In Psalm 84, this psalm is not
very long, so I'm just going to read through it again, and
hopefully you'll be able to remember some of the points we made last
week. An overview, as a reminder, in this psalm what we see is
that it opens up before verse 1 with this instrument that they
evidently, I'm told, that they played at the Feast of Tabernacles. It's pronounced Gitteth in the
spelling of it, but I think it's actually Gittee or something
like that. And it was used at the Feast of Tabernacles, and
for that reason, the song, I'm sorry, the psalm is understood
to be a psalm of those who are on their way to the Feast of
Tabernacles, returning to Jerusalem, which was on Mount Zion. And
hence, in the psalm, mention is made of Mount Zion. In this
psalm, there's a strong desire and an expressed love for the
tabernacles of the Lord. In verse 1, it says, How lovely,
how desirable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts. And then in
verse two, my soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts
of the Lord. My heart and my flesh crieth
out for the living God. So the living God is the reason
why we desire the courts of the Lord. That's where the Lord is.
And so we understand that these courts are teaching us that this
is where God makes himself known openly to his people. Openly
meaning that his word comes alive in our hearts and he opens our
hearts. And that's something that happens
initially when we believe, when we first believe, but it is a
renewing process as well. Remember in Titus chapter three
in verse five it says that we are were washed through the washing
of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, of the Holy
Ghost. And so you can see from Titus 3-5 that God not only births
his people and regenerates them, but he also renews them day by
day. And that's a theme in this psalm,
is the work of the Spirit of God who renews us on our way
to the heavenly city, which is Zion. Make no mistake, in Hebrews
chapter 12, it tells us that we're not come to the mount that
might be touched and that burned with fire, nor into darkness
and blackness and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words,
which voice they that heard entreated that the words not be spoken
to them anymore, but we're come to Mount Zion. to the heavenly
Jerusalem, to the church of the living God. And so it's plain
from that text in Hebrews 12 that Zion is not a city on earth
that we're seeking, nor is Jerusalem. Nor are we seeking a church building
or physical gathering so much, but we're seeking to meet with
God with his people, and that occurs two times in history. It occurs in our lifetime, and
then it occurs in, not in history, but in eternity, in glory, okay? So this psalm is about that gathering,
and the psalmist is expressing his intense desire and his love
for gathering with God's people. Most importantly, that the Lord
himself is there, and that he makes himself known, the living
God. Verse three says, yea, the sparrow hath found a house, and
the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young,
even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Over
and over again in the psalm, the psalmist, David, is expressing
the name of God. He says, O Lord of hosts, in
the first verse, and then he says in verse two, the Lord,
and the living God, and here in verse 3 he says, O Lord of
hosts, again, my King and my God. So, this is showing us that
God is the God of the armies of heaven. The armies of heaven
include God's armies. Now, I don't know that there's
ever been a time that we could have seen the armies of heaven
sent into war except in Revelation chapter 12 it does say that there
was war in heaven and we know that from that reference in Revelation
12 that was at the cross and at the cross Satan was completely
defeated and cast out of heaven And Jesus, while he was on the
earth, told his apostles, I beheld Satan fall from heaven as lightning
falls. So when the Lord Jesus came to
the earth and was tempted of the devil and overcame those
temptations, Satan's fall was then begun. And it was completed
when Christ went to the cross in John chapter 12. Jesus said,
now is the judgment of this world. Now is the prince of this world
cast out. And so, when it says here, the
Lord of hosts, he's talking about the armies of heaven, Christ's
armies, his angels, and that's a title of awe, it's a title
of his sovereign power. And so that's why he says, how
amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts. In verse one,
he calls him the Lord and the living God. In verse two, again
in verse three, he says the Lord of hosts and my king and my God. He's the king of saints. So then
in verse four it says, blessed are they that dwell in thy house.
They will be still praising thee, Selah. And I mentioned last time
that Jesus said he was going to go to prepare a place for
his apostles, for his disciples throughout all time. And so the
place he would prepare for them is a place with his father, in
his father's house. And that's what is spoken of
here, blessed are they that dwell in thy house. The Father's house,
where Christ dwells with His Father, and there His people
are with Him. It's another term for eternal
glory. It's heaven. It's being with
the Lord. And this is where believers are
when they die. It will be where all believers
are at the second and last coming of Christ. By the way, there's
only two comings of Christ, when He came the first time and when
He comes the second time. When I say coming, I mean His
coming in His body. All right, in verse five it says,
blessed is the man whose strength is in thee, in whose heart are
the ways of them, or the ways. And this is talking about those
who are strong because the Lord is their strength, and there
is no strength for God's people, no spiritual strength. and no
physical strength for that matter, than the Lord himself. Now, he
does give all people strength in their bodies, physically,
but in the heart of the believer, there's only one source of strength,
it's Christ. And so he goes on, these who
are blessed, it says, blessed is the man whose strength is
in thee, whose heart are the ways, Verse six, passing through
the valley of Baca, make it a well, the rain also filleth the pool.
So here what we have is a pictorial description of the believers'
walk in this world on their way to glory. Remember, they're on
their way to Zion, and on their way to Zion they have to pass
through this world. And in this world, they encounter
many trials and sorrows. In fact, they live in a body
that is a constant trouble to them. It may not be a constant
trouble to them physically. They may feel good at times,
or maybe for long periods of times. And that's a blessing.
When they feel bad, they are reminded of how frail they are. Those times of feeling our physical
weakness remind us of our utter weakness. But God has taught
them in their hearts that they are utterly weak spiritually.
They have no strength. and that they can do nothing
apart from Christ, and this is the gospel. They are dead in
sins by nature. They do not discern spiritual
things by nature. They are blind. None seek God. None understand. None are righteous. This is a universal condition
of natural man. They have only a carnal mind
until the Lord gives them a heart, a new heart, a heart that trusts
Christ, a heart that lives upon Christ, and that's what this
is talking about. They live in this world passing through this
valley of tears. It says they pass through the
valley of bhaka, a valley of tears and sorrow. dry. And yet, while they're passing
through it, it becomes a well. It says, the rain also filleth
the pools. And that's a reference to the
fact that the gospel is preached to them by the Lord's provision
as they gather together with the Lord's people. God sends
the gospel through his servants, those he has enabled to preach
the gospel. And by God's grace, He blesses
that word to the hearts of His people, and so the valley of
their physical life in this world becomes a valley where the pools
are filled with the rain of grace through the Gospel. And that
becomes a blessing to them. So that's on their way to Zion. That's their sojourn in this
world. And then in verse 7, they go
from strength to strength. Every one of them in Zion appears
before God. Because as we live by faith upon
Christ, we're renewed, as I mentioned earlier from Titus chapter three
verse five, the renewing of the Holy Spirit, there's this constant
renewal. Remember in Romans chapter five,
let me read those two places, those two references there, and
first I'll read in Titus chapter three so that we have that, and
you don't have to just rely on my remembrance of it, Titus chapter
3. He says this in verse chapter
3 and verse 5. He says, not by work, first I
got to read verse 3 from verse 3 through 5. He says in Titus
3 verse 3, for we ourselves also were sometimes foolish Disobedient,
deceived, serving divers lusts, different kinds of lusts and
pleasures, we serve them, we live for them. Living in malice
and envy, hateful and hating one another, but after that the
kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not
by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to
His mercy. He saved us by the washing of
regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed
on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being
justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the
hope of eternal life." So the hope of eternal life is what
Psalm 84 is talking about. The sojourn in this world, looking
in trust to the Lord Jesus Christ, to God by Him, and longing for
our being together with him in the tabernacles of the Lord.
And that occurs now by faith. It occurs when we hear the gospel
with the Lord's people. God has chosen to bless his word
so that through preaching, it pleased God through the foolishness
of preaching to save those that believe. That's 1 Corinthians
1, verse 21. So that's the means, and the
means is as we gather together and the gospel is preached, each
of the Lord's people are blessed by that. And think about that. Think about how gracious that
is. Think about this, and I don't
know if I mentioned this last time, I think I did, but when
it talks about tabernacles, it's usually referring to tents. And
tents are a lowly place, and the Lord has not only that, but
it's even a lower place considering the fact that we are sinners.
But God is pleased to dwell with his people. That's condescension. And in their bodies, which are
tents or vessels, empty vessels until the Lord occupies them,
And so it's a great condescension that God would dwell with his
people, isn't it? King Solomon spoke of that in
1 Kings 8, verse 27. He says, will God indeed dwell
with men on the earth? So here we see that the Holy
Spirit renews us day by day, and this is Christ in us. the
gospel by his spirit, the gospel is preached to us through the
means of the word of God, the gospel of our salvation. And
in Romans chapter five, this is also mentioned in this way.
In Romans chapter five, he says in verse five, hope maketh not
ashamed. We're not going to be put to
shame. We expect to be with Christ. We expect because of God's word,
which cannot fail, God himself brings it to pass. We expect
because of God's Word that He will bring us to Himself, that
He will present us to Himself without spot, without wrinkle,
or any such thing. Spotless, blameless, without
reproach, before Him, holy and in love. Those are the words
of the New Testament. These are God's words. We expect
this not only because God has said it, because Christ accomplished
it, And the Lord would not slay his son in vain. Christ would
not die for nothing. The Lord of glory would not lay
down, would not become man and lay down his life as a man in
order to save his people from sins without actually accomplishing
that work. The nothingness of creation could
not resist his word when he commanded it to come into being. And so how much more the death
of Christ, the creator, would bring about our eternal salvation. But in Romans chapter five, he
says it this way, hope, that thing that we long for and expect
because the word of God is sure it can't fail and Christ and
his doing and dying could not have failed. He says, hope maketh
not ashamed. It doesn't leave us disappointed. It doesn't leave us in shame
before God because of our sins. Because the thing we hope for
is absolute and certain. It's done by God, by His purpose
and His work. He says, because the love of
God, this hope doesn't leave us ashamed, because the love
of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which
is given to us. Now think about that. The Lord
Jesus Christ, who died for us, sent his spirit to be with us.
He said, I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you.
The hope of glory, in fact, the riches of the glory of the mystery
is Christ in you, the hope of glory. This is the pinnacle.
that Christ is in us by his own spirit. And we used to sing those
songs in church and I never understood them then that Jesus is in my
heart. And it didn't really sink in
until after I understood the gospel that Christ gave himself
for us. and therefore gives himself to
us, for us on the cross, for us in his intercession, and to
us as he himself dwells in us, in these bodies. These bodies
are the temples of the Lord Jesus Christ, of his Spirit. If Christ
is not in us, we're not his. If the Spirit of God does not
dwell in us, then we are not spiritually alive. But because
God has given us His Spirit, then God's own seed, it says
in 1 Peter 1.23, His own seed is in us and we are holy. And
1 John 3.9 also says the same thing. Therefore we cannot sin
in our new nature. But here he says, the love of
God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given
to us. And that's, as I said, that's an amazing, amazing grace,
surprising grace that the Holy Spirit of God would be in us
who are sinners. That's a condescension. Unbelievable
condescension that God the Father would consider us and adopt us
as his children. Unbelievable condescension that
Christ would give himself for us in death. unbelievable condescension
that He would take our nature to Himself forever, and forever
be our intercessor and advocate, and that the Spirit of Christ
would dwell in us forever. And this is the reason our bodies
will be raised up, because He dwells in our bodies. And so
he says here, the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts
by the Holy Ghost which is given to us. For when we were yet without
strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. That's
the love of God. That's how the Holy Spirit sheds
abroad the love of God in our hearts. He preaches the gospel
of Christ crucified to us. There's only one thing that protects
us and secures us against error. There's only one thing. It's
the gospel preached. It's Christ preached to us. The
security against apostasy is the preaching of the gospel.
It's so important. The Spirit of God is going to
have to maintain faith in us, and faith comes by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. So it's so essential that the
tabernacles where Christ dwells with his people, that those are
our constant attendance and our desire. the Holy Spirit himself
bears witness to us of these things in our hearts. He says
in verse six, Romans 5, 6, for when we were yet without strength
in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. That's the gospel,
isn't it? Ungodly. That's me. When we were yet without
strength, that's me. Absolutely no strength, no spiritual
strength whatsoever. And the physical strength that
I have is given to me moment by moment by the active will
of God. So that we're obligated to thank
God at all times for our breath, our heartbeat, our thoughts,
everything that we have at all times. We should be on our faces
all the time in our heart. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet perventure for a good man some would even
dare to die, but God. openly made known or commendeth
his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us." He says it over and over, doesn't he? It needs to
be said over and over because we're either reluctant to consider
the magnitude of it, the grace of it. or the centrality, the
singular hope we have because of Christ, to lose sight of it. We can't believe it unless God
said it. So it has to be spoken over and over, much more than,
he says, if he died for us when we were yet sinners, then much
more than being now justified, because that's how we were justified
when he died for us, By His blood, we shall be saved from wrath
through Him. No possibility that we'll face the wrath of God,
because Christ has justified us in His death. Verse 10, for
if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death
of his son, much more being reconciled by the death of his son, we shall
be saved by the life of his son. Amazing, isn't it? And not only
so, but we joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom
we have now received the atonement accomplished. Our sins have been
washed from us. That's what atonement is. God
has been propitiated. and peace has been made. Christ
has prepared us for heaven and prepared heaven for us. He's
made a place in God for us in his own death on the cross. That's
amazing grace. Anyway, back to Psalm 84. They go from strength to strength.
Everyone in Zion appeareth before God. What is it to appear before
God? Well, it's the glory of seeing
the Lord, and there's nothing greater than that. Seeing Christ
in his glory is the epitome. That is, I mean, seeing him as
one of his, in his glory, accepted by God, made holy in Christ,
Entirely God's work. Without fault. No sin whatsoever. Not even a trace of sin in us
because we're in Christ. Our sins have been so removed
from us that there's not even a memory of our sins. There's
no record of our sins anymore because in Christ, by His blood,
they have been fully removed from us. Before God, God has
been completely satisfied. His law and justice now stand
for us. and defend us. No one can lay
any charge to us. God himself has justified us.
Christ died. Christ rose to prove it. He sits
at the right hand of God in glory, rewarded for it, and he is there
making intercession for us. All these things are true, and
we appear before God. Everyone in Zion appeareth before
God. In the church, All those in the
church appear before God clothed in the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ, completely holy in God's sight. There's no partial
holiness. You're either holy or you're
unholy. It's not one, you know, degrees of holiness. It's being
justified by His blood. and sanctified by the Spirit
of God to know it. Given this life which is Christ
in you, that's the sanctification, the holiness God performs in
us. He gives us his faith in Christ. And then in verse eight he says,
of Psalm 84, he says, O Lord God of hosts, there he says it
again, God of the armies of heaven, hear my prayer, give ear, O God
of Jacob, Selah. And now Selah here, It can refer
to the words that came before, or it can even look forward to
what's going to happen. Pause now and consider. This
is the crescendo of the psalm. He says, behold, O God, our shield. O God, our shield. Behold, O God, our shield, and
look upon the face of thine anointed. Look upon the face of thine anointed.
That's Christ, isn't it? The face of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's because God did look upon
the face of Christ before the world began that we were preserved
in Christ Jesus. That's what Jude chapter one
verse one says. God the Father sanctified us,
he preserved us in Christ Jesus. God looked upon the face of his
anointed and because he looked on Christ for us, then he accepted
us in Christ. He made us holy, he made us fit
to inherit the eternal glory because he looked upon Christ
for us. What joy, what peace, what assurance
we have knowing that God looks upon the face of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, the only way the man who
is praying in this psalm or his prayer can be heard and accepted
is if God looks upon Christ. No prayer of any person can be
heard, and no person can be heard or accepted by God except in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so when he says, look upon
the face of thine anointed, he's speaking about looking upon Christ. Consider him, consider him. And
I find this to be so comforting, joy, inspiring, peace. Everything about this gives me
great hope and peace that God would provide and God would hear. He would provide for me someone
to answer all of his requirements, answer all of his demands. Answer
in judgment for me in spite of my sin. Answer for my sins. Answer for my obedience. Answer
God's judgment. Answer God's wrath. Answer everything. Answer the demand for God to
glorify himself In me, Christ has done this. He answers for
his people. I was thinking about that place
where Peter, James, and John were with Christ in the Garden
of Gethsemane. Do you remember that? And he
said, now you watch and pray. I'm gonna go yonder. So he went
over wherever he went, and he comes back, and what was going
on with Peter, James, and John? They were sleeping, sleeping. These are the preeminent apostles,
and there they are sleeping. What does that teach you? It
teaches us what Jesus told them. He says, couldn't you watch with
me one hour? And then he summed it up this
way, he says, the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is
weak. That's the Lord Jesus Christ
answering for his people, isn't it? He's telling them the spirit
is willing, the spirit of God given to you to be with you,
to live in you, that renewed spirit made new by the spirit
of God. That's willing, but the flesh
is weak. Doesn't that describe our entire
sojourn in this world? That's why I thought about that
here. But here we have, Lord, look upon the face of thine anointed.
And that's not the only time in scripture that this is expressed
in prayer to God. And we can look at a lot of them.
One of them is found in Psalm 80, where we looked not too long
ago. He says in verse 17 of Psalm
80, let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the
son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself. Notice how the emphasis
is God did it for his own sake, for thyself, so that he could
save according to his will, so he could glorify himself according
to his pleasure to glorify himself in the eyes of all of the onlooking
universe. His hand was upon the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then he says in Psalm 80
verse 18, so will we not go back from thee? That's the only way. If the Lord is for us with Christ,
we will not go back from thee, we won't turn away from you.
Make us alive, quicken us, he says, and we will call upon thy
name. Do you see how the believer expresses
out of his heart, convinced by God, that I'm nothing except
what I am in Christ, and I come to him continuously, in my heart,
in prayer, asking him to perform in me, to give me what I don't
have that he must supply, even this faith and hope and love
and the desire to be with him where he is, to see his face
and to actually arrive there in eternal glory, all those things,
we can ask him for everything and that gives me great joy and
peace and assurance. We learn of our helplessness
and our hopelessness, and we learn of Christ's all-sufficiency.
He says this in Proverbs 3, verse 5, let not mercy and truth forsake
thee. Don't let mercy and truth forsake
you. Bind them about thy neck. Write them upon the table of
thine heart." You can see this man, these two most, greatest
treasured friends, and he says, do not let them leave. Mercy
and truth. Don't let them forsake you. bind
them, grab a hold of them, and tie them, and put them on your
neck, and write them on the table of your heart, so shalt thou
find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man."
And that's just speaking about Christ and Him crucified, isn't
it? That's where mercy and truth is. And verse 5 of Proverbs 3,
he says, "'Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean
not unto thine own understanding. I know that you know that verse.
Isn't it comforting to say it again, to read it again, and
to pray it again? Trust in the Lord with all your
heart. Don't let anything be a source
of confidence or assurance or hope except the Lord Jesus Christ. With all your heart, don't lean
on your own understanding. He is our wisdom. In all thy
ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct. We don't want God to
acknowledge our ways. We want Him to acknowledge the
Lord Jesus Christ in His ways for us. Be not wise in thine
own eyes. That's what we do. We look to
see if we're doing okay. Fear the Lord and depart from
evil. Trust in Christ, in other words.
All right, so the next verse in Psalm 84 is verse 10. Verse 10 says, For a day in thy
courts is better than a thousand. Now think about that. In the
Lord's courts, this is where God meets with His people. This
is where He discloses His thoughts to them. This is where He shows
them His glory. This is where God is seen, God
is heard in the courts of the Lord. We want to be there because
this is Christ and He is altogether lovely. There's nothing, there's
no taint of anything in him that would cause us to not be overwhelmed
with joy and peace and satisfaction. There's nothing in Him. In fact,
just to be with Him is eternal life. To know Him is eternal
life. And so here in His courts is better than a thousand elsewhere,
in other words. Think about it. All your life,
in all of your life, in every day of your life, what have you
experienced of one thing except Christ and His saving grace? What one thing have you experienced
that will last or that will give you any joy in heaven except
what God has done for you in Christ? See, a day in thy courts
is another way of saying a day in Christ, being in the Lord
Jesus Christ. If we could attain to the wealth
of this world, there's a song I was thinking about before the
Bible study tonight. Along these lines it says, I'd
rather have Jesus than silver or gold. If you had all of the
silver and gold in the world, I'd rather be his than have riches
untold in this world. I'd rather have Jesus than houses
or land. I'd rather be led by his nail-pierced
hand." You see, when we consider the joys of whatever it might
be, friends and family, vacations and and trips to the mountains,
to the ocean, whatever it was. Maybe we were successful at doing
something and it gave us great satisfaction. But all those things,
when you think about it as a believer, they are less than nothing. I mean, sure, we're thankful
to God for those temporary blessings. I don't want to discount them.
But on the other hand, compared to Christ, a day in God's course
is better than a thousand, is better than all the days of all
the lives that I could live by all the people in this world.
It doesn't matter who it is or what life they've lived. I would
rather be found in Christ with His righteousness and Him receiving
all of the glory. That's what the believer wants.
That's what the believer prays for. That's the want, the desire
that the believer prays for. Lord, don't. Let me have any
other desire other than to have the Lord Jesus Christ. I'd rather
be led by his nail-pierced hands than to be the king of a vast
domain or to be held in sin's dread sway. That's what it is
to be outside of Christ, to be held in sin's dread sway. I'd rather have Jesus than anything
this world affords today. That sums it up, doesn't it?
I'd rather, and you can see this in a positive example in Moses,
in Hebrews chapter 11. Let me read these words to you
from Hebrews chapter 11. Just Moses, I mean, there's every
one of the people in Hebrews 11 could be used, but here in
verse 11, Let's see, Hebrews chapter 11,
and I got to turn the page. He says, by faith, Moses, verse
24, when he was come to years, now he's a grown man, refused
to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. I don't want to be
the king's daughter. I do not want the wealth that
would bring me, or the honor, or the power, the authority.
I don't want that. He says, choosing rather to suffer
affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a season. Being Pharaoh's son, as Moses
was by the laws of Egypt, even though he wasn't her physical
son biologically, but being her son, gave Moses what this verse
in Psalm 84 would call a thousand days in this world, or the next
phrase, the tents of wickedness. The finest places on earth to
have the finest foods, the finest bed, the finest couch, the finest
people around you, the finest dress, the finest compliments,
the finest appearance, physical appearance, the finest physical
body, all those things, the finest mind, Whatever it is, whether
it's the intellect, or the physical abilities, or the blessings of
this world, or the praise of men, it doesn't matter. It doesn't amount. It adds up
to less than nothing compared to what Moses said, I'd rather
suffer affliction with the people of God. The Apostle Paul said
it this way, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified to me
and I to the world. I'm dead to the world. The world
is dead to me. I have a place that is my home. I'm a citizen of heaven. I dwell
with Christ in glory and I'm going to live by faith in this
life. in view of that, in light of that truth. So that's why
he says this here. And of course, there's counterexamples.
Remember Lot's wife. She was delivered from Sodom
and Gomorrah, and then she thought, you know, it wasn't so bad, was
it? She looked back. That's a picture
of a person who, having heard the gospel, turns back to trust
and to find their satisfaction apart from Christ. So he says
this, a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I'd rather
be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the
tents of wickedness. The threshold of the door of
heaven and the least place in the Lord's house is better than
the greatest promise of wealth and pleasure in the best places
of this wicked world. There's nothing in this world
that a person should desire except the things that God gives to
his people in their hearts by his spirit, his word, and Christ
in the heart. No matter what secret pleasures
that might be in the tents of wickedness. You kind of imagine
from this phrase here, I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house
of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. You imagine
someone holding an overcoat with a bunch of fancy watches or jewelry
in there on the street and say, hey, come here. I want you to
see something. This is really a good deal for
you. You know, you can get this really
expensive thing for next to nothing. You know, I'll sell it to you.
So that's what that's what the devil wants. That's what the
world wants. Come here. The tense of wickedness. There's something
you need to see here. Something you need to enjoy.
Something more than Christ. No, no, like Joseph running out
of the house of Potiphar when his wife tried to force him. He said, no, how can I do this
great wickedness and sin against God? All right, so he says that
these would be better. There are pleasures forevermore
in the presence of Christ. Pleasures forevermore. Psalm
1611. Thou wilt show me the path of
life, and thy presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand there
are pleasures forevermore. You see, think of it this way.
Go to the finest... thing that you've ever seen in
this world. Maybe it's a concert, a symphony,
or maybe it's an ocean scene, or a mountain scene. It's being
in the quiet solitude of the forest. Whatever it is that has
given you that greatest thrill of just, I love this place, I
love this view, whatever it is. The creator is greater than creation,
and this is a fallen creation. There's no comparison to the
Lord Jesus Christ. He is before all things. He made
all things. Everything He made was for His
own pleasure. He is the Lord of glory. So to
be with Him is fullness of joy, pleasures forevermore. And then
the next verse, And of course, that will be when we receive
our redeemed bodies, won't it? That's the consummation. That's
actually the consummation of this journey, this sojourn through
Psalm 84 as they head towards Zion in order to play this instrument
at the Feast of Tabernacles. The tents are secret places,
but the courts are open places. The courts of the Lord are open.
There's no shame in the courts of the Lord, is there? There's
a lot of shame in the tents of wickedness. When we get to heaven,
there will be no shame, no need to hide. You know how liberating
it is to be able to disclose your thoughts and your desires
with no shame? That is joyful, that is peaceful,
that is love when someone not only receives you, but receives
you in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. What could
be said more about that? So in heaven, every sorrow on
earth will be gone. It will be taken away. All the
tears will be wiped away. Every sorrow will be forgotten.
Only joy and satisfaction will be the continuous experience
of those in Christ. And this begins immediately when
the believer, the body of the believer dies in death. To be
absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. That's
what this is talking about here. Not only that, but our redeemed
bodies. Satan himself proved that there is no life or peace
or rest or comfort outside of Christ, outside of God's house,
because he was cast out, wasn't he? Cast out of the Lord's house. He thought in his heart that
If it would be better for me to reign in hell than to serve
in heaven, that's what one preacher said. If that was his first thought. then the preacher said that will
be his only first thought. Because his next thought will
be the misery, eternal misery of that first thought. So what
a horrible thing that is. And so Satan himself proves this
verse to be true, that it's better to be a doorkeeper in the house
of our God than to be in the tents of wickedness. In verse
11 of Psalm 84, it says, for the Lord God is a sun and shield.
The Lord God will give grace and glory. No good thing will
he withhold from them that walk uprightly. The Son is light,
the Son gives life, and the Lord is a shield that defends us and
protects us against whatever is deadly and would hurt us.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of righteousness. He's our
light. It's through Him that we understand that He is the
Son of righteousness. It's through Him that we understand
God has provided His righteousness for our righteousness, and it's
ours, and Christ's life as our life. Could there anything be
greater? Christ is our defense. It says
in Psalm three, verse one, Lord, how are they increased to trouble
me? Many are they that rise up against me. Many there be which
say of my soul, there's no help for him in God. But thou, O Lord,
art a shield for me, my glory and the lifter of my head. The one who who lifts me up so
I can see, the one who lifts me out of the dunghill and sets
me among princes, the Lord did that, he's my shield, he's my
glory. To walk uprightly, here it says,
the Lord will give grace and glory, which means that he gives
everything to us by his grace. Everything, faith, the fruit
of faith, life, love, light, and glory itself are the gifts
of God's grace. And he won't withhold anything
from them that walk uprightly, To walk uprightly, now think
about this, to walk uprightly can only be to walk by faith
in Christ. Because Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Do we
then make void the law through faith? No, we establish the law
through faith. These are quotations from Romans
chapter 3 and Romans chapter 10. So faith in Christ is the
only way that we can be aligned with heaven's truth and heaven's
glory. that the people of God are upright,
they're righteous and holy before God in the Lord Jesus Christ
and in Him alone. Only His righteousness is righteousness. There's none other but His. There's
none righteous among men. And our best righteousness is
ours filthy rags, in His sight, Isaiah 64, verse 6. So to walk
uprightly is to look to Christ only. It's to be found in Christ
only. It's to be found of God in Him,
holy and without blame, in love. It's impossible to please God
without faith, Hebrews 11, verse six, impossible. You cannot please
God apart from faith in Christ. and whatever is not of faith
is sin, Romans 14, 23. So to walk uprightly is to do
everything for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, looking
to him, giving him the honor of acknowledging and ascribing
to him all credit for all of my salvation and life and understanding
and faith and hope and love, everything is his. And then also
to walk uprightly, therefore, is not only to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, but it is to love Him, and that love is
the fruit of His grace. What a blessing it is to receive
everything from Him. Now the last verse says this,
O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee. So
that reaffirms that walking uprightly means trusting in the Lord. Blessed
are they that trust in, he says, that trust in thee, and he also
said just before that, that no good thing will be withheld from
them that walk uprightly. So the blessed man is the man
trusting. The one who receives all things
is the one who is blessed because he trusts in Christ. So it reaffirms
that trusting Christ, his walking uprightly, and it affirms that
in trusting Christ, we have everything. It caps the entire psalm, it
puts a summary conclusion on it where this man who faints
to be in the house of God. Because though we faint, we are
trusting Christ. We do feel faint, don't we? We
were talking last week after the Bible study how the way this
psalmist expresses his intense desire and fainting of soul to
be in the house of God, it sounds great, but in my experience,
I don't feel it like I ought to. And yet, what do we do? Do we don't lean on our own ability
to drum up this attitude, do we? No, we admit that we falter
because of unbelief and we say, Lord, help my unbelief. When
the Lord is the one who gives us everything, so we trust Him
for everything, and we look to Him for it, no matter how faint
we are, He is our strength. That's what trusting the Lord
is. He won't leave us, He won't forsake us, if we trust Him,
and to trust Him is to trust Him for the grace of faith, and
to trust Him to know Him, to trust Him for life itself. to
read his word, to meditate on it, to pray to him. All these
things are the result of trusting the Lord Jesus Christ. So we
find ourselves, we want to be like those who say, I'd rather
have Jesus than anything. And yet, in our daily experience,
we find a need for the Lord to adjust our attitude, to change
it, to turn us again, Lord God of hosts, and cause his face
to shine so that we shall be saved. What a blessing this psalm
is, and I encourage you to read it. I encourage you to, if you
get time, to take the notes that I've sent out. They're much more
extensive than what I have spoken in these two lessons on this
psalm, and they'll be easier to read probably than to listen
to the Bible study itself. So hopefully they'll give you
some help as these are things that I, thought about and read
about as I was reading through this, and maybe it will help
you too and bless you too like it did me. Every one of these
Psalms is such a blessing. I'm so thankful to the Lord,
and I'm also very thankful, by the way, that God has given me
this blessing to be with you all in the study of his word,
to see Christ in his word. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we thank
you for your goodness in every way. There's nothing you do that's
wrong. You're altogether lovely. Help
us, Lord, to desire to be with you, not to desire in any way
to be a part of this world. except that you would be declared
in this world and your glory would be made known through the
salvation of your people, the building up of your body, the
conquering of our enemies, the conquering of your own enemies,
through the gospel as it goes throughout this world. Lord,
cause us to trust the Lord Jesus, we pray. Cause us to lean upon
him, to depend and rely upon him, to find him to be our strength,
and our hope and our desire. We pray, Lord, that you would
put in us this intense and ardent desire for him to be with him,
with his people, to hear his gospel and to see him in glory. This is the reason we live in
this world in hope and we pray, Lord, that we would not be ashamed
even though we have great cause for shame in ourselves. We pray
that we would be found in Christ and not be ashamed in the presence
of God. because of him alone. In Jesus
name we pray, amen.