Well, good morning. We're going to open up this morning's
service in the hardback hymnal number one. Oh, worship the king,
number one, if you could please stand. you. O worship the King, all glorious
above. He gratefully sang his power
and his love. Our shield and defender, the
Ancient of Days. pavilioned in splendor and girded
with praise. O tell of his might, O sing of
his praise, whose robe is the light, whose canopy space, his
chariot The deep thunder clouds form, And dark is his path On
the wings of the storm. Thy bountiful care What tongue
can recite? It breathes in the air, It shines
in the light. It streams from the hills. It descends to the plain. And sweetly distils in the dew
and the rain. frail children of dust, and feeble
as frail, in thee do we trust, nor find thee to fail. Thy mercies, how tender, how
firm to the end, Our maker, defender, redeemer, and friend. You may be seated. Good morning. We're going to
be in Psalm 90 both hours this morning. If you'd like to turn
with me there. In your Bibles, I told the men this morning,
I think Psalm 90 has become my favorite song. It is so glorious. Let's go before the Lord in prayer
and ask his blessings. Our merciful Heavenly Father. as we've just been blessed and
privileged to sing with some understanding. Truly, you are
in our dwelling place. We ask now that you would be
pleased to send your spirit in power. Lord, if you don't open
your word to our hearts and Open the eyes of our understanding,
open the windows of heaven and come down. All that we do here
is worse than in vain. So Lord, we confess to you our
complete dependence on your presence and your blessings, your grace
and your mercy. We ask that you would enable
us to speak of Christ. and that you would cause us to
set our affections on him as he seated as a successful sovereign
savior of sinners at thy right hand. Lord, give us good hope. Rest our souls in him. For it's
in his name we ask it. Amen. I've titled this Bible
study, Our Dwelling Place, Our Dwelling Place. And we're going
to spend the first portion of our time this morning in the
first verse of Psalm 90. And I have three questions I
want to try to answer from this first verse. Who is our dwelling
place? Where is our dwelling place? And who is this dwelling place
for? Who is our dwelling place? Where
is our dwelling place? And who is this dwelling place
for? Now, this is a place that we
must be in. We must be in this dwelling place.
And this dwelling place cannot be mortgaged. It cannot be paid
for with rent. It does not need to be maintained.
This dwelling place is none other than the Lord himself. And to
be found in him, to be found in him, to be in Christ. That's he is our dwelling place. Notice in verse one, Lord, thou
has been our dwelling place in all generations, in all generations. Psalm 90 sets a clear contrast
between the eternality and immutability of our God to the temporal, ever-changing
state of us. These two things are set in clear
contrast to one another, presents man as a dying creature, and
that's what we are. I stand before you this morning
as a dying man, speaking to dying men. I believe that. And this psalm declares to us
where our hope is and with whom our hope is. Because our Lord
is not dying. He's the essence and the source
of all true life. And if we're going to have life,
we're going to have to be found in him. This is life, eternal,
that they might know they're the only true God in Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent. Now notice in this first verse
that God does not say that the hope for a dying man is an extended
life. or that the hope of a dying man
is relief from his troubles, or that the hope for a dying
man is the abundance of worldly comfort. Our relief does not
come in the form of better circumstances. In the midst of all our trials
and troubles, the hope for a dying man is to be found in Christ,
who himself is our dwelling place. The Lord is the refuge of his
people. He is their sanctuary. All stability
and life and safety is found in him. This is the rest, Isaiah 28,
wherewith you may cause the weary to rest. And he's speaking in
Isaiah chapter 28 of the revelation of Christ made line by line,
precept upon precept, here a little, there a little, in the word of
God. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
is our rest. Did he not make it clear when
he said, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, come unto the doctrine of Calvinism? No. Come unto me. Come unto me and
I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you for my
burden is light. So, we come into his presence. Psalm 32 verse 7 says, thou,
thou, thou, Lord, art my hiding place. Thou shalt preserve me
from trouble. Thou shalt come pass me about
with songs of deliverance. In the midst of this dying world,
living in this dying body, the Lord is saying to his people,
I'm your rest. I'm your hope. I'm your safety. I am your life. I am your dwelling
place. Did not Paul say, I know whom
I have believed and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that
which I've committed unto him against that day. Lord, thou
has been our dwelling place. This dwelling place cannot be
entered into by the flesh. That which is of the flesh is
flesh. The flesh profiteth nothing. It is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth. It is of God that showeth mercy.
It's the spirit of God that giveth life. We've seen that so many
times throughout the scriptures. When Ezekiel preached to that
valley of dry bones, and they began to come together, but the
scripture says, as of yet, there was no life in them. And so what
did the Lord say? Man of God, prophesy to the wind. Cry out for the Spirit of God
to take the message of the gospel and make it effectual to the
hearts of God's people. And God breathed life into their
dead bodies. And the Lord said, that story
ends with this is the whole house of Israel. The Lord told Nicodemus,
Nicodemus, you cannot You cannot perceive of the kingdom of God.
You can't understand it. You can't receive it. You can't
enter into it unless you'd be born of the spirit. So this coming to our dwelling place
is not a long journey. But it's an impossible journey
to be done in the flesh. It can only be done in the power
of the Spirit of God. Turn with me to Romans chapter
10. Romans chapter 10. Who is our dwelling place? Where can we find rest for our
weary souls? Where can we find the hope of
eternal life? How can a man be made right with
God? How can I have my sin put away
so that it does not condemn me in the presence of God? How can
I have hope that the law has been fulfilled for me. Well,
Romans chapter 10 makes it clear that the religious, the religious
being ignorant in verse three of God's righteousness, are going
about to establish their own righteousness, not knowing, not
knowing that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believe it. So the Lord's condemning these
ones who have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
They don't know the truth. And so the Lord says they're
trying to find a dwelling place in their own efforts, in their
own works. Verse 5, for Moses described
the righteousness which is of the law, that the man which doeth
these things shall live by them. You want to be saved by the law,
you're going to have to keep the whole law. and not just in
outward actions like Saul of Tarsus did. He said, concerning
the law, I was blameless. No one could charge me with any
behavior that was contrary to the law of God. But then he said,
when the law came, and what was the law that came to his heart?
Thou shalt not covet. The man looks at the outward
appearance, God looks at the heart. And when the Lord showed to Saul
of Tarsus, the Apostle Paul, that God was considering his
heart, then he died. He died. And verse six, how are we going to
get to this dwelling place? It's not far away. That's what
God's telling to us. This is not, this is not, doesn't
take a journey to get there. It's, You don't have to travel
a long distance. The righteousness which is of
faith speaketh on this wise. So we know that something about
this dwelling place has to do with speaking. Say not, don't
speak like this. Say not in thine heart who shall
ascend into heaven that is to bring Christ down from above.
Don't talk like that. Perish the thought. Don't even
think it. What can I do? What can I do to bring Christ
to me? What can I do to persuade him
to save me? What work can I work to accomplish my salvation? And who shall descend down into
the deep? That is to bring Christ up again
from the dead. What can I do to make the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ effectual for me? You see, don't talk like
that. Don't think like that. That's
a works gospel. But what sayeth it? The word
is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thine heart. That is the
word of faith which we preach. that if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth
under righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. For the scripture saith, whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference
between the religious and the irreligious, the moral and the
immoral, the Jew and the Greek. For the same Lord over all is
rich unto all them that call upon him. For whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Believing. Believing. on him, calling on
him. That's it. It's as close as your
lips. That's how, that's how close
this dwelling place is to call upon him. Deuteronomy chapter 26, verse
15. We'll go back to our text. The
Lord himself. The Lord himself is our dwelling
place. When we call upon him, we're
calling upon him to do his work of redemption without any contribution
on our part. We're not trying to add to or
take away from what he's done where we're confessing. We're
confessing that Jesus is the Christ, the son of living God. We have no place else to go,
but to rest the hope of our salvation on him. That's what. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling
place. Now the second question I want
to ask is where is this dwelling place? Deuteronomy chapter 26
verse 15 says, look down from thy holy habitation. Now, the
word holy habitation is the same exact word as dwelling place
in Psalm 90 verse 1. And so, the believer is crying
out to God, God look down from thy dwelling place. Look down
from thy holy habitation from heaven and bless thy people Israel. Where is our hiding place? Where is the Lord Jesus Christ?
He is our hiding place. Where is he? He has ascended
back and taken his rightful place, seated at the right hand of the
majesty on high. That's what the scripture says.
All the blessings of God are in Christ in the heavenlies. So we're looking to heaven. That's
why Paul said in Colossians, set your affections on things
above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. That's
where our dwelling place is. That's where it's always been.
It's always been there. You see, even before time began,
even before Adam was created, even before sin entered into
the human picture, the Lord Jesus Christ was our dwelling place.
We've always been in Christ. He's the lamb that was slain
before the foundation of the world. God placed his elect in
Christ, in the covenant of grace, before the first one of them
was ever born. Or before Adam was ever made,
before the stars were ever created. So our dwelling place is in heaven. He is our dwelling place. By
faith, we see Christ as our advocate. You see this dwelling place,
what we read in Romans chapter 10 is that this journey to this
dwelling place is done in the heart through faith. It's through
faith. It's not something that's performed
with an act of the flesh. It's a work of grace in the heart.
And so the Lord, the Lord's making it clear that that we that we
look in faith. To the Lord Jesus Christ. We
have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. He's seated. The Lord said, sit
down here at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
We are by nature at enmity with God. And the Lord by his grace
brings us through faith to do like Mary. What did the Lord
say about Mary? Oh, Martha, Mary has chosen that
one thing needful. She's the one sitting at my feet,
listening to my words. And the Lord by his grace causes
those who are at enmity with him to be his footstool, to sit
at his feet. and to listen to him. By faith,
we see him in the covenant of grace as the lamb slain before
the foundation of the world. By faith, we hear God say to
his son, sit thou here at my right hand. By faith, we believe
that all the blessings of God are in Christ in the heavenlies. Second Chronicles chapter 30
verse 27, then the priest arose That priest is Christ and he
blessed the people and their voices were heard and their prayers
went up to his holy dwelling place, even unto heaven. So Christ himself is our dwelling
place. Where is he located? Where is
he? He's in the heavenlies. He's
seated. He's finished the work of redemption. He's accomplished everything
necessary for his people to be able to have rest. We look in
faith to what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished in his flesh.
We look back 2,000 years ago to see that God was made flesh,
that God Almighty was made in the likeness of sinful flesh.
He was born of a woman, he was born under the law to redeem
those who are cursed by the law. And we beheld and we do behold
through the eye of faith his glory as the only begotten of
the father. He's the one that's full of grace
and full of truth. That can only be done by faith.
That can only be seen through the eye of faith. The natural
eye can't see it. Oh Lord, thou art our dwelling
place. His dwelling place. The dwelling
place of the Lord Jesus Christ. Was in constant fellowship with
his father. No, you and I are in need of.
Of entertainment and distractions in this life, aren't we? We are. We The Lord wasn't. He wasn't. You know, we become
discontent pretty quickly when life becomes mundane and there's
no change to be experienced in this life. We're always looking
for a reprieve. We're looking for a distraction.
We're looking for some entertainment and something to spice up life
for us. That was never true for the Lord
Jesus Christ. He needed none of that. He received
all of his happiness and all of his satisfaction and all of
his contentment by being in his dwelling place. And so it will
be for us one day, one day. You see, that's the flesh that
needs all those things, isn't it? It's the flesh that needs
that needs change and entertainment and distractions. But once we
are rid of this flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ is going to be our
dwelling place forever. And like, well, the scripture
says, we'll see him as he is and be made like him. And just
like he received all of his happiness and all of his satisfaction,
all of his contentment in his fellowship with the Father, so
it will be for us when we see him in glory. He'll be all we
need. Where is this dwelling place?
Well, listen to Psalm 26 verse 8, Lord, I have loved the habitation
of thy house and the place where thy honor dwelleth. The church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is the only place where the honor of God dwells. This
is the place where he's pleased to manifest his glory. This is
the place where his people come together and worship him in the
power of the spirit and according to the truth of the gospel. No
other place, no other place is Christ honored. No place out
there in the world. This is where two or three are
gathered together in my name. There I am in the midst of them. And we dwell in him and his word
dwells in us. That's it. Abide, abiding in
Christ. Psalm 68 verse 5 says that he
is a father to the fatherless and he is a judge to the widow. Now the fatherless and the widow
were desperately needy. They had no one to provide for
them. To speak of the fatherless and
the widow is just another way of the speaking of centers. He
is a father to the fatherless. He is a judge to the widow. He is God in his holy habitation. This is the house of God. This
is the habitation. This is the place where he's
pleased to make himself known. And this is the place where he's
worshiped by his people. Oh Lord, you are my habitation. You are my dwelling place. You are my rest and all my satisfaction. And I look in faith to what you
accomplished on Calvary's cross when you shed your precious blood
for the payment of my sin. I look to your obedience to the
Father, obedience even unto death. to satisfy the demands of God's
holy justice. I look to you seated at the right
hand of God, ever living to make intercession for me. I look to
you as the successful savior of sinners. You are my hiding
place. And I discover and, and, and,
and hear your voice and see you when I'm blessed to be able to
gather together with your people and hear the gospel of your grace
preached. That's my, that's, that's it.
That's where his habitation is. Turn to me to Psalm 71, back
just a few pages to Psalm 71. Verse 1, In thee, O Lord, do
I put my trust. I can't put my trust in man.
I can't put my trust in myself. I can't put my trust in my works.
But Lord, in you I can put my trust. Believing on the Lord
Jesus Christ is trusting Him. Trusting Him. In thee, O Lord,
do I put my trust. Let me never be put to confusion.
A lot of things in this world that are confusing, aren't there?
A lot of things. But to be put to confusion means
that the confusion of this world causes you to look away from
Christ. That's what it is to be put to confusion. And so,
Lord, cause the confusing things of this world to cause me to
look to you and to trust you. Deliver me in thy righteousness
and cause me to escape There is a way of escape. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
way. He said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man can
come to the Father but by me. And so now he's praying, Lord,
cause me to escape. If you don't cause me to escape,
I won't be able to escape. Incline thine ear unto me and
save me. Save me. Now look at verse 3,
be thou my strong dwelling place, habitation, that's the same word,
where unto I may continually resort. You see, this dwelling place
is not something we go to one time and think, well, I've been
there, done that. No, we continually resort to
this dwelling place. Why? Because we're often put
to confusion. We're often caused to look away. And so the Lord in his mercy
causes us to keep coming. That's why Peter, when he spoke
of coming to Christ, he didn't say, he didn't say, he said,
to whom coming. Present tense, personal, to whom
coming. That I may continually dwell. Thou hast given commandment to
save me for thou art my rock and my fortress. Lord, you're
my hiding place. You're my only hope. And now,
as the psalmist of Moses, by the way, you see in your Bible,
go back with me to Psalm 90. You see where Moses is the penman
of this Psalm? This Psalm predates all other
Psalms. Moses lived 500 years before David. And so this is
a prayer of Moses. And And Moses is contemplating
the eternality and the immortality and the immutability of God as
it compares to man's frailty, man's temporal, ever-changing
condition. and the trials and troubles that
man faces in this world. And he says, oh Lord, thou, thou
art my hiding place to whom I must continually dwell. I'm looking
in faith. This hiding place can only be
gotten to. This dwelling place, this place
of safety can only be gotten to by faith. It's the only way
to get there. That's what Romans chapter 10,
don't be confused about Romans chapter 10. If you believe in
your heart and confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, you shall
be saved for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved. I know the free willers love to quote those verses
to say, well, that's what you've got to do in order to be saved.
That's the demonstration of faith. That's the demonstration of faith.
God is, and faith is a gift of God. And I remind you of an illustration
I've given you several times. And that is that breathing, faith
is to our spiritual life what breathing is to our physical
life. When a child is born alive, what
is the first thing that it does? It breathes. It breathes. It breathes because it's alive. It doesn't take a breath in order
to be alive. If a child is born and doesn't
breathe, it was never alive in the birth. We call that a stillborn
child. And so it is with faith. regeneration,
the work of the Spirit of God giving to us the new life, the
new birth in order of cause and effect,
not in order of time. Now in order of time, they happen
simultaneously. But in order of cause and effect,
regeneration necessarily precedes faith, just like life precedes
breathing. And so the Lord's doing to us
what that doctor does when that baby's born. What's he do? He slaps him and, breathe child,
breathe. And the live child does just
that. He breathes. That's what the
Lord's doing in Romans chapter 10. He's saying, call upon me,
call upon me. And whosoever calls upon me shall
be saved. The Lord's holding us up by our
feet and slapping us on the butt and say, breathe, breathe, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. And those that are, how do I
know? How do I know that I have spiritual life? Because I breathe. Because I called upon him. Notice the last part of verse
90. In all generations. I want you to turn with me to
first Peter chapter five. First Peter chapter five. You remember what Romans chapter
11 is all those saints mentioned in the Old Testament and how
they believed God? And then Romans chapter 12 verse
1 says, seeing that you are compassed about with such a great cloud
of witnesses, Lay aside the sin which doth so easily beset you.
What is the sin that doth so easily beset you? I know somebody may be thinking
about a particular habit or problem that they have in their life.
No, the root cause of all of our habits and all of our sin
is the sin of unbelief. Set aside those things that weigh
you down. And, and look unto Jesus, the
author and the finisher of your faith, who for the joy that was
set before him endured the cross, despising it's shame. He thought
nothing of it's shame. First Peter chapter five. Now
that, that, that whole chapter 11 of Hebrews is written to say
to us. They believed me and you go back
and look at some of the circumstances they went through. And yet what
a hall of faith. And then in first Peter chapter
5, look at look at verse. 6. Humble yourself, therefore, under
the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time. In due time. Casting all your
care upon him for he cares for you. How do you know that? Cause God
said, so be sober, be vigilant. Because your adversary the devil
as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour, whom
resist steadfastly in the faith. What is it to resist the devil
in the faith? It's to look to Christ when tempted
by the devil. It's to look in faith to the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's to call upon him. It's to
cast all your care on him, believing that he cares for you. Knowing,
here's what I want you to see, knowing that the same afflictions
are accomplished in your brethren in the world. Oh, child of God, there hath
no temptation taken you, but such is common to all men. God
is faithful. He will not suffer you to be
tempted above that which you are able, but will provide with
the temptation a way of escape. He has provided the Lord Jesus
Christ as our dwelling place. He is our way of escape that
you might be able to bear it. And every believer, every child
of God, Whether we talk about the ones listed in Hebrews chapter
11, we are compassed about with a great cloud of witnesses. Every
child of God has suffered these things from the accuser of the
brethren, the afflictions. And notice in that passage in
1 Peter chapter 5, I emphasized it when I read it or quoted it.
the afflictions which were accomplished by your brethren in the world. These things are the accomplishment
of our faith, aren't they? The trying of your faith, work
of patience. The Lord has caused us to have
a need for a dwelling place in order to get us to pursue and
to believe on Christ as our dwelling place. All right, let's take
a break.