Psalm 137 and the verses no one like to talk about!

Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah.

! It is wonderful that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah,

either by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray for us

that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself?

The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian,

we really, I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the

Bible, they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will do

what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a non-Christian

checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't hesitate to send us

questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the types of things

that you're really struggling with. So God bless.

Standing, let's bow our heads in prayer.

Father, sometimes your Word completely shocks us. It doesn't say things that we think it should say,

and not only does it shock us, Father, but sometimes it confuses us. And Father, if we're honest,

sometimes it's a bit of a blow and makes us wonder about the whole Christian thing and knowing you.

So Father, we ask that we thank you for your Word. We know that everything you wrote, you wrote because

you love us and you want us to know you better and to follow you and to walk in truth and goodness

and beauty. We ask that your Holy Spirit would fall with gentle power, quiet our minds, and help us to

receive all that you desire to give us this morning through your Word. And we ask this in the name of

Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated.

So, you still see some of these things in the local news, but my wife and I live in one of those parts

of Ottawa that had all the Canada Day floods. We, in fact, had a six, seven, eight inches in,

in, we live in a semi-detail, a split level. And so the bottom level, we had, I don't know, six, seven,

eight inches of water in our basement. And boy, at the time, it felt really hard. And we, you know,

I, turns out it happened to all sorts of, all of our neighbors throughout the neighborhood. And

Louise and I now really think that God was very kind to us in terms of the limited amount of damage

that we had. But I think it was the day after I decided to look at my insurance policy to see if

the flood was covered. Good Lord, I think that was written by a lawyer to confuse you so you couldn't

understand it. I have the vaguest, I have, I have the vaguest idea in the world whether I would have

been covered for anything that happened to me. Now, as it turns out, we didn't need it. But I mention all

of this because one of the things about our church is that I want to be a church where there's never

buyer's regret. So, you know, if I thought that I had some money coming because of my insurance

and it turns out I had none, there'd be some regret about it. And I want us to be a, I believe

Christianity is true. I think it's good. I think it's beautiful. I think Jesus really did rise from

the dead. I think he died on the cross because he loves you. And I think he is calling you to be his

child and to follow him and that God desires you to be not only in union with Christ but

to be in union with him and to grow in beatitude. And I believe all of those things. And so I don't

want there to be things that come up. Some of you might, if you have friends who are ex-evangelicals

or skeptics, they might throw this text at you. And so that's why we're looking at it. When I,

in our summer psalm series this year, all of the speakers were to choose between 120 and 150.

And I chose last. And I always look through those psalms just to make sure there's some balance to

what people pick. But if there's a psalm which is really problematic, I make sure that I'm going to

preach on it because it's partly how I help you as the congregation to read the Bible and to have a

confidence in it. So that's why we're looking at this psalm. There might be a couple of other times

in this sermon where it's a bit gruesome. I'm not going to apologize for it, but I am going to let

you know there's some things in there that might be a little bit gruesome to you. I mean, we already

got it, right? So what we're going to do, by the way, like as I, you know, as I like worked on this

psalm this week, like I realize how important this psalm is and how important the hard bits of the Bible are

for Christians if we want to grow and know more about ourselves and more about God. But I'll show

you what I mean. So get out your Bibles. It's helpful to me and helpful to you. If you're going to learn

how to read the Bible for yourselves, it's helpful if you have a Bible with you. Just let you know that

if you can't read your phone without being distracted by Facebook or TikTok or Instagram, there's this weird

invention called paper books. And what you should do is bring one of a paper book with you on Sunday.

If you can look at it online, but, and without being distracted, then that's fine. But I invite you to

take your Bible so you can read for yourself and see if I'm skipping things or twisting things or

anything like that. And it's Psalm 137. And what we're going to do is I'm going to read the whole psalm

again. We're going to look and spend a couple of minutes in that really hard part at the end.

And then I'm going to read this whole psalm again, but go a bit slower and explain

some of the language and the imagery to you. What I can tell you right now, though, is that

I do spend time looking in commentaries to look in the original languages. This is a well-translated psalm.

It's not going to be one of those cases that I say, oh, well, if you actually read in the original

language, it doesn't mean this. No, no, no. This is a very well-translated psalm.

So it says what it says. So let's hear it together.

By the waters of Babylon there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion. On the willows there

we hung up our leers, for there our captors were quiet of the songs and our tormentors, mirth, saying,

sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land? If I forget you,

O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill. Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth. If I do not

remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy." Now just sort of pause here.

Even without necessarily knowing what the symbolism is and historical context, you can really, I think,

hopefully capture the first part of the psalm in particular has been well beloved by Christians. It

captures deep emotion and longings and yearnings and there's just something heart-tugging about that part.

And then it takes this sudden turn. You have this profoundly emotional, sad, and yet longing psalm, and then this

dark turn. Look at verse 7. Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites, the day of Jerusalem, how they said,

lay it bare, lay it bare down to its foundations, O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed.

Blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us. Blessed shall he be who takes your

little ones and dashes them against the rocks. And as I said, that's well translated.

So, like, whoa, right? Whoa. Not, not whoa is in terms of whoa is me, but whoa, like, what on earth is going on here? I could well imagine

people hearing this for the first time. I think of some of the people I share about Christianity with,

who know that I'm a Christian, they probably would say, I could never accept a book from God that would

have something like that. And I could never, if you say that God wrote that and he wrote it as something

for us that we can pray, I could never worship a God that would say something like that.

And, in fact, I might even say, George, this is barbaric. Like, do you pray like this?

Is that what you actually do?

So, what's going on? So, one of the things, one of the ways, not the only way, but one of the ways to

understand what the Bible is, is it's ultimately a word from God. Every word is, every individual word

in the sentence and the paragraphs, the whole bit, it's all God's word. And part of what the Bible is,

is both a mirror to help us understand ourselves and a window to help us understand who God is

and what he's done in Christ and what he's calling us to. That's one way to understand what the Bible is.

Not the only way, but it's an important way. It's a mirror and a window. And so, when we read this again,

here's the problem.

Almost every single Canadian agrees with verse 9.

They say, no, no, George. Bashing babies' heads against, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, George.

Like, virtually no Canadian agrees with that. And I say that almost every Canadians agree with this.

It wouldn't matter if I'm in the hippest, trendiest coffee shop, which I couldn't tell you what it is

because I'm closer to hip replacement than hip. And I have no idea what that would really be,

unless one somebody told me. But whether it's a Tim Hortons, like the one just down the street with

lots of street people, Canadians agree with this. They say, no, they don't. Yes, they do.

What's one of the most popular types of YouTube videos? Instant karma. You know what that is?

Instant karma is where you maybe have somebody having road rage and they're exploding in anger.

And then the next thing you see is that there's a cop car behind them.

And the person having road rage is arrested. And it's called instant karma.

But what is it that most Canadians would agree as a fundamental moral principle?

What goes around?

You know, what you do is going to happen to you.

Isn't that what most Canadians think?

That's what most Canadians think.

So look at verse 8 and 9 again more slowly.

Why is it that the psalmist prays verse 9?

Look at verse 8.

O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed,

blessed shall he be who repays you

with what you have done to us.

What did the Babylonians do to them?

They took their babies and smashed their heads against the rocks.

And what the psalmist is praying is what goes around comes around.

Now, I think like most people, we're a bit shocked with this.

You see, often what happens is that we miss the opportunity for the Bible

to be a mirror to help us to understand what we actually say

and what we actually think.

And I think most of us would want to sputter

and try to make some exceptions about it.

But what the Bible does here is vastly better and vastly wiser.

Vastly better and vastly better.

In fact, what often happens is because we get caught up with the problem

and don't have any self-awareness,

we miss the opportunity of the psalm.

So now let's go back and read the psalm from the beginning.

But if we read it from the beginning,

I think maybe the way it was designed was that we go,

whoa, what's that last line?

Let me read this over again.

And now if we read it over again in light of the last line

and the line just before that,

now there's an opportunity for us to have a profound empathy.

See, one of the functions of literature in general,

whether it's poetry or like books, stories,

is that it allows us, when it's well done,

to enter into the lived experience of other people,

that's empathy, and then have compassion on them.

So let's now take this opportunity and reread the psalm

in light of what has happened to the person who's written the psalm.

Go back to verse 1.

By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept

when we remembered Zion.

Now, Babylon's...

So what's partially happened here is...

It's not partially.

What's happened is that in 586 B.C.,

Babylon, under Nebuchadnezzar,

has destroyed Jerusalem and conquered the nation of Israel.

And the nation of Israel will not be a nation again.

In fact, they won't fundamentally be a nation for centuries and centuries

and centuries and centuries and centuries,

but they're destroyed.

Jerusalem is destroyed.

And many of the people from Israel,

who haven't died in the conquest,

have been taken back to Babylon.

It's an attempt to completely cut off their ties

to that original land.

And that historically happened.

And what happened, though,

bits and pieces like this,

is that Babylon ended up becoming

what I would call a synecdoche,

which is a really, really weird, rare word

that virtually nobody ever uses,

a synecdoche.

I'm probably not pronouncing it really correctly.

And what that is,

is, like, if I say Wall Street,

you all know that I'm not actually

talking about a street in New York City.

I'm talking about capitalism.

I'm talking about America and economic might.

If I say Hollywood,

I'm not just talking about a little neighborhood

in the greater Los Angeles area.

I'm talking about movies

and all of that type of thing, right?

Bay Street, the same type of thing.

You know, Parliament,

you're talking about government

and all of those types of things.

And Babylon ends up becoming in the Bible.

After this time,

if you read the Old Testament prophets,

you read the New Testament,

even in the Old Testament,

who shows up in the Old Testament

is the whore of Babylon.

And it becomes a symbol.

So that to say it,

you're not just thinking of something

that happened in history once

and a place on the planet.

Babylon represents and is a short form

for concentrated human

and demonic power,

organized, active,

against, and hostile to the Lord

and to his people.

That's what Babylon is.

Babylon is a concentration

of human and demonic power

that's hostile to the triune God

and is active against the triune God,

not just sort of sitting there

passive-aggressive,

but active-aggressive

against the triune God

and his people.

And that's what Babylon

ends up representing.

It is in a...

And so that's partially how

when we now read it,

I mean, obviously,

the person writing this psalm

wouldn't know that that was God

was setting the stage for Babylon.

It's part of the wisdom of God

causing Scripture to be written

that this word that is,

for him,

a specific historical event.

He is...

In fact, it's so moving.

If you realize that what's happened

is the person

and the group of people singing this,

they are sitting in the center

of the people

who have conquered them.

And they are in a place of beauty.

I mean, many of us on our holidays,

we want to go to water

because there's something restful

and beautiful about water,

about beautiful waterways

and rivers

and all of the flourishing

that goes with it,

irrigating of land for flowers

and trees and fruit and beauty

and birds and bees.

We're going to the ocean

and there they are

in a place of profound beauty

where the Babylonian people

would think it was an honor

that they could go

and wander amongst that

and see it.

And they are sitting there weeping

because they remember Zion.

Now, I'm going to explain

Zion imagery in a moment.

You'll explain why

that's an important word.

But they're there weeping.

And then, so what do they do?

And the problem isn't that they're,

they can't,

the point of the psalm isn't,

listen, stop,

don't remember Zion.

It only makes you sad.

Forget Zion and be happy.

No, no, part of this is

sometimes we need to remember

even when it makes us sad

because as we'll see in a moment,

that remember,

this particular remembering

is really important

in terms of them

turning their complete life around.

Look what happens

in verse 2 and 3 first, though.

On the willows there

we hung up our leers,

like a type of guitar slash harp.

On the willows there

we hung up our leers,

for there are captors

required of us songs

and our tormentors mirth,

saying,

sing us one of the songs of Zion.

I'm going to say it.

All week as I've been working

on this psalm,

I've just been back

thinking of the video footage

that came out

after that horrendous attack

on Israel on October 7,

2023.

And part of what was so horrendous

about that

was not only what they did,

but the fact that

they were so proud of it,

so gleeful about it.

And the video footage

of them bringing women

who'd been raped

and murdered

in the backs of trucks,

and they howl with delight

and old men

and old women

and young children

and young men and women

all clapping

and cheering

and laughing

of what has happened.

It is so horrific.

And so how do we read

these verses 2 and 3?

They've had their babies

heads bashed in.

And they are in the place

where even if the people

around them

hadn't done it,

they have no shame.

They have no guilt.

They have no embarrassment.

They are proud of it.

They are gleeful about it.

And they want to rub

their noses in it.

You see,

if you understand

what's happened

at the end of the psalm,

it opens the door

for you to enter

into it emotionally.

And that's why

you can't read this psalm.

For me,

I couldn't read it

without thinking

of what happened

on October 7, 2023

to the Jewish people.

So they're there.

They're surrounded by people.

And it's actually

very interesting.

The word tormentors there.

You see the word tormentors

in verse 3?

I can't remember

the name of it.

There's a literary term for it.

But it's the only place

in the Old Testament,

and I think the only place

in ancient Jewish literature

where this word appears.

So that's why you'll see

some translations

translated a little bit differently.

But where the word comes from,

part of the image

behind the word

is literally

just like seeing those scenes

in Gaza

where the people

are cheering and whooping.

I'm not recommending

you see this movie,

but there was a movie

that came out

a little while ago

starring Charlize Theron

about a kayaker

and she ends up being chased

by this really, really crazy guy.

And there's a scene in there,

a crazy evil guy

who wants to kill her.

And there's a scene in there

regularly

where he's howling.

Howling.

And that's the word

tormentor there.

It has added this idea

of howling.

Think of Western movies

where you have the bad,

the terrible,

the evil rancher

coming to an innocent homesteader

and they've just burned

the house down

and killed the dad

and all of that.

And the cowboys

are running around

howling in glee

and excitement

about the evil

that they're inflicting.

And that's the root

of the word tormentor.

This psalm,

once you realize

what the ending is

and these people

are sitting there

and they are surrounded

by people continuing

to howlingly,

laughingly mock them.

Sing us one of the songs

of Zion.

And you also actually see

there part of the importance

of the word remember.

You see there

the beginning of their

internal freedom

and defiance.

Because what did they do?

Hung up their harps.

Not going to do it.

What are you going to do us?

Bash my kids' heads in

against rocks?

You've already done that to me.

Not going to do it.

And then it turns

into this thing

of longing and yearning.

Look at verses

the next section.

The psalm is three triplets.

One to three,

four to six,

and then seven to nine.

Each one two lines.

And look what happens.

Look how it moves

into something

that ends up

into longing.

How shall we sing

the Lord's song

in a foreign land?

Now just,

I'm going to talk about

this more in a moment,

but notice the end

of verse three.

Sing us one of the songs

of Zion.

Verse four,

how shall we sing

the Lord's song

in a foreign land?

To sing a song of Zion

and to sing the Lord's song

is to sing the same thing.

But partly how we start

to understand

what's going on here.

If I forget you,

O Jerusalem,

let my right hand

forget its skill.

Let my tongue

stick to the roof

of my mouth.

If I do not remember you,

if I do not set Jerusalem

above my highest joy.

You know,

when you tell people,

you know,

forget about it.

Stop thinking about that

and move on.

You ask them to forget about it

because you ask them

to do something.

If you ask people

to remember something,

like remember who you are,

remember what you're called,

remember the mission,

it's you remember

to do something.

And that's the same thing

which is going on here.

And they're saying

that they want,

and so what's going on here

is Zion and Jerusalem

and the Lord.

It's in this particular context,

it's another synoptic.

It's on one hand,

of course,

Zion is a mountain.

On the other,

and one hand,

Jerusalem is a particular place.

But in this particular case,

it connected with the Lord.

It's a bigger reality.

It's referring to

that place

where God is personally present,

His loyal love

is experienced,

His rule and affection

for you

is experienced

under His sovereign rule,

and that's what's being

represented here

by the words

Jerusalem and Zion.

And that's why

if you look at verse 6

when it says,

if I do not set Jerusalem

above my highest joy,

that's why it's not blasphemy.

You see,

for an Orthodox Jew

and for us as a Christian,

if we were to say

that Jerusalem

should be our highest joy,

no, no, no, no, no, no.

The Lord should be

our highest joy.

So that's why

the Jerusalem, Zion,

the Lord,

they're all intertwined here

and it's a synecdoche

and it's depicting

something very, very, very profound.

And it's something

which I've noticed

has been happening

in small ways

in our culture.

I've had,

I know of people

who have become Christians

over the last

seven or eight years

and part of the reason

they have become Christians

is because

there is so much

evil going on

in our world

and rather than evil

making them think

that God doesn't exist,

it leads them to think

God has to exist.

Evil can't be

the ultimate thing.

And these people

have experienced

something completely horrendous.

They've seen their friends

and neighbors killed,

they've seen their children killed

in a very, very cruel way.

They are in captivity,

they are being tormented

and this experience

of profound evil

is said,

above the evil,

above the fog,

above the clouds,

there must be the sun.

there must be God.

There has to be God.

And I mean,

on one level

we can say

that the highest joy

for every person

is an empirical thing,

we could figure out

what anybody's highest joy is,

but we all understand

and this is something

that's hard for Canadians.

Canadians on one hand,

I think the average

secular Canadian

doesn't believe

there is really

anything transcendent,

but on the other hand

they also wish

that there was.

that there was

a highest joy

that really deserves

to be our highest joy.

And what a way

to describe

the true and living God,

the good,

the true,

and the beautiful,

who is God

where my highest joy is.

What is it partially about

to become a Christian?

Partly what it means

to be a Christian

is to be so trained

by the word

and so encouraged

by the Christian community

and so gripped

with their memory

of the gospel

that God begins

to grow within you

an ever deeper longing

and yearning

for the highest joy.

To make our realization

that any joy is good,

but beyond the joy

of joy of joys

of joys

is the highest joy

of joy.

It's not just something

completely irrelevant

because above the pain,

above the evil,

above the devil,

above Babylon,

the true and living God exists

and in his presence

is the fullness

of joy.

Why did Jesus go to the cross?

For the joy set before him

in obedience to God,

the joy that he desires you and me

to enter into

in union with him.

But meanwhile,

there is the weeping,

but their weeping

has turned

to longing.

Now we look

at just a couple of

lessons from that final part,

the hard part.

It takes a very,

as I said,

dark turn.

It's interesting,

this psalm,

but, you know,

by the way,

one of the byproducts

of this psalm for us

is that,

especially with lots

of new Canadians

coming amongst us,

but it doesn't even have

to be new Canadians.

It could be that

we might know people

and not realize that,

you know,

that seemingly well

put together woman

or maybe a woman

who doesn't seem

to be very well

put together,

a man,

that they endured

decades of sexual abuse

or some other type of abuse

when they were younger

and endured

some horrendous pain,

which is just,

thank be to God,

I never had to endure.

But we can have people

coming from

northern Nigeria

or other parts

of the world

who have endured

horrendous evil.

And this psalm

is partially a call

for us

to be aware

of the fact

that this is really

in the world

and to pray

that God

would make us

the type of person

that that person

who just needs

to be able

to share

with somebody

who isn't going

to give them

a glib answer

but is willing

to just hold

their hand

and let them weep

while you pray

for them

in your mind.

That's the type

of people

God wants us

to be in Christ.

Because there are

people in the world

who have experienced

shocking evil.

One of the things

that this psalm does

as we go into

these last three verses,

I'll just read it

and I'm going to say

a few more things.

Remember,

Lord,

against the Edomites.

Who are the Edomites?

The Edomites are like

a code word in the Bible

for people who

they're the fellow

travelers of Babylon.

They have a historic

hatred of God's people.

Remember,

O Lord,

against the Edomites

the day of Jerusalem

how they said,

lay it bare,

lay it bare,

tear it down

to its foundations.

O daughter of Babylon

doomed to be destroyed,

blessed shall he be

who repays you

with what you have

done to us.

Blessed shall he be

who takes your little ones

and dashes them

against the rock.

This is a constant testimony

against the glib

podcasters

and commentators

who try to act

as if there is not

real deep,

deep horrific evil

in the world.

Verse 9 is prayed

because that verse 8

reveals what the Babylonians

have done to the person

praying.

You know,

so there's several things

sort of in closing

about this.

One of the things

that we have problems with,

remember I said

at the beginning,

I think if I was to share

this scripture text

with some of the people

that I feel

that are comfortable

enough with me,

I know of,

you know,

one or two people

in particular

who I think

would maybe ask me

if I read that psalm

to them,

George,

is that what you pray,

verse 9,

before you could explain

what was going on?

Because I think

a lot of people think

that the normal way

you should respond

to the Bible

is to say,

therefore go and do this.

That's not the normal way

that you respond

to the Bible.

You do this

when there's a command,

but there's a lot

of other things

going on in the Bible,

but the more telling thing

about it

when we read the Bible

is to ask this question,

is it I,

Lord?

Is it me?

So for some of us,

because we all know

that part of the problem

is that,

I mean,

I know this very personally

in terms of my own family,

is that churches

can be a place

where there is horrific evil

done by pastors

or Sunday school teachers

or people in the church

in terms of sexual abuse

and to hear this psalm,

it's an opportunity

from God

for us to say,

is it I,

Lord?

And if it is,

if I'm that tormentor,

if I have a problem

with mocking,

maybe not as extreme as this,

but of really mocking,

is it I,

Lord?

And then if it is,

if the Holy Spirit

convicts you,

it is,

to call out to him,

to pause in the service

and to call out to him,

Lord,

have mercy upon me.

Please help me

to put this to death in me.

Help me to repent of it.

Help me to make

an amendment of life

as much as I can

and turn and talk

and live a different way.

Am I the one consumed

with such hatred?

The other thing

is that

if you're the one

who's been really broken,

by this horrendous evil,

to realize that

this psalm

is a message to you

that God knows

your pain

and he's encouraging you

to call out to him

in prayer

without holding back

and without filtering.

See,

God's a big God.

If you say things

that aren't theologically correct

or aren't really

the right way to do it

or too bold

or,

you know,

too plain,

he's not like talking

to a human being

who might get offended.

He hears.

He processes.

He,

he,

I mean,

he'll just say no

to some of the things.

But you,

you have permission

to pray

and you have permission

to ask the Lord

to show you people

in the body of Christ

that you can maybe reveal

a little bit

about the horror

that you experienced

so that you can sit

with them and weep.

see,

that's why churches

that do this psalm

and never do

the last two verses

are not helping

the congregation

at all.

It's in the hard bits

that you really get

the hard bits

that you need

about yourself.

The other thing

about this psalm

is that it,

it,

it's a,

there's another way

that it's a bit

of a mirror to us.

I have to be careful

here of my time.

I'm,

I'm,

I'm moving on,

but,

you know,

we could look at this

and say,

so,

so part of the,

here's part of the problem

when we pray.

So we should pray,

for instance,

there's horrific things

going on in northern Nigeria,

absolutely horrific things.

Islamist warlords

going after Christians,

killing,

burning,

raping,

kidnapping,

all that horrific,

horrific thing.

We should pray

that that is brought

to an end.

But we don't realize

is praying

that it's brought

to an end

might mean

that Nigerian

special forces

go and kill them.

We go,

oh,

and part of what

this psalm does

is it makes you realize

what you're actually

praying for.

You know,

if you pray

that people,

you know,

in the Pakistan

intelligence services

who hunt down Christians

and then do horrific

things to them,

if you pray for them

to,

to,

to stop

and to be converted,

you're actually

praying that they

will turn their heart,

but when they turn

their heart

and become a Christian,

they'll end up

being killed themselves.

Like,

but,

but Bible's not saying,

it just brings out

more clearly

what we're praying for,

but it doesn't tell us

to stop praying.

We always pray

for justice.

We always pray

for deliverance.

That's what we pray.

This is just being

a little bit more specific

about what it means

that they get

what they deserve

without us really

fully thinking about it.

it,

it,

it,

it,

it helps us

to think about it,

but not,

not in a way

that's depressing,

but connected

to longings

and yearnings.

But,

we could wonder

how is it

that a person

could go

from such deep

longings

and yearnings

to the highest joy

to praying

in such a dark manner?

Well,

I can tell you

how to find

a person like that

very easily

so you can actually

talk to them

about why it is

that somebody

can go from

such high thoughts

to such dark thoughts

in a moment.

When you leave here,

go home

and look in a mirror

and you'll meet

that person.

Say,

no,

no,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

think about it.

How is it

that we can go

from listening

to praise music

and just

we're,

you know,

maybe when

my wife's here

but if she's not home

and I'm hearing

some certain

happy praise music

I'm doing

a little bit

of a dance.

Really embarrassing,

terrible dancing

by the way.

I would get

so red

if anybody

saw me.

How is it

I could go

from something

like that

to saying

something cutting

ten minutes later?

Why is it

that that's where

how is it

that human beings

can go from

maybe sitting

and seeing

the most

spectacular sunset

coming out

over the Rockies

and then 15 minutes

later having

a terrible fight

with another person?

What is it

about a human being

that there's

such a riddle?

And the Bible

describes it

human beings

on one hand

because we were

made for God

we have a longing

and yearning

for God

but at the same

time we want

to do evil things

at the same time

we want to hide

from him

and in some ways

this psalm

is also describing

the riddle

of what it means

to be human

and it also

then ultimately

shows us something

about the need

that we have

how can somebody

who has such a mystery

and so odd

and so riddled

in a sense

ever be saved?

Well that's the beauty

of who Christ is.

This psalm

is sitting up

before us

the riddle

of what it means

to be human

the riddle

of profound evil

and we realize

that some evil

the just result

the just punishment

for that evil

should be death

and we might not think

our just evil

that we've done

deserves death

but maybe we've never

looked at the cumulative

effect of it

or listened to all

of the people

whom we were hurt.

If you live to be

as long

as old as I am

and if God was

to list all

of the people

over the years

even though they've

forgiven me

the hurt that I've done

maybe you would say

that something like

death George

maybe that does

right for you.

Jesus is the only one

he is God's son

he can stand for all

he is the new Adam

he is the only one

whose longing

and yearning

for God

as the highest joy

never faltered

and he is the only one

whose life

never took a dark turn

he is the only one

who could possibly

stand in our place

and when the Bible

says that he's been

tempted in every way

as we are without sin

he understands

the power

of those desires

to pray for vengeance

and he never

succumbed to it

and so it's only

in union with him

that I can really

have the punishment

that I deserve

dealt with

only in him

and that leads

to my very final point

if this psalm

was the only psalm

the only passage

in the entire Bible

that talked about

things like this

then that's how

we should pray

verses 8 and 9

but it's not

the only one

the resurrection

the death and resurrection

of Jesus changes everything

so you should always

pray for justice

you know you should pray

not only that those

forces of evil

and wickedness

in northern Nigeria

that they stop

you should pray

we should pray

that they are defeated

and are no more

that is a good thing

for Christians to pray

but because of Christ

there is another part

that they don't know

in this psalm

but we know

is that we should also

pray for their conversion

if we remember

before God

the persecuted church

we should pray

that their tormentors

will stop

will turn

but we should also

and we should feel free

to pray that they get

what they deserve

but we should also pray

that they get

what they don't deserve

what no human being

deserves

which is grace

and receiving grace

doesn't mean that you

still don't get

what you deserve

I think I have you

with me

I'm going to give you

two or three more minutes

so there's a very

interesting fellow

by the name of David Woods

who he's the fellow

who was used by God

to bring Nabeel Qureshi

to Christ

if you haven't read

the spectacular book

Seeking Allah

Finding Jesus

by Nabeel Qureshi

you should read that book

very very very good book

and David Woods

was a guy

who was used by God

to have Nabeel

come to Christ

from a devout Muslim family

but how David Woods

became a Christian

is amongst other things

is he was in jail

because he attempted

to kill his stepfather

and while he's in jail

and he's an atheist

and he thinks Christians

are the biggest morons

in the world

in jail

he ends up

being

becoming

like a cellmate

and a friend

with this fellow

who had committed

a whole pile of crimes

gotten away from

gotten away with all of them

became a Christian

and then realized

that he had to go

to the police

and he turned himself in

and pled guilty

and David Woods

thought this guy

was the biggest moron

in the world

and so he delighted

that he would try

to defeat that guy

from being a Christian

now as it turned out

it ended up

that God used that guy

that David Woods

became a Christian

but the point is this

if we had a death row

in Canada

it's completely appropriate

for me to go and visit

somebody on death row

and hope and pray

that they would become

a Christian

but because they become

a Christian

doesn't mean

they don't suffer

the consequences

of what they've done

on this side

of the grave

and so it is

how do we pray

Father for those

in northern Nigeria

who are hounding

our brothers and sisters

in Christ

and not just our brothers

and sisters in Christ

but others

and urging

and killing them

and doing horrific

things to them

Father we pray

that they will be defeated

we pray that they will stop

we pray that they will

and we also pray

that they will come

to Christ

that's how we pray

because we read

Psalm 137

as followers of Jesus

I invite you to stand

bow our heads in prayer

Father this is

this is on one hand

a very hard word

but a word we need

to know

and so Father

we ask that

when we come across

those parts of your word

that really are hard

help us Father

just to remember Jesus

and his resurrection

and his death for us

and his love for us

and trust that

even though it seems

hard at first

this is a good word

for us

that we need to hear

and we need to learn

and help us Father

even when we're reading

some of the worst parts

of the Bible

Father may we be open

to your Holy Spirit

convicting us of sin

for us to say

is it I Lord

have I done this

and Father

we give you thanks

and praise

that the gospel

that knowing Jesus

died for us

that everything

that we've ever done wrong

has been dealt with

in him

that he paid

the penalty for that

and when we're in union

with him Father

that we are completely

and utterly forgiven

and the price

is completely paid

Father

that is such a profound truth

such an undeserved gift

and make the gospel

so real to us Father

that we are emotionally

and intellectually

able to start to look

at those things

in our lives

for which we need to repent

and amend our lives

and help us Father

in your mercy

and in your kindness

in the power

of the Holy Spirit

as your word

has more hole on us

as the gospel

becomes more real

Father help us

to amend our lives

help us to make amends

help us to repent

and fill our hearts

Father

with an ever deeper

longing and yearning

to be in your presence

where there is

a fullness of joy

and we thank you Father

that in Christ

that fullness of joy

is the final word

about us

and we ask these things

and pray these things

in the name of Jesus

your Son

and our Savior

and all God's people said

Amen

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