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Psalm 125 - Righteous Rulers Matter · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. I hope that you're having a good
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  day today. Today we are in Psalm 125, Psalm
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  125, and we're making our way through Book 5 of Psalms.
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  After this Psalm, we will have 20, five more.
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  So that'll be 5 full weeks of Tabernacle talk and then we will
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  be all done with book 5 of Psalms.
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  It blows my mind that in five short weeks from the recording
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  of this episode, we will have gone through all of Psalms
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  together. I don't know if you guys have
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  ever tried to read through like a book of the Bible in one
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  sitting. I've done that with many of the
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  shorter ones. I think of longer books.
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  I have read through all at one time.
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  Jeremiah, actually, at one point I had a long plane ride and I
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  was going to be teaching a Sunday school lesson on it.
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  And I was like, I don't, I don't really know a whole ton about
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  Jeremiah. And so I read through all of it
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  and it was honestly, it was great study, really glad that I
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  did that all in one sitting. But to go through all 150 Psalms
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  would take you a tremendously long time.
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  And So what a joy to have walked through this with you and
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  whether you are just now kind of tuning into Tabernacle Talk or
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  whether you have been with me for the last almost two years
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  now, beginning in 2024, I think I started book 1 of Psalms in
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  March of 24, I think. And so it'll be about that time
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  that we finish book 5. And then I'm not totally certain
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  which book I'm going to do after we are completed with Psalms,
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  but I am looking forward to whichever book it is.
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  I might make my way back into the New Testament.
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  If you have any thoughts, throw it in, drop a comment.
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  If you have my number, shoot me a text.
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  But or if you're on, you know, Facebook or Instagram or
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  something, shoot AADM. And I would love to hear from
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  you in particular, if there's some book of the Bible that you
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  would like to learn more about or you'd like to study more, I
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  would love to help in in whatever way that I can.
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  You can also look at tbces.sex.com/bible.
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  So that's my church's Tabernacle Baptist web address,
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  tbces.sex.com/bible. And when you go there, you can
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  look at resources from every single book of the Bible.
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  So all of my Tabernacle talk episodes I have linked there.
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  Within each of those, any sermons that I have preached,
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  I've got sermons from Genesis, Third John, Daniel, the Gospel
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  of John, Philippians, some in Romans, and then now a
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  smattering of others in Colossians and in some other
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  places. So I have all of those that are
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  linked there. And so if that can be a help to
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  you in any way, I would certainly love for you to
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  utilize that resource. It is there for you.
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  So all of that to say, we are in Psalm 125 and this is another
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  one of the song of a sense. And this is the group of Psalms
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  that the children of Israel would sing as they were making
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  their annual pilgrimages to Jerusalem for one of the three
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  feasts that the Jewish people celebrated together in
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  remembering what God had done for them.
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  And so that's what this Psalm, that's the occasion of this
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  Psalm. So let's read through verses one
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  through 5 together and we'll see what the Lord has for us today.
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  Those who trust in Yahweh are like Mount Zion.
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  It cannot be shaken, it remains forever.
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  The mountains surround Jerusalem and Yahweh surrounds His people
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  both now and forever. The scepter of the wicked will
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  not remain over the land allotted to the righteous, so
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  that the righteous will not apply their hands to injustice.
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  Do what is good Yahweh to the good, to those whose hearts are
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  upright. But As for those who turn aside
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  to crooked ways, Yahweh will banish them with the evil doers.
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  Peace be with Israel. All right, you might go.
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  I don't really know what this has to do with me.
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  Trust me, my friend, it's got a lot to do with you today.
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  Let's like be first at verses one and two says those who trust
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  in Yahweh are like Mount Zion. That's Jerusalem.
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  He says it cannot be shaken. It remains forever.
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  Now, what is meant by that? This is not saying there will
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  never be any earthquake in Jerusalem.
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  Here. It cannot be shaken.
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  OK, If there's an earthquake in Jerusalem, God's word isn't
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  true. Jerusalem really can be shaken.
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  No, that's not the point. The point is the mountains are
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  those things that they just stick around.
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  You can't really do anything about that.
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  I can look at, you know, Mount Everest or with the exception
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  of, you know, a big volcanic, big volcanic mountain like, you
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  know, Vesuvius or Saint Helens or, or one of those ones that
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  explode and they're gone. A regular mountain.
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  It's just, it's up there and you just kind of have to deal with
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  it. It's not going anywhere.
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  And it will far outlast your life.
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  And here the psalmist says this is what those who trust in God
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  are like, that there is an unshakeability, there is a
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  permanence, there is an everlastingness to those who
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  have anchored themselves to the eternal God that we don't have
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  like a lasting impact or lasting trait on our own.
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  It comes from the fact that when we are connected with God, we
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  experience everything good from Him.
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  We partake in, if you will, His life.
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  Or, as we're told in the New Testament, when we see Him, we
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  will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is.
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  Or as Paul tells us in Philippians 2, that we are made
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  to become those that would shine out in the world.
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  That we are being conformed more and more to the image of Christ,
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  and especially on that day when either the Lord returns or calls
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  us home, that we the the fancy theological term is theosis.
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  That we are becoming like Jesus, not in that we're becoming many
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  gods, but we partake more and more of his nature even as we
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  hear in second Peter chapter one O what a joy that we can find
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  security and and everlastingness, if I can phrase
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  it that way, in the fact that because we trust in God, he is
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  good to us. He gives us an unshakeability.
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  What a joy to that, but I love him verse 2.
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  He doesn't just say you have a permanence about your existence
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  as you trust in God because you're one of his people.
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  And he will never, he will never lose any of his people.
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  And so that means that even death itself will not separate
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  us from him. And he made us to be alive.
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  And he will not be foiled in those plans.
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  And so we will rise again even as Jesus rose again.
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  So verse #2 then says the mountains surround Jerusalem and
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  Yahweh surrounds his people both now and forever.
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  And so here you can think of a mountain range that very seldom
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  do. You just have one really tall
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  mountain that's just chilling all there on its own.
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  No, normally there's a range of larger and larger hills and then
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  mountains. And here the picture that's
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  given is just like a mountain is surrounded by other mountains
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  within the range. Here God surrounds his people
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  that he is right there by us. We are not on our own.
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  We are not, if you will, in danger of being attacked by
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  other people and having no ref, no refuge Here it is God is
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  watching over me and just like think again.
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  This is one of the song of a sense.
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  So they are literally walking to Jerusalem and they are, you can
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  picture here within the mountain ranges and they go, man,
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  Jerusalem is just surrounded by all of this stuff here that I
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  see. And so it is that God surrounds
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  me that I can know even though I can't see it with my eyes, yet I
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  can know that God is all around me.
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  I'm thankful for the omnipresence of God.
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  That is, God is everywhere that he desires to be.
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  There is no portion of of earth or the skies or the land or the
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  grave where God cannot go, where God cannot see me, and where God
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  is. He is never helpless.
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  There was always actions that He is taking to protect and to
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  provide, to encourage, to comfort, to care for, to mold
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  and shape me into the person that He wants me to be.
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  And So what a joy that God surrounds us.
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  And I love the picture when I think of being surrounded by one
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  person. The mental picture I get is a
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  big hug. Or I watched the Guardians of
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  the Galaxy movie, The first one the other night with my wife.
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  And you have grouped the big like tree thing and he protects
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  all of his buddies by, you know, growing out branches and stuff.
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  And so he's totally surrounding them and he's protecting them.
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  And I think here with the Lord surrounding us, it it is that he
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  is bigger than we are and so he can surround us.
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  And here it doesn't just say the Lord surrounds me.
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  He says the Lord surrounds his people.
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  And I think of the old song. I don't know if I could classify
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  it as a hymn necessarily, but it says my God is so big, so strong
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  and so mighty. There's nothing my God cannot
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  do. We serve a big God.
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  And this God, if you will, I'm certain if you wanted to be, he
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  could be literally, physically very big.
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  But it's metaphorically that he is big, that he is big in his
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  power, He's big in his wisdom, He's big in his abilities.
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  He is the biggest being that there possibly ever could be.
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  And that is the God who surrounds you and I.
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  So let that bring comfort to our lives, that we are unshakable in
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  Him, that our trust in Him is warranted, that He surrounds us.
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  What a joy then. Verse #3 The scepter of the
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  wicked will not remain over the land allotted to the righteous,
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  so that the righteous will not apply their hands to injustice.
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  Hear this verse. It runs very contrary to,
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  unfortunately, a line that you might hear from from people from
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  time to time as it relates to governmental leaders, that
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  sometimes you'll hear, yeah, that person, they've got a
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  filthy mouth. They've made some underhanded
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  business deals or they bribed someone or, you know, they had
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  to go on trial for this bad thing that they did or that, or
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  they bragged about their, you know, sexual immorality.
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  They're bragging about their greed.
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  They are, you know, wholeheartedly in favor of the
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  the death of the unborn. And and so, but here's what you
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  need to understand is that when you're voting for a politician,
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  you're not voting for a pastor. And so it's fine if they are
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  evil in the eyes of God. It's just they espouse some
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  policies that I think will give me more money, My dear friends,
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  absolutely not. And here's why.
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  Verse #3 here says the scepter of the wicked will not remain
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  over the land allotted to the righteous.
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  What is the land allotted to the righteous?
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  Well, we pray it in the Lord's Prayer.
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  God, your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
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  God is certainly the ultimate righteous one.
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  I'm not saying, but we need to make it so that we have just a
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  Christian nation or just a Baptist nation and and that's
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  the people that really deserve this land.
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  No, no, no, God's the one that deserves every piece of land.
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  And so there should be no scepters of wickedness over any
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  portion of land. And here as the scepter of the
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  wicked, what the psalmist here tells us is that the longer you
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  have the wicked remaining in power, the end of verse three.
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  Look at it. The righteous will apply their
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  hands to injustice. So he says, God, I need you to
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  remove evil doers from being in control so that people that want
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  to follow you don't throw in the towel and just go, OK, I guess
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  I'm going to start doing evil because that's what's required.
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  And to be in this country or this day and age, may we be
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  those that hold firmly to our convictions no matter what, and
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  that we don't lend our support to the wicked actions of others.
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  Now, we might say a person can certainly say I agree with this
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  and this and this and this of a particular person.
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  I strongly disagree with this and that person and I can vote.
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  But I, I am not saying that the evil that they're doing is fine.
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  I'm saying no, that's actually a problem.
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  And when we vote for people, you should attempt as best as we
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  have the ability to be able to do it, to say if I have the
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  choice between two people, 1 is a legitimate Christian like 1 is
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  a person that is trying to live their life for the Lord in
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  faith. I'm going to choose to go with
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  that person instead of a person who though he might be more
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  politically savvy, though he might put more money in your
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  pocket, is wicked and is defiant of God and rejoices in their
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  sin. That if you have the option
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  between the two, you go. No, I'm going to go with the
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  righteous decision, not the, you know, most expedient position or
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  the position that will give me the most money in my life.
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  Instead, my friends, may we realize the most important thing
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  in your life, in my life, in our nation is not material wealth
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  and goods. The most important thing is our
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  relationship with God. It is doing what is right and
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  good. Now you might go, OK, well I
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  don't really know that that fits the bill for any person that's
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  in politics. Well, now you get why we need
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  Jesus. It's why he is the King.
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  And I am glad that there are people that run for public
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  office that are genuine Christians.
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  And I've met several over the years that have been legitimate
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  in the way that they exercise their faith.
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  Some of them, even as they have stood both for life and as they
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  have stood for character, even within politics, they have
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  suffered greatly for it. And I having seen their
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  behavior, having seen the way that they laid down their lives
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  so that they would do what is right in the eyes of God, I'm
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  convinced that that is the best way to operate.
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  And so I want to encourage you with the psalmist here, pray the
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  word of God. God pray, I pray that the
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  scepter of the wicked will not remain so that the righteous
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  will not apply their hands to injustice.
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  The old phrase monkey see, monkey do is very accurate.
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  And what we see is what we begin doing.
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  What we hear is what we begin saying.
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  And so let us seek out rulers that are good, that follow King
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  Jesus in the way that they speak and act and legislate.
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  That is a good thing to do. Verse #4 do what is good, Yahweh
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  to the good, to those whose hearts are upright.
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  This is a prayer. We can even pray for ourselves
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  to say, God, as I'm seeking you, as I want my heart to be
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  upright, would you bless me? Would you allow me to be able to
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  do more good that it wouldn't just be God as I am following
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  you? Would you give me $1,000,000?
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  No, it would be something more like God.
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  Would you? I'm seeking to walk with you.
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  Would you bless me so that I can be a blessing to my neighbor?
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  Would you give me enough funds that I am able to help out the
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  poor in a greater way? Would you help me so that I am
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  able to be a blessing to my church?
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  And as we seek the Lord's ways, we can expect here that God will
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  bless who who bless in a myriad of ways.
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  It might be financial, it might be relational.
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  It might strictly be like spiritual within yourself that
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  the Holy Spirit is bringing you joy and comfort and peace, or
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  he's purging sins out of your life that you have been
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  struggling with for a long time. But however God blesses you,
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  know that when we obey, it will bring the blessing of God.
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  It will bring God's goodness that he is bringing into our
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  lives. But then the psalmist kind of
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  ends this Psalm with the flip side.
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  God do good to those who are following you, to those who are,
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  whose hearts are upright, he says.
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  But As for those who turn aside to crooked ways, Yahweh will
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  banish them with the evildoers. Hear this word, banish them.
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  It's like send them out that they're going to be LED away.
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  So you can think of like the Babylonian exile that the
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  children of Israel went through. And here there's this prayer,
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  God, for those even within our country that do not do what is
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  right. God, would you send them away
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  that they would not be those that would be consistently
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  polluting our land with evil. Now, here's the flip side that
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  I've tried to mention often, especially as we're walking
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  through Psalms, because this is prior to Christ's Advent.
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  And so that shapes how we think about our world.
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  Even those that are crooked and evil and wicked can be turned to
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  Christ. How do I know that?
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  Well, I'm one of those people. When I look at my life, I don't
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  go, man, Brian's just so holy and so great and so good.
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  I'm like, I am not doing well. Like I, I can't be who God wants
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  me to be. I can't be perfect enough to.
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  Make all of my like relationships in life great.
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  Instead, I feel my God, I feel those that I love.
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  And So what in the world am I to do?
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  Am I to be one of those these that is banished?
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  I'm thankful for Jesus because he rescues us and he turns those
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  that were wicked and unjust and evil and crooked into those that
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  are the good, the upright, the righteous, not as a result of my
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  perfection, but as a result of the perfection of Jesus.
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  And he's given me his Holy Spirit so that I can walk the
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  right path, the path that God wants me to walk.
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  And so even here, as we can pray for the spiritual health of our
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  nation, let's also remember the goal is not OK Deport everyone
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  that is, you know, evil in the eyes of God because then we'd
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  all be gone and there would be no one left in the land.
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  The goal is God. Yes, it is good for us if there
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  are righteous people in our land.
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  And God, would you help me to be a part of the solution through
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  personally walking with you and then through sharing Jesus with
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  others so that they too will walk with you.
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  And our nation will become more righteous as a result.
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  I love then how the Psalm ends. He says peace be with Israel.
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  This is Shalom. It's that ultimate rest and
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  peace and goodness. May that be with our nation as
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  we pursue the righteousness of Christ, as we endorse and as we
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  love and we lift up people that are truly wanting to walk with
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  God and do his will. Not the will of a party, not the
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  will of a politician, not the will of you know, special
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  interest groups or something like that, but that just want to
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  follow the Lord in the way that they do politics.
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  There is peace that is there. There is a goodness I can think.
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  Certainly America's history has been very flawed, very sin
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  filled in 1000 different ways. But in the times where we have
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  genuinely sought to follow and obey God and I say we when when
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  specific politicians in positions of leadership when
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  they have pursued God. It has gone well with the
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  nation, as we hear from Solomon, when a nation, when the rulers
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  of a nation are righteous, the righteous rejoice.
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  But when the wicked are in charge, when the wicked rule,
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  there is grief, their sorrow as a result of it.
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  Can I encourage you? Are you the kind of Christian
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  that you wish that your politicians were?
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  If our politicians have the same walk with Jesus that you do,
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  what state would our nation be in?
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  If every person at your church was the kind of Christian that
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  you are, how would your church look?
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  Where'd your church survive? Would your church have anyone
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  serving in it? I just want to encourage you
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  with that thought. Be the change that you want to
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  see. Be the change you want to see in
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  our nation, and thanks be to Jesus who has given us his
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  righteousness that we did not earn and could not deserve.
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  But because of his goodness, we are forgiven and restored, and
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  God's presence is with us. We can trust in Him.
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  He surrounds us with his goodness.
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  He indwells us by His Spirit. And what a worthy God that He
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  is. Thanks for tuning in today, and
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  we'll be in Psalm 126 next time.