Let's open our Bibles together
to Psalm 133. Psalm 133. The body of Christ is fitly joined
together all under one head. And that's where we have unity.
Unity is not that we get along or that we agree to disagree.
Unity is that we're all in unity about who Christ is and about
what he's accomplished and who he is to us. And so David says
in Psalm 133, behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren
to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment
upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard,
and went down to the skirts of his garment. And I think about
that ointment, a picture of the anointing of the Holy Spirit
and how it dripped off of Aaron's robe. And I think about that
woman with the issue of blood who said, oh, if I could but
touch the hem of his garment and that some of that grace and
spirit would come to me. As the dew of Hermon and as the
dew that descended upon the mountain of Zion, for there, there, in
the mountains of Zion, there, the Lord commanded the blessing,
even life forevermore. That's the blessing. The blessing
that he commands is eternal life. And that's the blessing we look
for tonight. We look for Christ and pray that
he will bless us with his life. It's good to have Robert and
Deanna back. I told Robert, I said, I didn't think you were coming
back. He said, well, Deanna made me. Jennifer, we're glad you're feeling
better. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we pray that you would cause
us to find ourselves at the hymn of the master's garment and that the drops of your sweet
spirit would come to us and that we would find Christ to be our
all in all. Oh, but if I could just touch
the hymn of his garment, I would be made whole. Lord, we come
into thy presence knowing that apart from Christ, We are nothing
but sin, and what desperation we're in to be made whole. We
pray that you would bless your word. We pray that you would
send your spirit. We pray that you would work a
work of grace and faith in our hearts and cause us to look and
rest in the Lord Jesus, who himself is our life. We thank you for the The healing
that you've given to Deanna, and we pray for your hand of
strength to continue to be on her and give her full recovery.
And Lord, we thank you for the grace that you've given to each
of us as we find ourselves in need. Thank you most especially
for Jennifer and for your hand of grace and strength upon her
and for the procedures they're able to give her to help. And
Lord, we know that You are able to heal if that will. Lord, we pray for that. We ask
it in Christ's name. Amen. Number 334 from the Hardback
Temple. Let's all stand together again.
334. Thank you. Be thou my vision, O Lord of
my heart, Naught be all else to me, save that thou art. Thou my best thought, ? By day
or by night ? Waking or sleeping ? Thy presence my light ? Be
thou my wisdom ? And thou my true word ? I ever with thee
? And thou with me, Lord Thou my great father, I thy true son,
Thou in me dwelling, and I with thee one. Riches I heed not,
nor man's empty praise, Thou mine inheritance now and always,
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart. High King of heaven, my treasure
thou art. High King of heaven, my victory
won. May I reach heaven's joys, O
bright heaven's sun. heart of my own heart, whatever
befall. Still be my vision, O ruler of
all. Please be seated. Let's open our Bibles again to
Psalm 132. Psalm 132. I've titled this message for
Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. And that title
comes from verse 10. For thy servant David's sake. Now we know who this is speaking
of. the son of David, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so the psalmist is saying
for David, for Christ's sake, for Christ's sake, turn not away
the face of thine anointed or let his face shine upon us. The
Lord has sworn in truth unto David. There's a true and faithful
covenant that's been established in eternity past and those promises
cannot be broken. The Lord has sworn in truth unto
David, he will not turn from it, of the fruit of thy body
will I set upon my throne. What a promise, what a blessing,
what a hopeful prayer that the child of God can offer up. Lord,
for Christ's sake, have mercy upon me. You know, we talk about
that a lot and Sometimes I feel like when I speak of Christ's
sake and God's blessings and his salvation and. And. And his life. I sort of feel
like you know, maybe the Lord is just tolerating me for Christ's
sake, but that's not really. That's not really the point.
The Lord. The Lord has compassion and love
for his children. for Christ's sake. But it's not
that he's tolerating us or that he's not affectionate toward
us. It's that he is immutably holy
and that his holy nature cannot sacrifice divine justice in order
to show his mercy. And so Yes, our God delights
in showing mercy. He's full of mercy, but His justice
has to be met. And righteousness has to be established. And so we're not able to come
into the presence of God and say, Lord, for the sake of my
sincerity, or for the sake of my decision, or for the sake
of my prayers, or for the sake of my works, or, you know, for
the sake of my reputation, Lord, would you have mercy upon me
for my sake? No, we always have to say for
Christ's sake. He is the only one that fulfilled
the law. And he's the only one who established
perfect justice by the sacrifice of himself to put away our sins. And so anytime we come into the
presence of God, we are coming into his presence pleading his
grace and his mercy for Christ's sake. We can't think about this subject
without thinking about David sending Ziba to find Mephibosheth. You remember where Mephibosheth
was? Was that last Wednesday night
we looked at Bethlehem as being a type of the church? I think
it was. And in contrast to Bethlehem, which is translated the house
of bread, you remember where Mephibosheth was? He was hiding
out in a place called Lodabar, which translated means no bread.
No bread. And David said, is there anyone
left from the household of Saul that I might show him mercy for
Jonathan's sake? For Jonathan's sake? And Ziba
said, oh yeah, there's Mephibosheth over here. He said, go fetch
him. Go fetch him. And he brought Mephibosheth.
And when he saw Mephibosheth, he saw the likeness of Jonathan
in him, didn't he? He said, oh, Mephibosheth, Mephibosheth. And Mephibosheth said, what would
the king have to do with such a dead dog as I am? Why would
you show mercy toward me? Why was he showing him mercy?
For Jonathan's sake. So we always come into the presence
of our God with that with that same declaration that the Syrophoenician
woman made when the Lord, don't you know that, I mean, the Gentiles,
there's nothing more degrading than a racial slur. And the Gentiles
were constantly being called Gentile dogs by the Jews. And
I'm sure that they were greatly offended by that, as anybody
would be offended by some sort of racial slur. But as soon as
the Lord called her a dog, immediately, what did she say? She concurred.
She said, truth, Lord. Truth, Lord. And that's what
faith does. It just says, Lord, yes, I'm
a dog. But the dogs eat the crumbs that
fall from the master's table. Would you be pleased to have
mercy upon him? What did David say? He told Ziba,
he said, Mephibosheth is going to sit at the king's table and
eat the king's bread the rest of his life. Why? For Jonathan's sake. Did David
love Mephibosheth? Oh yeah, he did. He did. And so, you know, the Lord's
not tolerating us. It's not that he's, that he doesn't
have an affectionate compassion for his people and doesn't, but
justice has to be met and everything has to be done for Christ's sake. So that's the, that's the, that's
the prayer here that, that David's praying. Look at
with me again at verse 10. For thy servant David's sake,
turn not away the face of thine anointed. Lord, you've got every
reason to turn away from me. How often I turn away from you,
but for Christ's sake, well, for Christ's sake, would you
not turn your face away from me? Lord, cause your face to
shine upon me and I shall live. Another example of that is found
in Genesis chapter 30. You remember when Jacob told
Laban, he said, I've been faithful to you all these years, and it's
time for me to gather up my stuff and leave. And Laban pleaded
with him, and here's what Laban said in Genesis chapter 30. He
said, I pray thee, if I have found favor in thine eyes, tarry,
for I have learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me
for thy sake. All the blessings that Laban
enjoyed were because Jacob was there. And the child of God can
say, oh Lord, if I found grace in thy sight, if I found grace
in thy sight, Lord Terry, don't depart from me, don't forsake
me, don't turn your face away from me. But for, I've learned
by experience, I've learned by experience that God has blessed
me for Christ's sake. I haven't done anything to earn
those blessings. I can't obligate God to give me life, but Christ
can and he has. He's made a covenant promise
with his father. Another example that is found
in Genesis chapter 39, when Joseph was taken into Potiphar's home. And the scripture says that Potiphar
was the captain of the guard for Pharaoh. In other words,
he was over the entire prison system of Egypt. And Joseph worked
for him. You remember what happened with
Potiphar's wife. Potiphar would have had the power
and the right to have Joseph put to death immediately with
that sort of charge, but he didn't. He knew his wife was lying and
to protect his own reputation, he had to put Joseph in prison
and the Lord spared him there. But Joseph's a type of Christ
in that whole story. And here's what the scripture
says in Genesis chapter 39 and verse five, the Lord blessed
the Egyptians house for Joseph's sake. Both that which was in
his house and that which was in the field. Everything that
Potiphar owned was blessed of God because Joseph was there. There's our hope. All the blessings
of God are in the heavenlies, in Christ Jesus. He's the one
who's obligated the Father. He's the one through whom the
blessing of life and faith and repentance comes. And we're able
to say, for thy servant David's sake, turn not away the face
of thine anointed. Lord, you swore in truth unto
David. And for his namesake, would you
be merciful to me? Don't you love what the Lord
said when he said, be kind and tenderhearted, forgiving one
another. even as God, for Christ's sake,
hath forgiven you." The only way I can be forgiven
is through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The only
way, only if he pleads my case as my advocate and as my sin-bearer
and as my substitute before God Almighty. And so the Lord said,
you've been forgiven, forgive. God forgave you for Christ's
sake. He saw the work of His Son and He was satisfied. And
He put away your sins once and for all. He separated them from
you as far as the east is from the west. He buried them in the
depths of the sea, sewed them up in a bag, the scripture says,
and buried them. Oh, He remembers them no more. He doesn't charge us with sin.
Why? Because for Christ's sake, He's
forgiven us. How else are we gonna be forgiven?
Are we gonna claim our sincerity, or our repentance, or our faith,
or our good works, or our decision? Lord, will you have mercy upon
me? Look how much I'm trying, how
hard I'm trying. No, no. Lord, remember David. and his afflictions, that's in
the Psalm too, isn't it? And then he says, he says, for
David's sake, turn not thy face away from me. Lord, how oftentimes
I turn my face away from you. David said in Psalm 23, verse
three, he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake. for His namesake, for the integrity
and the faithfulness of His name. He leads me to Christ, who is
the path of my righteousness. Psalm 25 verse 11 says, for thy
namesake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for it is great. It is great. It's greater than
I know it is. It's greater than I could possibly
believe it to be or understand it to be. Lord, I've got no claim
on your forgiveness except the name of the Lord Jesus. His name shall be called Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins. Lord, that's
what his name means for the integrity of his name. Don't you love it
when Moses in Genesis chapter 32 was being told, he came down
off the mountain and there was Aaron with the golden calf and
God threatened to just wipe out Israel and start over. And Moses
interceded. Moses is a type of Christ there,
and he intercedes for the children of Israel. And this is his plea. He said, Lord, what will the
pagans think of you? Your reputation is on the line.
He wasn't pleading for the for the goodness or the sincerity
or for the innocence of the children of Israel. They were a stiff-necked
people. They had sinned grievously, but he claims the name of God. He said, Lord, you brought them
out of Egypt. And what are they going to say about you if you
let them all die here in the wilderness? It's your name that's
on the line. We value the integrity of our
name, don't we? We sign our name to something,
we have to commit to fulfill that commitment. How much more? The Lord's name
is Jesus. For he shall save his people
from their sins. Lord, for Christ's sake, for
David's sake, for the Lord Jesus Christ's name's sake, for thy
mercy's sake. That's the only claim I have.
I can't bring you anything else. And then in Isaiah chapter nine,
verse six, and his name, his name shall be called wonderful. Lord, for your namesake, your
name is wonderful. And we use that word very, very
loosely, don't we? But it, it means that he's beyond
comprehension. He's full of wonder. He's full
of power. His name should be called wonderful. Lord, nothing wonderful about
me, but for David's sake, for David's namesake, for thy namesake,
for Christ's sake, Lord, he's full of wonder. Show forth your
wonder. And where does the wonder of God, where does it show forth
the most gloriously? In the saving of a sinner. In
the putting away of our sin. It's much more wonderful for
God to take one who is at enmity with him and set him down at
his footstool and make him a willing servant than it is for God to
speak creation into existence. We look at the wonder of his
handiwork in creation and we think, well, that's wonderful,
but there's nothing more wonderful. We gaze at his wonder and creation,
and yet, what's more wonderful than for a sinner to enter into
the pool of baptism and confess Christ? Say, I'm buried with
Christ in baptism and raised to walk a new life. I've been
crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. Nothing more wonderful than that.
Nothing more wonderful than one who is without God and strangers and
aliens to the Commonwealth of Israel to be reconciled to God. And that's by his grace and Lord,
so for your namesake, in order that you might be as wonderful
as you are, Lord have mercy upon me, save me. Save me, save my
children, save my grandchildren. Lord, we're coming to you based
on your name's sake, your mercy's sake. His name should be called Wonderful
counselor. Oh, Lord, everywhere we turn,
somebody's got an opinion about how we ought to think about something
or what we ought to feel about something or how to how to fix
a problem that we have in our lives. But where do you know
everything there is to know about me? You know, my thoughts before
I think them, you know, everything I've ever done, you know, everything
I've ever failed to do. No one knows me like you know
me. I don't know myself. But you know me, why would I
want to go anywhere else? Why would I need to go anywhere
else than to go to the Lord? Or for your namesake, you're
called the counselor. And I'm in need of counsel. I'm
in need of grace. I'm in need of mercy. I'm in
need of hope. I'm in need of faith. I'm in
need of forgiveness. Lord, I've got no place else
I can go. And so for your namesake, You're
called counselor, wonderful counselor. You're called the mighty God.
Isaiah 9, 6, he's called the mighty God. He is God. He's the
fullness of the Godhead bodily. Is anything too hard for God?
Anything? Lord, you are the mighty God.
Why would I question your ability to forgive me, to save me, to
heal me, to heal Lord, I need your, I need your power. It's
like we saw Sunday, all power has been given unto me in heaven
and earth. Lord, I don't have any power. We were yet without
strength. Christ died for the ungodly.
You're the mighty God. And then he's called the everlasting
father. Now there's a, there's a glorious
mystery that we can't, we can't even begin to understand it,
but we believe it. When the Lord Jesus appeared to Moses at the
burning bush and Moses asked him, who shall I say sent me? What is your name? And the Lord
said, tell him I am. What was he doing? He was, he
was saying, I am the self existent one. I'm not like you. I have no beginning. I, and as the father had no beginning,
so the son had no beginning. And he calls himself the Everlasting
Father. He said, everything that exists,
exists out of me. I have created and I sustain
everything. I'm not dependent upon anything
or anybody. I'm the Everlasting Father. And I remind you again, everlasting
doesn't mean it starts now and lasts forever. Everlasting means
it never had a beginning and it never has an end. What can
we, how can we, what David said in Psalm 139, when I, when I
think these kinds of thoughts, they're too wonderful for me,
I cannot begin to understand them or enter into them, but
I believe them. I believe them. You're the everlasting
father. Lord, your name is Prince of
Peace. And I need peace with God. I need my sin to be put
away. Lord, what? What hope do I have
to be reconciled to God unless you, as the Prince of Peace,
that's what your name is. Lord, for David's sake, for your
great name's sake, for your mercy's sake, fulfill all that your name
speaks of. Uphold the glory of your name
for me. When Nehemiah brought the children
of Israel back from Babylon, in Nehemiah chapter nine, he's
praying for Israel and confessing their sin, which was the reason
why they were carried off into Babylonian captivity and their
unfaithfulness and their idolatry. And Nehemiah says in chapter
nine, he says, Lord, many times you warned us by your prophets
and we did not heed. Can you relate to that? Many
times, Lord, you've warned me by your prophets, but I did not
heed. And then he said, for thy great
mercy's sake, thou did not forsake them. How many times? If somebody
was as unfaithful to you as you are to God, would you continue
to be there for them? No, you would
just say, you know what, I'm done, I'm done. But for his mercy's sake. And
so when we pray this prayer, for thy servant David's sake,
turn not thy face away from me. Lord, your people have always
been a stiff-necked people. Don't judge me according to my
unbelief, Lord, but for David's sake and for thy mercy's sake,
don't forsake me. You said you would never leave
me, more forsake me. Lord, the only thing I have is
to hold you to your promises. I don't know of another way to
say that. And that's how we come, isn't it? Psalm six, verse four says, return,
oh Lord, and deliver my soul and save me for thy mercy's sake. Not because of my sincerity,
not because of my repentance, not because of my sorrow, not
because I'm turning over a new leaf, I'm committing myself,
but for your mercy's sake, Lord, I am in need of mercy. And as
a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that
fear him. Lord, all I can do is come before
you and call on you to be merciful to me." And then when Samuel
was interceding for the children of Israel, aren't they just like
us? They just, you know, they're
just so... In 1 Samuel chapter 12, Here's
what Samuel said, for the Lord will not forsake his people for
his great name's sake. For his great name's sake, my
name's on the contract. I can't forsake them because
I put my name on them. I'm Jehovah said, can you the
Lord my righteousness? And now they're called the Lord,
our righteousness. How can I forsake them? I put
my name on them. And then the last part of that
verse says, because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people. pleased him. It's not just, it's not just,
you know, well, the Lord, you know, tolerate me for Christ's
sake. No, it pleased the Lord to be
merciful, to be gracious. Look, look at our text again
for thy servant, David's sake, or that's the only claim I have.
for his great namesake, for his mercy sake, for Christ's sake. Lord, I can't come to you on
any other ground. But on that ground, I can hold
God to his word. I can believe what God said is
true and that he is faithful. And I can rest the hope of my
eternal soul on his promises and on his name and on his work. And he goes on to say, turn not
away the face of thine anointed. Three times in Psalm 80, David
says, turn us again, oh God, and cause thy face to shine upon
us and we shall be saved. Turn us and we shall be turned. Turn us again and again and again. How often do you need to be turned? Todd and I were talking today
on the phone and we were talking about Abraham. And, you know,
we often think, well, Abraham went, the Lord appeared to Abraham
in the early Chaldees and said, Abraham, leave your family, your
father and your mother, go into the land that I'll show you.
And, and Abraham just picked up and left right then and was
obedient, but that's not how it happened. First of all, he
didn't leave his mother, his father, he took his father with
him. His father died halfway before he got there. And, and,
and he was, he was not faithful. He was reluctant. And then he
went down into Egypt and You know, Abraham just had to be
turned again and again. He's the example of faith in
the scripture, but though we believe, we have so many different examples
of unbelief in our lives, don't we? Just like Abraham had. Turn
us again. There's a prayer we just always
pray in, aren't we? or turn us again, cause thy face
to shine upon us and we shall be saved. Daniel is interceding for the
children of Israel. We're talking about all these
prophets who are praying for the people of God. And what,
here's my point, what is the claim that they make when they
plead for God to be merciful to this stiff-necked people?
It's always the same. It's always the same. It's not,
Lord, they didn't mean it. It's not, Lord, they'll do better.
It's not, you know, they're really sincere now. You've punished
them and they've been corrected and they're going to walk the
straight and narrow now and they're going to be faithful. No, that
was never the prayer. Listen to what Daniel said. Now,
therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant and his
supplications and cause thy face to shine upon the sanctuary that
is desolate for the Lord's sake. For the Lord's sake. No other
claim. Lord, I feel so desolate. But
for the Lord's sake, for David's sake, for Christ's sake, have
mercy upon us. We've got to have his face to
shine. You know, the creation that we read about in the first
part of Genesis is just a physical picture of our new birth. The
earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face
of the deep. There we are. There we are. We have no form. We're empty. There's nothing but darkness.
And God said, let there be light. And when he said, let there be
light, the light shine forth. And then when the Lord connects
that with our salvation, he says, for God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The same God who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness. has shined in our hearts to give
us the knowledge of the glory of God. What is the knowledge
of the glory of God? It is the face of the Lord Jesus
Christ. There's the glory of God. Lord,
for Christ's sake, for David's sake, cause that light to shine. Otherwise I'm without form and
I'm void and darkness upon the face of the deep. And there's
no, there's no light here. And the Lord Jesus said, I'm
the light of the world. I'm the light of the world. Men
loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. They that come to the light, I will in no wise cast out. And the hope that we have that
his face, the face of the anointed would shine upon us is all because
he gave his face to the smiters. They plucked out his beard, they
spit in his face. He had no form nor comeliness. And when we saw him, there was
no beauty in him that we should desire him. And he said in Psalm
22, I am a worm and no man. You ever say, it seems somebody
is just so I know you were in a bad accident
the other day, Noah, and I can't imagine what that woman looked
like, but it doesn't even look like a person anymore. That's
what the scripture says about Christ. I am a worm and no man. There's no form nor comeliness
in me that you should desire me. reproach of men and despised
of the people and they had beaten him and flogged him and the blood
was flowing and he came out of that place where the Roman soldiers
had mocked him and beat him until he did not even resemble a man. But his eyes became fixed on
Peter. who had just denied with cursing
three times that you didn't know him. You ever done that? Deny the Lord? I'm sure you have. I'm sure you have. Plenty of
times we should have said something, we should have stood up, we should
have took a position, we just were afraid. Pray to people. And then the Lord fixes his eyes.
Were they eyes of I told you so? Were they eyes of disgust?
Were they eyes of, you know, just disappointment? No. No, they were, it was a look
of love and compassion and mercy and tenderness. And the Lord
looked upon Peter and Peter's heart was broken. It's the love
of Christ that constraineth us. It's the goodness of God that
leads to repentance. It's not the threats and judgments
of God. Don't turn the face of thine
anointed away from me. Look to me in compassion. Lord,
I need compassion. I need mercy. I need forgiveness.
I need you to do for me what you did for Peter. Peter went out and wept bitterly,
didn't he? And the Lord, when he raised
from the dead, what did he tell Mary at the open tomb? He said,
go tell the disciples and Peter and Peter. And the Lord appeared
unto Peter and Peter, lovest thou me, oh Lord, you know that
I do. Why do I love you? Because you first loved me. How
could I not love you? when you were so forgiving and
so gentle and so merciful towards me just a few days ago when I
was, when I was so unfaithful and so full of sin and Lord,
for your namesake, look at verse 11. We'll, we'll,
we'll just deal with this one more verse. The Lord has sworn
in truth unto David. You know what that's a reference
to. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit entered
into an eternal covenant. It's called the covenant of grace,
where the Lord Jesus Christ struck hands with his father and promised
to be the surety for his bride. And the father chose the bride
for Christ. According to his own will and
purpose, he chose exactly who he would save. And the Lord Jesus
agreed into that covenant of grace and said, I'll go and I'll
redeem them. I'll pay their ransom price.
I'll pay their dowry and I'll make them my own. And the Holy
Spirit said, I'll go and I'll make them willing in the day
of my power. And everyone that the father chose and everyone
that Christ redeemed, the Holy Spirit regenerated every single
one. Not one was left behind. Here's
what sinners need. You remember when Abraham sent
Eleazar to get Rebecca as a wife for Isaac and Eleazar put his
hand under the thigh of Abraham and they made a covenant. They
made a covenant. What is that thigh a picture
of? It's a picture of strength. Remember when the Lord Jesus
is seen in the book of Revelation, his name, King of Kings and Lord
of Lords, is written upon his thigh. That's the strength of
his body. It's just a picture of the power
of God. And Abraham made this covenant promise with Eleazar.
And Eleazar said, well, what if she's not willing? Well, if
she's not willing, don't bring her. but don't go outside of
my family to get my son a wife. There was two things that Abraham
required Eleazar to do. Number one, it's got to be one
of my relatives. And number two, she's got to
be willing. And there's a picture of the
Holy Spirit going out to those for whom Christ died and they're
made willing and they come. Rebecca came, didn't she? She
came willingly. She didn't come kicking and screaming.
She wasn't, oh no, she, she had never met Isaac before. David sent Ziba, as we've already
mentioned, to fetch Mephibosheth and Lodabar. Here's it. Here's the picture. The Lord
has sworn in truth. David made a covenant promise
with Jonathan. to protect his descendants, and
he was gonna fulfill that promise. The Lord Jesus Christ made a
covenant promise with his father to redeem those, and that's the
claim that we, Lord, have mercy upon me for Christ's sake. And
remember not my covenant promises, but remember the covenant promise
that the father made to the son, the son made to the spirit, the
spirit made. Lord, remember that covenant
promise. That's what he's saying. The Lord has sworn in truth unto
David and he will not turn from it. The Lord sent a preacher. into
a Roman dungeon in a city called Philippi because there was a
jailer there that needed to be saved and there was one of God's
elect. The Lord said to those disciples,
he said, I must go through Samaria. One of my children there has
messed up her life horribly. I'm gonna have mercy upon her.
I'm gonna save her. And he did, he told her everything
she'd ever done. And she, like that Syrophoenician
woman, said, is not this the son of God? Is not this the Christ,
the Messiah, the anointed one? Psalm 2, let's finish, look at
the last part of this verse 11. Of the fruit of thy body, will
I set upon my throne. Yet I have set my king upon the
holy hill of Zion. Our God reigns in the armies
of heaven and all the inhabitants of the earth. He's Lord over
the living and over the dead. Men don't have to decide to make
him Lord. He is Lord. This is where we
see him sitting on his throne. If we're gonna see him like Isaiah
saw him, high and lifted up and seated upon his throne with the
seraphim hovering over him and crying, holy, holy, holy, it's
gonna be through the worship of God and the preaching of the
gospel among the people of God where he's promised to make himself
known. This is his holy temple. Look what he goes on to say in
this passage. Look at verse 13. For the Lord
hath chosen Zion, he has desired it for his habitation. This is
my rest forever. Here will I dwell, for I have
desired it. I will abundantly bless her provision. I will satisfy her poor with
bread. I will clothe her priests with
the righteousness of Christ. There's our God's blessings and
does it all for Christ's sake. And then in closing, turn with
me to Revelation chapter three. Revelation chapter three. Here's a passage that has been
horribly abused and misused. And I remind you that Revelation
2 and 3, the Lord is speaking to the churches. The churches,
the seven churches of Asia Minor representing all the churches
of every generation. And he concludes these warnings
and blessings to the churches by saying in verse 20, behold,
I stand at the door and knock. I'll stand at the door with your
heart, wanting to come in and waiting for you to let him. That's
not the meaning here. He said, I stand at the door
and knock. And the next two words, if any man, you look it up, it's
the word whosoever. Whosoever. Open up that door. I will come in and sup with him
and he with me. We'll fellowship together. You
see, when the Lord Jesus sits on his throne in Zion upon his
holy hill, there are folks that can be right
here in the very presence of God and not know it. Not know
it. You got no interest in the glory
of Christ. They're not praying for David's
namesake. They're looking to win God's
favor by something that they're doing. And the Lord's in their
presence and they don't even know it. Verse 21, to him that overcometh. And that's not your ability to
overcome, it's, The Lord, whosoever that opens the door, that's the
ones that God's elect. That's God's people. They're
going to say, Lord, come. Lord, come. And the overcoming is his work
of grace keeping us in Christ all the way to the end. If you
ever truly believed on the Lord Jesus as your only Your only
hope of salvation, your only claim with God, your only grounds
for mercy and for salvation and for forgiveness, if it was on
David's, then that can never change. You can't be a believer
and then become an unbeliever. It's not gonna happen. And so this overcoming, is every
believer. Every believer will open the
door, say Lord come in. Every believer will overcome
by God's grace. To him that overcometh will I
grant to sit with me in my throne even as I also overcame and sat
down with my father in his throne. Here's the throne of David. We're
found in Christ We're seated in that royal place. You remember
when Esther, Mordecai told Esther, you've got to go in to Artaxerxes
and you've got to plead for the children of Israel, they're gonna
get wiped out. And you remember what Esther said to Mordecai?
She said, he hasn't summonsed me. If I go into the King's presence
without a summons from him, he could put me to death for doing
that. As it turned out, the King's
reached forth his scepter. But here's my point, brother.
We can't say with Esther, he hasn't summoned us. He has. And our warrant for coming is
his command to come. Come, all ye that labor come,
come unto me. The veil's been rent, the door
to heaven's been opened, the forerunner's gone before us.
And the Lord Jesus Christ is saying, for my namesake, you
plead the name and the blood and the mercy and the work of
the Lord Jesus Christ as your only hope of being able to come
into the presence of God. They're gonna sit on my throne
and I'm gonna sit on my father's throne. Here we are, we're part
of the royal family. I'm gonna make them kings and
priests is what the Lord said. A royal priesthood, a holy nation. What great hope. Our Heavenly Father, bless your
word and give us faith to believe all that you've declared. We
ask it in Christ's name. Amen. 30 in the spiral hymnal number
30. Let's stand together.