Let's pray. Father, again, we thank you for your word read and your word heard. It is your word. It is God-breathed. It proceeds from your mouth to our ears through the hearing and to our hearts. Father, we submit ourselves to every word that you speak for what we believe and for how we live. Now, Lord, in this time after feasting together, a time when it's easy for eyes to become weary, but grant strength not only to your servant in the preaching, but also to the hearers in their hearing. At that anointing, you grant to the preacher, extend to the ears of those who are gathered. that you may be glorified, that your people be edified in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Psalm 127. Of course this morning we looked at 126 and we contrasted it with 137. We saw the full gamut of human emotion from elation in 126 to utter despair in 137. in terms of God's providence over his people. One case in judgment, the other in restoration. Well, now we come to Psalm 127. I'm gonna do a little bit more here about placing it within its context in the Psalter. When I've had opportunities to come and preach here for some time, I've tried to lay this kind of foundation, hoping that it will take root and that you'll begin to apply these things. It will open up the Psalter to you in ways that you never imagined before. But where does 127 come in the Psalter? Why is it here? That's a question that you need to ask. Well, it comes in Book 5. And I would remind you that this altar is divided into five books. 1 to 41, Book 1. 42 to 72, Book 2. Psalm 73 to 89, Book 3. Psalm 90 to 106, Book 4. Psalm 107 to 150, Book 5. And following Dr. Michael Morales' analysis of the five books, There's a chronology to be seen in the Psalter, in the redemptive history, the narrative portions of Scripture that underline what we call the Psalms. all rooted and grounded in the covenant that God made with David. And so the headings that Dr. Morales give us are book one, the rise of the Davidic kingdom, book two, the glory of the Davidic kingdom, book three, the collapse of the Davidic kingdom, which corresponds with the Babylonian captivity, which was at the root we saw of Psalm 137 this morning. Book four, the absence of the Davidic kingdom, which actually corresponds with the exile itself, and then book five, the return of the king. Psalm 127 comes in Book 5, the celebratory book that we find because God's face is shining once more on his people. It actually begins with a return from the Babylonian captivity but culminates in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, the expectation of Messiah to come. Well, 127, though, is within this group of songs that's called the Songs of Ascents. Fifteen songs all bear the same title, the Song of Ascents. I told you this morning, these were pilgrim songs, the songs they sang while going up to Jerusalem to worship God, 120 through 134. Here's something else you need to recognize, and Dr. Ophama Robertson is the one that helps us with this. Dr. Robertson has identified seven chiastic structures in the Psalter. Now, what do you need for a chiastic structure? You need an odd number of psalms that are thematically related. If you find an odd number of psalms that are thematically related, you may have a chiastic structure or a parallel structure. Dr. Robertson likes to call them a poetic pyramid. And if you're thinking with a Hebrew mind and a parallel structure, your eyes go to the center psalm or the pinnacle psalm. And this is the pinnacle psalm of the 15 psalm chiastic structure. We know that they're all related. They all have the same title, the Song of Ascents. There are 15 of them. There's an odd number of them. There is a center psalm. It's Psalm 127. And it's important for you to recognize that if you're going to get the full thrust and import of this psalm. It's often missed. I found Psalm 127 to be a favorite. of Presbyterians, especially those who have a quiver full of children. We just like that picture. Isn't that a beautiful picture? A quiver full of them. I'm here to tell you that while that is certainly a proper application of this text, it's not the first thrust of the text. You're going to have to stick with me to understand what it is that I'm going to try to bring out from this particular song. Several years ago, When I'm on the road, a lot of times sermon audio is my best friend. And so I search for sermons that there are certain preachers you gravitate towards and that you listen to because they bless you. And one of my favorites, who's going to go unnamed, because I'm going to be slightly critical, who almost always, in fact, I can't think of another sermon I've ever heard that I didn't, that I wasn't completely edified and blessed by that sermon. And I saw that he had preached on this psalm, I said, oh, I've got to hear that. And I listened to the sermon, and when he got to the end of it, there was something missing. One of my favorite preachers, Presbyterian minister. If I told you his name, you would know his name. What was missing? He didn't say anything that was wrong. He didn't say anything that's not applicable from the text itself. But he didn't take me to Jesus. He didn't take me to the gospel. And that's why I felt a sense of emptiness. There are three things that tell you you have to look at this psalm more carefully than you typically do when you read it. The one is where it is found in the Psalms of the Saints. It's the pinnacle psalm. You need to ask the question, why is this psalm here? That should be a question that you ask. You need to look at the psalm not once, not twice, not three times, but continue to look and ask that question and see if the Lord gives you, through your reading of the psalm, the answer. The second thing is look at the title. It's a Song of the Saints, of course. It's one of the 15 Psalms of the Saints. But it has a second title. Five of these psalms have a second title. The second title points to authorship. Four of them were written by David. What's the second title to this psalm? You can look. Of Solomon. Let me ask you a question. How many Psalms in the Psalter are attributed to Solomon by name in the titles? You don't know the answer, that's okay. Two. I think he wrote at least three. I can make a case for a third one, I think a strong case. But two out of 150 psalms are attributed to Solomon by title. That needs to make you pause and step back and say, okay, why is a psalm by Solomon the pinnacle psalm of the songs of the saints? You see how the questions are growing as you're seeking answers. Does anyone here know what the other psalm that's attributed to Solomon by name is? You science camp kids, you ought to know the answer to this question, because I told it to you a long time ago. They're all kind of hanging their heads on the back row back there. There are only two. Here's one. Where's the other one? It's Psalm 72. Now, why is that significant? Remember the books, 1 to 41? Book 1, the rise of the Davidic Kingdom. Book 2, Psalm 42-72, the glory of the Davidic Kingdom. When did the Davidic Kingdom come into its greatest glory? Under the Old Covenant. Not during the reign of David. It's during the reign of his son Solomon. It's a reign of peace. It's a reign of prosperity. It's a reign where the king himself is renowned. It's a reign that is marked by wisdom and by understanding, by kings coming to Solomon for counsel and being so impressed with the counsel, the answers he gives, they leave tribute behind. That's what Psalm 72 extols. The kingship of Solomon, but it doesn't find its utter fulfillment in Solomon. It goes beyond Solomon. It's about Jesus, Psalm 72 is. But you see why it's fitting to have the last psalm in a book that is dedicated to the glory of the Davidic kingdom, the one written by Solomon at the height of the Davidic kingdom under the Old Covenant. It's significant it is where it is. So we need to realize it's significant that 127 is where it is, and we need to be thinking about Solomon when we read this psalm. And oftentimes, we don't even think about that. Now, what happened in that sermon that left me a bit empty? Well, they had three points that come from the psalm. One is that the Lord must be in your labor, in your work, in your vocation, or whatever you do is going to be in vain. It's what the text says. The other is that the Lord must be the one that protects you and your house and all that you're a part of and protects this church. Of course, that's true. And then the third, the blessing of covenant children. But you need to stop and ask yourself the question, who wrote the song? It was Solomon. What house is he talking about? He's not talking about your house. Now, it's applicable to your house. But he's not talking about your house. What's Solomon on for? Two things, wisdom. God said, ask me whatever you would ask and I'll give it to you. He said, I want to understand it. God gave him wisdom. What's the second thing he's noted for most? He built the temple of God. It's the house of God that he's talking about. When he says, unless the Lord builds the house, he labors in vain. Who builds it? This is written when he is constructing the temple. And when you think about the narrative portion that underlies these Psalms, the covenant that God made with David, do you remember what initiated that covenant? It was when David said to the prophet, I'm going to build God a house. My eyelids will not close until I build God a permanent house. That's a godly desire. And the prophet said, that's a good thing, do it. And the prophet goes home and he goes to sleep and he has a dream and God speaks to him in a dream and he says, you tell David, thank you but no thank you. He's not going to build me a house. I'm going to build him a house. And what he means by that is, his seed will sit on this throne in Zion forever if they keep my covenant. Those are the very words that come from Psalm 132. That's the covenant. David's desire to build the Lord's a house, it's God's response to that desire where God announces His covenant with David. No, there's going to be a seed that's going to sit on the throne forever. We need to recognize these things when we're reading this psalm. There are two themes that are central, really, in the Psalter, but especially in Book 5. One is worship of the house of God, and then the other is this covenant that God made that the seed of David would sit upon the throne, the messianic promise. These are two central themes in Book 5. I mean, look at the worship emphasis. 111 begins what? Hallelujah songs. 113 to 118, that's the hallel of Egypt, the songs that were sung at Passover. 120 to 134, the songs they sang while going up to Jerusalem to worship at Passover. 135, a hallelujah song. 136, 136 is what? It's the great hallel. All of those songs, I counted them at one time, but I can't remember how many they are, in book five, are devoted to the house of God and the worship of God in his house. It's a central thing, but so is the messianic theme. And so these things need to be in your mind when you realize Solomon wrote this. It's the pinnacle psalm. You're asking these questions. You may come to different answers than you will if you're just reading the psalm the surface way. Again, and I'm going to divide it in this way. First of all, we're going to see house. Secondly, we're going to see city. And third, we're going to see seed. That's an easy outline to remember. House, city, and seed. Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build labor in vain. Which house? It's the temple. Solomon realizes no matter what he wants to do, no matter what he wants to build, if God doesn't bless it, it's going to come to naught. But if God blesses it, it's going to be glorious. David was so intent that Solomon built a house that not only did he purchase the property that it would later be on and pitch the tent and put the Ark of the Covenant in there awaiting the time for his son, but he bought all of the supplies and had them there. You can just see it as David's coming in of his life and his reign. Son, don't forget to build a temple. Son, don't forget to build a temple. In 2 Chronicles chapter, was it three? You already have Solomon doing what? On Mount Moriah, building the temple of the Lord. He knows that the Lord is in it, but his yearning is that the Lord be in it, that the Lord build the house. And he knows then, because the Lord's building, his labor is not in vain. Now, there is New Testament application to this. Because what is true in the old of Temple of Jerusalem of Israel finds its fulfillment in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ of the New Covenant. Is it coming to the New Covenant unless the Lord builds the house? What? The church of the Lord Jesus Christ. We labor in vain. This is why I always tell our mission works. Planting a church is spiritual. It's spiritual warfaring. We got to cling to God. And if the Lord is the one that's building this church, no matter how small and fragile it may seem, the gates of hell can't prevail against it, as we saw in Matthew chapter 16. But if the Lord's not in it, no matter how much money we put in it, no matter how much labor we put into it, it's going to come to naught. But the Lord Jesus is about building his church. We go forth with confidence that when we seek to plant and build a church, an organized church, even like this church as well, that the Lord is in the work and he's preserving the work. And he's expanding the work. He uses our hands, he uses our feet, but he is the one that builds. We plant, we water, he brings the increase, another metaphor. The same thing. This is why grace in moving forward must realize you have to hold on to Christ in prayer. And you need to plead, Lord, you build, you establish your church here that the gates of hell cannot prevail against. It was true under the old covenant in the construction, and then the worship at the temple is more true in the new. It's always more true in fulfillment in the church. Then the second, city. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. What city is he talking about? He's not talking about Lynchburg. Who wrote it? Solomon. He's talking about Jerusalem. Jerusalem. Watchmen. They're along the city walls. In order to see the enemy when the enemy is coming. So that they'll be prepared. When the battle comes against them, when the attack comes, the watchmen have to watch. But if the Lord's not guarding the city, it doesn't matter how many watchmen you have, the city is going to fall because the forces outside it are stronger than those within the city. Of course, Solomons, I think certain assurance is the Lord is the one who is guarding this city. Does that mean that we shouldn't be watchful? No. We watch confident that God is watching. We watch that even though it's dark and we can't see, the Lord sees all and He knows. And He's protecting His city. He's protecting this church. and the onslaught that comes against the Church of Jesus Christ in our day. And it's intensified so much within the last decade. We can only wonder what's going to happen in the next decade. Perhaps there'll be revival. Perhaps there won't. Pray for it. The enemies seem massive. And we're talking about the world now. What about the enemy, the spiritual enemies that are underneath the world? What about Satan himself? And yet Jesus has already bruised the servant's head. The battle, the war is won, though the battle rages. guard in vain because we're confident that the Lord is the one who's protecting His church. Under the old covenant, it was Jerusalem. And we might say, but the Lord didn't protect it forever. Solomon himself ended badly. The kingdoms divided. The northern kingdom, Israel. They had all kinds of kings, most of them wicked. the kingdom of the south. They had all kinds of kings, most of them wicked. So much so, as we saw this morning, they did not repent of their idolatries and their sin. Instead, they presumed to be in God's favor because they had the city and because they had the temple. God will not let his city be overrun. God will not let his temple be destroyed. But like we saw 587, 586 BC, that's exactly what the Babylonians did. They destroyed the city walls, they stormed the city, they destroyed the temple, they tore it down to the ground. Is God not faithful? You see, that's the question. Remember the covenant God made with David was a conditional covenant. Your seed will sit on this throne if they keep my covenant. They didn't keep his covenant, but God does. And as we saw in 126 this morning, the restoration. God restores and brings back in preparation for his king who would come and sit on the throne whose name would be Jesus. And not here on earth in Mount Zion, but the Mount Zion which is above in the invisible heavens. seated on the right hand of the Father on the throne above where he reigns even right now. The exaltation of King Jesus. So it's the Lord who builds his house, builds his church. It's the Lord who watches his city, who watches his church, who protects. But then we come to that last trophy, and this is why Presbyterians really like it, isn't it? Because you like quivers. You like quivers full. And we have a lot of quiver-full families in the OPC. It's a delight. We have one minister that has 13 kids. Now that's quite a quiver-full. They're great kids. I know the kids. Our new pastor in Marion, North Carolina. Little bitty church, little bitty town. has 11 kids. Nine of them are at home now. That's what you call a quiver full. But is this about your quiver and your children? Yes, by way of application, but not first. This is where I said, I want to see if the text takes me to Christ. There's something exegetical here you need to see. One little word. But you've got to understand Hebrew to see it. Think what we read. Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord. Now, does yours have a footnote by the word children? Is there a marginal reading in yours? There is in mine. It says, or sons. And why is that? Because the Hebrew word translated for children is the Hebrew word ban. What does it mean? It's a plural form, Ben, it means sons. Don't want to leave the ladies out, understand. But first and foremost, it means sons, as does the picture that follows. And when you think about that, in the covenant God made with David, your sons will sit on this throne forever if they keep my covenant. No thanks. You're not going to build me a house. I'm going to build you a house. I'm going to establish your name as a dynasty because your sons, your seed, are going to dwell on this throne forever if they keep my covenant. That's the promise that God made to David. Solomon's talking about sons here. If it's God's house, the temple he has in view that the Lord's building, if it's God's city, Jerusalem, that the Lord is protecting, Then even down here where we see sons, he's talking first and foremost about that covenant. He's talking about the promise that God made to David, a promise that Solomon is standing on, and that is the blessing of his seed. May there be sons, my sons, my grandsons, my great-grandsons, my great-great-grandsons to sit on this throne forever. This text is first about that covenant. It's second by application true that it is about your family and your children and your quiver full of them. What a blessing the covenant family is. But as we let the controlling thrust of the text be from Solomon, we see the focus needs to be on that covenant and on Solomon's sons, or Solomon's seed, which are David's sons and David's seed. Now how many of you have a Reformation study Bible? Some of you do. Do you have it in the ESV? Or the KNIV? I don't know if the notes are on the KNIV. I didn't go check. I've got those two. This is in the ESV. I love the Reformation Study Bible. But the notes on the bottom of the page are not infallible. That's the problem with the Study Bible. It's the words above. that are infallible and of God. The notes are written by scholars and godly and knowledgeable men who usually get it right, but sometimes they don't. My notes in my Reformation Study Bible, I had an old New Geneva Study Bible first, then Reformation, two King James ones before this ESV, Reformation Study Bible. I love the Study Bible, but they get it wrong. They begin with the last strophe and let the last strophe interpret the first two. They begin with the last strophe and say, this is talking about the covenant family. Therefore, yes, the first strophe is about the temple. But first and foremost, it's about the covenant family. They get it backwards. And in getting it backwards, they lose Jesus out of the text. If you get it frontwards, Solomon wrote it. So he's talking about this house, the house of God. Solomon wrote it. He's talking about this city, the city of Jerusalem. Solomon wrote it. He's talking about the seed, the sons that would come from David who would sit upon the throne. Now we're seeing how the text is going to take us to Jesus. Why? Because Solomon's sons were not faithful. They did not keep covenant. They broke covenant with God. God took them away in exile. God destroyed the temple. God destroyed the city. But God smiled on them as we saw this morning. God brought them back. They rebuilt the temple. Nehemiah comes in. He fortifies the city. There's one thing lacking. Where's David's son? When is David's son going to come and take his seat upon the throne? That's the one thing that's lacking. I said it this morning, they had to wait over 400 years before the son of David to come, who also happened to be the son of God. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ. The text takes us, yes, God is faithful. The sons of David, the sons of Solomon, were not faithful. But God is still faithful. He restores them. And then God's son, who is David's son, is faithful. He is the true Israel of God. He is the true son of David, who's greater than David. Where all of the others broke covenant with God and failed, the Lord Jesus Christ did not fail. It was obedient, as Philippians 2 say, even to death, death on the cross. Therefore, God highly exalted him, gave him a name above every name, that in the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, every tongue should confess of those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. He has been exalted to the highest place. Now, Zion here. but a type and shadow of the invisible mount, Zion in heaven, and now that Christ has come. That's where the son of David, who's the son of God, is exalted at the right hand of God. When you understand the redemptive history that underlies this psalm, when you understand that Solomon wrote it, when you understand that he's talking about the temple, that he's talking about the city of Jerusalem, when you understand he's talking first and foremost about the seed that would come and would sit on the throne, it takes us to Christ. Is there application here? Yes, there is. because covenant children are a blessing. And I want to end with that by giving you an illustration from this text. Look at how the text comes to an end. The text comes to an end with, he that is the father shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies at the gate. And a number of scenarios can be here. One is an enemy is coming to the gate and they're talking through the gate and negotiating whether or not the enemy is going to attack. Well, he's not going to be standing by himself. Another picture that this could be is what happened in disputes. How were disputes settled? By the elders at the gate. If someone is falsely accused, they bring their case to the elders at the gate. The elders hear that. In this case, if the father is falsely accused when he goes to the gate, he's not by himself. His covenant seed, his sons are standing there with him. I'll tell you a story. You may remember this from 16 years ago or whatever it was. I preached this before. How many of y'all know Walter and Jane Robinson? Y'all know Walter? He's an elder at the church in Chilhowee, Virginia. Walter's pretty wiry now. He was really wiry when he was a boy. He had two older brothers. Bradley, who's an elder at the church in Chilhowee, is I think eight or nine years older than, because Walter and I are the same age. And then Lex, the older brother, who was a deacon at the church in Chilhowee, who's been with the Lord for a number of years now. Most people didn't know Lex. At the time that this happened, Walter was about 10 years old, which would put Bradley probably about 18 or 19, and Lex about 20 or 21 years old. They were farmers. And after they would do the early chores in Glades Spring, Virginia, they would go to this corner filling station. That's what we called them back then. And they would drink an RC Cola and eat a moon pie. And who knows what all they talked about, all these farmers that came after the early chores. And they did this every single day. I know exactly where the corner is. The filling station is not there any longer, but I know where the corner is. I think it's the only corner in Glade Springs, Virginia. We do have a stoplight now. But one day, they were in there, and there was a man that was there who was a bully. There was a man who was handicapped. He was in a wheelchair. And the other man started picking on him. And the man in the wheelchair had had his full of it, and he said something to the man about it. That man just riled up and said, well, I'll just beat the way out of you. Walter and Bradley and Lex's dad stood up. He was a farmer. He stepped between those two and he said, you'll have to go through me. He had three sons standing beside him. Walter said, my fist was like this. If that man would have tried to go through his father and get that other man, that 10-year-old boy was going to be on top of his back, beaten away out of him. You don't. You don't threaten my dad. 10 years old. That's the way it is. For the quiverful, some of those arrows being sons, in a covenant family, those children are discipled to love Christ, and to love dad, and to love mom, and to respect dad, and to respect mom. You've got to go through me to get to my dad. I'm not advocating violence here. And neither was Walter's dad. He was standing in the way to protect a man who couldn't protect himself. But it's the sentiment of respect, of loyalty, that marks the covenant family when God's hand of blessing is on it. Children, I want you to hear this. You need to think about your dad and your mom like that. Are they perfect? No. They're sinners. They're sinners that are saved by grace through faith. But God gave you a command. There's just one that's specific to you. Honor mom and dad. He made it pretty easy. Okay, kids, honor your mother and your father. Fathers, love those kids. Don't provoke them to anger. Bring them up to respect and honor God. When the day comes, if they need to, they got those kids. ready to defend Dad. This is lost in our culture. It cannot be lost in our church. It's an application of the text. The text is first about Jesus. Don't forget that. And about the Gospel. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for Your Word Father, we thank you that even in the arrangement of the Psalms, you cause us to look again a second time and a third and a fourth to see if we may be missing something. To open our eyes to say, oh, yes, this is what the text is saying. To see the richness of it. Father, thank you for Jesus who did not fail. who kept covenant by obeying every word that proceeded from your mouth as His meat, as His sustenance, to be our Redeemer. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Let's sing the psalm. Psalm 127. you