Sermons

Introduction

Good morning, it's nice to be with you. Please open your Bibles to Psalm 126. Psalm 126. This is a song of ascent. This was part of that section of scripture that the worshipers would read and sing together as they headed towards the temple to worship God. 

Verse 1 reads, "When the LORD brought back the captive ones of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter and our tongue with joyful shouting; then they said among the nations, 'The LORD has done great things for them.' The LORD has done great things for us, and we are glad. 

"Restore our captivity, O LORD, as streams in the South. Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him." Let's take a moment and pray. 

[Prayer] Our Heavenly Father, we thank You that You are the great God in control of all things. Lord, we thank You that not one moment of event in this world takes place without Your sovereign hand upon it. Lord, even as we think about what has occupied the news, even yesterday, we thank You, Lord, that You are the God in control. 

Lord, we pray for this nation. We ask, Lord, that the events even over the last 24 hours would remind us that life is but a moment, it is passing, and nothing can be taken for granted. We pray and ask that it would be used by You to humble us and to cause many to seek after You and to find You while You may be found. 

Lord, we pray and ask that You would bring stability. We ask, Lord, that You would bring safety and a righteous rule again to this land. We pray, Lord, that You would cause many to fear You and to seek to follow the statutes of the law that it would find a way of penetrating the fabric of society and the mindset of the people again. 

We pray and ask, Lord, as You've done so many great things in the past, that You would do them once more again. We think even of this great city and we pray, Lord. We see so many churches and seminaries and buildings that are testimonies to the fact that there was a season and time when many here sought after You. And yet, Lord, You know the sin and callousness that marks so many in this city. 

Yet, we thank You that the Spirit blows where it pleases. And we pray, Lord, that in Your grace, You would allow it to blow in this particular part of the world once more, and that You would cause many to be humbled, to recognize our sin, and to seek after God. 

As we come now to worship You through the hearing of the Word, Lord, we pray and ask for ourselves for that grace, that You would humble us, that You would cause us to see that we owe all to You, the Almighty, that You would cause us to savor Jesus Christ, the one by whom we have been found, and, Lord, You would use this time to feed and to nourish our souls, to cause us to recognize what it means to be a man or a woman after Your own heart. 

So we pray and ask that You would use this time of study to move us forward in our relationship, our walk with You. And we pray for any, Lord, even here this morning maybe in the midst of the confusion that the last 24 hours have brought, we pray that as they come and as they hear the Word expounded that You would speak to them in a special way and You would cause them to seek after Christ. Lord, we ask for Your help during this time, for we need it. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. [End] 

It was a great hymn that we sang there a few moments ago: "Be Thou My Vision." It's funny, whenever I go and I preach in other places, you would be surprised how often that is the hymn that is chosen to be sung. It's either that or "In Christ Alone." Those are the two that whenever people know they're having the Irish speaker, they can tend to get told up to the forefront and sun; and I love it because it's such a good hymn. 

It reminds me of a time in Ireland's history, really, the high point of Ireland's history when the rest of Europe had descended into what we sometimes call the Dark Ages, there was a light that was growing there on the island of Ireland. The individual that penned "Be Thou My Vision," a song that is saturated with this godward focus, this love and affection of who He is, this triune God, and a desire to ourselves be spurred on to pursue His vision, His direction, His wisdom in all aspects of life. That particular song is really the fruition of the legacy of Saint Patrick. 

Sometimes people don't know what to do with a man like Saint Patrick, especially if you are an individual that has grown up in America, where you think of Patrick as the guy who turns rivers green and encourages people to drink in excess. That is not the Patrick of history. 

Rather, the Patrick of history is a man who sacrificed much for the kingdom of God. He was an individual who grew up in the Roman Empire somewhere in Britain along the coast. Raiders came and ransacked his village, captured Patrick, took him away, and they sailed in the boat to somewhere, some port in Ireland, and then these Irish pirates sold him as a slave to a farmer. 

The farmer took Patrick and deployed him to live out in the wild with the sheep. He had no shelter. And believe me, Ireland is not like Dallas. It's pretty wet and cold and miserable there most of the time. He was not living in luxury by any means. He was about 16 at this point. He really had kind of moved into his kind of high school education, which would have been the high point of his Latin education. 

The two oldest writings that we have in Ireland, two oldest stories that we attend in Ireland, were both penned by Patrick. You can actually look them up. You should do that this afternoon and read about this great man. And there are two writings that are saturated with this triune God. And the first one, it's called "His Confession." It simply tells that story. 

There at 16, this guy who was stolen away from the midst of his education. He's in the fields, separate it from his family. He's outside of the Roman Empire, outside of what would have been considered civilization at the time. And God brought to his memory all of those Bible verses and expositions that he had heard in church growing up and never responded to. And he tells us in his confession, it was there in Ireland as he lay in the fields that he became aware of his sin, and he sought after God. 

And God was gracious, because God is gracious, and he forgave Patrick. And Patrick, there on the island, without a tangible Bible at hand – all he had was what he could remember from the past – he stewed on those sporadic verses, and he held onto them, and he grew in prayer. He prayed all through the day to this great King who had saved him, even as a slave in captivity. 

There, Patrick one night woke up, and he seized the opportunity to escape. He ran away from that slave owner. He made it to a port. He somehow made negotiations in order to get back, out of this country. And it was a long journey, but eventually he made his way back to his family there in Britain. 

Now, you can imagine his mom, how excited she was to have Patrick. She was never going to let that boy go. But Patrick, when he came back, instead of staying in that home, never going outside, never leaving the kitchen where he was given so many good snacks and everything else, this boy Patrick had almost a Paul-like experience, as Paul felt that Macedonian call to go and to take the gospel to, at that stage, a part of the world that had never heard. 

Patrick, aware of the darkness of the land that he had lived in and the cruel carnality of the secular and religious systems of Ireland at that time, the barbaric way that many treated each other, he felt compelled to go back, to go back to that place where he had been so brutally treated. And so he got a few basic bits of training, and he went back to Ireland. And he tells us in his confession, he experienced a lot of hardship. Many times he was locked away, many times he was beaten up. Many times he was treated cruelly and near death, but God was gracious. 

And we prayed earlier, the Bible tells us, "The Spirit blows where it pleases." And Patrick was an ordinary man. There was no particular reason why God would use that ministry of Patrick, but He did, and thousands were saved. Churches were planted all around the island. Daughters of high kings gave their life to serve the Lord. And many went out from that island as missionary to other places. 

Later generations, a man, Columba, would go to Scotland to take the gospel again to the far ends of the earth. Irish missionaries left the islands, went to the Faroe Islands, these little tiny collection of islands out in the Atlantic Sea. They had this burden to, very literally, take the gospel to all ends of the earth. 

It was a dramatic time in history. A surge was taking place when, as I said earlier, the rest of Europe was descending into the Dark Ages. Ireland was a light. They went around, they collected all these manuscripts, they kept them. So many of the Greek Bible manuscripts that we have, so many of the early commentaries on Scriptures we only have because of Ireland. They were taken and preserved in libraries there when they were being burnt in other parts of the world for fuel. 

And then missionaries went not just to Scotland, but back down through Britain and through Gaul and all the way back to Rome itself. There was a mission station set up in Rome itself as these individuals with fervor took the gospel to all ends of the earth once more. Such an amazing time of history. Such a clear movement of the Spirit. 

But today, O friends, pray for Ireland. Today the evangelical population of Ireland is around half a percent. It's the most unreached part of the English-speaking world and is a similar evangelical population as the Middle East. A huge need, huge need. They have this rich history where God had moved in such a glorious, obvious, mighty way. And even as we sang that glorious song that gives testimony to the mindset of that period, it fills us with joy and connection and warmth. And today, no, today the land is barren spiritually. The need is glaringly apparent. 

But God is the same, and God can do. You can see something very similar here. You think of those high points in American history, the first Great Awakening. Well, when God moved through Whitefield and Edwards, where strong sermons like "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" were spoken, and the people were struck with a somber awe, a sense of their smallness and a hunger after God. And again, thousands were responding to the gospel in a clear and real, not a manipulated, a clear and real way at that particular time. 

And you look at the types of debates that are taking place, even with the election pending. You think of how godless so many of the issues are that are being discussed. You think, "Lord, bring back that spirit of true revival to this land once more." 

We prayed a moment ago about this particular city. Dallas is rich in an architecture that speaks of God's hand that has moved in the past. Seminary buildings that speak of massive demand for training, for people to be sent out. Churches on every corner, some with flags that would disgust us at this point. But still, at one stage, these churches sought to worship and honor God. And what has happened? 

There's been a drift, there's been a movement. And yet the history speaks so well that at one time, this city at large was made up of individuals who had sought after and knew Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. We look and we see the decay that has taken place, and we long to see God move in a similar way once more. 

You're thinking, "Andrew, come on, stop talking about history, get to the Bible." Well, we need to go to the Bible, because that's the spirit that Psalm 126 has been written up in. These are the words of an old man. I like to picture an old man who has lived a long life, long enough that he can remember being a teenager in the past in that time when God's hand was so tangibly seen in moving and restoring and affecting the lives of the people. And He had clearly moved in the past and caused this old man now, but when He was younger, and his whole generation to love and worship and cherish God in a serious and clear and tangible way, the churches were bursting. The singing was loud. The enthusiasm for the things of God was tangible. But now as he looks around the current generation, he doesn't see that hunger. He doesn't see that love. He doesn't see that worship towards God. And so he prays and longs that God would once more restore that glorious time in the past. 

This is a wonderful psalm that teaches, "How do we think about the rich heritage that we have here in Dallas? How do you think about the rich Christian legacy that many in America have left in the past? How do we press forward and respond to that?" This is a psalm that teaches us how to reflect on that history. And indeed, we could think of it as a psalm that teaches how to reflect on the history of this church. 

I know Trinity Bible Church is a young church in terms of years; and yet already, it is a church with a rich history, a church that has seen God move and God bless and God honor. The fact that you have baptisms next week is testimony to that reality again. 

And it's a Psalm as well for the individual who can remember those moments in the past, the highs of the conversion experience, those moments where they prayed and wrestled in prayer over something, and God answered and God responded. Times when God maybe used an individual to share good news with others, and people responded. Parents who prayed for their children and the child came in time and talked about how they had put their trust in Jesus Christ. 

Maybe now you find yourself with those memories, yes, but at this moment and harder, plodding stage of your earthly pilgrimage. Well, this particular psalm can help you. And we need to understand that by going into this Old Testament world, by trying to get in the sandals of this old man and to look through his eyes and understand the sentiment that he speaks of as he praises God for the past, and prays for the present, and holds on to God's promise for the future. 

To Praise God For The Past

So that's what I want us to do this morning. I want us first of all, "to praise God for the past, to praise God for the past." I want you to notice the subject of the blessing here in the first three verses. The subject of the blessing. 

What is it that he is praising God for? Well, it's hard for us today to imagine what it must have been like for that particular generation when God moves in a mighty way. For this people knew the reality, they had sinned. They had turned for generations away from God. They had been marked by this synergistic worship where they gave some credence to Yahweh, but they worshiped Baal and all the other gods as well. 

God had warned time after time again through the prophets, and He exercised the punishment He had told them He would bring. He sent the Babylonians, and they came and they destroyed the city, the city of Jerusalem, the city that the people loved, the city that was so clearly associated with their worship of God. And so it seemed that God had abandoned them. And He was entitled to, for they as a people had first abandoned God. 

And 70 years pass, 70 years where they live in exile. They live scattered all throughout the Babylonian Empire. It's a long time to be away from home. It's a long time to be away from the people that you care about. And it's a long time especially to be away from the worship system of the temple that God had put in place. And the worst part was, humanly speaking, for this particular generation, their future looked equally dismal. 

So try and imagine what it must have been like for them when the Persian King Cyrus issued the decree that the Jews can now go home. All they had been hoping for, all they had been longing for had now come to pass. It didn't make sense. This Persian king, from a human point of view, seemed like he'd made the decision out of the blue. And not only did he send them home, he sent them home with supplies to rebuild the city, to rebuild the temple. He was favorable towards the Jews. It was such an unusual providence. And so verse 1 sums up the feeling of those days. 

Look at verse 1: "When the LORD brought back the captive ones of Zion, we were like those who dream." The people were so happy. Their circumstances had changed so dramatically, so suddenly, it was as if they were dreaming. You know how when you've been hoping and longing for something for a long period of time, and then suddenly you receive it, "Ah, it almost feels too good to be true." You have to pinch yourself to make sure you're actually awake, that this is actually happening. 

Well, that's the spirit in this moment. That's how the Israelites felt. The psalmist is looking back and he's remembering a time when God redeemed, when God brought back a near-extinct people, and He restored them once more as a nation. 

As you think about this man's prayers for the past, notice as well, "The source of the blessing. The source of the blessing." Clearly such a sudden change, it was unexpected, but it was no accident. The text won't let us think of it that way. 

Well, I'll look at how the first one begins again. "When the" – what does it say? "LORD." "When the LORD brought back the captive ones of Zion." In other words, we are to understand this wasn't just a random event. This wasn't just chance. Rather, this was God intervening in history in an incredible way, for God does that. 

The source of this great blessing was not disputed by anybody. The deliverance was so remarkable, it was so dramatic. It was such a clear reversal of fortunes, that even the surrounding Gentiles, the foreign nations, those who didn't worship Yahweh, those who had no time for Yahweh, even they said, "It must be God that made the difference." 

Look at verse 2: "Then they said among the nations," – those ungodly nations – "then they said among the nations, 'The LORD has done great things for them.'" And notice that's the capital, L-O-R-D, Yahweh, that covenant God, that one who made a covenant commitment to the people. Even the Gentiles can see that's the basis of this restoration. 

No nation was ever destroyed and broken down only to be restored like Israel was. And even the surrounding nations saw that clearly it was God who made a difference for this people. It was an undisputed work. Even unbelievers could see and insist that it was God who brought about this difference. 

But what about the people themselves? Such a big movement of God in the past. How did it affect them? Well, we'll look at the effect of the blessing that's described again there in verse 2 in the second half: "Then our mouth was filled with laughter and our tongue with joyful shouting." The people were rightly ecstatic. 

God is amazing, isn't He? He's good. He holds the mind of the king in His hands. And He loves, and He never forgets His people. Suddenly all these truths that those Israelites had been taught maybe as little kids in the home, all of a sudden all these truths about God that they had been nurtured came to the forefront, and it was happening in such a clear, obvious, you can't miss it sort of way. And so the people responded by laughing, not in a jokey way, but they were so filled with happiness and they were so moved by the goodness of God that it was almost a laugh of disbelief, a laugh of pure joy. 

You know how it is when God is so clearly good, when He so clearly moves. When you've been praying and praying and praying for a job, and the perfect job comes to the table, "God, thank You!" Or you get that place in college that allows you to attend a good local church. Or your child comes and asks you for counsel and prayer, and you get to feed into their life. Or whenever you've had that knot in your stomach, "Do I say something? Do I not?" with a colleague at work, or the person who sits beside you in Starbucks or whatever it happens to be, and you get over that awkwardness and you do say something, and then they respond, and they want to go to church with you, and they want to respond to Christ. The excitement, the thrill, the joy that we have in that moment. 

As a church, we've been praying for something, asking that God would lead, that God would guide, that God would save, that God would move, and He does. We want to come together, don't we? The prayer meetings are always the fullest when we have that sense of God is at movement here. We want to sing. We love to sing together when we have that sense of God is at work amongst us. Well, we're buzzing. 

Naturally, in those moments where God so evidently moves, we love to praise Him. It bubbles up, it bubbles out our mouth. And that's the way the people are here. And the writer, as he remembers the whole thing, that's why he remembers that, "I remember that time the services were full, the prayer meetings never stopped, the singing was continuous. There was such a fervor for the things of God in that moment. Those shouts of groaning that we had in captivity, they melted away into songs of praise and shouts of laughter." 

But what about the old man himself? Now that he's old, now that he's looking back on the event, when he looks back to that moment when God had been so good, how now does he feel as he reflects? How does he respond as he remembers? 

We'll look at verse 3. The writer has just recalled a great past event, the effect on the people, the surrounding nations, and his conclusion is, verse 3, "The LORD has done great things for us; and we are glad." The writer here talks about now how, as he looks back, he still feels about those moments, how he and the faithful in the nation, as they look back and they remember what God has done, as they talk about it, as they reminisce, they still are filled with the spillover of that joy. And so he praises God for the past: "We are glad." 

What about you? What events come to mind? What events do you look back on and thank God for? Maybe in church history you can look back and see these moments that you've read about or heard about in the past and you think, "God, that was amazing what You did. That was amazing how You affected the people. That was amazing the blessing that You brought." 

Or maybe as a church you can look back and you can see how God has been so good: "God, we've been gathering in that coffee shop across the road and we weren't sure what was going to take place, and You have multiplied and grown, and You provided us with this great building and filled it up so much that we have to have two services. And we have more baptisms happening next week. God, You have been so clearly good and brought so much clear blessing." Maybe as an individual you look back and you can think of individuals who made such a difference in your life, invested in you, cared for you, nurtured you in the faith. You can remember those times where you prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed, and then He did. 

I remember a few years ago, broken over my brother. My brother, we grew up together. He was the youngest in the house, and he went completely off the rails into the world. And when the whole world was broken by COVID, he was broken by COVID. God took him completely down. He ended up sleeping on our sofa for a season. But God saved him in that moment. Two years ago, I had the joy of baptizing him. And in October just passed, I got to marry him – not personally, but to conduct the service as he married another lady in our church. God was so good. And God answered prayer. 

And you, I am sure, can think of those moments, those people, those investments, those times where you were used by God, where He heard and He responded, and we respond to that like this man: "The LORD has done great things for us; and we are glad. We are glad." 

As you look back, it is right to take time to praise God for the past. Sometimes we're so quick, especially in our Western culture, to always be pressing forward to the next big thing. We forget to say thank you. God has been good, and God has done wonderful things. 

This afternoon it would be good to take a few moments to sit down and just have a few moments of quiet and to think, "God, what should I be praising You for? What have You done in my history that I need to take time to say thank You for?" because God is good. That's not being nostalgic. That's not being stuck in the past. That's simply giving God the praise that He is due. For He is good. He deserves all our honor. 

This writer, he praises God for the past. He looks back, he remembers that great movement. And even as an old man, it still fills him with a deep thankfulness and joy. 

His Prayer For The Present

Now I want you to switch your attention to "his prayer for the present, his prayer for the present." Look at the need this man feels as he comes to verse 4 to pray. He's been remembering this great moment in the past where God has moved. And now he thinks about the nation's present circumstances, and things have changed. Well, when the writer walked around the streets of Zion, the streets of Jerusalem, he didn't hear any songs bubbling out of the houses anymore. He didn't hear any spiritual laughter, in that sense, anymore. Rather, it's as if he's in a different nation altogether from the one he had remembered from his childhood. No longer as he glanced around could he see those clear evidences of God's hand that move amongst the people that had once been so abundant. 

And so in verse 4, you can imagine this man almost having that smile, that pleasant dream, and he wakes up and he looks around, and it's a shock to the system. For now he sees the change that has taken place. And so in desperation he cries out to God, the only one capable of helping, verse 4: "Restore our captivity, O LORD like streams in the South." 

The word "captivity" here in verse 4 obviously echoes the word "captivity" in verse 1. Sometimes it's translated, because of the context and the tone that's being communicated here, "fortunes." A lot of versions translate it "fortunes." "Restore our fortunes, O LORD, as streams in the Negev." It's not speaking of a negative thing, this captivity. It's talking about a good thing, a positive one: "Restore our captivity." He's talking about that moment, he's talking about that restoration "when we took back the city, when we took back this land, when we had, when once it had fallen into other hands, when we had fallen into other hands. But LORD, You restored our fortunes, You restored this land as our own. You restored our captivity. This is now ours, we have recaptured it." 

And so here in verse 4, the writer, he's expressing that longing: "God return us to the emotions, the deep joy that was experienced through that incredible restoration in the past. Give us once more those spiritual feelings of joy that prompted worship." In a sense, he cries back, "God, give us those feelings once more. Restore our captivity, O LORD." The covenant God, the one who has made, and in the past has kept His promises, "LORD, keep them once more. Renew your people. Bring us back to that sort of moment again, that sort of national enthusiasm, that joyful feeling at large for the things of God." 

The South: "Restore our fortunes, O LORD, as streams in the South," or sometimes translate it, "as streams in the Negev." It's a particular region in the South, funny enough, a particular region that is being spoken of there. And it's a wilderness, it's a desert. It's dry, dusty, barren. It's not a lot of green. 

This July in Dallas is actually pretty mild compared to the last number of times I've been out here. Normally, I think whenever I come, everybody turns their oven on and leaves a door open just to try and make the Irishman squirm. But this is much more pleasant at the moment. 

But when you have that type of heat, you know what dust is like. Look at those areas where the sprinklers aren't going. You don't see any green, you see dust and barrenness. And that's the type of area that the Negev is, the South – dry, barren, deserted. And here the writer, as he speaks of that area, he is speaking of it as an illustration of the condition of the nation. He's saying, "Our people are like that area – dry, dusty, barren." 

Have you ever felt like that spiritually – believer, fervent, loved the Lord – and yet in this moment, it just, whether it be the plaud of the routine, work, church, home, and it goes on and on and on, and nothing new seems to be happening, or whether it is that you're going through a particular difficult season in one of those spheres, whatever it is, you're just dry. You lack that enthusiasm you once had. 

Maybe you can relate to this desert-like feeling the writer speaks about. But he picks it out deliberately. He says, "Restore our fortunes, O LORD," or, "Restore our captivity, O LORD, as streams in the South." You see, that particular desert area, it's marked by these dry gullies that kind of carve up through the wilderness. And at the rare time when rain falls in the highlands north of that, water comes rushing down and is an area that experiences these flash floods. And these former streams, these dry gullies, fill suddenly with water; and almost overnight greenery starts to spring up, grass grows, these wildflowers grow. It very literally changes overnight. And that little bit of rain brings this abundance of life. 

What's he saying here? "LORD, just as we see the desert with the addition of water suddenly burst with greenery, LORD, do that in the hearts of the people again. Restore that enthusiasm for the things of God though they are dry and empty today. Restore it as if it's overnight. Bring about a sudden and dramatic change. LORD, bring about that revival, that true revival spirit once more amongst this people." 

You see the picture? "God, bring about, though we are faced with a dismal circumstance, a dismal attitude amongst the nation, bring about dramatic change again. For we know, LORD, anything is possible with You, the Almighty." He has a need to pray big. 

But notice as well the encouragement to pray big here. He's bold, isn't he? He's asking a massive thing of God. What gives him the right to do that, to ask something so big? You know how it is in your spheres of life. Your boss at work, you don't go to him and ask, "Give me a million dollar bonus this year." Maybe you do, I don't know how it works in Dallas. You don't do that. You ask small because he's the boss. 

But not this prayer. This is not a small prayer, this is a big prayer. What gives him the right to ask something so big? Well, it's no mistake that verse 4 comes after verses 1-3. And the writer has looked back. He remembers, "God has done. God did do. God has a proven track record here. Therefore, we have confidence He will do it again." 

If your boss did give you a million-dollar bonus last year, you might be more tempted to go and ask for another. Well, "God has done the unthinkable. God has done the dramatic. God has done the glorious. And so we as His people can bring to Him our biggest request; for He is able." 

The reality of God's hand and movement of the past is what fueled this man's prayer, and it's what should fuel our prayers, too. God did restore the fortunes of this nation again. God did bring them back to Jerusalem, and that should cause us to pray big. God had a small band of dysfunctional followers that He used to start the biggest movement the world has ever seen as the gospel went to all ends of the earth, and that should cause us to pray big today. 

God did move through the first Great Awakening here in America, and it brought dramatic change. It shaped the culture. It shaped the education system in a dramatic way. And that should encourage us to pray big today. God did see many faithful gospel churches established in Dallas in their season. And for a season, many lives were affected through it. And that reality of the past should give us confidence to pray big today and to pray that God would do the same through Trinity Bible today. God doesn't change. And that reality should allow us to pray big. God is big, and we can bring to Him our biggest of requests. 

I think sometimes in church we really are too quick to fall into despair: "Oh, I worry about the nation. Oh, I don't see how the church is going to survive with the threat of Islam. Oh, I don't see how we're going to be able to reach out with the gospel when so many avenues are closed. I don't see how it's going to work." Friend, you need to see more of God and know more of His hand in the past. Our God is the same big God. He is able, and we can bring to Him the biggest of requests knowing His will will be done. 

The Promise For The Future

We see the praise for the past, we see the prayer for the present. Lastly, notice, "the promise for the future" here at the end of the psalm. Notice, first of all, what is promised here. It's the old man. He longs to see. He's just been praying, "God, cause this people to worship, to have the enthusiasm they once had." And then he says, without breaking a breath, verses 5 and 6, "Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaths with him." This is the perfect promise to follow such a prayer. The writer has just prayed that "God, You bring about dramatic change. God, You restore our fortunes. You restore our captivity once more. God, You do it." And God can do it. 

However, here we have a good dose of spiritual reality, because normally the way God works is through the faithful plotting of His people. Here we're reminded that normally God works as His people faithfully move forward. The reference to "sowing" there immediately makes most of us think about evangelism as Christians because we're so used to the parables about the sower and seed, we think evangelistically. And that's not a wrong application. 

I think we can think about this as evangelism. As a church is faithful to evangelize, as we move forward in that faithful plod, God will bring the blessing, God will bring the results, that's true. But the original here weren't thinking primarily of evangelism, they were thinking primarily of those patterns of grieving sin, of seeing biblically-rich worship restored once more to the temple, "Obedience to God's law becoming a pattern in my life; that steady, purposeful, striding forward in obedience with tears as we grieve our sin, as we engage in this battle with the evil one throughout this earthly pilgrimage that we're in." 

The reality is God has given you, if you're a Christian, God has given you a work to do here in Dallas. Whether it be witnessing to your neighbors; living well before your family, your colleagues, your friends; demonstrating how the love of God and the work of the Holy Spirit is transforming you, and taking those opportunities to gossip the gospel every chance we get, that's a work God has given for us as Christians. And it's a hard work. It's a long work. At times, we can feel that we're not seeing a lot of immediate success. But it's what God has asked us to do. 

And yet, we're wrong if we slip into the trap of thinking that we have some sort of Christian chore that we have to engage in here, because look at what is said in verses 5 and 6 again. There is a promise here, there is a reward: "Those who sow in tears," it says, "shall reap with joyful shouting. He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, shall indeed come again with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him." 

And though there is a wait, there is a harvest here. God blesses the efforts of the diligent sower. And it shouldn't surprise us because that's our Savior. He's done the same. He came and plodded in his earthly pilgrimage for 33 years in a world where He was despised and rejected. He continued to move forward in obedience, so much so His Father declared, "This is My Son in whom I am well-pleased." 

He wept over Jerusalem. And yet, in obedience, He was tortured, kneeled to the cross and made a spectacle in His death. A sword pierced His side. His body was laid in a grave, and soldiers were put on guard even at the grave. And yet, three days later, He rose from the dead. And His people, their ransom was paid, and they were set free. And the Holy Spirit was given that the gospel could go forward. And today, this Sunday, the gospel will be heard all around this world, and individuals will respond in repentance and faith and be added to the kingdom. 

The earthly pilgrimage He calls us to walk in is one that He has already walked in. He's already set the perfect example, that He'd labored hard on earth, and He received His eternal reward. So we don't need to despair, no matter what circumstances we find ourselves or the nation in. If we are faithful, if we take our steps forward in obedience, God will bring the reward. God will bring the blessing. God will save. Sin will be repented of. Individuals will become more like Christ. Minds will be renewed by the Word. Desires will become more pure and blameless. People will not be what they once were. Leaders and prayer warriors and visitors and missionaries and elders will be cultivated here at Trinity Bible Church, because as we do the work, the week in, week out work, God will bring the blessing in time. That's how this works. 

And yet, notice, there is a condition, isn't there? There's a condition on this promise. So amazing to know our inadequate efforts are in the hands of a God who is able to create something out of nothing. But notice the condition: "Those who sow," it says, "in tears, and it's the one that goes to and fro, weeping." The condition's very simple: you need to have a burden. This promise doesn't apply to the heartless effort or an activity done just out of the spirit of, "Well, that's what we do." 

How do you feel about these things? How do you feel about the lost around you? Did you pray for your children because it's the thing you do out of routine in between brushing your teeth and climbing into bed, or because you can't sleep until you have entrusted them into the hands of a good and gracious God? 

What about the church here, do you care for her? Are you invested in her? Do you pray for her? Do you serve? It's very easy in church to come as a consumer, isn't it? Do you serve at Trinity Bible Church? Are you engaged in this steady, faithful plod, this sowing of the seed? God blesses the motives behind our actions. And sometimes we need to reassess our motives because it's very easy to forget why we do something. 

Maybe you struggle with evangelism. How do you move forward with that? Well Spurgeon said the best way to develop a passion for souls is by pondering the destiny of lost men and women where they are headed, and what will happen if no one cares enough to confront them with God's love and their lostness. You need to think, be aware, cultivate a burden for their lostness. 

Maybe you struggle with church. You've had experiences in the past that make you hesitant, make you stand by. You struggle to allow yourself into the lives of people in church. Forget Spurgeon, listen to the words of Jesus: "By this all will know that you are My disciples, that you love one another." And this isn't optional, this is a burden we need to train our hearts in. 

Conclusion

Lastly, as we close, I want to highlight just a little confidence that we have in this promise. The writer here, he reflects on the past, he moves forward, and he trusts God with confidence because he knows who God is and how God has moved. And you can certainly read that reality in this particular psalm. And yet we have an extra bonus here this morning because we have so much rich Christian history where God has moved in a similar way in the past. 

The Covenanters in Scotland persecuted by the State and yet remained faithful, and God blessed their faithfulness and worked in a mighty way at that time, times when logically the church should have been stamped out, disappeared; and yet God is faithful, and God keeps His promises. And you can see the same thing in this room, people who are here today, who five years ago had no time or thought for the things of God. How did that happen? God was gracious, and God moved. Family members that you once cried over, that God has saved because He is faithful, He has done it. 

Next week, you get to hear testimonies as several individuals get baptized. That reminds us, God is a good and faithful God; and in the steady plod, the week by week routine of the church, God is at work amongst us. He saves; He grows; He blesses; not all immediately, but all in His perfect time. 

This morning, you don't just need to read Psalm 126. You can see Psalm 126 fulfilled. God is doing His work. God is keeping His promise. God saves, God saves, God saves. God grows, God grows, God grows. God can make you useful, for He made you useful and you useful and you useful. That's the way He works. We can see it. No one loves Trinity Bible Church more than God. We can have great confidence in Him. 

"He who goes to and for a weeping, carrying His bag of seed, shall indeed come again with shouts of joy, bringing His sheaves with Him." Maybe you've never shed a tear over the dreadful lost eternity that every day is drawing closer to you. And the idea of what we've been talking about here, of Christian faithful service, of doing anything for God, and definitely doing anything for God with a burden, with tears, it just seems weird to you because you just don't care about these things. You don't care about them. 

Well, let me tell you there, you may not care, but there are people in this church that care for you, and cry for you, and pray for you, and pray that God would humble you and bring you to a place where you would respond to this truth, that you would know that there is an eternal punishment that awaits all who are not found in Christ, and that God would graciously allow you to hear that Jesus came, and Jesus lived, and Jesus was punished, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And we're praying that you wouldn't simply experience a moment of thinking, but that you would experience forgiveness by putting your trust in Jesus Christ, being able to recognize your sin and to cry out to God, "Have mercy on me, the sinner." 

And those of us who are Christians and have been Christians for a season, for a time, it's hard to read those last two verses again and not think of our Savior who sowed in tears. Look, chapter 22, verse 42, says of Jesus, "He spoke, 'Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done.' Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him strengthening Him, and being in agony, He was praying fervently, and His sweat became like drops of blood falling down onto the ground." 

The Lord very literally sweat and cried about the task that awaited Him. And He was fearful. He was fearful. And because of His tears, and ultimately because of His sacrifice, we are His, the ecclesia from every tribe, kindred, and tongue. The Bible tells us, "It was for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, bearing its shame, and so has sat down at the right hand of the Father, and is there interceding for us." What a Savior. He calls us to march forward, as He has set the perfect example. Let's pray and ask that God will give us grace to do just that. 

[Prayer] Heavenly Father, we thank You that we have many moments that we can look back on throughout church history and indeed in our personal history where we can say, 'Thanks be to God for the work that You have so clearly done to reverse the thoughts and actions of man and to bring clear blessing.' Lord, help us to trust that You are a capable God. May we bring our prayers and petitions before Your throne, knowing that You are good and faithful and will always do what is right. And may we, Lord, also be found faithful each day and pursuing obedience to Christ and seeking to honor Him, and sowing in tears, knowing that You are the good God who brings the increase. We thank You for the example of our Savior. And we ask, Lord, that You would help us to be followers of him. For it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.