Message Notes

SSS 4 20 September 2026
Text: Psalm 129

A Song of Ascents.

1 “Many a time they have afflicted me from my youth,”
Let Israel now say—

2 “Many a time they have afflicted me from my youth;
Yet they have not prevailed against me.

3 The plowers plowed on my back;
They made their furrows long.”

4 The Lord is righteous;
He has cut in pieces the cords of the wicked.

5 Let all those who hate Zion
Be put to shame and turned back.

6 Let them be as the grass on the housetops,
Which withers before it grows up,

7 With which the reaper does not fill his hand,
Nor he who binds sheaves, his arms.

8 Neither let those who pass by them say,
“The blessing of the Lord be upon you;
We bless you in the name of the Lord!”

Psalm 129:1-8

ENDURING AFFLICTIONS

1 “Many a time they have afflicted me from my youth,”
Let Israel now say—

2 “Many a time they have afflicted me from my youth;
Yet they have not prevailed against me.

3 The plowers plowed on my back;
They made their furrows long.”

Psalm 129:1-3

1. Many afflictions

a) From youth

b) To adulthood

2. Painful afflictions

a) The back is compared to a field that is plowed

b) There were deep furrows on the back

3. But the Afflictions failed to prevail

a) Faith in God was not destroyed

b) The spirit was not broken by the afflictions

c) Afflictions can be endured

A FIRM FAITH IN GOD’S JUSTICE

4 The Lord is righteous;
He has cut in pieces the cords of the wicked.

5 Let all those who hate Zion
Be put to shame and turned back.

6 Let them be as the grass on the housetops,
Which withers before it grows up,

7 With which the reaper does not fill his hand,
Nor he who binds sheaves, his arms.

Psalm 129:4-7

1. Faith in the righteousness of God

a) This must be certain

b) It must be a confirmed as a genuine and strong faith

2. The Lord will deal with the following:

a) The cords of the wicked

b) Those who hate Zion

3. The lives of the wicked are compared to:

a) Grass on the rooftops

b) They wither away soon enough

c) They are compared to reapers who gather little from the harvest

4. How may the righteous regard those who hate the Lord’s name?

Neither let those who pass by them say,
“The blessing of the Lord be upon you;
We bless you in the name of the Lord!”

Psalm 128:8

a) They are not to say

“The blessing of the Lord be upon you”

b) They are not to use the Lord’s name to bless the wicked

9 Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; 11 for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds. 2 John 1:9-11