We share our mutual woes, our
mutual burdens bear. Bear ye one another's burdens
and so fulfill the royal law of Christ. Think on things of
others. Pray for one another. Our own
problems will diminish if we do so. Love will grow for one
another. Psalm 122. David begins by saying,
I was glad when they said unto me, let's go into the house of
the Lord. I was glad. Glad means, the definition
of glad, as I said, if you just look at the dictionary sometimes,
it's such a blessing. Glad means to cheer you up, you're
cheered, you have good cheer. Glad means joy, you have joy. The opposite of glad is sad. Glad means to have extreme happiness. What makes you glad? What makes you glad? There are
many things we can say we're glad about, but what really cheers
you up and gives you great joy and great happiness? David said,
I was glad when they said unto me, let's go unto the house of
the Lord, where he anoints his people with the oil of gladness. Several things, listen to me,
I looked them up for you. David said, I will be glad and
rejoice in thee. Paul said this while he was in
prison. He said, I'm the prisoner of
the Lord. He said, rejoice in the Lord, that the Lord is Lord.
Paul knew that, I wouldn't be in this prison if the Lord hadn't
put me there. He said, I'm the prisoner of the Lord. And he
said, I'm glad. I'm glad too, aren't you? We
wouldn't have Ephesians and Colossians if the Lord hadn't put them there.
I will be glad and rejoice in thee, David said, that he is
Lord. He said, be glad in the Lord
several times. He said, I will be glad and rejoice
in thy mercy. Oh, it's of the Lord's mercies
we're not concerned. I'll be glad. He said, Let Mount
Zion rejoice. Let the daughters of Jerusalem
be glad because of thy judgments. Aren't you glad that the Lord
reigns and rules and everything about you? He judges you. That means He's the
one controlling everything about you, making judgments for you.
I don't have good judgment. He does. God of all judgment. I'll be glad and rejoice because
of thy judgments. Everything the Lord has done
in my life, in spite of me, has been good. Been good in it. David
said this in Psalm 126. He said, The Lord hath done great
things for us whereof we are glad. So glad. Turned our captivity. So here he says, I was glad.
This cheered me up thinking about death. This filled me full of
joy. This made me happy when they
said unto me, let's go to the house of the Lord. I was glad. They said. Now, the
house of God. Surely you know how much I love
you and what we're doing here and this assembly I preach on
this all the time. I preached on Psalm 84 last year
and Exodus with a glad gathering, you know, and another message
not too long ago, and I can't get away from it. Well, God loves
His church. So much so that He sent His only
begotten Son to die for them. Hearing His love, not that we
love God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation
for it, a bloody sacrifice. He loves His church. The whole
Song of Solomon. Do you love the Song of Solomon?
When's the last time you read that? Go back and read that.
Oh my, it's a love letter between the Church, Christ and His Church.
And they're going back and forth of their love for one another. The Lord laid, God purchased
His Church with His own blood. He loves her. You can't really
mention Christ without mentioning His Church. He's the head and
we're the body. So, to love Christ is to love
His people. To love Christ is to love His
worship. To love Christ is to love His house. Now, when we're
talking about the house of God, when David was talking about
the house of God, and he did that often, he's not talking about a building,
per se. And God showed that the house
of God is not really a building because He tore it down twice.
Right? And the tabernacle, that tent,
threw it away. And what we get in glory is not
going to be a temple. It's not going to be a building,
period. It wouldn't hold us all anyway. And we're talking about the congregation
of God, the flock of our great shepherd, the people gathered
together to worship the Lord. Every mention of Jerusalem, when
you read, well, not every mention, but most mentions of Jerusalem, you can think of the church,
the church. The church is Mount Zion. The
church, city set on a hill. The church is New Jerusalem.
The church is the city of God. The church is the tabernacle,
the temple of God. That's what Paul said, you're
the temple of God. It's a sanctuary. Don't you love to come in here?
It's like a sanctuary. It's a city of God. It's a city of refuge. It's a congregation. It's an
assembly of the saints. David said, I was so glad when
they said, let's go into the house of the Lord. Out in the
world with all its troubles and all its responsibilities and
all its sin and vexation of spirit and all that. And David said,
somebody said, let's go into the house of the Lord. He said,
okay, I can't wait. Let's go. Listen to these psalms. I looked them up for you. Showed
them in the note after note after note, pages and pages of psalms,
where David and others said, I'm glad. Listen to this psalm. Turn with me. Psalm 26. Because
there's one here and one in chapter 27. Many of you love so well. Psalm 26. Psalm 26. Look at it
with me. We have it, Psalm 26 verse 8,
Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, the place where
thine honor dwelleth. Chapter 27, Psalm 27, verse 4,
he said, One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek
after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days
of my life. To behold the beauty of the Lord
and inquire in His temple. Now I know he's talking about
being in the kingdom of God someday forever, but he's also talking
about as long as he lives on this earth, he wants to be in
the house of God, of God's people, worshiping the Lord, inquiring,
learning, calling on the Lord, singing these hymns, don't you?
Is that your one? Is that it? Oh, John read Psalm 84. And it says this, blessed are
they that dwell in thy house. They will be still. Praising
day. We come in here and the world
upsets us. We come in here to be still and
know that He's God. And those that dwell there, they
will be still praising Him to the day they die. There's an
example. Seventy years. That's what I
want. I want to die in the pew. There
was a man in the church at Fairmont. And he went to help the church
in Pikeville when it was flooded. The Lord sent a flood. It just
destroyed that church building. And a bunch of us went down there
to help work on it. And one of the men from Marvin's
church went down there to help. And he was helping and he told
somebody, I'm just going to lay here on the pew a minute and
catch my breath. I'm feeling tired. He died. What a way to die. Lying on a pew. I was glad when they said unto
me, Are you glad to be here? We're not always glad to be here.
Let me be honest with you. I'm not always glad to stand
up here and preach. I'm not always glad to come here.
There are times when I kind of want a day off. It's just so. You don't always feel like coming
here. You're tired. But generally speaking, aren't
you glad when they say unto you, It's time to go worship? If so,
if you're glad, you need to be glad that you're glad. You understand? Because there was a time when
you were not glad. There was a time when I was a real young
boy, my dad would come into the room and say, get up Paul, it's
time to go. I wasn't glad. But you know what? Now I'm glad. I'm glad they took
me. I'm glad they took me as a child
and taught me the Holy Scriptures are able to make me wise unto
salvation. And one day I heard it. This is where you're going to
hear it. This is where your children are going to hear it. Oh, I'm so glad.
I am glad. I am glad. Well, who told us
to come here, David? Who's they? Now, these are the
they you need to listen to. Don't listen to them out there,
but listen, this is the thing. Who told you to come here? Who
told you you could come here? Who gave you permission? John Davis said this in his prayer
down there. He quoted this, Psalm 65, Blessed
is the man whom thou choosest and causes to approach unto thee. I have courts. You wouldn't come
here if God the Father hadn't said, come. If He hadn't given
the command. That's who they are. I'm talking
about the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. God the Father. You know, the word glad means
to be very willing. If you ever ask somebody to do
something for you, you say, I'd be glad to. That man over there would do
anything for me, anytime, drop everything. And I know he's busy,
but he's so I'd be glad to. I mean, he's very willing, and
he is. You know, God's people are willing
in the day of his power. Not until then. Man doesn't have
a free will. Oh no. Our Lord said, you will
not come unto me that you might have life. You will not. He said,
no man can come unto me. Of. It's not of him that willeth
or of him that runneth. But who's it of? Of God that
showeth mercy. God in great mercy one day said,
come. Come on, let's go into the house
of the Lord, and you're going to hear my voice." He might have said, I will not.
He said, yes, you will. In fact, I'm going to finish
it. I ain't coming. Yes, you are.
And you'll be glad I fetched you. The son says, Christ said,
come unto me. Christ said, follow me. And I
was glad when he called me. That was great. The Spirit of
God says, Come. In Revelation 22 it says, The
Spirit says this, Come. And the Bride. The Bride saith,
Come. Come with us, Brother. Like Abraham. Was it Abraham? Moses to his
father. Come thou with us. We'll do you good. The Bride
says, Come. The Bride says, Come. And like
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the bride won't
turn anybody away. Like old Peter, remember, Sunday?
Peter was right there with the rest of them after denying the
Lord. They were all just glad to have
him back. I came as a child, and I left as a product. And
the Lord brought me back. And you know what I thought? They're going to look down on
me. It's far from the case. You know, they all acted like
they were just like me. They all acted like I'd never
been away. I've told most of you this story
if somebody in here hadn't heard this. The story of a man who
left as a younger man and like the prodigal, Went out in the
world, wasted his substance, wayward son, became down and
out. And he wrote home, this was the
day before phones and texts and all that. He wrote home, wrote
a letter and said, I'm coming in this Saturday on the stage. And his family lived on a farm. And he said, I'm coming in on
the stage on Saturday. I'd sure like to come home if
you'll have me. He said, if you'll have me. He said, just put a
white towel on the clothesline out there. That'll tell me that
I can come. Well, he got off the stage and
started walking down a country road and went to his family's
house and walked down this one lane road and he looked and there
was his house. On the clothesline was white
towels, white sheets, white washcloths, white underwear, white linens. Everything in the house they
had white was hanging on the line. Not only are you welcome, you
want it. And there's never a time when
somebody wouldn't come back that the church wouldn't say, I missed
you. I'm back. I was glad when they
said I'm back. I'm glad the Lord gave the command
and the permission. I'm glad you still let me preach
to you. Oh my, Psalm 122 verses 2 and 3, it said, Our feet shall
stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem is built as a city
compact together. Our feet, that's verse 8, my
brethren and my companion. Now Jerusalem, It's the church. We've already seen that. I want
you to turn one more, okay? Revelation 21. Turn over there. Revelation 21. And this might
be the last scripture I have you turn to. Revelation 21. Look at this. I told you the church is New
Jerusalem. And you'll see it here. And Paul
said this in Galatians 4, he said, Jerusalem, which is above,
is the mother of the salt. Didn't it? That's a church. Where were you born again? Where
the Gospels preached. In the context of the church,
where they're preaching. But Revelation 21, John's verse 2,
I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great
voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with
men. He will dwell with them. God,
they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them,
and be their God, and God shall wipe away all tears from their
eyes. There shall be no more death,
neither sorrow, nor crying, neither any more pain, for the former
things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne
said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write
it down. Write. Well, these words are
true and faithful. And in verse 10, He carried me
away in the Spirit to a great high mountain, showed me that
great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from
God, having the glory of God. And her light was like stone,
most precious. Verse 12, at a wall great and
high, and 12th heaven. So it's the church. And back
in our text, Jim. So David said, Our feet shall
stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem is built as a city. Now who built this city? Who
built the city? Psalm 127 says, except the Lord
build the house, they labor in vain to build it. Christ said, on this rock, Peter,
I'll build my church, the faith, this foundation, which is Christ
the Lord. Christ built this church. And
it's his city, it's his dwelling place. Jerusalem, it's called. Jerusalem is the city of David. Jerusalem is the city of God. Jerusalem is where David dwelt. Jerusalem is where the son of
David dwelt. You'd find David the king there,
reigning and ruling. You know, nobody ever attacked
Jerusalem when David was there. He fought every fight. He went
out after them. He wouldn't allow... They never broke down those walls
when David was there. In fact, Solomon had 40 years
of peace because his father defeated every foe. Isn't that a good
picture? Our King, the Son of God, the
Son of David, resides, he abides in his church, in his city. That's
where David would walk and talk and commune with his people.
I've said this before, that if I could live in a time, when
would it be? A biblical time, that is. Well,
you know, just one day with our Lord Jesus Christ would be worth
a thousand with any other man. But I would have loved to have
walked and talked with David. I would have. The sweet psalmist
of Israel. I'd love to have walked and talked with him. I mean,
by his side. But this was a city where he
dwelled, and the church is where Christ dwelled. It's where he
dwelled. Jerusalem, city of David. It
also means a city of peace. Shalom. Shalom. Peace. City of peace. Like I
said, David fought and won peace. He won peace. Solomon, son of
David, had peace all his day. He said, Our feet, this is where
my feet are going to stand. Our feet. Our feet. In thy gates. Our feet. My feet once walked
in the way of sinners. My feet once stood, walked in the way of the ungodly
and stood with sinners and sat with the scorners. Didn't you? My feet once ran
to mischief. My feet once walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of this air. Didn't you? Not now. Not that. Our feet. Look at you.
Where are your feet? Where are they? Where was his
feet? Hidden. And right there under
that table. Our feet. I'm now standing on
the rock of Christ Jesus. He brought me out of the miry
clay and set me on the rock of Christ Jesus. I'm standing for
the truth. I'm standing in the presence
of Jesus of Nazareth and wondering how he could love me, a sinner
condemned to death. How about you? The gates, he
says the gates, the gates of Jerusalem. Entrance of a city,
a walled city. Jerusalem was a walled city,
a wall built all around it. You remember how Ezra and Nehemiah,
they were building the wall around it. And Isaiah 26 says this,
God, salvation hath God appointed for walls and bulwark. Would you turn one more? Psalm
48. Just one more. Psalm 48. You'll
love this. Psalm 48. We'll take a little
walk. We'll take a little walk around Zion, okay? Take a little
tour. Salvation hath God appointed
for walls and boulevard. This is a... And a gate was an
entrance into that walled city. You couldn't come into that city
apart from that gate. It's a gated community, he said. Now look at Psalm 48. Look at
this, verse 1. Great is the Lord, and greatly
to be praised, the city of our God, the mountain of His holiness.
Beautiful situation. You can see clearly here. The
joy of the whole earth. It's Mount Zion on the sides
of the north, the city of the great King. God is known in her
palaces for refuge. Psalm 46. Some of you love that.
God's in the midst of her. And then down in verse 11. Let Mount Zion rejoice. Let the
daughters of Judah be glad because of thy judgment. I quoted that
to you. Let's walk about Zion. Just take a little walk with
me around Zion. Go around about it. Tell the
towers thereof. You see those watchtowers? Somebody
watching over you. Mark well, verse 13, mark well
her bulwarks, that's the walls, that's the embattlements, their
safety. Mark it well. Look, we're surrounded,
we're hedged about. We're hedged about. We're protected. Consider her palaces. Remember
the Lord said there are many in my father's house, there are
many mansions. You're not going to get the glory
by the skin of your teeth. You'll get the glory by the blood
of Christ. And it's going to be an abundant entrance. Heaven's going to erupt when
you come in there. And you're not going to settle for a little
cabin in the corner of glory like old religions say. Oh no,
you're going to sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and
all the people of God in a palace, the palace of the king. And so
this is a walled city with gates and gates keep us, keep the enemy
out, keep us in. Christ is the gate in a narrow
way, a straight gate. Go back to the text. This is
where verse 3 says the city is compacted together. Compacted
together. That means bound together. Cemented together. Builded together. Joined together. Knit together. That's the church of God. Compacted
together. In verse 4 he says, this is where
the tribes go up. The tribes of the Lord. The tribes.
Sons of Jacob. Every kindred. Every nation. Every tongue under heaven will
be there. We've got lots of tribes in here. When I think of tribes,
I think of heathen savages. Well, that was us. That was every
one of us. Like I said before, most of us
in here were Scotch-Irish. You're talking about some wild
people. Gentiles. Wow. Tribes. Every tribe in here. Different tribes. Different kindred. We're all different to some degree,
but we're just the same. Aren't we? We're all sons of
Adam. We're peculiar to one another.
You got a funny accent, sir. I don't. No, she thinks the same
thing. But I tell you, when we're talking
about the same subject, ain't no difference. It's one
thing. Let all that be gone, okay? Yankees,
Southerners, who cares? That's all going to be gone someday.
We're all peculiar, all right? And I look forward to the day
we're all just like Jesus Christ. So we're different, yet just
the same. We're peculiar, but we're all
sons of Adam, sons of sinners, but now sons of God. It's where
the tribes go up together to the testimony of Israel. The
testimony of Israel. This is what we're here for.
The Gospel, the Word of God is His testimony, which He testified
of whom? Jesus Christ, His Son. This is
the record. that God hath made. This is the
record that God hath given unto us eternal life. And this life
is in His Son. The testimony all the way from
Genesis to Revelation is how God has testified of His Son. The gospel of Christ. And this
is why we come here. The message on the radio for Sunday
is the true church. And the church in Egypt, in those
houses, the church, the houses, that's the church houses in Egypt,
in Israel, okay, all those houses. Moses said, stay in the house,
don't leave. Those represent the church houses. What was going
on? How do you know that those were God's houses? How do you
know that that was... The people of God in those houses.
Egypt had its houses. Israel had their houses. How
do you know where the people of God were? Number one. The
people in that house were chosen by God. Had God revealed to them. He revealed unto them himself.
This is life eternal. To know the true and living God.
Not the gods of the Egyptians. the living and true God, and
Jesus Christ whom he sent. All right? They were all elect,
and they all knew it. Every one of them, they knew. We didn't
choose God. Sons of Jacob. All right? What was on the house? This is how you know. Blood was
on every house. Like Rahab's house. That scarlet
line that distinguished her from every other house in Jericho.
That's where God's people are. The blood. They make much of
the blood. Every time. What were they doing in the house?
Eating lamb. Eating lamb. To the time they
left. And then they were going to do
it the rest of their days. Well, what was it in their house? Leaven. No sin. no hypocrisy. They're sincere. So the houses
of God, the houses of God, where the tribes go up, they go up
for the testimony of Israel. That's why we're here. Nothing
else. Nothing else. To give thanks
under the name of the Lord. To give thanks unto the name
of the Lord. Oh my, bless His holy name. All that is within
me, bless His holy name. Thanks be unto God. Thanks be
unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Thanks be unto this Holy Spirit.
To give thanks unto the name of the Lord our God. It's a good thing to give thanks
unto the Lord. That's why we're here. We don't
need another reason. Thank the Lord for His great mercy and
grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then in verse 5, he says
this, that there are set thrones of judgment, thrones of the house
of David, thrones of judgment. Now, our God reigns. He's on
a throne, isn't He? Christ rules and reigns. He's
on His throne, isn't He? Isn't it? But in God's wisdom
and mercy, He raised up men to sit on thrones. Didn't it? Like
David. I just said I would have liked
to have lived with David. He was a man after God's own
heart. Wouldn't you like to live in
a country where the President said, everybody's going to worship
the living and true God? Didn't it? That's what he said. Well, he set thrones on men like
David and Solomon. Josiah, hmm, what a man. What a man. Paul, what a judge. Judges in history. The Lord put
these men, they called them saviors. Men don't save us, but they tell
us of God who does. And God sent them with a message
that does save us. Peter, Simon Peter, Spurgeon,
Henry, Scott, and on and on it goes. Man can't rule himself. Democracies don't work. That
means self-rule. I can't rule myself. Can you? I need somebody to rule me. Well,
he said, remember them that have the rule over you. They watch
for your souls, whose faith follow. The conversation, the end of
their conversation. God has sent men over the church, and it says
they're the men of the house of David. They're men after God's
own heart like David. It was said of Josiah, he said,
he did everything just like his father David. It was said of
Hezekiah, he did everything just like his father David. It wasn't
said of all of them, but many of them in Judas. They did everything
just like David did. That's what I want to do. In
this place. Every time. All the time. I had
a man that did that. That's who I learned from. That's
what I want to do. Just like David. Just like him. So, he said, at thrones, judgment. Pray, verse 6. He exhorts us
to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Pray. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. They shall prosper that live
there. Pray. Pray without ceasing. Pray. Ask. Seek. Knock. Every
one of us. All of us. All the time. Never
cease. Without ceasing. Pray. For what?
Peace. Peace. Pray for the peace of
the church. Pray for one another. Paul said,
Brethren, pray for us, that the word may have free court. Pray
for this preacher. Your children need saving. How
are they going to be saved? Preaching the gospel. If you're
here and your children are here, pray for me. Okay? Pray for the church. Pray for
the peace of the church. Pray for one another. Pray. Peace,
peace, peace. They shall prosper that love
thee. They shall prosper that love thee. Blessed are the peacemakers
that be called the children of God. Fruit of righteousness,
sown in peace, for them that make peace. They shall prosper
spiritually. That's the prosperity we wanted.
Spiritual prosperity. There's no peace for the wicked.
There's no peace for the troublemaker. But there's peace for the peacemaker.
Pray, spiritually prosper. Great peace of those who love
thy law, and nothing shall offend them. The gospel, God's Son, God's
people, those that love Him and them, they're going to prosper. They're going to have great peace.
They're going to have great faith. They're going to have great assurance.
Yes, sir. Pray, pray. And materially, it will go well
with you. Yes, it will. Oh, you'll never be without.
David's prayer is this. Here's David's prayer, and I
quote. He told us to pray, and so he does. What's he pray? Peace. Peace be within thy walls,
and prosperity within thy palaces, O Jerusalem. My brethren and
companions sake, I will now say, Peace be within thee. I want
this place to continue, don't you? For my sake. For your sake. I need this place. And our children need this place.
Well, pray. Leave the gates open, Lord. Peace
be within thee. Because of the house of the Lord
our God, I will seek thy good. The good of the church. The good
of God's people. For the cause of the house of
the Lord, by God's grace, I want to seek the good of this church. Do what's good. Not what's good
for me, but what's good for the church. I want to seek good. I want to be good. I want to
do good. I want to know. This is a good place. It's a
good thing we're doing here. And I was glad when they said
unto me, let's go where the house of the Lord. And it may be our
great desire and delight the rest of our days to dwell in
the house of the Lord all the days of our life. Peace. Stand with me.