunged this world into sin and darkness. We were handed over by the just punishment to God to death. And we became liars ourselves.
That was the great lie. But it has now lead to millions, billions of others. Everything in this world is being relabelled, multiple labels. Distressing
Three reasons. Firstly, it is hugely confusing. Imagine you lived in the house where you could not trust one label. Knives were put in the toy box. Dishwasher tablets in the sweet tin. And the tap was connected up to the gas pipe and so on. We would end up scared, confused, sick and in pain. So many in our world are like that. Confused and lost, not sure who to believe. Nearly everyone is aware that there are lies in the world. People are, in one sense, longing for someone to make sense of this world. Though in another, they don’t want to hear the truth. They want to believe the lie.
Aside: So many religions cant be bothered so I will believe nothing. Have you ever thought how mad that is. What is the truth behind all others, surely that is most important. And the reason there are so many lies about it is because it is so important. But people perhaps you don’t care. Why – I don’t really want to know the truth.
But secondly, imagine you knew about the relabelling project. You knew what things were for. You saw your mother grab the antibac to give to your brother as a drink of water, and your brother take that knife out of the box and give it to his little sister to play with. You would go nuts.
That is how we feel is it not. We, who in God’s kindness have been shown the truth, see people believing lies and drinking it as poison and we want to warn them. In all sorts of spheres of life, above all in ignoring Christ who would give them everlasting life. But we have learnt through bitter experience, that it is normally not wise just to rush in and tell them. So deceived are they.
Because the devil has played his next trick. Third thing, Which is to relabel you. You are a liar. Like he relabelled God – not there, not loving. And your bible – out of date and irrelevant, wrong. He has relabelled You, believer he calls a Liar. A fool. Old fashioned. Out of date. Bigot. Hater. Abuser. Or something far more personal and therefore far more painful. He slanders us.
We hate to be accused of something that we have not done.Poor children, unjust – accuse them of something they haven’t done. So so painful. That is what the devil does now.
Almost certainly that is the original context of this psalm. Deliver me, O Lord,
from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue. We don’t know but perhaps that was written by David, who was labelled as a traitor to Saul though there were none more faithful than him. Perhaps that was written by one of theprophets as they were stoned to death for a crime they did not commit.
When Christ came into the world truth itself walked the earth. The truth behind all truth who told nothing but the truth, did nothing but the good, created nothing but a taste of heaven all around him as healed everyone. And he was called a drunkard and a glutton. A blasphemer – that is a liar about the most important truths. And killed for it.
Maybe you are being slandered. All sorts of untruths. And that Distresses you too
What ought we to do in a world of lies? Well this psalm is not exhaustive. It does not speak to all that we should do. Speak the truth in love would be an obvious one.
But it shows us what at least in part, what we should do.First thing that we should do. 3 things.
1. Call to the Lord to save you – he will answer
Vs1 In my distress I called to the LORD and he answered me.
That friends is a wonderful verse to cling to when you face distress of any and every kind. Whatever it may be you are going through this. It may not be the lies at the moment that are distressing you, but sickness, tiredness, bitterness (kind of lie), Maybe you are grieving, overwhelmed with all that you have to do. Distressed about your future, distressed about your past. Call to the Lord. He will answer. He is so good.
But particularly when we are faced with lies we must call to the Lord
In our distress about lies we can turn all sorts of ways. Turn to online specialists. Ask ChatGPT. Friends and family. But the one we must turn to is God. Because he is true, and his word is truth.
Given a bit of the back ground of lying. Let me now tell you a bit more about truth. If lying is when our words do not conform to reality, to tell the truth is to let our words conform to reality. God created it. And God created it by speaking. Our words are to reflect reality, by his word he formed reality. He is true. The truth behind all truth. All that he says is true.
To push the illustration. If you like he is the designer and builder of this world, this house in which we live. And he knows what everything is for, he knows how everything works. He knows you. He knows you so well. He made you for himself. And all your distress. He can help us.
If you distressed because are not sure what is true. Call to the Lord. He will answer you, he will show you the truth. Or at least the truths that you most need to know. In his Son and through his word. Omniscience. Our children don’t need to know everything neither do we. That is another lie. He will tell you what you need to now. He will answer you in his word and his Son – who is the truth. Jesus, He will help you make sense of this confusing world.
If you are distressed because you long that people would know the truth. Then call out to the Lord. The only one who can teach them what is true. He is the one who can draw people to know and love the truth and show them it. And by his Spirit open their eyes.
If you are slandered, called all sorts of horrible things. Which you will be if you are trusting Christ. The devil at the least will come into your heart and whisper all kinds of terrible things. You don’t really love God. You aren’t really one of his people. You are amazing, the best thing since sliced bread. You are worthless.
Call out to the Lord, God knows what is true. That his beloved child in the Lord Jesus Christ. And he knows the thoughts of your heart.
In my distress I called to the LORD and he answered me.
Friends wherever we turn in this world of lies. Let us turn first to God. Deliver me, O Lord from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue. Call to the Lord.
2. Remember what liars will receive – he will judge
Vs3 What shall be given to you, and what more shall be done to you, you deceitful tongue? A warrior’s sharp arrows with glowing coals of the broom tree!
Liars, their words are weapons by which they destroy others. Obvious. During the Holocaust the Nazi told lies about the Jews – that they were sub human, vermin, they were responsible for all sorts of problems. Something bad happened, it is the Jews fault. and so we can do whatever we want with them. Including torture and mistreat them and kill them in their thousands. Lies that are strikingly similar to what is said about unwanted babies in the womb. They are sub human, either just a bunch cells, or not really a person yet. They are going to cause you loads of problems, and the world all sorts of problems. And the kind, the right thing to do, for your sake and all women everywhere is to destroy them.
But that is true of all of them. They are all destructive. If God created by speaking, lies tear down what he has made. And so often liars look like they get away with it. They ruin people’s lives. And run off it seems scott free. No one knows. Devil seems to be running rampant, having an absolute field day. But they will not get away scot free.
Vs3, what shall be given to you and what more shall be added to you?
A warriors sharp arrows, with glowing coals of the broom tree. Burning arrows of the almighty.
one day, the God who made the world, the owner of the house, will come as a warrior to destroy liars. The people who have been relabelling in order to kill and destroy will be killed and destroyed. He will fire his arrows at those who used their words as weapons. The glowing coals of a broom tree. Not entirely sure what that means but we think it refers to a tree that ignited quickly, burnt fiercely and then the burning lasted long. It is in other words a picture of the agony of hells. The fiery lake, where the smoke of their torment will go up forever and ever
What will happen to liars, flatterers, perjurers, gossips, traitors, false teachers of all stripes, whether in politics, in parenting, in science, in church They will be destroyed by the arrows of God’s truth and burn forevermore.
Last week we talked about differing rewards in heaven. This week let me mention differing punishments in hell. The bible clearly teaches that Hell will be awful beyond all words for all who go there. But it will be worse for some than others. And in traditional pictures of hell Liars are down near the very bottom, facing the very worst of torments. It is desperately wicked.
Another lie we can believe is that liars will get away with their lies. One of satan’s great lies. God will not jugde. And when we believe that lie we start to take matters into our own hands. We can want to fight back, to bring them down. Bitterness and wrath. But he will . And they will not get away with it. God’s arrows will find them out, they will not escape the flames. He does not miss
We need to believe that in our distress. World is so confusing. It will not always be so. One day, things will be made clear. Liars and lies will be removed. Some of you have been and are being slandered. Terrible things said about you. And you may be facing all sorts of consequences you do not deserve. The damage to you is huge. But the damage those who slander you do to themselves is worse.
Whatever pain we go through in this life due to the lies of others, well firstly God will use for our good, he will use it to make us more like Christ, who also was slandered. But it is nothing compared to the pain they will go through unless .
That is wonderful. Comfort. But there is a severe warning here too.
Repent and turn to Christ
Afterall, Which one of us here can say that we, have always told the truth. That we have always said things the way they are. Labelled everything correctly. And that we have not misrepresented the truth, That we have not shaded it, coloured it, twisted it to suit our ends and purposes.
James 3. How do we use our tongues? These worlds of fire. These rudders of our lives. Do we use them well. Do we speak the truth in love. Or do we, use them in ways that are cruel, untrue.
Vs5-7 Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech,
that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!
6 Too long have I had my dwelling
among those who hate peace.
7 I am for peace,
but when I speak, they are for war!
Meshech one place outside of Israel, Kedar, another place outside of Israel. Psalmist felt surrounded by liars, people spoiling for a fight. Because the two go together. Devil he is a liar and a murderer and he lies in order to murder. He did it. She’s unfair. It’s mine. There’s a recipe for a fight! We can fell like this. Non-Christian family. Always spoiling for a fight. Office. Always trying to get us. Most of all with Satan, and our own sin. Constantly tempting. Constantly saying things.
But they are above all true of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ, God’s beloved Son, the word through whom the world was made, the way, the truth and the life, he came into the world. He sojourned in Meshech and dwelt in Kedar. Among those who lied and hated peace.
Can you imagine how he felt. He who is the truth, who would have been sensitive to the merest shading of the truth, to dwell in this world of wretched lies. WOE TO ME. How long must I bear with you.
But he came, God sent him, because he despite all we deserve, he loves us. He knows the lies that you have believed. And he knows the lies that you have told. He knows that you have been for war
But he is for peace. And this man who always told the truth, who was for peace. He was crucified for being a liar, a blasphemer. And then as he died he took the arrows of the almighty, the burning wrath of God, his own wrath, for our lies, suffering what we deserve, that he might make peace between us and God again and between us and each other again and we might be delivered from our own lying lips.
Vs1 Call out to the Lord…
And he will. He will deliver you from satan, from the world, and from even the lies you tell yourself. He will show you more and more the truth about himself about you and this world. The glorious truths of the gospel. And he will help you speak the truth more and more.
The great lie, the greatest of all lies the devil tells is that he says God is not good. God does not love us. God is not for us. God does not have our best interests at heart. Relabelling. He is the great good and he has been labelled evil. He is the food of our soul and the devil makes him out as poison. He is the truly righteous one, but we think he’s guilty. Jesus Christ will show you the truth. That God so loved us that he gave his one and only Son that whoever beleves shall not perish but have eternal life.
Another great lie of satan is about you. You are so wonderful God loves you just how you are (and you don’t need him). You are so terrible God hates you (and you can never have him).
Jesus Christ shows the truth. That we though made so wonderfully, have become so wicked, and yet God loves us. And he forgives us restores us and changes us if our faith is in Christ, and will bring us into a world of truth.
3. Lament and wait for your true home
Those final verses. They do speak of Christ. But they do also speak of us in Christ. They are true ultimately of him. But they are true of us who are in him.
Woe to me. O how frustrating, depressing, confusing distressing that we live in this world so full of lies. If we are not distressed by the lies we see around us, we believe ourselves, something is wrong with us. We ought to be deeply sad. Woe to me. That is right to say. That is right to feel.
But also we should wait for our true home. Psalms of ascent. You said them on the way up to Jerusalem to the Temple, where you could be with God. And here we begin in Kedar. Miles away from the temple. But they were on a journey to somewhere beeter. So us, now we are in a world of lies, but one day we will dwell in a world of truth. Where all is well and all manner of things is well. Glory of God will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.
Wait for that home
And enjoy the taste we have of it, every Sunday as the truth is proclaimed in word and sacrament of the goodness of God to us in Christ Jesus.
