The theme, I believe, of this
psalm is pretty clear. It's clear that it's a joy to
the writer of this psalm to even contemplate being in the house
of the Lord. He talks about the benefits that
are found in his house. This was David's one desire,
if you recall, Psalm 27.4. He said, Have I desired of the Lord, and
I'll seek after that, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life." He knew what would happen there.
He said, I'm going to behold the beauty of the Lord there.
And I'm going to inquire in his temple. I want to find out who
he is. I want to ask. And this immediately dispels
one of the misconceptions about what can rightly be referred
to as God's house. It's clearly not a place that's
attended on Sundays and Wednesdays, maybe. God's people live there
all of their lives. David said, I want to dwell in
God's house all my life. All the days of my life. So it's
not just going to church, is it? In our psalm, it says in
verse four, blessed are they that dwell in thy house. The
word means to remain, to abide, to have one's abode, to inhabit. Turn to Ephesians 2. Verse 14. He is our peace, the Lord Jesus,
who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle
wall of partition between us, having abolished in his flesh
the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for
to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace. And that he might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby."
Now think about where we're going here. You know what we're talking
about, the house of God. that Christ did something. Christ accomplished something.
The peace that he made by the blood of his cross has something
to do with what's coming up here. And look at it. Now that he might
reconcile both, verse 16 again, in one body by the cross, having
slain the enmity thereby. Slain any enmity between the
sinner and God? Any enmity between man and man?
Any prejudices? There's no barbarian, Scythian,
Jew, Gentile, bond no free in Christ. And came and preached
peace to you which were far off and to them which were nigh.
For through him we both have access by one spirit unto the
father. Now therefore, you are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints
and of the household of God. because of what the Lord Jesus
Christ did on Calvary, when he shed his precious blood, when
he made his soul an offering for the sins of all of his people.
Because of that, the farthest stranger is now a member of God's
household. So when we talk about the household
of God, this is something established by the Father through the Son
for all the children. Blessed indeed are they that dwell in thy house. You
see how blessed they are? The very blood of God was shed
for them that they might be a member of God's house. It doesn't get
any more blessed than that. And the other thing that makes
us understand why God's house can't just be a building of earthly
construction is the very person of God himself. the person of
God. If we understand who God is,
we know this isn't, strictly speaking, his house. There's
got to be more to it than that. God doesn't live in this building
because of who he is. You remember when Paul preached
on Mars Hill, he found that monument to the unknown God there. He
preached to those people, he said, God that made the world
and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and
earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hand, Neither is worshipped
with men's hands as though he needed anything. He's not worshipped
and honoured and served by what men do, by the devices of men. He doesn't need anything. He
doesn't need you. He doesn't need me. He uses men, but he's
not worshipped that way, as though he needed anything. See, he giveth
to all life and breath and all things. He's not waiting on you
to do something for him, in other words. He's done it for you.
He's done everything for you. And part of that message, well,
he doesn't dwell in temples. Not in the sense we're talking
about this evening. And that's in Acts 17, 24, and
25, if you wanna look at it later. Turn to 2 Chronicles, though.
I want you to look at this one with me, if you will. 2 Chronicles,
chapter two, verse four. This is important. Now, we've
looked at this passage before, but it's important we understand.
We may very well call this building the house of the Lord. It's the
Lord's house in a sense, but we need to understand what we
mean by that. 2nd Chronicles 2, 4. Behold, this is Solomon
speaking. He said, I build a house to the
name of the Lord my God. to dedicate it to him. It's his
in that sense then. It's dedicated to him. Wouldn't
you say that's true here? We didn't build this house just
so we'd have another place for us to come to. We have homes
that we could go to. If I want to just visit you,
I can go to your home. If you just want to visit me,
you can come over anytime you want. But this is dedicated to
him. This is for his worship, for
the fellowship of his people, hearing his gospel, worshiping,
serving him in this world. It's a place where the gospel
is established. So if anybody wants to hear,
even the most unwelcome, and I say that not that anybody is
utterly unwelcome necessarily, but even the most unwelcome person
in any other sense is welcome to come and hear the gospel of
Christ. When you think about that, you'll understand what
I mean by that. But listen to what he said. This is dedicated
to him, to his gospel, his truth, his worship, his honor, and to
burn before him sweet incense and for the continual showbread
and for the burnt offerings morning and evening on the Sabbaths and
on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the Lord our God. This
is an ordinance forever to Israel. Do you know what he's describing
there? We don't do any of that here. Well, yeah, we do. Because
what he's describing is the worship of God. We don't worship by those
means anymore because Christ has fulfilled all the feasts
and the days and all those things and all the ceremonies. We worship
God in spirit and in truth in Christ. But we still worship
it. What he's describing there is
the worship of God, the way they worship thee. And we still worship
in God. And that's what this house is for. And listen to the
language. In verse five, and the house
which I build is great. For great is our God above all
gods. Now this is a relative thing,
okay? But I think this is something
we can learn from, don't you? The house I build, it's gonna
be a great house. I think this is a great house,
don't you? This is nice. You know why it's
nice? Because it's for him. Now we
could have plated everything in gold and silver, I guess,
if we didn't want to, but that's just foolish, isn't it? According
to the means that God has given us, we built a very great house
here. And Solomon takes that into consideration.
Why aren't we still just worshiping in the old, broke-down house
over there on Boyd Mill Avenue? Because we're worshiping God,
that's why. Does that make sense? We could just be satisfied with
just a run-down old place. But as long as God has given
us the means to do it, let's build something nice. I believe
that's pretty clearly taught here. We're going to build a
great house because great is our God. That's why. Verse 6, but who is able to build
him a house? He just said he built him a house,
but you have to understand the sense in which that's true. Who
is able to build him a house seeing the heaven and heaven
of heavens cannot contain him? Who am I then that I should build
him a house? No matter how great it is, it's
not going to be great enough, is it? We want it to be nice
because we want to honor him. It's not ever going to be great
enough. Who am I then? And we're not
worthy to build it. Save only to burn sacrifice before
Him. You see that last little phrase
there? We build Him a house for worship. The burning of sacrifice,
that too was worship. That was access to God then.
That was how we come before God and have communion and fellowship
with God. By the offering, by the burn off, by the innocent
victim, by the sacrifices that God ordained. And we worship
not exactly by those same means, but we worship the same one.
And we worship in Christ who is pictured by the sacrifice.
We still have a sacrifice. And they had the same sacrifice
we do. They just offered the animals
in picture and type of Him. Now we acknowledge Him as having
fulfilled all that. And so we don't worship by those
means. But they worshiped Christ. We
worship God through Christ just like they did. And we do it in
a house. And it's the best house we can
build. Because we're doing it for Him. Is that understandable? But it's not his house in the
sense that God lives here, but it is his house in the sense
that we dedicate it to him, and it's for his worship. I think
it's important that that's clear. So what is the psalmist talking
about when he refers to God's house? Well, it includes the
public worship of God, certainly. Solomon said, I did build God
a house to worship Him in. And dwelling in God's house,
being a member of this household of God that Paul described and
where we read a moment ago in Ephesians, it's much more than
just attending the public worship. The house of worship, the designated
place of worship is unquestionably referred to in this psalm because
that seemed to be an earthly representation of what it is
to dwell in his house. Let me see if I can make that
a little bit clearer. When we actually dwell with God and he
with us, no dark glass in between, No
sin to hinder our worship and knowledge of Him. What's that
going to be like? Imperfection and glory? You know
what that's going to be like? All of His saints are going to
be gathered together in one place. They're going to be singing,
worthy is the Lamb, and we sing in His praises. His praise is
going to be shouted. The subject of our song and our
praise is going to be that He was slain and has redeemed us
to God by His precious blood. His glory is going to be seen.
His people will be rejoicing in Him alone. Nothing else will
enter in. And He's going to be exalted. Now where on earth is any place
like that? That's what happens here. That's what happens in
the place of worship. That's what He's talking about.
It's not just the place, it's the whole spiritual reality of
it. That God's people are gathered
for the purpose of praising and honoring and exalting Him and
learning of Him now. We won't be learning of Him then,
but now it's for learning of Him so we can praise and exalt
Him better and honor Him better and serve Him better. But you
see why his house on this earth is seen as a picture of belonging
to his spiritual household. And here's the difference, and
this is important too. The difference between just a
pile of bricks and mortar and wood and the house of God, you
know what the difference is? And they may call it the house
of God, but it's just a pile of building materials unless
Christ is there. That's what makes it God's house.
That's the difference. The burning bush, it was just
a bush. The ground that Moses stood on, the voice from the
bush said, you're standing on holy ground, Moses, take your
shoes off. It was just dirt, except for one thing. He was
in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who was in that
bush. That's why that ground was sacred.
Because Christ was there. That tabernacle, it was just
a drab tent covered with animal skins. If you looked at it from
the outside, it was nothing to look at. But what was on the
inside is what made it what it was. The very glory of God. The mercy seat was there. That's
Christ. The golden candlestick was there.
That's Christ, the light of the world. The showbread was there.
That's Christ, the bread of life. The presence of Christ is what
makes it God's house. And it doesn't matter what it
looks like now. We want to build what we can for His honor. But
even when we were meeting in that building, that's God's house
if He's there. You see what I'm talking about?
Even when we were meeting in that old run-down house. The plumbing
didn't even work. Yeah, but the Lord met with us
there. It was a blessing to go there with Him. It was precious
to us. Even the gold and the silver
of the great temple, it was vanity and excess. And the Lord Himself said to
His disciples when they were so impressed with it, They walked
through there and they said, look at these great buildings,
Lord. And you remember what He said? He said pretty soon it's
just going to be rubble. There won't be one stone left
on top of another stone. Why would the Lord discourage
them like that? Why would He speak? in such a way concerning
the place of worship that was so highly regarded. Because everything
about that place, and everything that was done in it was fulfilled
by Christ Himself. And when He said on the cross,
it is finished, the veil itself was rent in twain from the top
to the bottom, and that whole place in all of its grandeur
had served its purpose. And it, like He told them it
would, soon after was leveled. Done away. And it's never been
built again. Have you ever thought about that?
Why haven't the Jews built the temple again? They're still back,
you know, under the old covenant. Generally speaking, the nation
of Israel is still under the old covenant. Why in the world
haven't they built that temple again? You think they've got
enough money to do it? I reckon they do. You know why
they haven't done it? Because God is done with it.
God leveled it and said, that's it. We don't need this anymore. We don't need the picture. We
have the person. We don't need the shadow. We have the substance.
Christ has fulfilled all of that. He is the temple. He tabernacled
among men. He is the mercy seat. He is the
sacrifice. He is the priest. He is the light.
He is the bread. Christ is all. And that temple
would just be a distraction now. Just a religious distraction.
He's taken away the old, but he might establish the new. Remember what our Lord said to
the woman at the well, John 4, 419. The woman saith unto him,
sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. And she said, our
fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem
is the place where men ought to worship. And Jesus saith unto
her, woman, believe me, the hour cometh when you shall neither
in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. You think
about what he said to her. He said, you who were a pagan
idolater before, you're going to worship God the Father. You're
going to worship God. But you're not going to do it
in this mountain or in Jerusalem. You're going to do it wherever
you are. Now listen, you worship now, you know not what. We know
what we worship, the Jews worship God, for salvation is of the
Jews, but the hour cometh and now is when the true worshipers
shall worship God in spirit and in truth. Not in a bill, not
in a certain location, but in spirit and in truth. For the
Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a spirit, and they
that worship him must worship him in spirit. in truth, whether
it's in an old, run-down, beat-up house on Boyd Mill Avenue, or
whether it's in this beautiful building here. We've got to worship
him in Christ, in spirit, in truth. If the truth is not declared,
if the gospel of Christ Jesus is not put forth, then he's not
worshipped. And if he's not present, he's
not worshipped. Spirit and truth. So remember,
when David in this psalm refers to the house of God, the sanctuary,
thy courts, all of the words that he uses, remember what that
place meant to them. That was under the old covenant.
But what that meant to them and represented to them is what we
need to keep in mind here. Everything in that place was
Christ. The temple itself represented
Christ. The tabernacle then. It was Christ
outside badger skin. There was no beauty about him
that we should desire it. But the very glory of God dwelt in
that human body. That's the tabernacle. The brazen
altar where the blood was shed. The sacrifice, the priest, the
water, the bread, the light, the incense, the mercy seat. It was all Christ. So to live
in God's house is to dwell with Christ and in Christ. When we
leave here, we haven't left Him. It's not this building, but this
represents it. You see how this pictures being
a member of the household of God still. It's all Christ. In verse 1,
and don't be scared because I'm not going to go through every
verse this late. But first, in verse one, it's
amiable. To dwell with Him, in Him, to
dwell in that place where He's honored and worshiped and revered
and exalted. The word amiable, verse one,
means lovely. It's lovely. And I want us to
see that in the picture still, of being in Him, to where His
saints are gathered, exalting Him, and worshiping Him, and
praising Him, and praying to Him. Even that place is lovely,
isn't it? Because the person is lovely,
the picture is lovely. Because he who Solomon described
is altogether lovely. This place is all about him.
It's all about him. You talk about a photograph,
you say that's a wonderful picture. Wow, why would you say that?
Because my loved one is in it. Somebody I love is in it. The mercy seat is lovely. Because that's where God meets
with and communes with sinners. You know we sing songs that talk
about we still come into the mercy seat but not a mercy seat
made of wood overlaid with gold with angels on top of it. Christ
is our mercy seat. God meets with sinners at the
feet of his precious son and communes with them there. The light of those candles in
the tabernacle was lovely light because Christ is the light And
even in glory, where everything is perfectly lovely, the Lamb
is the light thereof. And in Him is no darkness at
all. And He's the light here. Now, the blood is lovely. That seems like a strange thing
to say, doesn't it? Because blood is a frightening sight in every
other respect. But the blood is amiable. It's
lovely because without the shedding of blood, there's no remission
of sins. The blood is still lovely. We
don't physically see animal blood as a representation of that anymore.
Don't need to. You know where I see the blood?
In the gospel. In the preaching of the cross.
God forbid that we should glory in anything or anyone, but Christ
crucified. Verse two, my soul longeth, yet
even fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my
flesh crieth out for the living God. You see the passion in that
verse? Crieth out, fainteth. Our soul has no other meat, no
other drink than that meat and drink indeed. And we're in a
thirsty place. This world's a thirsty place,
spiritually. More so all the time. And you think about this. This
is somebody that his one desire was to live in God's house. And
he's saying, my soul, my soul longeth and fainteth. My heart and my flesh cry out. To be where He is, where He meets
with His people. And, you know, if the presence
and worship of God is just to stop it off place for you, then
you don't live in God's house. You don't dwell in God's house.
And we should be honest with ourselves about that. I feel
pretty good about those here tonight, but it's between you
and the Lord. We've got to be honest with ourselves. Do we
arrange the worship around our lives or do we arrange our lives
around the worship of God? Sounds like David was the latter.
Sure sounds like it, doesn't it? Job said, I have esteemed
thy word more than my necessary food. I've got to hear from God. Is
that true of you? I've got to hear from God. I've
got to commune with God. Just like I would have loved
when a family member, my wife, my children, got to. If they go on a trip or something,
I miss them the same day. Before the sun sets, I miss them. I've got to have time with them.
I've got to worship God. Do you? I've got to praise Him. God's going to be praying. He
said, if you don't do it, the rocks will cry out. God's gonna
be praised by somebody. I've got to know God. I've got
to know Him in the forgiveness of sin. I've got to know Him
in the glory of His cross. Do you hear the desperation in
the language? And then verse 3, Yea, the sparrow hath found
a house, and a swallow, a nest for herself, where she may lay
her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and
my God. It's commonly thought that David
must have observed actual sparrows building nests in the area, possibly
the rafters or above the altars there in the tabernacle area. And whether he did or not, I
know this, David's the sparrow. If he saw actual sparrows, he
was seeing himself. He's seeing even an insignificant
creature, even an unnoticeable member. Most
may not even know he's there. Oh, there's a sparrow? I didn't
know there was a sparrow. I didn't even know he was there. The little sparrow is nothing
to the church. But the church is everything
to the sparrow. Do you see that there? His home. It's his refuge. It's his place
of comfort. It's his hiding place. It's where
He delights in the blessings of God, His little children,
in God's provision for them. He wouldn't want His little children
to grow up anywhere else but there, so they can hear of Him
and see Him worshipped and honored. It's where He delights in God's
provision for Himself and for them. That's God's house. This is Christ to the believer,
to the worshiper. The one who honestly refers to
Christ, as David did here, as my King and my God. That's the
little sparrow that's built a nest in his house. Didn't he say the
King of God is like that great tree and all the little birds
come from all over and make their nests in there? This sparrow is held in the hand
of the king and no man can pluck him out. My Lord and my king. Verse four, blessed are they
that dwell in thy house. They will be still praising thee. You know, you'll never be the
worst for even visiting God's house. I hope that everybody,
I want people to just visit God's house. But blessed are they that
abide there. And you'll know who they are
based on this verse. You know who they are? They're
going to be praising Him still. Even when they're not in His
house, they're going to be praising because even when we're not in
His house, we're in His house. We're gonna be still praising
him. We're gonna praise the one that
we praise here, everywhere. And I know now, I know how repugnant
this is when it's fake. Praise the Lord this and praise
the Lord that. And wouldn't know the Lord if
they met him on Main Street. But I'll tell you this, you can't
go through this world without praising him. And if you know
him, you're just gonna do it. It's who you are. Verse five, blessed is the man
whose strength is in thee and whose heart are the ways of them.
Or thy ways is how it's understood. Notice the words of them are
in italics, they're not there. And whose heart are the ways.
The ways of him, his ways. Wherever the scripture says blessed
is the man, everywhere it says that, and there's a lot of places,
isn't there? In Psalm 1, blessed is the man who walketh not in
the counsel of the ungodly. In Matthew chapter 5, here in
our chapter, all through the word where it says blessed is
the man, it's talking about the same man. The same people. There are not
some people who are poor in spirit and others whose strength is
in God, as our verse says here. They're the same described in
these various ways. It's the same people. There's
only one blessed people. That's the people who live in
God's house. They're poor in spirit. They mourn over sin. They're peacemakers. Their strength
is in God. They dwell in God's house, verse
four. That's the blessed people of God. Because all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places are theirs in Christ. They are
blessed. And they're described in all
these various ways. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee. Paul said, I can
do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Paul was one of the ones that
David wrote about in that verse right there. Blessed is the man
whose strength is in thee. Paul said, I can do all things
through Christ. That's who David's talking about. That's one of them right there.
In whose heart are thy ways, that's the new heart that he
gives. Verse six, you're passing through the valley of Baca, make
it a well. The rain also filleth the pools.
Baca means weeping, the valley of tears, the valley of weeping.
Have you ever been through that place? All of God's sheep travel
that way, through that valley. But if Christ is with us, if
we live in His house, if we're a member of His household, we
consider it a place of provision in life. They make it a well. Everything
we need is there, if we have Him. His blessings shower down
upon us no matter where we are. They fill the pools, no matter
where we find ourselves in this world. Verse 7, they go from
strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appears before
God. God sends us deliberately through
the valleys to make us stronger. That's why we go through the
valley of weeping, to go from strength to strength. Not in the flesh, not stronger
in the flesh, but stronger in Him, stronger spiritually. Mature
grown-up like we're talking about in Ephesians right now chapter
4 built up grown up into him established strong Stronger in
faith without which it's impossible to please him and the word appeareth
here In Zion they all appear before God Zion again is not
just another word for his house his city his people He dwells
in his people where two or three are gathered in my name, no matter
where it is, that's where he is. That's his house. All right, they appear before
God. That word appear means to see,
to inspect, and to consider. In other words, wherever you
are, God's looking right at you, and every consideration of yours
is in his heart, every interest of yours. in the interest of
his. He knows everything about you
inside and out. When the disciples were on that
ship and the storm was raging, he's asleep. He was still looking
right at them. They're still appearing before
God in the language of the verse here, which means he still sees
them, considers them, is watching over them. And he always does. Verse 8,
O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer. Give ear, O God of Jacob. Behold, O God, our shield, and
look upon the face of thine anointed. For a day in thy courts is better
than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper
in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. I believe he was sincere about
that, don't you? Would you rather weep in God's
house or laugh in the house of the wicked. We very, very little understand
the privilege that is ours to be called the household of God,
to be called the sons of God. David speaks of the preciousness
of the place And he speaks of the privilege of being part of
the family and serving in the ministry of Christ. You see the
two different things? First of all, I'd rather a day
in Christ or with Christ, in his service, in his household,
in his worship, is better than a thousand anywhere else. That's the preciousness of the
play, of being in him, with him. But then also, I'd rather be,
this is about what we are, what we do, the privilege of being
part of it. Paul, a servant of Christ, a
bond slave of Jesus Christ. That was his title, not doctor
or reverend. I'm a bond slave of Jesus Christ.
It don't get any better than that. I'd rather be a doorkeeper in
his house. Well, that's grace isn't it that's
just grace right there Because the enticements of this world
If Christ is not more precious to you than this world, then
where are you gonna go? May the Lord speak to our hearts
by this word in this scripture In this gospel until we know.
Until we know this is the lesson I want. All of us to learn as
your pastor and as myself. Needy before God, I want us to
learn this. To learn that that to get to
sing for him to get to give to him to get to work in his house
of worship to get to do or say anything for him. to come to
the place where that is counted by us to be the highest honor
in this world. May he bring us to that place
where I'd rather clean a toilet in the promotion of his worship
and ministry in this world and be the president of a great corporation
in this world. That's what David's talking about.
It's an honor. Everything we do for him is an
honor, and it's got to be done better. It's got to be done with
the desire to honor him. We build a great house because
he's great, and we serve him with all of our hearts because
he's worthy. Just concerning one of the things
I mentioned there, giving. Listen to what David said in
1 Chronicles 29, 14. He said, who am I? And what is my people that
we should be able to offer so willingly after this? We're not
worthy to give you a dime. Much less all of this. For all
things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. We're
just giving back to God what he gave us, and he calls it giving
when we do it. David said, what in the world?
That's not right, is it? Are we really giving him something?
We're not even worthy. to do that. And may we, when we think of
the worship of God, say with David, listen to this language,
as the heart, as the little deer panteth after the water brooks,
so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for
God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear
before God? Have we just had that? During
the week, we're at work and we're thinking, Oh, I wish it was Sunday. When can I come and appear before
God? When can I worship him? If we could look forward to it
like that. And I'm like you. A lot of times I remember, and it's still true, it's the
other way around, isn't it? Verses 11 and 12. For the Lord God is a sun and
shield. Think of what all these things
represent. He's a sun. To what do we owe
the sun in the natural world? Life. Everything. Warmth. Light. Beauty. He's a sun. And he's a shield. He's my protection. His favor
is his gift. He will give grace. That word
is favor. He will give his favor to me
as a gift. Here you go. What is the favor
of God? It's everything. Paul said, all
things are yours. No good thing will he withhold.
And that's what's included in grace right there in that verse.
No good thing will he withhold. What is his favor? Everything
good. It says it right there. It's
His good pleasure to give me His kingdom, He said. What is
that? Everything worth having. Glory there. He'll give grace
and He'll give glory. What's that word glory? Honor.
Abundance. Riches. And something we can't even describe.
When the Lord says If we suffer with him, we will also be glorified
With him I can't even tell you what that is. I can tell you
it's good. It's real good It's so good. It don't get better That's the
end game To be glorified By and with christ That's what heaven
is And he just gives it Paul prayed, this is what Paul
prayed for the Ephesian church, Ephesians 117. That the God of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the
spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. Can
you think about what he's saying? Can you think about what he's
saying? That the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit
of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ. That's just
a very rich and detailed way of saying that God may show you
his son, give you light and understanding that you might see and know his
son. What for? The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his
calling that you may know what the riches of the glory of his
inheritance in the saints. The riches of the glory. That
word in our text in Psalm 84 is riches. The word glory there. That you may know what is the
riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. Paul just said
there in Ephesians 1, That when you know Christ, you will understand
the riches of God's glory unto you and upon you. Because He is the riches of God's
glory. When you know Him, you know what
it is. And then a final beatitude in
this psalm at the last verse there. A beatitude is a pronouncement
of blessing. That's why in Matthew 5, it's
called the Beatitudes. Blessed is the man. Blessed is
the man. Do you trust in him? Do you trust in the Lord Jesus
Christ? Do you believe on him? That's
what is included in that. Faith includes a lot of things,
but one of the key things is trust. Do you believe he has
those blind men that I'm able to do this? Do you trust me to
get it done? Do you trust him? He said to
his disciples before he left this earth in John 14, he said,
you believe in God, believe also in me. You know what he's asking
them there to do? He's telling them. Have you ever looked upon his
face as they did physically? They looked into the eyes of
God's son in human flesh. Have you done so by faith and
heard him say as he did to them, trust me, trust me. If I made you a whole bunch of
promises that seemed too good to be true, and then I looked
you in the eye and I said, believe in me, you'd know what I was
saying, wouldn't you? That's exactly what our Lord
did. He promised his disciples peace. He said, my peace I leave
with you. He promised them understanding.
He said, the Holy Spirit will take the things of mine and reveal
them to you. He promised his presence. He
said, I'll never leave thee nor forsake thee. He promised him
his protection and comfort. He said, I will come to you.
I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. He promised
them the kingdom. And then he promised them the
world to come. And then he said to them, believe
in me. Do you trust him? Happy, doubly blessed is the
man that trusts in him. By His grace,
I believe. I believe He's able. I believe
He can get it done. I believe He's coming back. I
believe He did what He said He was about to do on the cross.
I believe He did it. And I believe He's coming back
for me. And the reason I do is because
I'm blessed of God. I pray that he would give all
of us faith to believe in the Son of God. Let's pray.