When We Are Beaten Down By Sin

Psalm 106, we're going to start in verse 34.

We're going to, Lord willing, wrap it up tonight.

We've been looking at the rest of the stories

in the first part of Psalm 106. Most of them

are two, three, four verses, just real short

little stories. They're mentioned in Psalm 106.

We've gone back through Numbers and Deuteronomy

and Exodus or wherever these stories were found.

and kind of looked at them in greater detail.

And so if you missed any of those, you can go

back and find them online. But tonight we will

be in Psalm 106, starting in verse 34. The last

story we looked at was when Moses didn't do what

God said. He was angry with the people, and God

told him to speak to the rock to bring about

water, and he struck the rock. And as a result,

he didn't get to enter into the promised land.

And that was the last story we looked at. And

tonight we're going to kind of see just, I guess

we could say, just kind of an overview of, okay,

here's a generalization of what the people of

Israel did throughout their time as they entered

into Canaan, as they entered into the land that

God had brought them to, to be their own that

God was going to give them. And he gave them

some specific instructions to not have any other

gods before him. Not worship any idols. Don't

get involved with any of the things of these

other nations. God was bringing judgment on the

other nations. He was going to destroy the other

nations through Israel. And all they had to do

was be obedient. They could have went in there

and they could have overtook all of them and

destroyed them. But they failed to do that. And

sometimes they destroyed some of them, but not

all of them. And as a result, they ended up giving

in to the practices of some of these Canaanite

folks. That's what we're going to see in the

verses we're going to look at tonight. So let's

pray and we'll get started. God, we thank you

for your word. I pray that you would help us

to learn from this. God, maybe we find ourselves

in a similar situation to your people Israel.

Maybe not the same circumstances, but maybe sometimes

we are disobedient in the things that we do and

the way that we act. And we know what you tell

us to do. And we don't do right, dear Lord, and

it leaves us in some bad situations. And so whatever

may have gotten us where we are tonight, if we

are in a bad situation, I pray that we would

be a people that would wake up and pay attention

to your word and your instruction. It's still

good for us tonight that we would be a people

that would call out to you. And I ask these things

in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, Psalm 106, verse

Psalms 106:34

34. They did not destroy the peoples as the Lord

had commanded them, but mingled with the nations

and adopted their ways. They served their idols,

which became a snare to them. All right, so this

is just kind of a situation we see among God's

people. They go in there and they destroy some

of the people, but even the people that they

leave, instead of separating themselves from

them, They do exactly what God told them not

to do. They begin to take over their practices.

They begin to worship their idols. They begin

to put other gods before God. They begin to marry

with foreigners. And that's a bad situation.

Even in the New Testament, it talks about being

unequally yoked. And that's not talking about

race. That's not talking about marrying somebody

of a different nationality. That's not what it's

talking about when it talks about unequally yoked.

It's talking about... Marrying somebody with

differing beliefs. Marrying somebody that's not

a Christian. That's what he's saying in the New

Testament when Paul says that. That was God's

main concern here in the Old Testament. I don't

think that the problem was he didn't want an

Israelite marrying a Canaanite, but he knew that

if the Israelites were to follow God and they

were his people and the Canaanites followed these

false gods, then the likelihood of being drawn

away from your God It's pretty high if you marry

somebody with different beliefs, and that's true

today. That's true. If you're a Christian, or

maybe in most of our cases, have a Christian

child or grandchildren, then it's very important

that you encourage them to marry a Christian

mate, that you encourage your granddaughters

to marry a Christian man and your grandsons to

marry a Christian woman. And if you see that

the... person they appear to be falling in love

with is not, then that's a hard conversation

to have to say, hey, listen, grandson, granddaughter,

this is probably not a good situation. You better

be really careful who you marry. Because you

always will say, oh, well, I'll never give up

my faith. I'll never allow them to sway me. But

oftentimes when you're exposed to somebody with

differing beliefs, there's a greater chance of

you being torn from your belief. and switch to

theirs, or perhaps even worse, a total lack of

belief. Well, God's people, they were with these

foreigners, they were intermarrying with these

foreigners, and lo and behold, did they convert

them to God? Well, it doesn't sound like it in

most of the teachings, but it does sound like

that the foreigners converted the Israelites

to worshiping these false gods. And so they found

themselves in a lot of trouble. because of that.

All right, let's continue on in verse 37. They

sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons.

They shed innocent blood, the blood of their

sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the

idols of Canaan. So the land became polluted

with blood. They defiled themselves by their

actions and prostituted themselves by their deeds.

Now, this is a pretty serious allegation right

here. This is not just, oh, the Canaanites, the

people over there that are here when we got there,

they worship one God and we worship another God.

It wasn't just as simple as we're just going

to go to a different church next Sunday. It was

when they started worshiping these false gods

and these idols, the ways of these false gods

were totally different. Like, hey, if you had

a kid, why don't you just go sacrifice it to

the God? Why don't you burn it up? So this was

a pretty serious deal. This wasn't like, hey,

he's a Baptist and she's a Methodist. We'll just

go to his church one Sunday and mine next Sunday.

This was, hey, when you stop following God, you're

going to start doing some really evil and detestable

things. Killing your own kids as a sacrifice.

So this is pretty serious what was going on.

It's not like the Israelites just said, I don't

feel like going to church this Sunday. I ain't

going to make it. And God says, aw, aw, shucks.

Well, you're not going to get some of my blessings.

Like the things that they were doing were serious

things. Like when they were rejecting God and

putting other gods before him and started worshiping

these idols, what does it say here? It says that

they sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons.

These weren't gods. These were demons. This was

a bad way that the people of Israel were in.

And so you kind of can understand, maybe, that

when God gets angry with his people in the Old

Testament, that it's not like he was just angry

for no reason. When God punishes his people in

the Old Testament, it's not like he was just

doing it for fun. Like, there were some serious

things that went on. Now, if they would have

followed God's commands, when he said, have no

other God before me, If they would have just

started right there, they'd have been in pretty

good shape. But they didn't start there, and

they did have other gods before them. And pretty

soon, they started sacrificing their own children.

Now, you've got to be in pretty bad shape to

start sacrificing your own children. Like anybody

in here ever sacrificed their child before? Please

don't raise your hand if you did. Hope you didn't.

What would it take for you to do that? There's

nothing I can tell you tonight that would convince

you to do that, I hope. So you've got to be in

a pretty bad shape to start living in that kind

of evil. And that's why God says it's pretty

important that you follow my words because eventually

if you turn from God and you stop following his

commands, that's where you get to. That's a scary

thing to think about. Here's a scary thing to

think about. People back in those days ain't

no different from people today. People today

are just as evil. It's not like humanity is just,

oh, we have gotten so elevated that we don't

do these types of things anymore. Nope. People

today are just as evil as they have ever been.

Now, some would say that abortion today is similar

to this. Now, maybe it is in some way. I don't

know that there's a direct correlation, but there

are a lot of people that don't. pause for a moment

in aborting a baby, and that's a pretty serious

situation too. Maybe they're not knowingly kneeling

down before an altar and saying, here you go,

all false god and demon, here's my child. They

may not be doing that, but nonetheless, the result

of so freely taking an innocent life, well, you're

in a bad place when you start doing that, and

we see that as a culture, as a society. Continuing

on that same note in verse 40, it says, Okay,

the Lord was angry here. He was angry. He didn't

just turn a blind eye. He didn't just say, well,

they're just doing some things. I wish they wouldn't

do that, but there's nothing I can do about it.

It's kind of what we would say, right? When somebody

in our family, when our children do something,

we say, well, I wish they wouldn't do that, but

there's nothing I can do about it. But God was

really angry about what had taken place here

because he loved them. He didn't want them to

do that. He didn't want them to fall into those

types of evils. Lord knows he didn't want them

to be sacrificing a child. Like that was totally

against everything that God wanted his people

to do. And yet these people were so twisted.

that these are the types of things that had infiltrated

their society. Now, this is not just true of

Israel. I believe this is true of humanity throughout

the existence of humanity. That if a people will

seek God, follow His commands, live according

to His commands, try to live in obedience to

Him, they will experience blessing. There will

be love. There will be peace. Not ever total

peace and love. There will always be a few in

the bunch. It's going to be troublemakers. But

as a whole in general, when a people will seek

God, you will be able to see that through that

people group, through that country, through that

civilization. It will be evident. And the moment

a people stop seeking God, that will become evident

because there will be more fussing and fighting

and feuding. There will be more murdering and

rioting. There will be more conflict. There will

be more wars. There will be more hatred. There

will be parents that may not be sacrificing their

kid on an altar, but parents whose little boy

comes up to them and says, I want to be a little

girl, and the parent applauds that. That's evil.

That's not good. That's not healthy. That's not

love to say, oh, I love my kid. I'm going to

support whatever they do. That's not love. That's

mental illness. That's evil. And how did we get

to that point? Like, some of you say, well, when

I was born, when I was a teenager, when I was

a young adult, we didn't do that thing. Well,

what changed to all of a sudden that people's

kids think they're animals and the parents put

litter boxes in the house because their child

thinks they're a cat? Like, this is the world

we live in. This is not... It's... It's almost

funny, but it's not funny at all because this

is reality in 2026 in the United States of America.

And how in the world did we get here? I can tell

you how we got here. We got here because we stopped

seeking God. We got here the same way that the

Israelites got to where they got, where they

were offering their kids as sacrifices in the

fire. That's the result of abandoning God. You

can't just say, I don't want God, and you take

God out of everything, and you just think somehow

the world's going to continue on and be good.

It doesn't work that way. Because there is no

good but God. And when you remove God, you've

removed all that's good, and when you've removed

all that's good, all that remains is evil, and

before long, you're sacrificing your own children.

And that's what the people were doing in Israel.

And that's what we see in a lot of places in

our world today. We see so many people in our

world, so many countries in our world, so many

people groups in our world, and they have completely

taken God out of everything. And the more they

take God out of things, the more that they see

things get worse, and the worse they see things

get, the more they say, we've got to take even

more God out. And the more God is removed, the

worse it gets. And this is the cycle. There's

nothing new under the sun. It's not a surprise

to us, shouldn't be, if we read Scripture. This

is what humanity does. When we put other gods

before God, when we stop seeking Him and living

for Him, the result is bad things are going to

happen. And I believe that that was true for

Israel. And I believe that's true for any people

in our world today. I do not think God has changed.

I think He blesses those who will seek Him, and

I believe that He brings punishment and wrath

on those who will reject Him. And I think we

see evidences of that in our world today. Verse

41, He handed them over to the nations. Those

who hated them ruled them. Their enemies oppressed

them, and they were subdued under their power.

He rescued them many times, but they continued

to rebel deliberately and were beaten down by

their sin. Now, when they followed God, they

didn't really have any trouble. You may remember

when they first crossed over the Jordan to go

into Canaan. And they went to Jericho. We just

talked about this in Sunday School going through

the book of Joshua. Jericho, pretty big fortified

walls. Israel probably didn't have no business

overtaking them. But what happened? By God's

power, they overtook them. And by God's power,

they would have overtaken every person in that

land with no trouble. When the spies got sent

to see what was going on in the land, and the

spies come back and tell them, said, hold up,

there's some big folks over there. We can't go

over there and do that. And Joshua and Caleb

said, well, look, we go over there and do it.

It's fine. The Lord brought us here. We'll go

do it. He'll give them over to us. No problem.

And they said, well, you ain't going over there.

And they could have overtook everybody in the

land had they have trusted in God, but they didn't.

And this scripture reminds us that their enemies

overtook them. Was it because their enemies were

stronger than them? Nope. Was it because their

enemies were stronger than God? Nope. It was

because God said, okay, you don't want to trust

me. I'm going to back up. Well, when God backs

up, you're in big trouble. And God's people find

themselves in big trouble. It says he rescued

them many times in verse 43, but they continue

to rebel deliberately. Now, you read through

the Old Testament. You see a lot of times. I'd

be curious to know what the count is. I've never

really thought about that. How many times that

God handed them over and how many times that

he rescued them. But there was a pattern. They

continued to rebel deliberately. And listen to

that last line in verse 43. And were beaten down

by their sin. Think about that for a second.

They were beaten down by their sin. That's what

sin will do to us. Now we all have sin. Maybe

not the same sin like we're talking about here.

But there is some sin in our life that is tough

for us to overcome, and it's different for you

than it is for me. Everybody's is different.

But it's a bad feeling, and maybe some of you

have been there. I suspect you are. When there

is sin in your life, and it has got the better

of you, and you've just continued to give in

to it, and it will beat you down. And it's hard.

It's hard to overcome that. We want to give up.

We want to just keep giving in to it. But man,

it just leaves us feeling so rotten and so angry

and so bitter. So how do we overcome that? Well,

we overcome that by the power of the Lord. That's

the only way that we overcome that sin that,

as Hebrews would say, so easily ensnares us,

that sin that would beat us down. Now maybe we

read this passage tonight, or maybe there's somebody

online that's listening to this, and maybe if

we're honest, We can relate to this passage more

than we want to. Maybe we can look at our own

life and say, golly, there's some evils in my

life. Maybe I've abandoned God. Maybe I've put

other gods and other things before Him. Maybe

I'm committing some evils that are pretty bad.

Maybe I've rebelled repeatedly. Maybe I feel

the burden of my own sin right now and it has

beaten me down and I don't know what I'm going

to do. Well, I can tell you what you can do,

and you can do the same thing that God's people

Israel did. In the next verse, in verse 44, it

says, When he heard their cry, he took note of

their distress, remembered his covenant with

them, and relented according to the riches of

his faithful love. He calls them to be pitied

before all their captors. All right? So if you

find yourself in this shape, Maybe you have before,

maybe you are now, or maybe you will in the future.

Where you have turned away from God, there's

evil in your life, there's sin in your life,

and you've gotten to a point where you realize

you are in a bad way. What are you going to do?

Well, God's people cried out to the Lord. And

the good news is, when we seek God, we'll find

Him. When we reject God, all we'll find is evil

and pain and suffering. And that's a bad place

to be. But when we seek God, we will find Him.

And when God's people cried out to Him in all

the stuff that they had done, in all that they

were guilty of, when they cried out to God, it

says He took note of their distress. Well, that's

good news. It's not good to live in evil. If

we're living in evil, then we need to repent.

We don't want to stay there. We don't want to

stay beaten down by sin and say, I can't get

over this. I'm too far gone. My sin has got the

best of me. I've got no power over it. You don't

have to stay there. You can cry out to the Lord

and you can say, Lord, help me. Through Jesus

Christ, you can be delivered. We can be overcomers

through Jesus Christ. We can be victorious over

that sin that ensnares us through Jesus Christ

if we would seek Him and call out to Him. And

cry out to him. As God's people did. Verse 47.

Save us Yahweh our God. And gather us from the

nations. So that we may give thanks to your holy

name. And rejoice in your praise. May Yahweh

the God of Israel be praised. From everlasting

to everlasting. That all the people say. Amen.

Hallelujah. That's a pretty good prayer. Those

last couple of verses there. Save us and gather

us from the nations. And we may give thanks to

your holy name. Well, maybe that needs to be

the prayer that some of us pray today. God, I've

turned from you and I'm in a mess. I've been

doing things that are so evil, I'm afraid to

speak them out loud they are so evil. But God,

I cry out to you now because I'm in a bad shape

and everything's falling in on me and my sin's

just crushing me. Lord, I cry out to you. Would

you save me? Would you help me? And the good

news is, is that through Jesus Christ tonight,

he will help you. Because Jesus died on the cross

so that your sins could be forgiven. If you would

just repent, God will take note of your distress,

just as he did the people of Israel. Let's pray.

God, we thank you for these good words. And maybe

we can learn something from Psalm 106, dear Lord.

We say a lot. of examples of failure throughout

this whole psalm. And dear Lord, our life can

only add to those examples, dear Lord. We've

got plenty of failures of our own. But I pray,

God, that even as we look at all this unfaithfulness

and all the evil that we've seen in this psalm,

that we would not forget the main theme, and

that is, dear Lord, that continually we see in

this psalm people who intercede, people who atone

for. We see deliverance for your people, dear

Lord. And we thank you for all those folks in

the Old Testament that you sent to be good leaders,

to intercede for your people and to make atonement

for your people. But God, I pray that we do not

fail to recognize that all these examples we

see in Psalm 106 are pointing us to Jesus Christ.

That He is the one who is interceding for us

on our behalf. That He is the one who has made

atonement for us through His sacrifice. And God,

it's because of that that today that we can cry

out to You that we can have confidence to know

that You will hear us in our distress. So God,

I pray for the one whose sin has beaten them

down tonight. I pray, God, that through Jesus

Christ they would find strength and peace and

forgiveness. And I ask these things in Jesus'

name. Amen.