Peace, Perfect Peace

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"Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion...Peace be on Israel." Psalm 125:1, 5

Main Readings: Philippians 4 & Psalm 125

Supporting Readings: John 14 & Psalm 46

As I outlined would happen the last time I preached. Last Sunday Dave kindly covered for us. And I trust that you were blessed by that provision from the Lord. I don’t count it a small thing that we still have cover from within our own fellowship when the elders are away. So, we can give thanks to God for that.

This morning we’ve got a stand-alone message. And then, God willing, next week, we’ll begin a new series. 

And you’ll be glad to know that I was able to give time on holiday to think and pray about where we should go next. And that, by God’s grace, I’ve been able to settle on the Old Testament book of Nehemiah for that upcoming series. The reason for that will become plain next week when I hope to be able to share with you a vision for Riverside I’ve developed for the period between September and January next year.

So, beginning next Sunday, for the next eight weeks or so, we’ll be in Nehemiah together. And I’d value your prayers as we prepare to open that book.

But for this morning, I’ve decided to pick up where Dave left off last week, by turning our attention to the very next Psalm in the book of Psalms - Psalm 125.

In case you haven’t heard Dave’s message, Psalm 124 brought us encouragement as it reminded us of God’s great deliverance. And now, I trust Psalm 125 will do the same, although in a slightly different key from last week.

Last week was all about God’s rescue from the fowler’s snare - a deliverance that finds its accomplishment in the cross of Jesus. But this week we want to ask the question, ‘What does that deliverance produce in the life of the believer?’ And the answer from Psalm 125, very simply, is ‘peace’. We’re going to consider how peace can be maintained, especially since we continue to experience the assaults of our enemy, Satan.

Remember, for a moment if you will, how Psalm 124 described the snare? It wasn’t simply that the trap was opened so we could crawl out, if we somehow managed it. No! It was, if you remember, smashed to pieces! The hymn writer captures it in these well-loved words: ‘My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin not in part but the whole,…

was nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul’.

That’s the picture. The snare of sin, in its entirety, has been destroyed! The cross of Christ has broken its power once and for all, and the believer has been wholly set free.

Now, of course, the one who set the snare in the first place - the one who enticed Eve to rebel against God in the garden - he’s still around. 

His greatest weapon has been destroyed – which is the power of sin to condemn us. That’s gone. The cross has dealt with that. But the devil has not packed up shop and gone home yet. No! He still has schemes; he still has devices. And he will use them against us for as long as we live. Hoping, if possible, to shake our confidence in Jesus.

That’s why Paul says to Christians, in Ephesians, put on the whole armour of God. Not just bits of it. 

All of it, he says. So that we can stand against, as he puts it, ‘the devil’s schemes‘. It’s also why Peter writes, ‘Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.’

So, let’s be quite clear. Satan is real. He remains our mortal enemy. And though the snare has been smashed to smithereens, the struggle is far from over.

Now, you may be sitting there thinking, ‘Well, this is a cheery start and make no mistake!’ 

‘Bring back the chap we had last week!’ you’re thinking! And I’d understand that. But it’s important that we acknowledge this reality as we move into Psalm 125. Because the goal of Psalm 125 is after all, ‘peace’. You can see it for yourself at the very end of the Psalm: ‘Peace be upon Israel’. Peace is the goal of the Psalm. And Peace is therefore the goal of this sermon.

And that’s why we have to reckon with the fact that the enemy is not gone after all. 

Because the question is obvious, isn’t it? ‘How can I live in peace when my adversary is still prowling around looking to devour me?’ 

‘How can I rest my head on the pillow at night - sometimes after another day of failure, sometimes after falling for his schemes yet again - and still know peace?’ That’s the issue. 

And the Psalm faces that question head on. Because remember this: the Israel that sang Psalm 124 - ‘If the Lord had not been on our side’ and so on - was the same Israel that was still surrounded by her enemies when she’d finished singing it!

There’s a world of difference, isn’t there, between being assaulted by the enemy with God on your side and being assaulted by the enemy without Him at all? And Psalm 125 assumes that God is on our side. Yes, the enemy prowls, but God is still our sovereign protector. And always will be so.

Someone will say then, ‘Well, why doesn’t God just finish him off now?’ 

‘Why smash the snare but leave the one who set the snare, still roaming around?’ And that’s a good question. But what I’ve learnt on this Christian journey so far is that God rarely does things the way we would do them. He doesn’t fit into the neat categories of our own logic. 

Frankly, given my track record in the logic department, I’m very glad He doesn’t! 

Rather, He acts in perfect wisdom. 

Just ask Joseph! As we’ve learnt recently. What his brothers meant for evil, God meant for good. So, are God’s purposes with Satan!

For the time being, then, Satan is on God’s leash. He will be dealt with, finally and forever, when Christ returns. But until then, we have to contend with him. 

But here’s the wonderful truth of Psalm 125: even in the midst of that struggle; even before the final victory, God gives His people peace. Real peace, now. Even, lasting peace! What a good God we have!

You know, I went to the doctor recently for one of those health check-ups they like to give you once you reach the age of forty. They call it an ‘MOT’. I thought that was a term reserved exclusively for cars, but apparently not! 

The doctor ran the tests and then looked at me and said, ‘Well, you’re doing OK. But you need to do better. You need to do something about your weight’ he said. Now, that wasn’t exactly breaking news to my wife. But there it was, straight from the doctor. 

And off I went thinking, ‘Right, that’s the goal - lose the weight’. But, then it dawned on me: how do I actually get from here to there? That was the real head scratcher.

You see, it’s the ‘how’ that makes all the difference isn’t it? It’s one thing to be told you’ve got to lose weight. It’s quite another to know the effective steps to get you there. And it’s another thing again to put them into practice, I’ll tell you that much! 

Abraham Lincoln, was often told, ‘End slavery now!’ And there was nothing he wanted more. The goal was clear. But the how of it? That’s what kept him awake at night.

Now, thanks be to God, that’s precisely what this Psalm helps us with. Psalm 125 sets the goal right at the end: ‘Peace be upon Israel’. That’s the destination. But the rest of the Psalm - every line, except those final four words - tells us the how of it. How to arrive at some measure of sustained peace.

So, here’s how I’m going to frame it for us this morning - so we can all remember: Peace begins with trust. Peace is strengthened with promises. And Peace is protected with perseverance.

That’s the road map if you like for this sermon. That’s how the people of God, secure in Christ, yet surrounded by enemies, can still say, ‘Peace be upon us’.

So, let’s look at verse 1 for how peace begins with trust: ‘Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever’.

Now, most of you know this already, but my favourite place to be is not on the beach, but in the mountains. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the beach in Devon last week on my holiday - I enjoyed it a lot! 

It’s just to say that there’s something about the mountains that compels me. To me they’re so solid. So, immovable. They rise up out of the ground as if to say, ‘We’ve been here forever! We’re not going anywhere’. 

Just being in their presence makes you feel so small. But it also makes me feel strangely safe too. I don’t know if you’ve experienced that feeling yourself.

And that’s the picture the Psalmist reaches for here. And not just mountains in general, you’ll notice, but one mountain in particular - Mount Zion. That is to say, God’s mountain situated in Jerusalem. 

The very mountain the pilgrims would climb as they made their way to the temple. The mountain they would climb singing these Psalms of Ascent, on their way to meet with God. 

And in the New Testament, Mount Zion is picked up as a symbol of the heavenly Jerusalem - the place of eternal security.

So, when the Psalmist says, ‘Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion’, he’s saying, ‘That kind of unshakable permanence - that’s what belongs to those who trust in God‘.

Because, as Mount Zion is, so is God. He cannot be shaken. He endures forever. 

And the person who puts their trust in Him – who really trusts Him, not just once at the beginning of the journey, but day by day, moment by moment - they share in that stability.

And that’s what ‘peace’ is, biblically speaking. Peace is not some vague feeling of calm. Peace is an unshakable confidence that the God who holds you will not let you go. It’s the assurance that He will carry you through every twist and turn of this uncertain and unstable life. That’s why the Psalmist can say without hesitation: ‘those who trust in the Lord cannot be shaken’.

Now, how does God help His people keep trusting Him like that? Well, He gives us promises - he gives promises rooted in his unchangeable character. And guaranteed by his unchangeable Son. And there’s a promise for us right here in verse 2: ‘As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people, both now and forevermore’.

We’re still with the mountain picture here, but the picture has changed a little hasn’t it? The mountains are not just standing firm like in verse 1; now they’re standing guard. They’re like a fortress wall around the city.

You know, during the second world war, Switzerland discovered that its best defence against the Nazi advance wasn’t an army, so much as it was the natural barrier on their boarder - the Alps; that great mountain range. 

The terrain itself kept them safe. And Jerusalem, surrounded by hills, had a natural line of defence also.

A city with strong defences can rest easy at night, can’t it? A city without them hardly sleeps at all! 

And here’s the point: the one who trusts in the Lord is not exposed; is not vulnerable; is not left to fend for themselves. God Himself surrounds His people. He hems us in, on every side so that we are protected.

He doesn’t smash the fowler’s snare, only to abandon us to other dangers. No - He’s fully aware of the enemy and his schemes, and He makes this promise: ‘the Lord will surround His people both now and forevermore’.

Paul picks this up when he says, ‘The Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one’. That’s the promise: From first to last. God keeps His own.

It’s like when you’re four years old and the world feels like a big old scary place. But I can still remember the security I felt inside our little house in London, tucked up in bed while all the noises of the city blared on the other side of the walls. 

Surrounded. Safe. That’s the picture here.

Peace comes when you know that God Himself has drawn his circle around your life, and His protection can’t fail.

Now, look with me at verse 3 for a second promise. ‘The sceptre of the wicked will not remain over the land allotted to the righteous, for then the righteous might use their hands to do evil’.

The picture is of a sceptre now. Which, as you know, is the symbol of a king’s authority. Whoever holds the sceptre, rules the people. And the Psalmist says very plainly: ‘the sceptre of the wicked will not remain’. In other words, God will not allow his people to be permanently ruled by an evil master.

You see, the heart is always under somebody’s rule. Either sin holds sway, and the sceptre of wickedness directs our hearts. Or Christ reigns and his righteousness shapes our lives. That’s why Paul can say in Romans 6, ‘your old self was crucified with Christ… you’ve been set free from sin’. 

That’s a settled reality he’s talking about there. And yet, just a few verses later, he has to say, ‘don’t let sin reign in your mortal body’. That’s the battleground, you see. That’s the tension of Christian living. 

We belong to a new Master, but sin is forever trying to reclaim the throne room of our hearts.

Now, here’s the promise though: the sceptre of wickedness ‘will not remain’. God will not allow sin to have the last word in the lives of his people. 

How will he not allow it? Two ways - one now, and one to come later.

For now: Peter tells us, ‘God’s divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life. That’s remarkable, isn’t it? 

‘Everything’ we need – not just something! Everything! In other words, when temptation comes knocking, God has already supplied exactly what you need to say ‘no’ to sin and say ‘yes’ to righteousness. 

That power is nothing less than the power of His Holy Spirit in us! And when we keep in step with Him, we don’t fight in our own strength. We fight with the power of God, such that we have everything we need to live a godly life, Paul says! 

I hope you feel the power of that promise for you right now, because it’s real.

And then there’s promise for later too: one day, this battle will be entirely over. We will live in the new creation. There will be no rival sceptre there. There will be no competing kingdom there. Only Christ will reign. And peace, then, will be uninterrupted and unending.

So, here’s the encouragement: we fight now, but not without weapons that make the difference. We struggle now, but not without hope that lasts. 

And we press on now because we know the promise is sure - the sceptre of wickedness will not remain.

And now a third promise comes in the form of a prayer. And you might look at verse 4 and say, ‘Well, that’s not a promise at all. That’s just a request’.

‘Lord, do good to those who are good, to those who are upright in heart’. 

But here’s the thing: when a prayer is recorded in Scripture, and when we find everywhere else in the Bible that God actually answers that prayer for his people, then the prayer itself becomes a promise. And that’s exactly what’s happening here.

God does good to those who are his. Not because they’re good in themselves, but because he has made them good through the cleansing blood of Jesus spilt for them on the cross. He has, as Paul puts it, ‘blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ’. 

So, the promise is this: all that God designs for you, he designs in his perfect wisdom for your good. Every cheer, and every tear, is woven into His perfect plan to bless your life. And the result is: Peace. A deep, steady, soul-settling peace.

Now, you say to me: ‘But how can you talk about peace when life is full of fears and trials and setbacks?’ Well, let me ask you: when life was going smoothly, did you pray more or less? When all was comfortable, did you thank God more or less? Did you seek his face more or less? 

The answer, if we’re truthful, is less. And that’s because comfort has a way of lulling us into thinking we don’t really need God after all. That’s one of the lies Satan plants.

But when trouble comes, suddenly we reach for God again. The sunshine makes us smile, but it’s the rain makes us pray. And it’s in that dependence - in that drawing near - that blessings flow. Because it is in him that we live and move and have our being - come sunshine or rain.

And so, the Psalmist prays, ‘Do good, O Lord, to those who are good’. The promise behind that prayer is that he always does! He always does good to his people.

So then, Peace in divine protection. Peace in the power to serve Jesus. And Peace in the precious goodness of God in every scene of life. 

These are the promises the Psalmist lays out to strengthen our peace.

But then notice also, peace requires perseverance. Verse 5: ‘But those who turn to crooked ways the Lord will banish with the evildoers’.

That’s a sobering word to me. It reminds me that there can be no peace if I deliberately step out of line with God’s will. 

And let’s be clear - God’s will for us is not some vague, misty notion. It’s revealed plainly in his Word.

There are two paths: the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked. And God doesn’t want his people dabbling in crooked ways. 

Now, does that mean Christians never stumble? No. But it does mean that a Christian cannot set up camp on the crooked road and call it home. If someone does that, they have no basis for confidence that they belong to God at all. God’s people find their home in him and delight follow the ways of his house.

And even when believers flirt with sin, what happens? Their peace vanishes, doesn’t it? The man or woman with one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom of God is a restless soul. They cannot know lasting peace, because peace flows from fellowship with God, and sin always disrupts that fellowship.

Think about the choices you make. Your heart pulls you one way, and God’s Word points you another. If you follow your heart, you won’t find peace - you’ll only find turmoil. But when you bend your will to God’s will, when you say ‘No’ to self and ‘Yes’ to him, peace begins to flow again.

So much of the restlessness we Christians experience, comes not from circumstances, as we might imagine, but from disobedience. You cannot be at odds with the living God and enjoy the peace of the living God. Peace is the by-product of walking in step with him.

So then, the Psalmist lays it all out for us. Peace begins with trust. It’s strengthened by the promises of God. And it is protected by persevering in God’s ways. 

As these things take root in our lives, our hearts will be increasingly marked by what Paul calls ‘the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding’.

And notice - it does surpass understanding. If it were only the product of trust and promises and perseverance, we could add it all up, put it in a neat little formula, and say, ‘That’s why I’ve got peace’. But the reality is greater than that. God’s peace is not something we can fully explain. Rather, it’s something he graciously gives. It’s the overflow of his presence in the lives of his people as they trust him. 

The Psalm simply points us to places we can tap into the peace of God and know it in our lives.

And here’s the wonderful thing: the very fact that God has included this Psalm in the Scriptures tells us that he wants his peace to dwell in our hearts. 

God is not miserly. Nothing thrills him more, than his people - his very own possession - walking so closely with him that, even as the bombs are falling; even as the arrows are flying; even as the fires are blazing, they are not shaken.

We can have peace - perfect peace. Not occasionally. Not in dribs and drabs. But richly. Day by day. Until that day comes when peace is ours in all its fullness - in the presence of Christ himself, forever.

Until then, we’re battling for it. And you could test the reality of this Psalm easily this week if you wanted to. You could choose one area where you will trust his protection. One area where you will rely on his promises, and where you will persevere in his will for you.

And so you can put this Psalm to the practical test. You can see for yourself if His peace flows more readily into your heart than perhaps it normally does. 

I believe it will.