And God always brings good out
of evil. What a glorious God. And while
we're passing through, we're pilgrims, aren't we? We're passing
through. You know this, I just called it a screwed up world.
It is a screwed up world, and it's not my home. I'm passing
through as a pilgrim, and I'm looking forward to the time when
my journey is over and I'm in the very presence of Christ,
perfectly conformed to his image. That's what every believer has
waiting on. Now, blessed is the man who passing
through the valley of Baca make it a well and the rain also filleth
the pools. It all ends up being a blessing.
Verse seven, they go from strength to strength. Every one of them
in Zion appeareth before God. Now, this is the blessing of
every believer. They go from strength to strength. Everyone in Zion, that's the
church. These are the people who are blessed of God. They
go from his strength to his strength, and they appear before God accepted. Verse eight. Oh, Lord God of
hosts, hear my prayer. He's the Lord God of hosts and
I love his favorite name. This is God's favorite name,
the God of Jacob. Jacob, poor old, sinful, inconsistent,
contradictory Jacob. God is the God of Jacob. That's his favorite title. He
calls himself that more than any other name, the God of Jacob. Jacob have I loved. Give ear to my prayer. Hear,
oh Lord. And then he says in verse nine,
behold, oh God, our shield. and look upon the face of thine
anointed." Now, what's a shield for? A shield takes the blows,
doesn't it? Christ is my shield. He took
all the blows of God's wrath and protected me from them. But look at this desire, and
I love this. He says, behold God, our shield, look upon the
face of thine anointed. Now, what does he say? Well,
who's his anointed? Jesus Christ. And at all times,
when God sees me, there's one face I want him to see, his anointed. And this is what happens because
of union with Jesus Christ. If I'm in Christ, if I'm united
to him, if I'm in him, when God sees me, whose face does he see? He sees the face of Jesus Christ. And I'm united to him. And this
is all I want him to behold. I don't want him to look at me
in any way independently of the Lord Jesus Christ. Behold the
face of thine anointed. That's how, look at your son,
look at me in him. I never want to be in any way
separated from him. That's what it means to abide
in Christ, doesn't it? Now look what he says in verse. Ten. For a day in thy courts is better
than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper,
stand on the threshold in the house of my God. than to dwell
in the tents of wickedness." Now, Christ is the house of God.
I simply want to be a doorkeeper in Him than have all this world
has to offer, to dwell in the tents of wickedness. And he's
also talking about public worship when he's talking about the courts
of the Lord. I'd rather be standing on the threshold, just being
a doorkeeper in the house of God, the most insignificant person
there, than to dwell in all the tents of the wickedness and have
all that this world has to offer. Four, the Lord God is a sun,
warmth, light, a shield. The Lord will give grace and
glory. The glory thou gavest me, I've
given them, the Lord said. The Lord will give grace and
glory. No good thing will he withhold
from them that walk uprightly. Now, what is it to walk uprightly?
Gotta have that first. Does that mean my walk is upright? Well, it ought to be upright.
But to walk uprightly is to look to Christ only. That's the upright
walk. Anything else is wrong. It's
to look to Christ only. And here we have this promise,
no good thing will he withhold by those who walk uprightly. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him
freely give us all things? Oh Lord of hosts, blessed is
the man that trusteth in thee. Now I want to close this with
giving you an outline that I got from Henry Mahan. He was preaching
on Psalm 8410, for 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. And he entitled this message,
Public Worship Is More Important Than Private Worship. That was
his title. Now, private worship is just as important
as public worship too. Don't get that wrong. You really
don't have one without the other. If there's no public worship,
there's no true private worship. And where there's true private
worship, there is public worship. The Lord promised where two or
three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst
of them. There's something special about
public worship. And I also know this, the most
true private worship, where the Lord is speaking to me in private,
is during public worship, when I'm enabled by the grace of God
to hear the gospel in the power of God, the Holy Spirit. Now he gave these six points. He said, God is glorified in
public worship, where two or three are gathered together in
my name. And he made this statement, and I like this. He said, I identify
publicly with the gospel in public worship. It's kind of like, okay,
listen, a preacher, a preacher who says one thing in private
and another thing in public, what he really believes is what
he says publicly. If he says everything right privately
in private conversation, but yet he doesn't say that publicly,
he doesn't believe it. Only what you preach publicly
is what you really believe. What you identify with publicly
is what you really believe. The Lord said, whoso shall confess
me before men, before men. There's something so powerful
about public confession. Worship, what a blessing of grace
it is. And like I've already said this,
this was the second point, the most true private worship is
in public worship. When you're hearing the gospel,
and in this thing of public worship, think about this. Can you baptize
yourself? No. Can you take the Lord's table
by yourself? Somebody says, well, I think
I'm gonna take the Lord's table. I'm going to give it to myself. That's
creepy. I tell you what, I can't preach
to myself. I have to be preached to. Faith cometh by hearing. There's
public worship. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. And then his third point, and
I love this, the revelation of Christ was in the midst of the
churches. Turn with me for a moment to Revelation chapter one. Verse 12. And I turned to see the voice
that spake with me. And being turned, I like the way he says I turned,
being turned. I turned, I was turned. The reason
I turned is because I was turned. Amen? You know that so. If you're
turned, it's because he turned. And I turned to see the voice
that spake with me, and being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks. And as you go on reading, you
find out that's the seven churches of Asia. And in the midst of
the seven candlesticks, the churches. one like under the son of man
clothed with a garment down to the foot and gird about the paps
with a golden girdle and then he gives this wonderful description
of the Lord Jesus Christ his head and his hairs were white
like wool his purity as white as snow his eyes were the flame
of fire omniscience, his feet like undefined brass, as if they
burned in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters,
the roaring of the sea. And he had in his right hand
seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword,
with his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
John says, when I saw him, I fell dead at his feet. And he laid
his right hand upon me, saying, fear not. I'm the first and the
last. I am he that liveth and was dead.
And behold, I'm alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell
and death. Write the things which thou hast
seen and the things which are and the things which shall be
hereafter. The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest
in my right hand and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven
stars are the angels, the pastors of the seven churches, and the
seven candlesticks, which thou sawest are the seven churches.
Now, where did he make himself known? In the midst of public
worship. Now that's what is portrayed
here in Revelation chapter one. Now our spiritual food, our chief
spiritual fruit comes from public worship. I think of Psalm 73,
where David said, I was so envious at the prosperity of the wicked. They had it easy. They have it
a lot easier than I do. I have so many problems and he
was going on with all those problems he had in Psalm 73 and his envy. He said, I was foolish, I was
like a beast even thinking this way. He said, I may be ashamed
to say it unless I discourage God's people that I was actually
that way. And then he says, then I went
into the sanctuary and I understood their end. That's where the understanding
came from. He said, surely thou did set
them in slippery places. Now, turn to Ephesians chapter
four. Ephesians chapter four. Verse 11. And he gave some apostles and
some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers
for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ. Now, let me say this.
You don't make a very good pastor yourself. Would you agree with
that? I know I don't. Nobody in here
makes, if you're your own pastor, you don't have a very good pastor.
There are people like that, I realize that, but God gave these things
for the church, for the perfecting, for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ. The greatest security
against apostasy Hebrews 10. This is his fifth point. Hebrews
10. Verse 23, let us hold fast the
profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful,
the promised, and let us consider one another to provoke unto love. And to good works. Here's a good provoking. I'd
like to provoke you. To love me and I like you to
provoke me to love you. That's a good kind of provoking
it the way we treat one another. Not look what he says in verse
25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. As the
manner of some is. But exhorting one another. And
so much more as you see the day approaching for if we sin willfully,
and this is talking about apostasy, you can go on reading, but it's
what a protection, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.
And his last point was. Public worship is the closest
to heavenly worship because heavenly worship is that great choir continually
singing. What a blessing is the public
assembly of God's saints to hear the gospel. Amen.