Psalm 126 | Dr. Jerry Vines

I want you to turn in your Bible to Psalm 126 and let's dive right in because I'm aware the fact that I can preach as long as I would like to in this service but around 10:30 or so you're all going to get up and walk out and so I'll do the best I can to get you out in a timely fashion would you follow along in your Bible as I read the brief Psalm Psalm 126 beginning with verse 1 when the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion we were like them that dream then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing then said they among the heathen the LORD hath done great things for them the LORD hath done great things for us where of we are glad turn again our captivity O Lord as the streams in the South vaidic sow in tears shall reap in joy he that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing bringing his sheaves with him tucked away in the Book of Psalms there's a little series of psalms known as the song of degrees they began with some 120 they concluded Psalm 134 we moved from the great continent of psalm 119 to the islands and the inlets of the songs of degrees the word degrees really means a going up and it is believed that the children of Israel who would go up to Jerusalem on the festival days would sing these songs of degrees as they would ascend higher and higher up to the city of Jerusalem and so geographically when they sang these songs of degrees they were on their way up to Jerusalem but what was true of them geographically I think should be true of all of us spiritually would you agree with me this morning that we all ought to be growing and maturing in our Christian life I remember when I was a boy we used to sing a song that had some words like this Lord lift me up and let me stand by faith on heaven's table land a higher plane that I have found Lord plant my feet on the higher ground and so our desire should be the desire of these people to grow and mature and go upward in our Christian life and so it is a song of degrees it is a song of going up it is a song and so there are stanzas to the song and as you read through these stanzas of the song you will make a marvelous discovery you will discover that what is said about the children of Israel in those days can be marvelously applied to you and to me in these days for instance the opening three verses I call the first stanza of the song and I call those verses praise for spiritual returning now get the picture the children of Israel have been delivered from their captivity they're back in their land again and it is so good it is almost too good to be true and they were like those who dreamed they could hardly imagine that they had been delivered from their captivity and they were back in their land and then when it dawned on them what God had done their mouth was filled with laughter and their tongue was filled with singing and the people all around them begin to say the Lord have done great things for them and they indeed said the Lord has done great things for us and we're really glad about it I wonder how long has it been since you and I have thanked the Lord for our salvation and deliverance we have from the captivity of sin you remember that little chorus we used to sing thank you Lord to saving my soul thank you Lord for making me whole thank you Lord for giving to me thy great salvation so full and free and so the takeaway from the first stanza is be thankful then we move to the fourth verse and that verses of stanza in and of itself and there we have a prayer for spiritual reviving they are aware of the fact that they have been returned physically to the Land of Israel but they are also aware that their nation their land is in great need of revival and so they begin to say in verse four turn again our captivity O Lord as the streams in the south the picture here is very vivid to picture in the summer time the of the streams in the Southland the Negev would dry up and become dusty and dry and so the people would see a land that was parched and it remind them of the need of their land for revival would you agree again with me this morning that we have never been in a day that we need revival in America like the day in which you and I are living and so the people began to pray and they begin to call on God and ask God if he would to send the refreshing rains from the heaven you and I need to pray that God will do the same they see this is something that God has to do we can't do this God has to do it and he does it in answer to prayer one of the things I have appreciated about your pastor is his emphasis this past year is president of our Convention on the importance of prayer he has called us to prayer you see we can't send the floods of revival we can pray though that God will give us a revival and then the fall came and the rains would begin to pour and those dried gullies would be filled with with flooding water and overnight that too dry desert become a fragrant garden sometimes people ask me what do you think is ahead for America and I normally say I think there are 3 R's that tell us what's ahead in America it may be the return of the Lord Jesus and I can say even so quickly come Lord Jesus or it may be ruined if the Lord doesn't return and something does it happen we may be headed for terrible judgment and ruin in America but the third possibility is revival it may be an answer to the prayers of God's people that God will be pleased to send the floods of revival again upon America so what's the takeaway from stanza two the takeaway there is be prayerful and then we move down to the third stanza verses five and six and there we have a promise of spiritual reaping and you will notice in verse five he says they that sow in tears shall reap in joy and then he expands what you said in verse five into verse six and goes into a little more detail about what he is calling to our attention I don't know about you but at an early time in my Christian life I selected a life verse my life verse is this verse six here maybe you have a life some people have Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me other people have proverbs 3:5 and 6 trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding and so that may be your verse I remember when I was pastor in Rome Georgia we had a young lady in our church who was not married and we used to talk about that a little bit and she's all preacher I've got a verse for that I said what is your verse wonder she said my verse is I would not have you ignorant brethren and you know I thought that was kind of cute and so sometime later I came back and and wonder still wasn't married and she said pastor I have a new verse now I said well what's your verse now Wanda she said if any man will come after me let him well Psalm 126 verse 6 is what I call my life verse it is reminder to me of the promise that God has given if I'll be a witness for him and it is also a process that God gives me to help me to be a witness for Jesus you see ladies and gentlemen there's one thing that we can do in America and as we have some these patriotic songs today and as we pray that God will send a mighty revival in our land the thing that we know we can do is what we are told here in verse 6 we can be fruitful we can be witnesses for the Lord Jesus Christ so I want you to follow with me now as I trekked through this promise that God gives us and this process that God gives us to be a witness for the Lord because when you put your New Testament glasses on you see in verse 6 almost everything the Bible has to say about being a witness for the Lord Jesus Christ and so let's talk for a moment about step number one going he that goeth forth it's a beautiful picture here if you won't really want to get more out of your Bible look for the pictures in your Bible and here's a familiar Bible picture here isn't it it is the picture of a farmer and he has a leather seed bag strapped around his shoulder he is walking out into the fields he is reaching into the seed bag and he is sowing seed all over the field very familiar picture in that land Jesus used that picture remember Jesus told a parable one time and he said behold a sower went forth to sow and Jesus talked about being a sower he said the harvest truly is plenteous praise the lord of the harvest that he will send forth laborers into the harvest it's a beautiful picture of what you and I can do we can take the seed of the word and we can scatter into the hearts of individuals and claim a golden harvest for heavens greeneries there is a priority on the matter of going in the Bible Jesus gave us what we commonly call the Great Commission and that correct Great Commission literally says as you are going make disciples it is assumed that those who have seed will be going to at that seed and all over the Bible you will find this priority the importance of you and for me to go out and enter the soul the the field the the seed of the word of God in the fields there's a priority that is placed upon it you know we sometimes have many programs in our church and I applaud and support all of the good programs in our church thank God for the music program I thank God for the youth program that we heard about those marvelous camps and all of the other things but entwined in all of the programs in our churches should be this golden thread of evangelism everything we do ought to be used and directed toward leading people to faith in the Lord Jesus I was getting ready to leave my subdivision going on a preaching trip some months ago and as I was coming out of the entrance a couple of cars had pulled up and some people got out and they had a lot of literature under their arms you know exactly to what I refer and I looked at them and I thought to myself Lord those precious people have the right method but they have the wrong message we have the right message but we have the wrong message the wrong method we have the idea that that somehow all we have to do is build a building put up a sign on the outside that says come on in you lucky sinners and get saved but God tells us that it is our responsibility to go and tell people about the Lord Jesus Christ now mediately when I began to talk about that some of you are sitting there you're getting very uncomfortable you're saying now he's getting ready now to put the heavy on us about going out here and being a witness for Jesus and he doesn't know how shy and timid I am well I don't know how shy and timid you are but I know how shine 10 that I have been and I remember after I was called to preach I was a high school senior and God called me to preach in our pastor gave me a card of a teenaged boy and he said I'd like for you to go out and witness to this boy and I'm ashamed to confess this to you this morning but I put that card in my Bible and I never could get up the courage to go and visit that boy and so I understand your chiness I understand your timidity but I'm going to help you before the message is over you see ladies and gentlemen not only is there priority in this matter of going to be a witness for the Lord but but the precept of giving of a witness for the Lord is installed all over the Bible everywhere we read we read about people who were on the go Jesus was on the go he said the son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost Jesus left the heavenly portals of glory the ivory palaces palaces he stepped down the stairway of the stars and he began to show so the seed into needy hearts and he won a harvest to the Lord he won the woman at the well to the Lord he was sowing the seed he was on the go you read about the early church and you'll find that they were on the go Philip was on the go and he led the Ethiopian eunuch to the Lord Peter was on the go and he led Cornelius to the Lord Paul was on the go and he said I have taught you public land and for from house to house it is a priority in the New Testament I went to New Orleans Seminary in the days when the beloved dr. gray Allison was our evangelism professor how I love dr. Allison a hero of mine and he taught us evangelism and and stirred my heart to become a witness for the Lord and I remember one day I was walking down the hall toward his office and he and a young student who was rather liberal were there together and the young student was debating dr. Allison a little bit and dr. Allison was talking about witnessing and being the soul winner and and the the young student said well I just can't get that out of the New Testament quick as a flash dr. Allison said of it's in there to stay and so the priority of witnessing is is found here but also I want you to notice the language that is used it's not as easily apparent in our English versions but when it says he that goeth forth here is a translation of what is called in Hebrew syntax a double verb it is the word ha lacked in the Hebrew language and it's used two times he that goeth forth alack alack King James translates going forth other translations are he that goes to and fro it is a word that calls for emphasis it is a word that calls attention to everywhere we are there are opportunities to tell somebody about Christ and to soulsand see that they might come to know the Lord I heard about a lady in church and she was a not married and she was talking to her pastor about it a little bit in and complaining somewhat about it and the pastor said well now sister he said the Lord's got a plan it's one man for one woman and one woman for one man that's God's plan and you can't improve on it she said pastor I don't want to improve on it I just want to get in on it and I want you to get in on it today and so the first step in the process is is going now that time out for a moment I want to do a little seed sowing too while I'm here let me just kind of if you have never accepted Christ would you look right up here I want to sow little seed Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God I'm so glad you're here we're glad you're here this morning but the Bible teaches that we are all sinners and that we are all desperately in need of forgiveness and salvation and so I would sow that seed of the word into your heart this morning but now track with me as we move to the second step in the process he that goeth forth and weepeth there has to be going but there also needs to be weeping zoom in a little bit closer now on this picture of this farm do you see what's happening he is sowing seed from his seed basket but you will notice as a seed falls you will also notice that a tear fall is falling from his face what a moving picture this is what what an unusual thing I mean listen when would you got a worker who is so committed and involved in his work that he is actually shedding tears over it you have a moving moving picture and it is a picture that reminds us that you and I should have a real concern and a real compassion for those who are around us who do not know our Lord you know we have so relegated emotion to the ranks of the uneducated and to the hyper-emotional that we have almost lost the ability to have any concern any compassion in our churches anymore yet when you study you will discover that there is something very moving about people who have compassion not much weeping going on in churches anymore oh we're still weeping we're we're weeping about silly sitcoms and and sweet songs and and stories but but I don't hear much weeping and see much weeping today over the souls of people who need to know Christ is their personal Savior Charles Spurgeon the great preacher said when he who would win souls must first of all weep for souls tears of earnestness beget tears of repentance and so we need a real compassion we did a real concern for those who do not know the Lord compassion in our hearts for them I have found that sometimes when your logic and when your scintillating conversation doesn't work that God can use your concern and your compassion I was witnessing on the Tuesday night in Jacksonville Florida the number of years ago and we were in the home of a retired sheriff from South Carolina and in that home there was a teenage girl there was a mother and there was a Down syndrome boy and I did everything I need to do I used all of the methods of evangelism I've ever heard ever heard and he was unmoved and and then I looked at the family and I said you'd really like to see dad and and your husband come to know the Lord wouldn't Yin and the mother began to weep and nodded their head and the teenage girl began to weep and nodded her head and and the little Down syndrome boy began to weep and nodded his head and and what my words could not do their concern and their compassion couldn't do and the Spirit of God broke that man and I saw him come to Jesus because somebody cared is there somebody here today and you've got a lost son or a wayward daughter is there someone here today and you've got a lost dad or a lost mom somebody here and you've got a lost friend or a lost a fellow worker when's the last time you got along with God in prayer and have real compassion and real concern for their soul it's a moving picture it's a mighty picture someone said well that's a sign of weakness for people to weep I'm here to tell you ladies and gentlemen the strongest men in the Bible were men who wept Moses was a mighty man and yet he broke down into tears as he prayed for the children of Israel Jeremiah was a mighty man and and yet Jeremiah said hold that my head were waters and my eyes a fountain of Tears that I might weep day and night for the slaying of the daughter of Israel Jesus was the mightiest man who ever walked upon the earth and yet three times in your Bible he stains the pages of your Bible as he weeps he stood before the tune of Lazarus and he wept over the world's sorrow he looked down over the city of Jerusalem and he wept over the world's a shame the night before the cross in Gethsemane he looked to the cross of Calvary and he wept over the world said ladies and gentlemen Jesus Christ wept over those who needed to know our Lord and so it is a mighty mighty picture it is a powerful picture but it is a picture that that calls for us to have compassion you know I've wondered what one of the things that would cause us to have compassion well maybe it's the condition of those were around us have you thought about the families all around Bellevue Baptist Church and what they're experiencing have you thought about the little boys and girls who woke up in violet homes this morning right around this church have you thought about mothers and wives who woke up this morning of victims of domestic abuse have you thought about all of the sin and the sorrow that is around us couldn't that just bring a little tear to our eyes today or our think about the terrible destiny of the Lost you say pretty you don't really believe there's a hell where people go Jesus had the tenderest heart that ever beat in the human bosom and yet Jesus said more about a place called hell than any other person in the Bible think about it could we not shed a tear over the fault that people may die and go to hell didn't think about what Jesus did on the cross and when you think about the shed blood as we've sung about this morning and his sacrificial atonement as we have sung about this morning couldn't that move us to tears this morning oh if you want to be a winner of souls there needs to be a going there there needs to be a weeping that time out could I saw some more seed this morning if you've never accepted Christ would you look right up here at me I want to so little seed Romans 6:23 for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord I've already said that we are sinners and we need a Savior but now this verse I have sown in your hearts that God has given wages to sin and that if you die in your lost condition you will pay the wages of sin going that step number one weeping that step number two and then step number three sowing he that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious see now the King James Version translates it here precious more most of the newer versions give it something like this of bringing along a seed basket and there most of them translated that way I tend to be with John Calvin on that one John Calvin points out that the Hebrew word mashek there is also found in job 8:28 18 where it talks about the price of wisdom is above rubies and the word cares the idea of something that is priceless of something that is precious I don't know about you but my Bible is precious to me you love your Bible although its pages are worn and though places are torn and though places by traces of Tears how precious indeed is this word of God but the Bible is the precious seed that we know what the seed is Jesus told us in Luke chapter 8 verse 11 the seed is the word of God and so it is a precious see but but you know there's power in this seed if I have a seed this morning you might not could even see it but I would put it right up here and you know it looks rather insignificant does it not a little seed this Bible in in my library at home I have a 60 volume set of the great books of the Western world if you take this Bible and put it alongside them this book looks very insignificant but ladies and gentlemen insignificant as it may be that little seed there's power on the inside of that seed and as insignificant as this book may look there is power unbelievable power in the seed of the Word of God it has the power to multiply infinitely you go out into a an apple orchard and you pluck an apple there is an apple in the orchard but did you know there is an orchard in the Apple there is infinite potential to multiply itself marvelously think about the power of the Word of God there was a young man on a snow storm a day slipped into a little primitive Methodist chapel and you heard a layman speak on isaiah 45:22 look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth and the seed was planted and young child Spurgeon came to know Christ Chuck Colson of Watergate Fame had been through a Bible study and on the way home from it the verse that was used in in some a four or five had four words that it trust in the Lord and he pulled over on the side of the road and gave his life to Christ there was power in the word you know for a period of time my claim to fame was for about twenty years I was Kim t-bo's pastor I bet I've had a hundred girls say could you introduce me to Tim and you know I followed Tim when you went on down to play for the Florida Gators and you know somebody said you know you being a an Alabama fan how how could you pull for Tim Tebow and the Gators and I said well I said I prayed for Tim that that Tim would would throw for 400 yards that he had rushed for 200 yards scored five touchdowns in Alabama to win the one-pointed but I followed his career what a fine Christian young man Tim Tebow is and you may remember their their championship season that he had that I black and on his eye black he had a scripture verse and all through the season the scripture verse was Philippians 4:13 I remember Verne Lundquist was talking about it on TV one night he said yeah Tim's got a verse of scripture on his eyes Philistines 4:13 I thought that Oh lovable pay good and then they got to the national championship game and I looked and then I did a double-take and he had changed his verse and in the championship game he had on his eyes John 3:16 did you know that that night there were over 93 million 300,000 hits on John 3:16 who knows what God may have done through that one verse of scripture it can multiply infinitely it can change a life no other book can change a life of the Bible says in first Peter 1:23 being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the Word of God that lives and abides forever no other book can do that now be honest with me have you ever heard anybody give a testimony and say you know I was a terrible liar the truth was not in me I just couldn't tell the truth at all but one day I was reading a math book and I read that two plus two is equal to four and it got ahold of my heart and I've never lied again or have you ever had anybody to say you know I was impure and I was immoral and and one day I read in a chemistry book that h2o is water and it so got ahold of me I've been cleaning pure ever since you ever heard that you ever heard anybody say I I was a crook I was a thief and and I read it I really a geometry book one time and I read about a hypotenuse triangle and it got so a hole in my heart that I've never stolen a thing anymore you've never read it you've never heard it but I'm here to tell you we had the time in this service this morning there are literally hundreds you can save the seeds of the Word of God was planted in my heart and it changed my life and I have ever again then the same there is power to change a life in the Word of God could I plan a little more seed Romans 5:8 if you're lost look up here Romans 5:8 but God come in his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us we're sinners we deserve to go to hell but God loves you so much that he sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross for your sins so here the steps there's going there's weeping there's sowing and then here's the fourth step there's reaping shall doubtless come again with rejoicing bringing his sheaves with him the double verb comes back again in the Hebrew syntax here now it's the word below and is used twice below below and here it carries not the emphasis as much as it cares the idea of of the promise it cares the idea of guarantee so does the eighth a promise of the Lord shall surely without a doubt come again with rejoicing the promise is if we'll just keep going and if we'll just keep sowing God will give us the opportunity to see someone come to know Christ as their personal Savior and ladies and gentleman I I am here to tell you that that God will fulfill his promise you can have a part it may be just to invite somebody to church it may be to just pray for somebody it may be to have the opportunity to share the scriptures with somebody but if you have a part in seeing somebody come to know Christ as their Savior there is a rejoice see like nothing you have ever found now I told you how shy how timid I was the Lord called me to preach our pastor went off to the Holy Land and and his brother was our assistant pastor and we were planting a church over in an area in our town and we had up a tent we were having services at night and the assistant pastor said now I was leading the singing by the way I want you to know Mark's not the only to do all that funny stuff you know and I was leading the scene he said now in the afternoon we're going to go out in these housing projects and we're going to visit I said well I'll go but I ain't gonna say nothing so sure enough that afternoon we went into the home of two teenage boys and we sat down and the assistant pastor looked over at me look up here and he did this and I look back at him and I did this maybe he just clammed up I thought life we're gonna ever get out in time for the service I'm glad to say something and so I begin to think you know I begin to grab you the verses that our pastor had told us to use to lead somebody to cry I begin to grab him you know and try to put them into some kind of pressure I have nephew have never heard such a mess in all of your life and finally another desperation I looked at those two boys 15 and 13 I said you don't want to be saved do you and to my utter astonishment they both said yes and I saw mapped eyes at the mother church on a Sunday night and I suppose it's in the realm of the mystical when I saw those boys baptized I knew that I'd had a little part in diem coming to Christ some jaw bells began ringing in my heart and I can't say I've been too faithful witness I should have been or should be because I'm not and sometimes the bells don't ring as loudly as I would like for them to ring but ladies and gentlemen I'm here to tell you this morning there is no joy in all of the world like having a little part in somebody coming to know Christ do you see the picture now do you see it shall doubtless come again with rejoicing bringing their sheaves with them you see they would harvest the grain they would wrap it in bundles and lay it along the paths and then the Reapers would come and gather them up and here they come coming they're coming out of the fields and they are singing and they are shouting and they are leaping and they are dancing and they are praising there is no joy like the joy of seeing people come to know Christ is their Savior can you imagine how to be to be in heaven and someone come up to you and say because you prayed because you gave because you witnessed I'm in heaven and I want to thank you there's a lot more I'd like to say but I got some seed to sow again if you never accepted Christ would you look right up here Romans 10:9 if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart God has raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved what that verse means is though we're sinners we deserve to go to hell Jesus loved us enough to die on the cross and if we were 10 of our sins confessing we're sinners and inviting him to come into our heart and into our life will be saved could we all bow our heads for just a moment every head bowed and every eye closed if you're here you've never accepted Christ would you like to do that today could I lead you in what we call a sinner's prayer now I know that the prayer doesn't save anyone I know that that Jesus Saves I understand that but but somehow the Lord has chosen to use means to get us to Jesus if you're here man woman young person boy or girl if you would like to be saved this morning I want to word a little prayer and if this is what you would like to pray pray this prayer to the Lord like where you sit dear Lord Jesus I know I'm a sinner Thank You Jesus for dying on the cross for me forgive me of all my sin come into my heart Lord Jesus and save me right now I give my life to you and I will live for you our heads are bowed eyes are closed if you prayed that prayer would you look right up here at me for a moment I probably can't see you but you can see me dear one you've prayed the greatest prayer you could ever pray you've asked God to forgive you of your sins you've invited Jesus to come into your heart and into your life and on the authority of the Bible I hold in my hand whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved just a moment we're going to stand there'll be our invitation if you prayed that simple prayer you need to come down and let it be publicly known that you have prayed and that's Christ to be your Savior in the balcony the steps are here well there there there people up there there are people in the balcony there are ministers in the balcony go to one of those ministers there will be ministers down here I'll ask you to just come down here and just simply say I prayed that prayer with the preacher maybe you'd like to be a member of Bellevue Baptist Church you say I don't know what would I say when I come down there just simply say I wanna join the church they'll take care of it maybe there's somebody here you got a heavy burden on your heart for a family member or friends or someone you'd like to come and just have a little moment of prayer just kind of kneel here in the front and ask God to help you to be a part in the process of them coming to know our Lord I'll ask you to come maybe you're here you would like to commit yourself to be a witness for the Lord to be a part of the process somewhere to be used of God to tell others about Christ or bring them where the pastor can tell them about Christ I'll ask you to come and kneel our Father move now in a mighty way in this invitation time we pray in Jesus name Amy and we're all standing now would you come on the very first word come quickly now from the back from the balcony come quickly while we seeing [Music] you

Channel: Bellevue Baptist Church

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Keywords: Dr. Jerry Vines, Jerry Vines, Psalm 126, Sunday Sermon, Bellevue Baptist Church, Bellevue Memphis, Bellevue Church, Pastor Steve Gaines

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Length: 41min 18sec (2478 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 03 2017