Living for Jesus when truth is under attack

And we're going to read that psalm. We've sung it, now we're going to read it.

And we're going to think about living for Jesus when truth is under attack.

! But let's again hear God's Word in Psalm 120.

I call on the Lord in my distress, and He answers me.

Save me, Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues.

What will He do to you, and what more besides you, deceitful tongue?

He will punish you with a warrior's sharp arrows, with burning coals of the broom bush.

Woe to me that I dwell in Meshech, that I live among the tents of Kedar.

Too long have I lived among those who hate peace.

I am for peace, but when they speak, they are for war.

The truth is under attack.

That was the conclusion of a group of scientists down at Portsmouth University in 2024.

They were responding to misinformation about viruses and vaccines,

about bad science on social media that was affecting treatment that patients were receiving.

But don't we recognize that generally the truth seems to be under attack?

We are told that we live in the post-truth world.

We're constantly having to deal with AI for better and for worse.

Deep fakes and fake news are now part of our everyday vocabulary.

We encounter all too often serious fraud and deception.

And we know words are twisted to generate maximum coverage and maximum outrage.

We see it.

More personally too, don't we recognize that words can often be used as weapons?

And sometimes we are those who weaponize the words.

We find ourselves being lied about, being lied to.

Truth is manipulated so that we can be manipulated.

Our words and our values can be all too easily misrepresented.

Truth can be shaded and hidden to put oneself in the best light to the detriment of others.

The experience of the people singing Psalm 120 is of a people grieved

because they live in a world filled with lies and deception,

with people who are choosing words of war over words of peace.

Now, I suspect we can echo some of that sentiment in our own hearts.

Maybe today some of us are feeling the swords and arrows of lies and slander,

perhaps even because you are a worshiper of God.

This is an experience that may run very close to home for some of us.

And so the question to ask is, how do we navigate that?

How do we face this as a follower of Jesus?

And so we'll come back to that.

But let me just introduce for us these songs of ascent.

So what are they?

What are these songs that we're going to spend time in?

It's a group.

It's 15 Psalms, 120 to 130.

And they were collected for a particular purpose

so that worshipers making their way up, ascending to Jerusalem,

they'd have songs to sing on their journey together.

And the idea of a journey is something that we see within the Psalms themselves.

We're going to move from the groaning that we heard in Psalm 120

towards the rejoicing that we come to in Psalm 133 and 134.

But there's also a geographical journey.

So we're starting here in Psalm 120 in a distant land.

Psalm 121, we're moving towards Jerusalem.

And then Psalm 122 onwards, we're in the city.

And then we're taken right to the heart of the city, to the temple, to the place where God is.

So as we're thinking about this journey and these worshipers on a journey to God,

Augustine, the saint of the early church, captured it memorably when he said this.

He said, the soul, the real us, travels by its affections.

If you are in love with the earth, your journey is taking you far from God.

If you are in love with God, you are claiming towards Him.

So we're going to come to these Psalms and read them as Christians after the New Testament,

after the coming of Jesus, and to recognize they present for us the picture of Christians

as pilgrims on a journey.

Followers of Jesus on the way to, not geographical Jerusalem, but to the heavenly Jerusalem.

Life with God.

And to understand that the journey that we take as Christians is both towards Jesus and

also with Jesus.

So let's follow the pilgrims of Psalm 120 as we recognize that in a world spoiled by lies

and deception, the pilgrim walks with Jesus and waits with hope for His return.

So let's begin in the first couple of verses and to see the distress.

Here are the people distressed by lies and deception.

Words have that power.

They can drive us to distress and despair.

Remember that playground rhyme many of us grew up with?

I think we've all come to know it's not true that sticks and stones may break our bones,

but names will never hurt us.

And most often it's those names, it's those words.

They're the ones that sting the most.

When we come to Psalm 120, there's a really striking contrast with the Psalm that comes before.

Psalm 119 is a celebration of God's words.

God's words are a source of joy and life and light.

They're good and they're trustworthy.

If this is a path, it's a safe and a broad path.

But now we're being confronted by a different kind of language.

For the pilgrim follower of Jesus, we may find that lies like arrows will pierce our own soul too.

And we identify with the pilgrims here and we identify with God's people in all time.

If you were here last week and the week before, you'll remember this was something that was true for Nehemiah.

He was constantly attacked by lies and slander from enemies.

Maybe you know King David, most famous king in the Old Testament.

He was falsely accused by the first king, Saul, and he was betrayed by the lies of his own family.

Come to the New Testament, we meet a man called Stephen, the first person who was killed for being a follower of Jesus.

And he was falsely accused of speaking against God.

It's a pattern.

Words are used sometimes to assault us as Christians too.

And so we might find ourselves being whispered about or openly mocked.

We may find that our faith is misrepresented in our classroom and in our mainstream media.

You might have already had to deal with people accusing us and people accusing God of being responsible for all the problems in the world.

You may find yourself accused of hatred and bigotry because of what you believe.

And words can bring distress.

Like these pilgrims, trying to live for God means living with a different set of beliefs and values.

And that puts us in the spotlight and sometimes that puts us in the storm of attack.

And this too is not new.

Remember Old Testament Noah.

Faithful to God, building the ark to be spared from judgment.

Preaching that others might come and to be saved.

And he's mocked.

Think about Daniel and his three friends as they determine to live for God in a foreign country.

They're thrown into a furnace.

And they're thrown into a den of lions.

I discovered this week that in some state schools in China,

there are stories being told where Jesus and his disciples are the enemies in the story.

And they're being regarded as evil.

If you know anything about the persecuted church around the world,

you will know that parts of Asia, the Middle East and Africa,

it says that if you call yourself a Christian, you are automatically an enemy of the state.

I call on the Lord in my distress and He answers me.

Save me, Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues.

And in all of this, we need to recognize too that Jesus, the pilgrim, went there too.

As Jesus lived as the man of faith, slander and lies were hurled at Him and they stuck like tar.

You're lying about your identity.

You're not the Son of God.

You're not God's chosen King.

You can't deal with sin.

You can't forgive and save.

Even as He went to the cross, He was mocked and abused and slandered.

Yet did you hear what Peter told us?

Jesus committed no sin.

Jesus committed no sin.

And no deceit was found in His mouth.

What did Jesus do?

He entrusted Himself to God, His Father who judges justly.

And the journey of faith, that follows His path.

Notice the wisdom of the pilgrim in verse 1.

And we need this.

When we are confronted by lies, when we are confronted by deception, two related things we must do.

First, we must turn to prayer.

I call on the Lord in my distress.

That's wisdom.

To the Savior who sustained His people in the past, who has sustained us in the past.

He is strong and kind and He has promised that He will do so again.

We turn in prayer to the Father of comfort.

Maybe He's the only one who can comfort us in our distress.

So we turn to Him.

And we pray knowing the Spirit of God is within us.

And remember, the Spirit is given to His people to be our comforter.

We turn to prayer.

We take it to the Lord.

Capital letters, Lord.

The personal, covenant-making, covenant-keeping God.

We trust the one who said,

Vengeance is mine, I will repay.

As Christians, we don't get mad.

We don't get even.

We go to our God.

We turn to the Lord Jesus.

That sympathetic high priest in heaven.

We consider what is waiting for us.

That the reward of knowing Jesus and being with Him,

it makes all the suffering worth it.

And we look to Jesus and we remember that He walked the road for us.

And now He walks the road with us.

Pilgrims are often distressed by lies and deception.

Secondly, and this is the middle of the psalm,

we think about the promise of being delivered from lies and deception.

Delivered from lies and deception.

Some of us may have seen in the news this week that in New Zealand,

a surf competition had to be paused this week

because a surf cameraman who was working in the water,

he was attacked.

Some still unknown animal, either shark or a sea lion,

locked their jaws onto his foot.

I know, thankfully, jet skis came and he got the medical attention he needed.

But think about verse 2 and think about that story.

Save me, Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues.

There is an echo here of wild beasts that look to snap and threaten and devour.

Only this time it's not a wild animal.

It's enemies with their words.

John Chrysostom, another church father,

he said, actually, this is worse than any wild animal.

If you see a lion or a bear or a shark,

well, there's trouble.

But at least you know that they have ill intent.

But people, Chrysostom says,

well, they often conceal their nature

with a veil of sweet reasonableness.

And so it's so painful as we discover someone's really nice to our face,

but they're vicious behind our back.

Somebody who's really civilized and sophisticated sometimes,

but become absolutely savage towards us

in attacking what we believe.

From the beginning,

God's people have been assaulted

by the devil and his lies.

Again, to think about Peter,

he talked about the devil as a roaring lion

seeking whom he may devour.

We think about the words of Jesus

describing the devil as the father of lies.

He's been the liar from the beginning.

In the Garden of Eden,

he spoke lies to Adam and Eve.

God is not good.

God's Word can't be trusted.

You won't really be judged

for turning your back on God.

Life will be better without God.

The devil's lies like poison

work their way into the human bloodstream.

And so pilgrims always need to pray,

deliver my soul.

Remember the Lord's Prayer,

deliver me from evil,

deliver us from the evil one.

But there's a promise.

I don't know if you saw it,

the promise in verse 3 and 4.

It's a really necessary promise.

Here it is.

It's the promise that one day

Satan and his lies

will be fully repaid in judgment.

Here's the promise.

A world is coming free of lies and deception forever.

When God deals with all lies and deception.

Notice in the description how the punishment fits the crime.

People have been using lies and slander and deceit to attack.

Verse 4,

He will punish you with a warrior's sharp arrows.

With burning coals of the broom bush.

So, the broom bush was like a really popular charcoal

because it burned hot and long.

And it's a reminder that those who would wound,

those who would slander,

those who would turn their words against God and His people,

if they do not turn from that,

then God's fierce anger burns hot and long.

It's a hard thing to think about.

But do we recognize that judgment is necessary?

The only way for there to be true salvation

and true peace and an end to lies

is if God deals decisively once and for all with those realities.

Think about it in the context of a war.

Imagine a city under siege.

We see it on our news.

The only way for that city to have true and lasting peace

is for the enemy to be so decisively defeated

that there is no prospect for them to attack.

God promises such a day in His Word.

Again, to think about another New Testament story,

some of you will know about the road to Damascus,

Saul's remarkable encounter with Jesus.

He was on his way to Damascus

and he was breathing out threats and murder

against the people of God and the church of God.

And then Jesus appeared

and the glory of Jesus knocked Paul, Saul, off his horse.

And there was a conversation between Jesus

and Saul, the persecutor,

which ended with Jesus saying to Saul,

remember, when you persecute them,

you persecute a Christian, Jesus says,

you persecute me.

Now, remember that.

This psalm is about people turning their hatred,

their lies, their slander against God's people.

To stand against God's people

is an injustice and an assault against them,

but also against their God.

It's to assault God's honor and God's holiness.

And that's a really serious thing.

And if we find ourselves in that situation today,

there is an urgency to turn away from that

because we're reminded of future judgment here.

But back to our pilgrim.

Here they are.

They're facing lies.

They're facing slander.

And so they cry out to God.

And the answer is actually

a glorious vision of the future

where there is no more lies.

There is just truth

because judgment has come

and so salvation has come.

Now, just for a moment,

try to imagine this with me.

Try to imagine new creation.

Try to imagine a redeemed world

where for all eternity,

in any conversation you have,

you will never encounter any gossip.

There will never be any slander.

You will not be called names.

You will not be spoken about behind your back.

There will not be any lies that cause division.

And positively,

every word that you hear

will be truth,

will be life-giving,

will be full of love.

When the bullets and bombs

of cruel lying words

will be melted down,

never to return.

Don't that sound like

the kind of world we all want?

It's a world that God promises

through Jesus.

Truthfully, it's a world

that for us as Christians,

we are looked to,

begin to see now.

And so it's always a reminder

of how we use our words.

But how can we have

this hopeful future?

How can we live with hope

when we're surrounded by lies?

We look to Jesus.

We see Him as the forerunner,

the pilgrim who has gone before us.

In His first coming,

some 2,000 or so years ago,

He faced those lies,

that slander,

as He lived by faith.

And recognize this too,

that He died to pay the punishment

for our lies,

for our slander,

and gossip,

and half-truths,

and broken promises.

Understand that Jesus faced

all the arrows of evil

there on the cross

and won a great

and decisive victory.

And the proof of that,

His resurrection.

So that in Him,

trust in Him today,

your sins are forgiven.

You have new life with God.

You get a new heart.

You have new power.

You have a new motive

to speak the truth

and to seek peace.

And you're now a person

with a new hope.

Because there was the first coming

of Jesus,

but there's the promise

in the Bible

of a second coming.

And when He comes again,

He will finally,

once and for all,

judge all evil,

the devil,

and his lies.

There will be a decisive punishment

and an end to that

so He can establish

a new and renewed

and redeemed world forever.

With Him

and in Him,

we have this promise

of a new world

and a new home

where it's only truth

and it's never lies,

where it's always peace

and it's never warfare.

And to have this wonderful hope

in our hearts,

we need to ask God

to help us

to cut through

the lies of the devil,

the lies that we encounter

in this world

to the truth,

to Jesus,

the way,

the truth,

and the life.

But we need to keep going

and we need to see thirdly

and finally

what it looks like

for the pilgrim dwelling

among lies and deception.

After the hope

and the promise

of verse 4,

verse 5 to 7,

kind of take us back

down to earth

with a crash somewhat.

Here is the pilgrim.

He's prayed in distress

and he's been given

a hopeful answer

for the future,

but in the present

still loaded with groaning

and with woe

and the longing for home

which makes the distance

a source of grief.

Woe to me

that I dwell in Meshech,

that I live among

the tents of Kedar.

Too long have I lived

among those who hate peace.

I am for peace,

but when they speak

they are for war.

I wonder,

do you know homesickness?

Have you ever felt homesick?

I remember as a student,

actually both at the beginning

of my student days

and the end of my student days,

having those pangs

of wanting to be home.

There are times

when it is hard going

to be far from friends

and family

and what is familiar.

As these pilgrims

begin their ascent,

as they begin

the long road

to Jerusalem,

they are living

as exiles

and they have

that sense

of homesickness.

So they speak

of woe.

They lament

the misery

of their exile.

They long

for Jerusalem.

That's their spiritual home.

That's where they can

share faith together

and they can share

worship together.

But these places,

Meshach and Kedar,

they're like way out here

in the frontiers,

in the badlands.

It's places of darkness

and aggression

where people are hostile

to God.

And so they find themselves

saying,

too long have I lived there.

It's the lament

of a foreigner.

I want to be home

among my own people,

my own values,

my own culture.

Sometimes I think

if we're honest

as Christians,

living in this world

can weight us down.

maybe it's because

we're surrounded

by blasphemy

where Jesus

and His Word

and His name

has been so cheapened,

where we live every day

with a disrespect

for God

and His church.

Or maybe it's because

we feel surrounded

by lies

and anger

and rumor

where the truth

is tossed aside.

It can be hard

to live

when there is

a spirit of lies

and warfare,

when people's beliefs,

when people's values,

when people themselves

are being attacked

can feel like a war zone.

And so the psalm ends

with a sense of grief

and groaning

and longing.

It literally begins,

I, peace,

but they, war.

The pilgrim worships

the God of peace

and longs for peace

but he feels

beaten down

by lies

and longs

to be home

with God

and the people

of peace.

In here,

by God's design,

there ought

to be

peace.

We meet

with the God

of peace

and we are

to pursue

peace.

And we think

about that

in all our conversations

and as we worship.

But what about

Monday

when we're

the only Christian

in our classroom

or our workplace

or in our family?

What about

the next time

we read

our social media feed

and someone else

is looking

to tear down

our Christian faith?

What about

if our family

and our friends,

they don't accept

Jesus as truth

and don't accept us

because we do?

Do we find

ourselves groaning?

Here's what I want

us to finish.

How can we

dwell well

if we feel

that we're living

in our Meshach

and Kedar

places?

Two things.

One way.

Commit

to saying

even when it's

hard,

I am

for peace.

Commit

to pursuing

the truth

even when

it's costly.

Stay

on the path

that Jesus

has placed us

on.

Commit

to being

a peacemaker

in relationships.

Pour water,

not oil,

on flames

even if

our instinct

tells us

otherwise.

Practice

the truth

in every

part of life.

Let God's

Word sink

so deeply

into our hearts

and our minds

that it shapes

all of our

interactions.

Ask yourself,

think about

what are my

patterns of

speech and

conversation

in my family

or in my

friendship

group.

Can my

colleagues

spot there

is something

different about

me because

of the way

that I choose

to speak?

How would

Jesus assess

my social

media feed?

Aim for

peace

within the

church.

Come back

this evening,

John 17,

we're thinking

about Jesus

praying,

Jesus praying

for unity.

It matters

to Jesus,

it needs to

matter to

us.

We need

for Beclu

to be a

safe place.

It's only a

safe place for

people if we

choose to

practice truth

and to

pursue peace

with love.

As the Bible

teaches us,

we are to aim

for peace

with everyone.

Romans 12,

if it is

possible on

your part,

live at

peace with

everyone.

Some people

may be for

war.

For the

Christian,

we need to

get our

responses right

and pursue

peace.

So we

commit to

saying,

I am for

peace.

That's one

way to

dwell well

as we

groan.

The second

way,

dwell well

by looking

to Jesus,

the Prince

of Peace.

Remember

this,

Jesus

sang Psalm

120.

Jesus

made lots

of visits

to Jerusalem

for festivals.

He would

have joined

his voice

with others.

He knew

what it was

to be a

pilgrim

who was

grieved

as he

heard false

teaching about

God,

as he

faced lies

and slanders.

Jesus,

too,

felt that

sense of

homesickness

for heaven

while he

lived as

an exile

on this

earth.

Now,

wonderfully,

Jesus has

returned to

the glory

of heaven

where he

rules in

victory.

He is

the Prince

of Peace.

And for

us,

we look

to him

grateful for

what he

has done,

that he

has gone

under the

sword of

God's

judgment,

that we

might have

the peace

of God.

He has

made peace

by his

blood shed

on the

cross,

and right

now he

is preparing

a home

for his

people,

a wonderful

kingdom of

eternal

truth and

peace and

love.

So,

may God

use this

psalm to

help us

to dwell

well even

as we

groan,

as we

find the

truth is

under attack.

Let's pray

together briefly.

God, our

Father, thank

you for this

psalm, because

we recognize

it's tough

honesty.

We know

lies,

deception,

slander are

all around

us.