Let's turn in our Bibles to Revelation
chapter 7. Revelation chapter 7. Good evening. We'll begin reading in verse
9. This is the vision that the Lord
gave to John of the church gathered together in glory. And he says,
after this I beheld and lo a great multitude which no man could
number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues stood
before the throne and before the lamb clothed with white robes
and palms in their hands and cried with a loud voice saying,
salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the
Lamb. And all the angels stood round
about the throne, and about the elders, and the four beasts,
and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshiped God,
saying, Amen. Blessing, and glory, and wisdom,
and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might be unto
our God forever and ever. Amen. And one of the elders answered
saying unto me, what are these which are arrayed in white robes
and whence come they? And I said to her, to him, sir,
thou knowest. And he said to me, these are
they which came out of the great tribulation and have washed their
robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. Now some
of you all have the same experience I had in religion, thinking that
there was going to be a period of time at the end of the earth
when there was going to be a great tribulation against the church. That's not true. The tribulation
is this world. This is the valley of the shadow
of death that we walk through. The afflictions and the tribulation
are what we experience every day. as believers living as sojourners
in this fallen, sinful world. And the Lord says, this is those
that were saved out of the tribulation and washed their robes white
in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, are they before the
throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple. And
he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them, and they
shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall
the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the lamb, which is
in the midst of the throne, shall feed them and shall lead them
unto living fountains of water, and God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. Some of our dear brethren are
suffering tribulation and afflictions that I want us to pray for tonight. You all know Jessica Clark, Adam's
sister-in-law. Jessica and Brad have been here
many times. Jessica had a major liver resection
today. Just came out of surgery in the
last 30 minutes or so. And so. I want to pray for Jessica. Diane surgery went well this
week and she's at home recovering. We appreciate you all praying
for Jennifer her. Radioactive therapy went as expected
and as planned yesterday and she's at home recovering from
that. Want to continue to pray for
something Kaylee and. And also Lynn Nybert a week from
tomorrow will be put on the transplant list and because she has to have
a double transplant, her liver and her kidney, she will go to
the top of the list. So anytime after next Thursday
she could get called and when she gets a call she has to go
immediately. and will be in surgery within less than four hours.
And she would like for that to happen quickly. If the Lord puts
Lynn on your heart, remember to pray for her. Let's pray together. Oh, our gracious and merciful
Heavenly Father, what great hope and comfort we have in knowing
that you are absolutely sovereign, that nothing can be added to
what you have done and nothing can be taken away from it. Lord,
you've purposed all things in this life for your glory and
for the good and salvation of your people. Lord, we We bear
these burdens knowing that there will come a day when we will
be made in thy likeness and we'll be satisfied. And there will
be in that day no more tears and no more sorrow, no more suffering. Father, we're greatly comforted
in knowing that the Lord Jesus Christ knows so much better than
we do what affliction and suffering is. And that you've told us that
we're to come to him and know that he cares for us. Lord, we
pray for these, our brothers and sisters, and we ask that
you would comfort their hearts in their time of affliction.
We pray that you would help us to know how we might encourage
them and how we might pray for them. Lord, we ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Let's stand together again. We'll
sing hymn 25, number 25 from the Spiral hymn book. Yeah. I love your holy law, my God,
I love it in my heart. And if I could, I would obey
in spirit every part. Your law is holy, just, and good,
all perfect and all true. but I'm a weak and sinful wretch,
his works I cannot do. And yet your law condemns me
not, it's all been satisfied by your own son, my substitute,
when he for sinners died. In life Christ brought in righteousness,
such as the law required. In death he bore your dreadful
wrath, and there the curse expired. And now your laws become my friend,
demanding my release. It points to Jesus, slain for
me, and gives me perfect peace. By faith in Jesus Christ I'm
free, from condemnation free. For all your law requires of
thee, Christ Jesus is my plea. Please be seated. Let's open our Bibles together
to Psalm 132, Psalm 132. We're going to be looking at
verses six through nine, but I'll go back and read the first
verses that we looked at this past Sunday. I've titled this
message, the house of bread, the house of bread. You know,
that's the meaning of the word Bethlehem and, um, Here in this
passage of scripture, the Lord is talking about the blessings
that he's promised to pour out for his people in the church. And what a great blessing we
have. What a rare thing it is to find
an assembly of believers where the gospel of God's free grace
is preached. where God promises to meet with
his people and feed them with the bread of life. It is a rare
thing. And here the Lord gives us some
encouragement about what he purposes to do and what he promises to
do when his people gather together in his name. Lord, remember David. and his afflictions. The afflictions
of the Lord Jesus Christ are the afflictions that satisfy
the demands of God's justice on Calvary's cross. And we say,
Lord, remember us in our afflictions and help us in our afflictions,
but don't remember me based on my afflictions. My afflictions
are not sufficient to satisfy the justice of God. Only the
afflictions of Christ can do that. how he swear unto the Lord and
bowed unto the mighty God of Jacob. Lord, remember the covenant
promises that he'd made and the fulfillment and faithfulness
to keep those promises. Lord, look to Christ for everything
that you require of me. Surely I will not come into the
tabernacle of my house nor go up to my bed. I will not give
sleep to mine eyes nor slumber to mine eyelids until I found
out a place for the Lord. a habitation for the mighty God
of Jacob. There's the Lord Jesus Christ,
determined to fulfill his purpose in saving his people and providing
a habitation for God. Turn with me, we looked at this
passage Sunday, but I want you to see it again. Hebrews, Ephesians
chapter two, Ephesians chapter two. And we'll just read from verse
20 down. And are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone. We are the lively stones. He's
talking about, he's likening the church to a building. And
he's saying this building is built upon the cornerstone of
the Lord Jesus Christ, that stone that was rejected by the builders
God has made to become the head of the corner. In whom all the
building is fitly framed together groweth into a holy temple in
the Lord. No cracks, no, this building
is fitly framed together. It's a strong building, it's
the church. of the Lord Jesus Christ, in
whom you also are builded together for an habitation of God through
the Spirit." So here is the place where the Lord is pleased to
manifest his glory, to show forth his grace. Where does God meet
with his people? the habitation that the Lord
Jesus has provided, his church, the assembly of his saints. Where does he feed his sheep?
Where does he provide us with the bread of life and satisfy
our souls with the hope of salvation? In his church, in his church. Where does he send his spirit
in power, enabling his people to enter into worship. Where does he do that? Right
here, right here. Go back with me to our Psalm
132 and let's read the next few verses. Verse six, lo, we heard of it
at Ephratah. Now we're gonna see that Ephratah
is another name for Bethlehem. the city of bread, the house
of bread. We have heard of the habitation. And we have heard of the work
and the person of the Lord Jesus Christ in Bethlehem. We found
it in the field of the woods. We will go into his tabernacles. We will worship at his footstool. Arise, O Lord, unto thy rest,
thou and the ark of thy strength. Let thy priests be clothed with
righteousness, and let thy saints shout for joy. You know, I hear sometimes people,
believers, say that they've missed the fellowship when they're not
able to be here. But you miss a whole lot more
than fellowship when you don't assemble together with the people
of God. This is the place where the Lord
has promised to meet with his people. This is the place where
the Holy Spirit makes the gospel such a blessing to the hearts
of His people. It's not just the fellowship
of believers. That's sweet and that's important. But this is
where the Lord has promised to manifest His glory and to pour
out His Spirit. And we miss so much more than
just the fellowship of believers when we miss assembling ourselves
together. with the saints of God. A good
example of that is Thomas would not be known as doubting Thomas
had he been where he was supposed to be. He was supposed to be
with the assembly of the believers, wasn't he? And when the Lord
appeared and shined forth his glory and Thomas wasn't there,
what happened to Thomas? I will not believe until I see. Not being together with God's
people, it brings about doubts and unbelief, doesn't it? This
is the place where the Lord hedges us up and protects us. We're
gonna see that in some verses in just a moment. This is where he speaks truth
to the hearts of his people. This is the place where he calls
out his lost sheep. and brings them to faith in Christ. Oh, what we miss when we... This
is the promise, this is the blessing, this is why you're here tonight,
isn't it? That's why I'm here. I'm here in hopes and prayer
that the Lord will be pleased to speak to our hearts and to... to comfort us and encourage us
and instruct us and feed us and deliver us from our sin and deliver
us from this world in which we live. Listen to what David said
in Psalm 74 verse 2. He said, remember thy congregation,
which thou hast purchased of old, the rod of thine inheritance,
which thou hast redeemed, this Mount Zion, where thy dwellest. He said, this is the place where
you're pleased to dwell. This Psalm 132 is looking back
to when Solomon took the tabernacle, I mean the
Ark of the Covenant, and brought it in and built the Temple of
God, the place of worship where the Lord said, here I will meet
with you. And that took place in Mount
Zion, also known as Ephratah, also known as Bethlehem. In Psalm 125 verse 1, they that
trust the Lord shall be like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved. This is the building that's fitly
joined together, that's knit together with the love of Christ,
and that's established on the foundation of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he says, this Mount Zion
cannot be moved. He's not talking about That mountain
over there in Israel, he's talking about the church of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It will not be moved. Psalm 78, verse 68, the Lord
says, Mount Zion, which I loved. This is where his love is manifested. And this is where he shows forth
his grace toward his people. In Isaiah chapter 8 verse 18,
the scripture says that he dwells in Mount Zion. And in Isaiah
chapter 10 verse 12, it says this is where he performs his
work. This is the place where he performs
the work of his grace. I'm not trying to preach to the
choir here. You all are the ones that are here every time the
doors open. I'm here to encourage you to believe the promises of
God. This is what we come here for.
We come here to experience the promises that the Lord has given
us to manifest His power and His grace and His glory when
we gather together in His name. Isaiah chapter 24 verse 23 says,
the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion. This is where
he's lifted up. This is where he rules and reigns.
And God's people bow to him in that reign. We delight in him
reigning. We're not in competition with
one another to see who's more important and see who's going
to be in control and who's going to be in charge. No, we're all
bowing together. And I, if I be lifted up, will
draw all men to me. We come before his footstool
and we sit at his feet. And they said, this is where
I reign. Now the Lord reigns out in the world. He's sovereign
over the armies of heaven and over all the inhabitants of the
earth. And He will do with every person what He wills. But they
don't know that. They don't recognize. You see,
this is where we acknowledge His reign. This is where we are
reminded of His reign. And this is where we bow to His
reign and worship Him in His reign. The world's not doing
that. They're not doing that. They've got no interest in the
reign of God. This is the same Mount Zion that
Abraham took Isaac up on to sacrifice him to the Lord. And you remember
what Isaac said as they were going up the mountain, Isaac
said to his father, he said, father, here's the fire and here's
the wood, but where's the burnt sacrifice? Where's the sacrifice
that we're going to make? And what did Abraham say to his
son? He said, God will provide himself a sacrifice. Three things to be understood
about that statement. God will do the providing. God
will provide himself as the sacrifice and God will provide the sacrifice
to God. God will provide himself a sacrifice. That took place on Mount Zion,
and that's who we preach, and that's what we do every time
we come together here. We bring the wood. We're just kindling, aren't we?
We call down, we call for God to send the fire, and we wait
for the Lord to provide the sacrifice. And when we do, we find that
he's in that thicket. He's bound up. in the thicket
of sin and the Lord slew that ram in place of Isaac, didn't
he? And so God has done for me and
you. He has slain the Lord Jesus Christ
on Mount Zion. And every time we come together,
we just, we reenact, we re-examine, we re-declare that wonderful
story of what the Lord Jesus did on Mount Zion. This is the
place where Solomon built the temple. This Ark of the Covenant
was brought to Mount Zion. It was placed in that temple.
And Herod later rebuilt the same temple, and it was the temple
that the Lord Jesus went to. And it was the temple where the
sacrifices were being made at the very moment that the Lord
Jesus was on Calvary's cross and bowed his mighty head and
said, it is finished. And the veil was rent in that
temple. The Lord said, come in, come in now, come. All you that
labor in a heavy laden, come. The spirit of the bride say,
come. This is where I'm gonna meet with you. The Lord Jesus
went into that holies of holies and he took his precious blood
and put it on that mercy seat and God was satisfied. Where
in the world, in the whole world are we gonna hear about this
other than in Bethlehem, other than Yet Mount Zion. And he's not talking about the
mountain that's over there. You know what's sitting on that
mountain right now, don't you? That very spot, that very spot
where Abraham sacrificed, was going to sacrifice Isaac, the
very spot where the Ark of the Covenant was and where the, where
Herod and where Solomon's temple sat. What do they call it? The dome of the rock? A pagan,
a pagan Muslim mosque is sitting on that mountain. Now, what does
God say to me and you? That's not the place anymore.
This is the place. This is the place. We're not
to be looking at some physical location. We look at the spiritual
gathering of God's people where the, where the gospel is preached
and the spirit of God has promised to come. And this is, Remember thy congregation which
thou has purchased of old, and thine inheritance which thou
has redeemed, Mount Zion where thy dwellest. Turn to me to Micah chapter two. Micah chapter two. Now in our text, The Lord says, lo, I heard of
it. I heard of what? I heard of the
glorious work of redemption. I heard of everything that that
arc pointed to. That arc that was made of gopher wood, shidom wood actually,
and covered in pure gold and had the mercy seat on it. And
had in, so you remember what was in the ark? What was in the
ark? It was Aaron's rod was in the
ark, the rod that it budded, that Aaron, that miraculously
budded. And then there was the ofar of
manna, that was in the ark, and then there was the tablets of
the law that were in the ark. That was in the ark, and the
blood was put on the mercy seat. And what do those three things
represent? The Lord Jesus Christ, the prophet, the manna from heaven,
the priest, the Aaron's rod, and the king, the one who established
the law and fulfilled the law. and His blood was put on there.
We have a prophet, priest, and king in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And there's that ark being brought in. And it takes place here. We heard of it. We heard of what the Lord Jesus
accomplished. We heard of what He did at Ephratah. That's what we heard about. We
wouldn't have heard about it anywhere else. You wouldn't hear about
it on the news, wouldn't hear about it, you know, from anywhere
else. It's the church, the Mount Zion,
it's the house of bread. That's where this message of
salvation and hope is declared into the world. Look at Micah
chapter 5 at verse 2. But thou Bethlehem, but thou
Bethlehem Ephratah. though thou be little among the
thousands of Judah." Oh, the world doesn't even know we're
here. They don't take any notice of this little motley band of
nobodies that are meeting together in Apopka, Florida, or in Crossville,
Tennessee, you know, they don't. This is such a small place compared
to the world. Yet out of these shall come forth
unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose going forth have
been from of old, from everlasting. It's small and insignificant.
Isaiah said, don't despise the day of small things. These are
the things that the Lord uses. heard the Lord's ways are not
our ways man looks at the big the big things in the world as
if they're important and God saying this is what's important
this is where God is going to be manifested in the flesh Bethlehem
Ephratah we heard of it at Ephratah we heard of it at Bethlehem just
like those wise men that came from the east They heard of it. They saw the light of the star
and they knew that that's where the Messiah was going to enter
into the world, that little place called Bethlehem. My, the Lord
direct our hearts in the same way. And what an insignificant
little town it was. And what an insignificant little
inn that there was there. And what a little insignificant
barn that there was on the backyard of the inn. And what an insignificant
little feeding trough there was. The scripture calls it a manger,
but it was just a feeding trough. That's what it was. And that's
where the Lord Jesus was laid when he was born. And the world
took no notice of it. But all the angels of heaven
came forth and told those shepherds in the field that unto you has
been born this day in the city of David. This is the city of
David. Not talking about King David
from the Old Testament from a thousand BC, talking about the son of
David. This is the city of David. Unto you has been born this day
in the city of David, a savior, which is Christ the Lord. What
will we do without Ephratah? What will we do without Bethlehem?
What would we do without the coming forth? And when we gather
together, this is the house of bread. This is Bethlehem. This is the birthplace of the
Lord Jesus Christ. This is where he is declared. You remember in the book of Ruth,
there was a man by the name of Elimelech who lived in Bethlehem. And the scripture says that there
was a famine in the land. And he had an offer for a job
over in Moab. And he left Bethlehem and took
his wife Naomi and his sons with him to Moab. And he died in Moab
and his sons died in Moab. You know what I understand from
that? There are people who come here. And they think, you know,
I'm not getting anything out of this. And the Lord will offer
each one of us an opportunity to profit in some way or the
other in the world to see if we'll be like Elimelech, to see
if we'll leave Bethlehem, to go for a greener pasture. There is no greener pasture.
This is the place where the Lord sets the table for his children.
He leads me along still waters and he's provided for me a table.
This is where his sheep feed together, isn't it? But how many
times, how many times we've seen, we've seen individuals like Elimelech
lead Bethlehem in order to pursue a greater opportunity in the
world. that the Lord will provide that opportunity for his own
children. And occasionally his children will pursue those things
until they realize, I got to get back to Bethlehem. That's
where my soul is fed. These things that the world's
promising me aren't satisfying me. I've got to be in Bethlehem. Elimelech and his sons died in
Boaz. Ruth came back with Naomi. She
found Boaz. Where'd she find him? She found
him in Bethlehem. Her kinsman redeemer. And he
redeemed her. And they were married and had
a child by the name of Obed. And Obed grew up and had a child
by the name of Jesse. And Jesse grew up and had a child
by the name of David. And this Moabitess woman by the
name of Ruth said to Naomi, Oh no, your God's going to be my
God. And your people are going to be my people. And where you
stay is where I'm going to stay. And Naomi and Ruth never left.
You see David, three generations later, Ruth's family is still
living in Bethlehem. David was born in Bethlehem.
When Samuel came to anoint David as king, he came to Jesse's house.
Jesse, the grandson of Ruth and David, the great grandson of
Ruth was living in Bethlehem. They didn't leave the house of
bread and you don't want to leave. You can't leave. This is, this
is where the Lord has promised to feed us. You know, Bethlehem,
even before that, was the burial place of Rachel. When Rachel
gave birth to Benjamin, she died in Bethlehem. And Jacob buried her, or Isaac buried
her in Bethlehem. I want to just die right here,
don't you? And you know, spiritually we do. Every time we come together
and we hear the gospel. who lose their life shall gain
it. And what did Paul say? We die
daily. You see, the only way to find
hope in Christ is to die to self. We can't hold out our own righteousness
or our own works or anything else that we do for the hope
of our salvation. We spiritually die every time
we come to Bethlehem. And I pray the Lord will keep
us in Bethlehem until that day that he's pleased to take us
home. Brethren again, I'm not, you all the ones that hear every
time the doors open, I'm not here to try to shame you in any
way. I want you to hear what God has
said he would do for his people in Bethlehem so that we can come
with a greater expectation. I can come with a greater expectation.
Believing that when I speak, that if I'm faithful to speak
God's word, that God will meet with us, that he will open the
windows of heaven and that he will come down and he will keep
us. In 2nd Chronicles chapter 11,
after the two nations, you don't have to look this up, you can
read it if you'd like sometime later, but after Solomon died,
Jeroboam and Rehoboam, the two sons of Solomon, divided the
kingdom between Israel and Judah. And the scripture says that Rehoboam
built around Jerusalem cities of defense, and fifteen cities
of defense are mentioned as the cities that he built around Jerusalem. And the scripture says that he
stocked them with food and with wine and with oil and with weapons,
swords and shields to protect the city of God. He had provided
all these things in these cities of protection. And the very first of the 15
cities that's mentioned is Bethlehem. Rehoboam reinforced that city
and made it a city of defense for Judah. This is our city of defense,
is it not? Are we not tempted every day of our lives to not
believe God? And this is the place where the
Lord brings us again to say, believe me, and we're strengthened
in our faith. Do we not need a defense against
our own unbelief? Do we not need a defense against
our own sin? We struggle with it. Our sin
is ever before us. We wrestle with the flesh every
day. We live in a world that is contrary
to everything that we believe. And this is the first city of
defense that the Lord has provided, Bethlehem, for his people to
be able to come. and be able to defend themselves
against the wiles of the devil, against that one who, that roaring
lion that's seeking whom he may devour, this lying, unbelieving
world that is, that dangles its enticements to us every day and
wants us to go, and we come back to Bethlehem and it becomes our
city of defense. What does David say in this psalm
says? I heard about it at Ephratah. I heard about Christ. I heard
about the ark. I heard about His work of redemption.
I heard about how God raised Him from the dead and how God
was completely satisfied with everything that He had done.
I heard about His afflictions. I heard about the covenants and
the promises that he made with his father in eternity past. I heard about how he became the
surety of his people. I heard about how he fulfilled
those promises on Calvary's cross when he shed his precious blood.
Satisfy the demands of God's justice and fulfill God's law.
Where'd I hear about all that? I heard about that Ephratah.
the city of defense that Rehoboam built, the same house of bread
that Ruth came back to. What great hope we have. And then twice in the Old Testament,
for once in the book of Chronicles and once in the book of Kings,
you remember that David was at a cave called Adullam and he
was hiding from the threats of Saul. Adullam means justice for
the people. This is a picture of Christ.
This is that story when David was parched in this cave. dying of thirst, and just said
out loud what he was feeling. He grew up in Bethlehem. There
was a well at the gate at Bethlehem. And David audibly said with his
men around him, oh, to be able to drink from the well at the
gate of Bethlehem. And three of his mighty men And
you read it, you read the story, the story tells what these three
men did in order to go get that water for David. Because the
city of Bethlehem was held by the Philistines at that time,
and anyone that got near the city of Bethlehem was threatening
their lives. And these three mighty men slew
men on the way to Bethlehem. They went to that well, they
got water out of that well, and they brought it back to King
David. What did David do with that water?
What did he do with it? He drink it? Oh, he said, these
men have risked their lives to bring me that water. I'm not
going to drink that water. I'm going to pour it out as a
drink offering to the Lord. And he poured it out on the ground
after these three mighty men had gotten that water from the
well at the gate of Bethlehem. What a picture. of our Lord,
who went into a tomb in order to accomplish justice for his
people. That's what a dulem means. What
a picture of God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy
Spirit. These three mighty men of David represented by the triune
Godhead who sacrificed everything in order to get the living water
of life. And the Lord Jesus Christ took
that water. He cried on the cross, just like
David did in the cave. He said, I thirst. And when they
brought him the water, what'd he do? He poured it out as a
drink offering, poured out his soul on Calvary's cross. All
these things took place in Bethlehem. And all these things take place
here. Every time we come together and every time we look into God's
word and every time we preach Christ, These stories are renewed
in spirit to our hearts so that we're brought again and again
and again to this city of defense, this city of protection to deliver
us. Our Lord poured out his soul
as an offering for sin on Calvary's cross, just like David poured
out that water. Herod, that wicked king, became
enraged towards the wise men who said they would come back
and report to him about the finding of the king that had been born
in Bethlehem. And he was so enraged that they
would not tell him. The scripture says that he was
mocked by the wise men. The wise men who refused to come
back and report to Herod where the Lord Jesus was, the fact
that they wouldn't have mocked him. You know the world feels
mocked by what we do. And we do, I mean, we say with the prophet on the
mountain, what's the name of it? when he set up the altar and
the fire came down, Elijah, and Mount Carmel. You remember the
prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel? And he mocked them. He said, you know, you need to
cut yourself a little bit more, pray a little harder, you know,
cry out. The gospel of God's free grace in the Lord Jesus
Christ, the successful work of Christ, and the hope that we
have in remembering the afflictions of David. mocks the religions
of this world, and they hate us for it. They do. What did Herod do? What Herod
do? He came to Bethlehem, Ephrathah,
and he murdered, he murdered every child two years old and
younger. Murdered everyone and slew them.
That's how enraged he was. That's how angry he was. Don't
be surprised if the world hates you. They hated me before they
hated you. If you were of the world, the
world would love you. But because you're not of the
world, therefore the world hateth you. Because our gospel mocks
their gospel. It really does. Go back with me to our text. Lo, verse six, oh, lo, we heard
of it at Ephratah. If it wasn't for Bethlehem, if
it wasn't for Ephratah, we wouldn't know anything about what the
Lord Jesus has done. One for his church. The religious
world's not declaring this message of hope and salvation. They're
not telling the truth about God and about Christ. The education is certainly not
educating our children in those things, is it? The political
world's not doing it, but only at Bethlehem. This is where we heard of Christ. Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah. We found it in the field of the
woods. Now, this is a reference to a
city that was hard for me to pronounce, Kirjath-Jerim. And the ark remained in that
city for 20 years while Saul was king of Israel. And when
David became king, he sent to get that ark, to bring it to
the tabernacle. And that's when Uzzah, you remember,
reached out and touched the Ark and God slew him. But the name
of that city where the Ark was is called The Field. The interpretation
of the name of that city is The Field of the Woods. It was a very obscure place. It was a small place. And Davis
said, that's where we found the Ark. And it had been, no worship
of God for 20 years during the reign of Saul. And it was when
David went and got that Ark and brought it back and put it in
the tabernacle that the people of God were able to worship him.
We found it in the field of the woods, a lowly, a lowly place. And that's where the Ark is still
found today, isn't it? It's the treasure that was hid
in a field. And it was a lowly place. It
was the pearl of great price that a man was willing to sell
all that he had to obtain. Those shepherds found this lowly place, as I said earlier,
they were lowly shepherds in a lowly city. This field of the
woods is where the ark is found. It's just another reference spiritually
to Bethlehem. And the point here is that there's
nothing about the gospel that is appealing to the flesh. Nothing
about the gospel that's appealing to the flesh. The only way that
we're gonna be able to hear the gospel is when God humbles us,
strips us naked of everything that we've got, and makes us
depend completely on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's to be found
in the field of the woods. It's to be found in a lowly,
obscure place. And the gospel humbles the pride
of man, and it leaves him with nothing but Christ. And what
a great place to be. You're not gonna find that anywhere
else other than Ephratah, are you? You're not gonna find that
anywhere else other than Bethlehem. Verse seven, we will go into
his tabernacle. We will worship at his footstool. Mary chose that one thing that
was needful, wasn't she? She sat at the feet of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's what we're doing right
now. We're sitting at his feet. I sat at his feet for hours and
hours preparing to be here with you tonight. And you're sitting
at his feet. We're all sitting at his feet right now, aren't
we? Just listening to what he says and drinking in his word. And his word is life. These are words of life. What
great hope we have when the Lord is pleased to speak truth to
our hearts by his word. These words are not by private
interpretation. Men of God wrote as they were
moved by the Holy Spirit and they all speak of Christ. They
all point back to him. It's where we worship, at his
footstool. And what the Father say to the
Lord Jesus, I made you a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek,
sit thou here at my right hand until I make all thine enemies
thy footstool. You and I come into this world
as sons and daughters of Adam, sinful at enmity with God. And the Lord has to cause us
to turn our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning forks,
doesn't he? He causes us to put down our
weapons and to sit at his feet and become his children and his
followers and his disciples at his footstool. Make all thine
enemies thy footstool. Here's the conclusion of the
matter, brethren. Look at verse eight. Arise, O Lord, into thy
rest. Bow in the ark of thy strength. Oh, Lord, would you come? You
promised you would meet us in Bethlehem. You promised all these
things. Lord, would you arise? Or we're
gonna go, we're gonna go into the house of God and we're gonna
open the word of God. And we're gonna pray the Spirit
of God comes, and Lord, that you would open the windows of
heaven. Lord, would you arise? Would you come? Would you meet
with us? Would you enable us to worship
you in the power of your spirit and according to the truth of
your word? Would you reveal Christ more to us? Would you open up
that which no man can shut? Open my heart, open the windows
of heaven, open your word, reveal to us your glory. Lord, we have
no hope outside of that. Those who don't come to Bethlehem
are missing a great, great blessing. Great blessing. Those of us that
are coming by God's grace May the Lord put in our hearts a
desire for a greater blessing. Lord, would you arise? Would
you come meet with us? Would you speak to our hearts?
You know, we can all come out of habit, can't we? We can presume
upon God, might these precious promises of what the Lord said
he would do in the house of bread, that we come He just rained manna
from heaven on us. Our heavenly Father, thank you
for your word. Bless us according to thy promises
and deliver us, Lord, in this city that you've provided for
us. We ask it in Christ's name, amen.
186, 186, let's stand together.