Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number 22 from your Spiral Gospel Hymns hymn
book. Let's all stand together. Number
22. We were ruined by the fall, Adam's
sin defiles us all. By our deed as by our birth,
we deserve the law's great curse. Helpless, hopeless sinners we,
never can our souls retrieve. But the blessed Son of God Came
as man in flesh and blood He fulfilled the law's demands And
in death stretched out his hands On the cross of Calvary Christ
redeemed and set us free In the time which God had set, the Spirit
came for His elect to regenerate and call from the ruin of the
fall. By His power and by His grace,
we were born for God's own praise. ? Now your purpose we fulfill
? ? Saved according to your will ? ? Sing this song of joyful
praise ? ? For the glory of your grace ? ? Blessed, holy, triune
God ? ? Hear our praise through Christ our Lord ? Please be seated. Good evening. Would you open
your Bibles with me to Psalm 73 for our call to worship. Psalm
73. We met with the city of Apopka
today, and the meeting went very well. And so we're on track to
meet with them again the second Tuesday of August. And if we
can have everything prepared by then, we should be able to
break ground any time after that. So that's kind of the goal right
now. Psalm 73, beginning at verse one. Truly
God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. But as for me, my feet were almost
gone. My steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious at the foolish
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no
bans in their death, but their strength is firm. They are not
in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued like other men."
And what David's talking about there is they don't have two
natures. They've just indulged themselves in the things of this
world, and they have no spiritual conflict, no warfare. Therefore,
pride can passeth them about as a chain. Violence covereth
them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness.
They have more than heart could wish. They are corrupt, speak
wickedly concerning oppression. They speak loftily. They set
their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through
the earth. Therefore, his people return hither and waters of a
full cup are wrung out to them. And they say, how does God know? And is there knowledge in the
most high? Behold, these are the ungodly
who prosper in the world. They increase in riches. Barely
I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocency. For all the day long have I been
plagued and chastened every morning. If I say I will speak thus, behold,
I should offend against the generation of thy children. When I thought
to know this, it was too painful for me. Until, until I went into
the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end. Let's pray together. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we've come to thy sanctuary. In hopes, Lord of having the
same experience that you gave to King David. For Lord, we confess
to you that we. We look at the prosperity of
the wicked and sometimes we're envious and often Lord we are
caught up with the things of this world. But you've called
us to this place to remind us not only of their end, but to
remind us and prepare us for our end. Lord, we ask that you
would be pleased to speak to us tonight. Pray that your word
would be alive and active and sharper than any two edged sword.
We pray Lord that Christ will be lifted up. That we would find
our hope, our comfort. And all our salvation. In his
glorious person and in his accomplished work of redemption. For it's
in his name we ask it. Amen. Number 125 from the Hardback
Tymnal. Let's all stand together again,
125. I hear the Savior say, Thy strength
indeed is small, Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in me thine
all in all. Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. Lord, now indeed I find Thy power
and Thine alone Can change the leper's spots And melt the heart
of stone Jesus paid it all All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. For nothing good have I Where
by thy grace to claim I'll wash my garments white In the blood
of Calvary's Lamb Jesus paid it all All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. And when before the throne I
stand in Him complete, Jesus died my soul to save, my lips
shall still repeat, Jesus paid it all. ? All to him I owe ?
Sin had left a crimson stain ? He washed it white as snow
Please be seated. You open your Bibles with me
to Psalm 84. Psalm 84. I've titled this message, A Day
in Thy Courts. A Day in Thy Courts. I read some
men and listened to some men preach messages on this passage
of scripture, and almost without exception, they emphasized the
importance of public worship. No doubt there is a call to public
worship and there is a blessing to public worship that cannot
be substituted with anything else. But it is not my desire
or purpose in any way to shame people into coming to church. We have all experienced what
we just read in Psalm 72, envying the prosperity of the wicked
until we come in to the tabernacle of God, and then we know their
end. Those who say I don't need to
assemble with God's people in order to worship God, they don't
know anything about worship. God's people rejoice in gathering
together for public worship and that's all I'm going to say about
that. I was talking to a dear brother a week or so ago who
lives a long way away from a local assembly and he He said, I've
got to be there. I'm coming next week. I just
got to be there. I have to be there. And that's
the way God's people are. They know that this is the place
where the Lord's pleased to manifest his grace and his glory. They
have no interest in forsaking the assembling of themselves
together as the manner of some men are. They know that where
two or three are gathered together In his name there he is in the
midst of them. They know that the fellowship
of the Saints and the and the public preaching of the Gospel
is a absolute necessity for their soul. And. And so I'm not here to. To try
to shame those who don't think they have a need for public worship.
You're here. Because a day in his courts are
better for you than a thousand days anywhere else. And all of
God's people would say, I would rather be a doorkeeper at the
threshold of the tabernacle of God than to dwell in the tents
of the wicked. And what a blessing the Lord
has given us to have a place where we can come and to move
us to come and be here. But I want you to notice also
in verse 10, this is the verse that I've been looking at and
listening to other men. And this is the verse that so
many men preach, the necessity of public worship. And it is, but for a day in thy
courts, a day in thy courts. The psalmist says is better than
a thousand days anywhere else. Oh, I'd rather be in God's presence
than anywhere else. And then he goes on to say, I'd
rather be a doorkeeper. I'd rather sit at the threshold
of the house of God. Now, What's at the threshold
of the house of God? Well, the Lord Jesus Christ refers
to himself as the door into the sheepfold. And so being at the
threshold of the house of God is not sitting down on the front
porch. It's coming into the family of God through Christ. It's the
thieves and the robbers that come in another way. The Lord
said, I am the door to the sheepfold. He's the threshold. You remember
the time when the Philistines stole the Ark of the Covenant
and they took it back and put it in the Temple of Dagon? And the next morning they came
to the temple and Dagon had fallen over. Their idol to their god
had fallen over in the presence of the ark. And so they stood
him back up. And they came back the next morning
and he had fallen over and the scripture says that his hands
and his head had broken off and crossed over the threshold of
the temple of Dagon. And there's a picture. We have
no interest in worshiping a false god. And the presence of our
god puts to death, takes away the works, the hands, and the
mindset of all false religions and all false gods. And this
is the place where the Lord clarifies his gospel. and reveals His grace
and His glory to His people. And that's why we delight in
being here. That's why we have to be here. Lord, I've just got
to be there. I've got to be where God's people
are. I've got to be where Christ is
at His threshold and at His door. And there's only one way I can
come into the church. And that's through the sacrifice
that the Lord Jesus Christ has made to put away my sin and to
make me his own. So that's verse 10. Now, what happens when we are
brought by the Spirit of God into the tabernacle. Christ is that tabernacle. He's
the door into the temple. He's the tabernacle. He's the
power of God. He is the gospel of God's grace. And now the next couple of verses
are going to tell us the benefits of being at the door of the tabernacle
of God. Look what he says for. For here's
what here's what happens when when God brings his children
to be at the door. Of the church to come into the
family of God through Christ. Here's what here's what he shows
them for the Lord God is a son. SUN How is it that our God is like
the sun? Well, just think with me for
a moment about what we benefit from the sun. What are the things
that we benefit from? The sun gives us light, does
it not? The sun gives us warmth. The sun gives us growth. The sun gives us energy. The sun is what keeps the earth
in its orbit, isn't it? The gravitational pull of the
sun keeps the world from spinning out into oblivion somewhere. And so the psalmist says our
God is like to us spiritually in the same way that the sun
is for us physically. He's our light. This is the condemnation. Light has come into the world.
But men would not come to the light. Why? Because they loved
darkness rather than light. Now that's true of the irreligious,
immoral man. He hears the gospel and loves
his sin and loves indulging in his pleasures and will not come
to Christ and fear that he would have to forsake those things.
And it's true of the self-righteous religious man who is trusting
in his righteousness. for his salvation, he won't come
to Christ because his righteousness is evil. Turn with me to that
passage, John chapter one. There's a couple of more verses
there that I want you to see. John chapter, I'm sorry, John
chapter three, John chapter three. Verse 18, he that believeth on
him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned
already because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten
Son of God. We come into this world under
the condemnation of sin. We come into this world spiritually
blind. And the scripture says our God
is like the sun. The light has to shine. You remember
in Genesis chapter one, and the earth was without form and void
and darkness was over the face of it. And God said, let there
be light. So in order to change the formless
confusion of this world, light had to come. Light had to come. And that's the spiritual truth
of our salvation. We are without form. We're empty,
void. Darkness is over the face of
the deep. We can't see the truth about who God is. We can't see
the truth about who we are. We can't see the truth about
how it is that God saves sinners by putting their sin away in
the sacrifice of Christ. We can't see any of that. And
so the Lord said, I'm like the sun. It's got to shine in order
to reveal the truth. And you came into this world
as an unbeliever condemned already. Verse 19, and this is the condemnation
that light is come into the world. That's Christ. I am the light
of the world. He's the one that said, let there
be light. And he was the light. That was
the first day, and the first day of the morning and the evening,
God says, the first day of creation. When was the sun, S-U-N, and
the other luminaries in the skies, when were they created? The third
day. So Christ is the light. And he says here, light has come
into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light because
their deeds were evil. And that's that's true. As I
said of those who I've. I've talked to folks that had
no interest in the gospel. Because. Because of the lifestyle
that they were living. And there they knew their deeds
were evil and to come to the light would be to have to change
their lives and. And yet. On the other side, there
are those moral, self-righteous people who won't come to the
light because their deeds are evil too. And they don't want
that to be exposed. For everyone that doeth evil,
verse 20, hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his
deed should be reproved. That's what the light does. Now
we come into the tabernacle in order for the light of the gospel
to shine in our hearts in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ
and like the sun He exposes our deeds for what they are. And
God's people rejoice in having their deeds exposed for what
they are. They rejoice in having their
self-righteousness reproved. They rejoice in being told that
they are grass and that they have nothing in and of themselves
that earns them any favor whatsoever with God. They delight in that
message of salvation because that's their only hope. That's
their only hope that enables them, that causes them to hold
to and flee to the light that has come into the world. Our God is like the sun. Turn to me to Revelation chapter
21, Revelation 21. Verse 23, and the city had no
need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it, for the
glory of God did lighten it, and the lamb is the light thereof. So that sun that we wake up to
every morning, it's not gonna be in heaven. We're not going
to have that ball of fire in the sky in heaven. The lamb's
going to be the light thereof. Look at chapter 22 of revelation
at verse five and there shall be no night there and they need
no candle, neither light of the sun for the Lord God giveth them
light and they shall reign forever and ever. no shadows in heaven,
no rising setting of the sun, no passing of one day to the
next. In eternity, there'll be nothing but righteousness and
the glory of the sun, S-O-N, will be our light. So when the psalmist says in Psalm
84, back to our text, for the Lord God is a son to us. Here's why we delight in coming
to his tabernacle. Here's why a day in his courts
is better than a thousand anywhere else, because everywhere else
there's nothing but darkness. But in his courts, and coming
through His threshold and His door, we see the Lord Jesus Christ
as the one who is the light of the world and reveals the truth
about who we are, about who God is, and about how we're saved. Secondly, what does the Son do?
What does the Son do? The Son causes growth. Have you
ever seen the vegetables they grow in Alaska in the summertime? I mean, they've got zucchinis
the size of baseball bats. They've got heads of cabbage
the size of this pulpit. It's amazing the vegetables they
grow in Alaska. Why? Because they have 22 hours
of daylight during their growing season. 22 hours. Those vegetables just get mammoth.
And that's what the Son does. And we want to grow in grace
and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, don't we? And when
the Son of God, our God is like the Son. And when He shines through
the preaching of His Word, by the declaration of His gospel,
There's a growth that takes place among God's people. There's a
growth in His church. There's a growth in their hearts.
There's a greater hatred for sin. There's a greater love for
Christ. There's a greater understanding
of grace. These are all and a greater knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the growth that the sun
gives. So the Lord said, our God, we
come to the tabernacle because our God's like the sun. He lights
up the darkness that's in the world, and he's the one who causes
us to grow, to grow. We're not going to grow any other
way. If he doesn't make us to grow... Paul said, when I preached
the gospel and Apollos came along and preached the gospel, I was
just planting the seed and Apollos was walking. God gave the increase.
He's the one that has to make it grow. And one thing that I and I know
I've I've said some things about people that watch our services
online and I know that there are some people that just absolutely
cannot get to a gospel church. They're stuck in a place where
they can't get there. But. My experience as a pastor
in dealing with the vast majority of those folks. Is that they
are spiritually immature? And and they have a lot of questions. That go away. whenever they'd
become part of a local assembly. Isn't that true, Scott? It just happens. It's amazing.
It's amazing how a steady diet of the gospel in the courts of
Christ gives spiritual growth in a way that doesn't take place
outside of the body of Christ. This is why I want to be there.
Now the third thing that the sun gives us is warmth. Now we
get a little extra of that and we wish that it wasn't so warm,
don't we? But without the sun, the earth
would just be a frozen wasteland. And how we feel the coldness
of our own hearts. Every time the sun gets darkened
in our hearts spiritually, what happens? We feel cold. We get
indifferent. And we need the light of the
Son of God to shine in our hearts, to warm us in affection for Christ,
in love for his word, love for one another. uh... zeal for for
for the lost and and and and and prayer for for god's people
but that's that's all that all happens when the sun shines through
the preaching of the gospel so when the psalmist said our gods
like the sun that's why i want to be there that's why i need
to come through the through the the the uh... Um, the door post
and the, and the threshold of the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Uh, because I I'm cold. Otherwise I'll be immature. I'll be cold. I'll be in the
dark. I'll be just, I'll be like the
Psalmist who said I was, I was, I was, um, um, envious of the
wicked when I was out in the world. And I saw until I came
into the tabernacle of God, then I saw their end. Then I saw their
end. The fourth thing that the sun
does for us is it gives us energy. We're learning. how to harness
the energy of the sun with solar energy panels. I know going over
to New Smyrna, there's a whole big field, I don't field, acres
and acres, miles of energy, of solar panels that are harvesting
the energy of the sun and using it for, you know, the motivation
that we have The spiritual energy that God's people get comes from
the preaching of the gospel. It comes from the fellowship
of the saints. It comes from being where God's
people are and where the gospel is being preached. And this is
our motivation. It's our motivation for service.
It's our motivation for, again, for the love of Christ and our
motivation for our need for Christ. It all comes as a result of the
Son of God shining in our hearts. And fifthly and lastly, The only
reason that this planet that you and I live on is not flung
out aimlessly into the universe is because of the gravitational
pull of the Sun. We are in a perfect pattern in
our solar system, aren't we? And it's the gravitational pull
of that ball of fire that keeps us in perfect position If we
got any further away from the sun, we would freeze. If we got
any closer to it, we would burn up. And our God's like the sun. He keeps us. We wobble sometimes,
and there's times of winter when we're further away from the sun
and tilting away from the sun, and things get cold, and there's
times of summer. There's times of growth. There's
times of harvest. And God makes everything beautiful
in His time, but He keeps us. He keeps us by the gravitational
pull, if you will, of his grace, he keeps us from being flung
out into aimlessness. The Lord God, verse 11, is a
sun and a shield, a shield. Psalm, Genesis chapter 15 verse
1, Abraham, I am thy shield and thine exceeding great reward.
Now what do we do with a shield? A shield is not an offensive
weapon. A shield is not something you have to master to use. It's not like a sword or a spear
or a gun. You just get behind a shield.
You just get behind, when you feel threatened, you just get
behind the shield. You know, our political enemies
in this world shamelessly use women and children as what? Human shields, don't they? And
it's a cowardly way to fight a war, is to put your army behind
women and children. But it's effective. It's effective. We don't send rockets into buildings
where even though we know there's army there, the armies there
and they've got weapons there. If there's a bunch of women and
children that they're hiding behind, we don't attack him. We have a human shield. Go ahead,
be a coward. Get behind him. Because I promise
you. He is effective. He is effective. Above all, the Lord said in Ephesians
chapter six, above all, taking the shield of faith that you
might be able to quench the fiery darts of the devil. Oh Lord,
I've got to have you as my shield. Our God is like the sun and our
God is like a shield. We feel threatened, we get behind
him. The battle's not yours, it's
the Lord's. And he quenches those fiery darts
of the devil. You know, we are washed. There's
another place where in the scriptures it speaks of anointing the shield. And that's the anointing of Christ,
we know that. But also what they would do is
they would put leather on their shields and then soak those shields
in water so that when fiery arrows stuck into the shield, the wet
shield would put them out. And we're told that we are washed
by the water of God's word. And here we see that the fiery
darts of the devil. What are those fiery darts? Well,
he's called the accuser of the brethren and he's constantly
accusing us of not knowing God by doing what? By putting us
under the law and pointing out our sin. And we're often intimidated by
him in that regard, aren't we? And it's only the shield of faith.
What is the shield of faith? Faith is looking to Christ alone,
the anointed one, and having that shield anointed with the
washing of the water. And that takes place here when
the gospel is being preached. It's what we're doing right now.
We're anointing our shields and we're saying with the apostles,
Lord, increase our faith. Increase our faith. Oh Lord,
I'm of such little faith. Of such little faith. Tricia
brought out something Sunday that I never thought about before.
The woman at the well in John chapter four. All of the apostles were down
in Sychar getting food. They knew who was at the well.
They knew Christ better than anybody. There's no evidence
that they told one single soul in the city of Sychar who was
at the well. But that woman who went down
into the city, she had more faith than all the disciples together,
didn't she? She went down and ran through the streets. Come,
meet a man who told me everything I ever did. The Messiah, the
Christ, the anointed one, he's here. Come see him. Come see
him. The apostles didn't do that.
The Lord said, oh, ye of little faith. Why are you so unbelieving? Lord, our God is like a shield. He increases our faith. And this
is what happens in the courts of God. Our faith is increased
so that we depend upon him more and more. And the only thing
that's going to quench the fiery darts of the devil is faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Trusting the sacrifice that Christ
made to put away my sin without any help from me whatsoever by
the sacrifice of himself. By himself. By himself. He put him away. So when the
fiery darts of the devil come, And the temptation to look at
my life and look at the law and try to get some assurance of
my salvation outside of Christ comes. That's what he does. That's
what he does to the believer. Then our God is like a shield.
And he quenches those fiery darts of the devil, causes us to cast
all our hope on the sacrifice that Christ made on Calvary's
cross. His death, his resurrection, Yes, you want to accuse me of
sin? It's a lot worse than you think
it is, worse than I think it is. But here's my hope. My God's a shield to me. He's
the one that's protecting me. Deuteronomy chapter 33 verse
29 says, happy art thou, O Israel, who is like unto thee. Oh, people
saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help. He is your shield
and your happiness. Your happiness will come by getting
behind that shield. Logan, you were in Afghanistan.
You had shields, didn't you? You had big old plates of steel
on your Humvee, didn't you? And when the bullets came, you
got behind it, didn't you? You just got behind it. That's
what a shield is, and it protects you. 1 Samuel chapter 17 is the story
of David and Goliath. And the scripture says that Goliath,
what was he, nine feet tall? And he came out every day. And the scripture says that there
was one bearing a shield that went before him. That was Goliath's problem. He didn't have a shield. If he
had had a shield up, that rock never would have hit his head.
But he appointed someone else to hold his shield. Nobody else can have faith for
you. Nobody. It has to be your faith. It can't
be your wife's faith, your husband's faith, your mom's faith, your
daddy's. It can't be your pastor's faith. It's got to be your faith.
And if you send out someone else holding the shield for you, you're
going to end up like Goliath, aren't you? For the Lord God, is a sun and
a shield, the Lord will give grace and
glory. He will give grace and glory. Scripture says in John 1, verse
17, the law came by Moses. Well, the law was given by Moses.
but grace and truth came by the Lord Jesus Christ. All the grace of God is in Christ. There's no grace outside of Christ.
And the Lord said in the preaching of the gospel, in the tabernacle
that we delight in being in, This is where this is where Christ
is lifted up. This is where the grace of God
is enjoyed. There's. Christ is the gift given to his
church. Back to that John chapter 4,
the woman at the well. If thou knewest. Who it is that
sayeth unto thee give me to drink? You would ask him. and he would
give it to you living water. If you knew who it was that you
were talking to right now, you would ask it of him and he'd
give you sufficient grace, sufficient grace. The Lord Jesus Christ
saying to that woman at the well and saying to me and you, all
the grace of God is in me. It's all in me. If you knew who
I was, and that's why we come, isn't it? Because we want to
know him. We want to know Him. We know Him, but we don't know
Him. Paul said, I've not yet apprehended that which has apprehended
me, that I might know Him, the power of His resurrection, the
fellowship of His suffering. I count all things but loss for
the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, that
I might know Him, know Him. And if we know Him, you know
that you can ask Him, for grace and he delights in giving grace.
Acts chapter 8 verse 20, Simon thought
that he could buy the grace of God, thought that he could buy
the Spirit of God. And Paul, you remember, rebuked
him for thinking that he could do that. Peter and. No, the grace grace of God is
a gift. It comes freely through the Lord
Jesus Christ. And this is where he dispenses
his grace and his glory and his glory. Notice notice for the
Lord. God is a son and a shield. The Lord will give grace and
glory. God's glory is known at the threshold
of his tabernacle. And his glory is, well, turn
with me to Ephesians chapter one. You're familiar with this
passage of scripture, but it'd be good to be reminded of it. Ephesians chapter one. Having, verse 5, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will. According to the good pleasure
of his will. The next verse in our text says
that God will not hold anything good from his people. And so, to the praise of the
glory of his grace. His grace is what brings him
his glory. Everything that we have in salvation
is by grace. And because it's all of grace,
he gets all the glory. He gets all the glory. So it's
to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has made
us accepted in the beloved, in whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of his grace, wherein he has abounded toward us in all wisdom
and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will,
according to the good pleasure which he has purposed in himself,
all for the glory of His grace. Go back with me to our text.
One more thing I want you to see in this passage. Why is it that all of God's people
say, oh, it's better. A day in His courts is better
than a thousand anywhere else. To be a part of the family of
God through the door, the Lord Jesus Christ, to sit at His feet
and to hear from Him, it's what I have to have. And the reason
I have to have it is because my God's like the sun and I'm
as dependent upon Him spiritually for my soul as my body is for
that sun that comes up every day. Now, in James, The scripture
says that every good and perfect gift comes down from the father
of lights, the father of lights, in whom there is no variableness
nor shadow of turning. And so the Lord's telling us
there, he said, I'm the son, but I'm not like the son. He
said, the sun comes up in the morning. It goes down in the
evening. You've got darkness. The sun
casts shadows. He said, with me, with me, I'm
immutable. I'm the same yesterday, today,
and forever. I never change. I'm not like
the variableness of the sun. And I don't cast shadows. I'm
pure light. And everything that's good comes
directly from me. And I can't give you anything,
but that which is good. That's right. You know that all
things work together for good for them that love God and those
that are the call to core and just purpose. You know that you
believe that. Even when in His providence there
seems to be clouds and frowning, you know that in the end, in
the end it's good. It's good. Then we say, well,
that's a good thing. It's all a good thing for God's
people. Sickness, if the Lord afflicts one of His children
with sickness, it's a good thing. Death is a good thing. Troubles and trials are necessities
in this life. And the Lord says that's a good
thing. I don't have anything for you but that which is good. It's two times where the scripture
says, if you being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your
children, how much more will your heavenly father, and one
place it says, give good to them that ask him. And another place
it says, give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him. All the
goodness of God is experienced by the Spirit of God. It's the
Spirit of God that causes us to believe. He's the one that
gives us faith. He's the one that gives us that
shield. He's the one that causes us to look to Christ. The Lord
said, when the Spirit of truth comes, He's going to point you
to Me. He's going to show you the things
that I've been teaching you. All of that to say, look, The last part of verse 11 for
the Lord God. Is a son. And shield. The Lord will give grace. Grace. All of salvation is all
of grace. It's grace in election. It's
grace and redemption. It's grace and regeneration.
It's grace and sanctification. It's grace and glorification.
Is all of God's grace. In other words, God does it all
and he gets all the glory. No good thing will he withhold
from them that walk uprightly. Romans chapter 8 verse one, we
quote the first part of that verse often. There is now therefore
no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk
not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Now, does that mean
that we live, uh, we live in a spiritual high and we're not
fleshly? No, no. It means that we're looking
through the eyes of faith to Christ alone for all the hope
of our salvation. We're not looking to the works
of the flesh to merit our favor with God. We're looking to the
sacrifice that Christ has made on Calvary's cross for the putting
away of our sin and for the establishment of all of our righteousness before
God. That's what it is to walk after the Spirit. And so the
Lord says here, no good thing will I withhold from them who
are of faith. What the Lord saying here is
that if you're a child of mine and you're not looking to the
works of your flesh for the hope of your salvation, but you're
looking by the power of the spirit of God to Christ for all your
salvation, there's no condemnation. Everything in your life is good. Now, what is God's definition
of good? What is God's definition of good?
I'm going to tell you real quickly, real simply. Good is that which
glorifies Him. That's what good is. Good is
that which glorifies God. Good is not that which gives
us comfort or gives us prosperity and material wealth and that
sort. No, good is that which glorifies God. And what the Lord's saying to
us here is that no good thing will I withhold from them which
walk uprightly. Everyone, every one of my children
that's in Christ, everything that's happening to them is ordained
of God for his glory and his glory is their good. His glory is their good. Do you believe that? Lord, when we complain, give
us faith to believe that it really, really is all good because it's
all for your glory. Hebrews chapter 13 verse 9 says,
it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace. Now for the heart to be established
with grace, it is for the heart to be settled in trusting that
everything that God has given them is good. No good thing will I withhold
from them that walk uprightly. Oh Lord of hosts, Verse 12, blessed,
blessed is the man that trusts within the. Oh, if I trust God,
it's because he's blessed me. He's not saying you trust God,
God will bless you. No, that's backwards. Isn't it?
Blessed of God is the man that's able to believe this, to believe
God. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
for your word and know how we do pray that your Holy Spirit
would. Would make it real to our hearts. We ask it in Christ
name. Amen. Number 255, let's stand 355355. From every stormy wind that blows,
from every swelling tide of woes, there is a calm, a sure retreat,
it is found beneath the mercy seat. There is a place where
Jesus sheds the oil of gladness on our heads, a place that all
besides more sweet, it is the blood-bought mercy seat. There is a scene where spirits
blend, Where friend holds fellowship with friend, Though sundered
far by faith they meet, Around one common mercy seat. Ah, whither could we flee for
aid When tempted, desolate, dismayed? Or how the hosts of hell defeat
At suffering saints no mercy seat? Ah, there on eagle wings
we soar and sin and sense molest no more, and hem comes down our
souls to greet while glory crowns the mercy seat.