As humanity we often look back to history. The question is do we learn from it? The people of God singing Psalm 79 are called to look back to remember what God has done for them. It begins with the problem they find themselves in. They see Jerusalem razed to the ground by Gentile nations. This has happened because of their unfaithfulness. They then bring their plea to God to punish those who have disregarded his holy place. Their plea gives way to penitence, knowing that it is their sin that has removed them from the land, leading them to seek God preservation of them as they affirm their trust in him.

Takeaways:

• A retrospective examination of our past can yield lessons that prevent history from repeating itself.
• Psalm 79 exemplifies the necessity of learning from our past while trusting in the Lord to keep us in the days ahead.

You can find our more at www.annalongpc.org/podcasts and watch a video of this sermon at https://youtu.be/PtkSi0A1YQw.

There's part of our humanity that causes us to look back, whether it's because of nostalgia or historical intrigue.

We look back to events in history that interest us because of their significance or the fact that they link us to something bigger than the moment in which we're living.

And major historical events would include the sinking of the Titanic, the world wars, or more locally, the building of the Silent Valley.

You can't get away from the fact that all of these, either globally or locally, have had a significance as who we are.

The question is, whenever we do look back, do we learn lessons from history so that history doesn't negatively repeat itself?

Now we can only hope that world leaders learn the horrors of war and that safety equipment was put into place to ensure the preservation of life.

Following the deaths during the building of the reservoirs of the Silent Valley.

I had the occasion to be up there this week.

We had some visitors over from Malawi and we took them up to the Silent Valley.

And I probably don't normally get time to look at the different boards that are there that explained the story of the Ceylon Valley.

And as we know, there were lives lost.

And so we can only hope that if there were inquiries, lessons will have been learned so that construction in the future from that moment would have been safer.

And we do know for sure that things changed in shipbuilding after the Titanic disaster, not least ensuring appropriate lifeboats for every passenger.

Well, growing up, I was always aware of what was known as the Armagh railway disaster.

They would march quite literally from the centre of the town with a brass band leading them the whole way out the Loch Gall Road to, to the train station.

And there they boarded the train that would take them first northwards towards Port o' Donne, and then they would divert off to head down towards Newry and then on to Warren Point.

There were so many children attending that as the train left, our man headed that eastwards towards Newry.

The engine wasn't able to climb a steep gradient that was about two miles out of the city.

And the decision was made to unhook the carriages.

And so stones, stones were put in the wheels of the last carriages in the hope that of the 12 carriages, these stones would hold six of them, so that the engine would take the front six on and come back and get the other ones.

Well, what happened was that as the engine unhooked the first six, once it had reached the top of the hill, they rolled back, collided with the remaining six carriages at the back, leading to 80 deaths, mostly children.

And to this day, as you walk around St. Mark's parish church just off the Mall in Armagh, you will find most of the headstones to those who died on that Sunday school excursion.

The Armagh railway disaster.

And this is genuine photograph.

We grew up seeing this around Armagh, knowing of the disaster that took place.

Well, following an investigation, it was discovered that the braking system used on trains of that time weren't effective.

And since then, all because of the Armagh railway disaster, automatic continuous braking systems have been installed in every train built.

A lesson learned that has saved countless lives in the rest of history.

Now, I tell this story not because I love telling you stories about Armah, because it's a great place to go and visit, but because Psalm 79 is a Psalm about looking back, but not in a way that is about nostalgia, not in a way where the Jews now who are singing this can be more entrenched in their culture.

Rather, looking back and learning from history so that the people can know a better future, they're not simply looking back and remembering a good old day.

They're looking back so they can trust God in the future.

And to help us understand what we're being told, the Psalm divides into four Ps, a problem, a plea, penitence and perseverance.

So we begin in verses 1 to 4 with the problem that the people are facing.

And although we're not told specifically when or why this psalm is written, we do get a good sense of what's happening whenever we read verse one, because we're told there.

Oh God.

This is the first verse of this song.

The children of Israel would sing, O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance.

They have defiled your holy temple.

They have reduced Jerusalem to rubble.

Now, during the period of the psalms, whenever these psalms would be sung by the community of God's people worshiping together, the only occasion that we would have known of such destruction of the holy city tells us that this is a psalm that is written either during or in response to the Babylonian exile, and that the enemy, that is the Gentile nations, have raised the city to the ground.

This is what Ezra and Nehemiah come back and find.

So it's probably a psalm written around that time.

But look at what they say.

They talk about invading God's inheritance, defiling the holy temple, and to invade the land of God's promise to defile the temple is a horrible sacrilege.

These nations are treating something holy as unclean, which is an atrocity against God.

And things get worse in verse two, because, as the psalmist tells us, they have unwantingly or they have wantingly slaughtered God's own people and left their bodies unburied for wild animals to eat.

This is a gruesome and a gory scene.

But this is mentioned because burial in a tomb shows proper respect for the dead, something that all humanity believes is important, rather than what has been described here.

So this is not just defilement of God and who he is, but of the covenant people.

And really, it's verse four that sums up the problems of these people.

Because there, we're told we are objects of reproach to our neighbors, of scorn and derision to those around.

And so as the congregation sings this, they're thinking about what this is like out there.

What's the perspective now of the nations looking in?

And this is important for the children of Israel.

It's always been important.

See, what's described here would hurt any people.

But the people singing this are God's people.

And the neighbors are Gentiles.

God's people were supposed to be an advertisement to the Gentiles of how great and good God is.

But instead, and by the way, it is through their unfaithfulness they have become an object lesson for those nations.

And the people aren't ignorant of this fact, as verse 8 will go on to tell us.

But their problem is as a covenant people of God.

They are knowing evil attack by their enemies, and so they can't be who they are supposed to be before God.

And so they cry out to God for help.

And as we've been going through the psalms these past number of months, there have been psalms that have been about waiting where the waiting people cry out to God, waiting that he will take action when things get tough.

And maybe I have assumed that this is the action that we all take during the tough times of life.

I have assumed that each of us cry out to God to help us when life isn't going as we'd hoped or planned.

But maybe I'm wrong.

Maybe we don't cry out to him as much as I assume.

And the reasons for that could be because of shame or deceit, where we don't want to admit the sin or laziness or pride.

There are many reasons why we wouldn't cry out to God.

But as we turn to now, the plea of his people in this psalm, we discover that they can turn nowhere else but to the Lord.

So my assumptions that we all turn to the Lord when things get tough may not be accurate, but today we learn from this psalm that we still can turn to him.

Because in verses five to seven we get what their plea is.

So as much as we know the problem that it is to do with the Gentile nations that have raised Jerusalem to the ground, we now hear what they want God to do.

What is the plea?

Well, they cry out to him, wanting to know, as we've seen in other verses, how long, how long will it be before he acts in their defense?

And these verses guide God's people in what they should feel at such a time.

Because the psalm directs the congregation's attention away from the question of how long he will let them suffer like this.

After all, the psalm is suited to an occasion on which the people suffer because God is angry and, and his jealousy burns with their unfaithfulness.

And that's what verse five is asking.

So rather the question for this occasion is of how long he will allow the nations to get away with what they have done.

And verse 6 echoes what Jeremiah says in chapter 10 and verse 25.

But verse 6 says for us, pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the kingdoms that do not call on your name.

And even though, and in our text we heard it described as Jacob, that is Israel.

So even though Jacob in verse seven tells us has been unfaithful, the Israelites still belong to the Lord.

And the instruments of God's chastising hand must be humbled, that is the nations who have brought this about.

So the plea of God's people is twofold.

They want to be restored and they want their enemies humbled.

The problem for us today is that at times we don't want our enemy humbled.

See, our enemy is sin, and there are, by the way, our real enemy.

We might think we have other enemies, but our real enemy is sin.

And there are times when we love our sin too much that we don't want to bring it before God because we believe we would lose whatever pleasure it would be of life.

But nothing could be further from the truth.

Our sin may appear to be what we need today, but its consequences will have far reaching consequences in this life and in eternity.

The people of Psalm 79 are about to acknowledge their sin, but the psalm so far has told us of its consequences.

Their sin has displaced them, their sin has hurt them as they're subjected to foreign rule.

And their sin has destroyed the one place that they want to go, to Jerusalem.

Sin has consequences and we must wake up to this fact so that we will seek the only forgiveness of our sins that we can know, that forgiveness that comes in Jesus Christ.

That's why John writes what he does in First John, chapter one and verses eight and nine.

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

You see, there's a problem, and ultimately that problem problem is the sin that the people are facing because of their unfaithfulness.

And their plea to God is that indeed he will take action.

And in their eyes, it might be action against a hostile nation, the Babylonians or the Assyrians.

But in reality, for them and for us today, the real enemy is the sin in our lives.

That's my problem, my sin.

And it's your problem too.

Because as we go into the next section, we will see what is a penitent spirit.

Because verses 8 to 10 talk about penitence or the penitence of the people.

And penitence is another word for repentance or seeking forgiveness.

I've told you before of my great love of the Indiana Jones franchise of movies.

And then the last of the third, where they go looking for the Holy Grail, the last Crusade.

As Indiana Jones approaches the place where there is supposed to be the Holy Grail, he has to go through three different tests.

And one of them is about penitence.

And as he recites, the penitent man kneels before God.

The penitent man kneels before God.

He kneels as these circular saws basically come across him.

But he's not hit by them because he's kneeled down, because that's what the penitent does.

And that's the language of Scripture, to be penitent, to know who we are before the Lord.

And that's where the people are moving to.

As I said just a few minutes ago, verse 8 was going to show us what is the heart of the people.

Because in verse eight they cry out, do not hold against us of the fathers.

May your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need.

The people are looking forgiveness of sins.

They are penitent before God.

They kneel before Him.

They know that their greatest need from the sin around them is salvation in God alone.

They want him to come quickly.

They want him to come and rescue them from the consequences that they are facing because of their rebellion against him.

They want help from him and they want deliverance.

And they want this not so that they can have an easy life, but for the glory of the name of the Lord.

And as his covenant people, they want his name to be lifted up and honored above any other.

And that's what they sing as they get to verse 10.

Why should the nation say, where is their God before our eyes?

Make known among the nations that you avenge the outpoured blood of your servants.

Now this is a dangerous thing to sing by the people before God because as they seek the punishment of others for their sins against God, they need to be very aware of the punishment that they deserve because of their own sin.

They're not a people who think that it is everyone else who deserves God, or they're not to be a people people who think that it is everyone else who deserves God's wrath and not them.

And this is a reality we need to remember.

We're all born in sin.

We're all shaped by that sin, or shaped in iniquity, as the King James Version tells us.

And that's what we find in Psalm 51.

And because of this, we rightly deserve the punishment that our sins deserve.

And remember what sin is.

Sin is any want of conformity onto or transgression of the law of God.

Westminster shorter catechism number 14.

In other words, sin is disobeying or not conforming to God's law in any way.

Isn't that what we're seeing with the girls and boys?

Isn't that what we're seeing?

The stories that they're learning that the people receive the Ten Commandments, but then immediately, as soon as Moses isn't around for 40 days, rejects them and they build of themselves a golden calf?

You see, as humanity, we need to know we are prone to not conforming to God's way.

We want to do it our way.

We want the shortcuts in business because it'll benefit us regardless of the moral or integrity implications.

We want to be able to say and do things about other people because it vindicates us and paints them to be the bad person.

We want to do it all because that's our way, not conforming to God's way.

Now take a moment and think about that.

And if you think hard and deeply, you will discover no matter who you are, you have sinned in the past 24 hours.

You have not conformed to to God's law in any way.

We each, myself included, have said things or done things or thought things that we know go against what God's word tells us is his law or his standard for us.

And so today, like the people of old, we are all here needing to know the forgiveness of God.

But there are two types of people here.

There are those who know Christ as Savior and therefore have had their sins past from present and future forgiven.

But this doesn't mean that we can sin freely and think that we can get away with it.

Rather, the daily sins that ensnare us need to be repented of.

We may not face eternal punishment for them, but we do need to repent, because that's what a loving, living relationship means.

Think of those who are closest to you in your life, and when you've done them wrong, do you not want to apologize?

Well, you should if you want any hope or future in that relationship.

We repent because we care, and we care because we have hurt someone.

And our sin is an offense before the Lord.

And it is only by coming in repentance through Jesus that we can know that sin is forgiven and the assurance of pardon.

And so that's one type of person here who knows Christ as Lord and Savior, but also needs to know that as we sin daily, we need to seek forgiveness of that sin.

But then there are those here this morning who know their sin, but don't know a Savior.

So you will have to bear the punishment that your sins deserve.

And that is a terrible thing.

It's a terrible thing because the punishment is so great.

Simply thinking that you are a good person and justifying your goodness is not enough.

The only goodness that we're to know is the goodness of Christ and the salvation he offers through his death on Calvary's cross.

That's why Paul tells us in Romans 8:1 2.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of life saved us.

Set me free from the law of sin and death.

The only way that we can know forgiveness of our sins is not by thinking that we're good people, rather looking to Christ, because it is through him that we've been set free from the law of sin and death.

The answer to the guilt and punishment of our sin is not our own goodness.

It's Christ.

He can only be our salvation.

And trust in him leads us to the final verses of this psalm and their call for preservation or perseverance in verses 11 to 13.

These final verses lead to the effect of the forgiveness prayed for, namely, that God will preserve those of his people condemned to die.

Now, perhaps the reference in the text here is to prisoners, meaning that they're literally to be executed.

But it's more likely, as most of the psalms do, present for us a wider understanding, that the people praying this see themselves as under a sentence of death, that is abandonment by God.

The reproach hurled by the neighbors against God's people are taken to be against God himself.

So verse 12 asks that God would give the destroyers what they deserve for daring to taunt them.

And verse 13 concludes this Psalm by looking forward to the granting of forgiveness and pledges.

Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will praise you forever.

From generation to generation, we will recount your praise.

See, this is what God made them for.

And to sing this psalm sincerely is to accept this as a call to genuine embrace of the covenant, a covenant that is from generation to generation because of the steadfast love of God.

And this covenant that we talk about, this promise of God towards us is now known through the blood of Jesus.

That's how God demonstrates His love.

That's where all of the promises of God are fulfilled in Christ and in him alone.

That indeed we can know daily forgiveness as we repent of our daily sins.

But we have that eternal hope because of everything that Jesus has done.

Looking back at our past should assure us for the future.

Young people, you're going back to school.

Don't fear those moving on to college or university or into the workplace.

Don't fear those facing the unknown of health challenges, family issues and even retirement.

Don't fear.

Trust in the one who has been with you in the past, that he will keep you in the days ahead.

Psalm 79 demonstrates his loving care towards his people so that we too can know it today.

He is the only one who drives out fear, but he is also the only one who can give us salvation.

God doesn't show his love towards us because we are good people.

None of us can ever be good enough.

God shows us his love because we are sinners and and we desperately need him.

And Psalm 79 tells us that as we wait on the Lord, we can trust him today, and he will be faithful.

Paul writes in 2nd Thessalonians 3 and verse 3.

But the Lord is faithful and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil.

1 4P's the problem which we all have, the problem with our greatest enemy sin.

The second P, the plea.

What do we want to do about it?

And that's the question.

What do we want God to do with that problem of sin in our lives.

Do we want him to deal with it or are we happy for him to ignore it?

Because if we're happy for him to ignore it, sin still needs to be punished and we will face that ourselves.

Rather, we're to cry out to him with that plea to forgive us.

So we have the problem and we have the plea, but we also have the preservation.

And let me give you an extra fifth one, a free pea, if you like.

Number five, protection.

This is who God is to us.

He protects us because he keeps us.

That's what Paul is saying in Second Thessalonians.

He's the only one who is faithful.

He's the only one who is true.

My goodness is never good enough.

It's only the goodness of Christ by which I can live.

I grew up knowing of the Armagh railway disaster, and every time since then I've stood on a train, I've always looked at the braking system to make sure it's still going to work.

I hope we look back at the past and see God's goodness and his faithfulness.

I hope we have known it in recent months as well as in the years and decades gone by, so that whatever this next season brings to us, we stand as God's people did with our plea to him to keep us, to draw us closer to Himself, knowing that he will never leave us or abandon us.

But this day we will trust in him and in him alone.

Let's pray.

Our Father God, we thank you that as we think of this psalm, we're drawn to Christ and the person of Christ for who he is.

Your greatest demonstration of love to us is in sending your one and only Son to die on the cross so that we can know that our true enemy is defeated and we can be free.

Indeed.

Help us not to abuse this by thinking that we can get away in our sin.

We can't get away with will always catch us.

Because sin has consequences either here or in eternity.

And not just for us, but for those around us.

So, Father, help us to be sincere in our faith in Jesus, to live for him each day, to stay away from the things that are bad, that are evil, that don't influence us well, and rather looking to Jesus, filling our hearts and minds with who he is, so that as we know the forgiveness of our sins and life eternal, we will know his presence with us with each step that we take in this life.

So, Father, may we respond well to your word this day.

In Jesus name, amen.