complete dependence upon the
Lord for all needed help this morning. I wish to direct your
very prayerful attention to Psalm 73. Psalm 73. By way of text,
verse 25. Psalm 73, verse 25. Whom have I in heaven but Thee, and there is none upon
the earth that I desire beside Thee, whom have I in heaven but
Thee, and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee." as 2014 has come to a close it's
been and gone have we not lived to see and have we not lived
to prove sadnesses and sorrows and likewise gladness and rejoicing
and do we not say with John Fawcett who said in 289 thus far my God
has led me on and made his truth and mercy known my hopes and
fears all turn at rise and comforts mingle with my sighs this is
our experience throughout this life and here did not Asaph prove
the very same. Now, by way of context, we have
here, we read at the beginning, a psalm of Asaph. But we have to be wary, we have
to be aware that this could very well have been a psalm for Asaph. I very deliberately read the
portion in 2 Chronicles and chapter 5 which speaks there of the temple
and of the temple worship. And there were those of the Levites,
in verse 12, which were the singers, Asaph, Heman, and it was the
common practice of Devi when he penned these psalms to place
the psalm, to give the psalm to Asaph that he might devise
a tune and thus this could very well
have been a psalm that came from David's heart personally I'm
sympathetic to that view if you read the language of the psalm
it very much reflects many of David's thoughts and his meditations
and his considerations elsewhere in Holy Scripture and notice how it begins You
see this psalm is full of experimental and discriminating
truths. You know people despise our experimentalism,
they detest it. People who only know the scriptures
in their head will always detest it. and they say that it's extreme,
it's bigoted, and so on, and all these kind of arguments that
we're well accustomed to. But you see, it's no accident
to me that the largest book in Holy Scripture, the book of Psalms,
is primarily a book of experiential truth. There's doctrinal truth
here. We'll come to that. There is
doctrinal truth, of course there is. But this book is largely
a book of extremities. The experiential extremities
of the soul, of the heart, and of the very experiences of life. The first verse makes it clear. Truly, God is good to Israel. Speaking of the nation, the nation
at large, a nation that had benefited, that had been favoured and had
enjoyed all the things the heathen nations around them had not. The presence of the Lord, the
Ark of the Covenant, which was the proof of the presence of
the Lord that we read of in 2 Chronicles. Don't believe people when they
tell you it's to be found in Ethiopia. nonsense. It's a sign of the presence of
the Lord. That's what it meant. Truly God is good unto Israel.
He was good unto the nation. You know there were many unregenerate
hearts carried through the Red Sea. There were many unregenerate
hearts guided and guarded at that time. But here, you see,
there's a difference. There's a difference, isn't there?
Even to such as are of a clean heart. Now that's the discriminating
element, isn't it? The world, many people in the
world, many unregenerate hearts have been taken through 2014
unharmed, perhaps in good health. But they're not as such that
are as of a clean heart and it's to them that this world belongs. We're not looking for some future
state of restoration. The Lord lives with his people
today. Today. And he reigns with them
spiritually today. This is where we live. But you
see, the psalmist here, he was in a particular need, he was
in a particular experience. And we have to say that we can't
say for sure what that was. Many commentators speculate.
But we don't know. And we're not meant to know.
Because if we were meant to know, we'd be told. But we do know something of the
circumstances through the language that is used. Here the psalmist was cast down. He felt the pressures, he felt
the pains, he felt the pangs of the enemy and of his literal
enemies to himself personally and to his religion but you know the honesty is striking very striking he says I was envious
at the foolish that word foolish you'll see
translated as arrogant my understanding is that the Hebrew has some indication
there of the atheist, the unbeliever. When I saw the prosperity of
the wicked. We find ourselves asking the
same questions, don't we? The very same questions. Why? Do people seem to get on and
seem to prosper? And I mean bondage. They are
not in trouble as other men. Neither are they plagued like
other men. Verse 5. Therefore pride compasseth
them about like a chain. Violence cover them as a garment. can't go through the whole psalm
but we can see the language that is used there but notice you'll find here a truth that
if you give your enemies enough rope they hang themselves I've
proved this many times and here the psalmist was proving, speaking
of the arrogance Speaking of the hardness of his enemies. Verse 13, Verily I have cleansed
my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocency. For all the
day long I have been plagued and chastened every morning.
His trouble would not escape him. But he said this. This is interesting. In verse 15, if I say, I will speak thus, behold I should
offend against the generation of thy children." He held his
mouth, he held his true feelings, he held his absolute thoughts. He was honest unto
the Lord but he held them from those around him, lest they be
discouraged. lest they be discouraged. When I thought to know this it
was too painful for me. You know of course one of the
true signs of being one of the Lord's people is a love to the
church and to the people of the church. This we know that we
have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren,
not just gossip about them. Because we love the brethren,
take an interest in them, encourage them in the way. And thus, what
is also here, very striking, is that the Psalmist admits where
he was wrong. Because he says in verse 17,
And does this not enlighten our minds? Does this not show us a real experiential truth? Until I went into the sanctuary
of God, then understood I their end. It's a doctrinal truth also,
isn't it? That we only really understand
The end of our enemies, when they come into God's house, we
see His Word expounded and we see the end of the wicked. I mean where the truth is faithfully
preached. Not just conjecture. But faithfully
preached. You see the Gospel is a two-edged
sword, is it not? It's a saver of life unto life
and it's a saver of death unto death. Those that die in their sins
will have to face God in their own person at the judgment. And there the Psalmist comes
clothed and in his right mind. He could see that their end is
not peace his bondage he went to the house of the Lord
here we are this morning in the house of the Lord and you know
it's only in the Lord's house you'll find that edification
that spiritual edification, that spiritual instruction Why? Because it's God's ordered way. And we can't trample upon his
ordered way. You meet people from time to
time, I do, and they say, well, I can worship God anywhere. Well,
that's of course true. But I tell you this, if you won't
worship him in his house, you won't worship him anywhere else. The psalmist came into his right
mind, here in Zion. Surely thou didst set them in
slippery places. Thou castest them down into destruction. Again, he confesses, verse 22,
So foolish was I and ignorant. I was as a beast before thee. Nevertheless, I am continually
with thee. Thou hast holden me up by thy
right hand. He was slipping, but the Lord
held him up. The Lord held him up. And even when we're in by-path,
even when we're in those places where we've gone on a wrong path,
where we've understood things wrongly, the Lord sets us right. He brings us right. We're held up. Thou shalt guide
me with thy counsel and afterward receive me into glory. He realised, didn't he? He realised
the truth again here. So we come to our text, Whom
have I in heaven but thee? He believed in an eternal heaven,
didn't he? He believed in the bliss of the
eternal state. There's nothing here of paradise
earth. There's nothing here of any kind of earthly reign. He
said, Whom have I in heaven but thee? And that's a literal heaven.
You know, people speak as though they're Old Testament saints
David, the Psalmist, the Prophet, so on, didn't really understand
things. They didn't really get him. Here
we can see they did. We can see they did. Whom have I in heaven but thee? You see there's a realisation
here, isn't there? That the Lord was his God. and it's
a knowledge of him and a realization of his person
that was what was needful and what would bring him through
these things. Whom have I in heaven but thee?
Now, there's a doctrinal observation here I would make that perhaps
you don't really share. I will not condemn you for disagreeing
with me. But it's long been our conviction,
the strict Baptists, that heavenly glory is simply this. It is an eternity with Christ.
What do I mean by that? You know, as we attend funerals
and we see those go before us that we have felt some union
to and perhaps loved in the flesh they have no need for us anymore
they have no need for us anymore I know there's scriptures that
refer to heaven as a city and so on and so forth but you know
far too often we can have a sentimental view of heavenly glory. The Psalmist said here, whom
have I in heaven but thee? So the answer to the question,
will we know one another in heavenly glory? Perhaps, but here I think we
have the firm evidence that it won't really matter.
it won't really matter, because there is only Jesus Christ to
be known and to be enjoyed in the fullness. Those who've departed,
who've been the Lord's elect, they have no need for us any
longer. We feel the loss, we feel the pain, we feel an emptiness,
perhaps an emptiness that won't be filled in any distinct way
again but you know that's the fruit of the fall every one of
us has to experience loss every one of us has to experience sorrow
every one of us has to experience pain and if you notice in the
scripture we actually don't learn a great deal about what heaven
is like We learn a lot more of what heaven
won't be as we read the chapters in Revelation 21 and 22. Neither shall there be sorrow,
neither shall be any more pain, for the former things are passed
away. What John is referring to there
in the Revelation are the effects and the fruits of the fall. They
are the fruits, they are the effects of sin. Whom have I in heaven? But they
could see clearly. The Psalmist was given a clear
vision of what heaven really is. And you see, that is why the
Lord must deal with us here upon this earth. an unbeliever cannot go to heaven
and made quite simply I remember a reading service at Leeds years
ago by John Gosden and he said if an unbeliever were to go to
heaven it wouldn't be heaven to him absolutely true absolutely true
you see we must have an appreciation we must have a love for Christ's
person. Whom have I in heaven? But there's another doctrine
here, isn't there? Does this not speak of the person
of Christ? Whom have I in heaven but thee?
You see again, is this not an evidence of eternal generation? Is this not an evidence of the
eternal Sonship of Christ? People might say, well you ride
that hobby horse too often. But you know it's found in so
many places, isn't it? It's found in so many places.
Eternal generation. Whom have I in heaven but thee?
The Lord Jesus had not even come into this world at this point. But the Psalmist knew where his
hope lied. He knew where his hope lied.
Again, he wasn't ignorant. He wasn't ignorant. they knew
that the Lord would come. Whom have I in heaven but thee? And a further doctrinal observation
mark this very carefully if we do not have a representative
in heaven then we have no hope for if we sin then we have an
advocate with The Father. Has to be. The Lord intercedes. He intervenes. He keeps His people
in the narrow way. And He keeps them so secure. He keeps them so perfect. Perfect! Perfect! Perfect! You say, well I'm not perfect,
I'm a sinner. Yes you are in the flesh. But seen through the
righteousness of Christ, perfect. perfect. So I was in conversation with
Mr Sleeman the other day and we were discussing the ministry
of Charles Breed. Some of you may have known Charles
Breed was the principal of the Strict Baptist Bible Institute.
He was a member at War Boys Chapel. And the conversation sort of
took us down this road. They said that the strength of
Mr. Breed's ministry and his lecturing,
his teaching, was that absolute sovereignty is exactly that. It's absolute sovereignty. That
these things are complete. They're done in eternity. What
we call the Gilead doctrine of justification from eternity. sanctification, glorification,
all these things are done, they're finished aren't they? they're
finished yes the work of salvation has to be made known in the hearts
of his people in time and there is of course an appointed time
to all things but you see if they're not settled if they're
not settled then what's our hope? You see, the total depravity
of man is exactly that. He can't do any good for himself. The psalmist realised here his
frailty. Didn't he? He realised it theologically
and he realised it experientially. You know, in the Word of God there
is always an expository and an experimental application. Where
one or the other is missing, we're always found lacking. We're
always found lacking. Here, the Psalmist realised,
whom have I in heaven but thee? There was a representative. There was a representative. You
know there's an unhealthy habit among some in our churches of
making spiritual judgements of others. And really, we're no judge. You see, all that matters is
this, isn't it? Whom have I in heaven but The Person of the
Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the Psalmist was known,
he was kept, he was preserved, and he was received into glory. by the power of Christ. The Holy Spirit's intercession.
The Father's overruling on all seeing will. Whom have I in heaven but Thee. You see he saw all this sufficiency
there. This is a completed, this is
an absolute salvation. Is this not High Doctrine? It's
High Doctrine. This is High Doctrine. If you're
a fullerite, you've got problems, haven't you? You've got problems
with this text. Because God's got two wills. And you've got to reconcile the
two wills somewhere in the middle. You can read that anywhere in
the scripture. God has a revealed will here
in the scripture and he has a secret will that he makes known throughout.
He's even got two wills. There's no two wills here. What does he say? By way of application. And there is none upon earth
that I desire beside thee. None. None. Well, if you're a duty-faith man, this
morning you'll probably try and wind the congregation up and
exhort them to perform spiritual good, get them out on the streets,
tracting and have a whole host of activities through the week.
You see, this is how you keep your heart. This is how you keep
your desire. Do, do, do, do, do, do, do. I'm
fed up of it. That's all we hear these days.
It won't do you any good. It won't do your soul any good. Whom am I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon the earth
that I desire beside thee. If you notice what made him say
that, it wasn't some duty-faith preacher telling him to do this,
that and the other. It was the experiences that he
had in life. and it will be the same with you and I we must come
here we must see this and we must see it spiritually and you see we have to be careful
as well in saying and there is none upon
earth that I desire beside thee that does not mean that to live
in a monk sell our property and live some kind of strange life
of isolation. That's not what is meant here
at all. And actually that does not produce
any change in the heart at all. None. If we read the reformers,
many of them struck themselves, wore uncomfortable
clothing and so on and so forth. that they might gain some spiritual
advantage it's not found there nor does
it mean that we are to have any concern for the things of this
life we heard on Thursday evening an exposition on seeking first
the kingdom of God and as was rightly pointed out there this
does not make us careless about things it doesn't mean to say
we shouldn't make plans for things we have to always say if the
Lord will no question about that but you know we have desires
upon the earth that are right they simply must have their place
they simply must have their place That's all. Money is a defence. There is
no greater thing than a man may eat and drink and enjoy the good
of all his labour. All these things the Lord has
given us. He's provided for us. And there's
a right use for them. And they have their place. But you see here is a principle
of a single eye. it's a principle of a single
desire and it's one that we must come to ourselves you see we've got to realize
that everything around us is constant change isn't it?
it's constant change this year last year we've seen many changes
in this year to come some of us are expecting change but you know we have to remember this that
all those things they'll pass they'll pass they'll
pass and we have to say there is none upon earth that i desire
beside thee now can you say that? that's the question this morning
can you say that? can you say that? if you can't
say it is it your desire? is it your desire? to say there
is none upon earth that i desire beside thee and as we venture into this new
year is this not our concern? you see I remember I was struck
with the hymn 1105 Samuel Medley when he said Jesus engrave it
on my heart that thou the one thing needful art you see Samuel
Medley knew what he was speaking of didn't he felt it in his soul
when he said this I could from all things parted be but never
never Lord from Thee you see we have to just let go
we have to just let go of the things of this life the things
of time and sense you see for us Coming into 2015 there are many
unknowns. There are many unknowns. But if we can say what the Psalmist
is saying here, we won't go disappointed. We won't go disappointed. We
won't lack anything. The Psalmist, you see, could
He was clothed and He was in His right mind. He could see
that the Lord, the eternal Christ, who can see all things from the
end, from the beginning to the end, from the end to the beginning.
He was bringing Him through. He says, My flesh and My heart
faileth, but God is the strength of My heart and My portion forever. My Bible here has the Oxford
reference, but the pulpit Bible has the Cambridge reference.
I was struck when it says the original Hebrew, the strength
of my heart, the rock of my heart. God is the rock
of his heart and his portion forever. For lo, they that are far from
thee shall perish. Thou hast destroyed all them
that go a-whoring from thee. You can see his meditations,
but it is good for me to draw near to God. So you knew what it was to rejoice
in truth. To draw near unto the Lord. that must, by necessity, prove
some measure of assurance, must it not? Be very wary of these people
who tell you there's no such thing as assurance or tell you
it's only for a select few. The Lord's people should know
something. I'm not saying we're living on the mountaintop all
the time, of course we're not. There are joys and there are
sorrows in the Christian life. It's a two-edged sword is the
Gospel. And our experience is one of highs and of lows. But you see underneath are the
everlasting arms, are they not? There is none upon earth that
I desire beside thee. The glory is you will not feel
to lack anything. you will not feel to lack anything.
If this is your continual desire, if this is your continual heart
state, you won't lack, you will not lack. In conclusion, we were
singing the other day from Wells' hymn book 778, it's another hymn
by John Fawcett actually, it's not in our book, but I was struck
by it. It was a New Year hymn. I'll
quote it to you in full. O God, our helper ever near,
crown with thy smile the present year, preserve us by thy favour
still, and fit us for thy sacred will. Our safety, each succeeding
hour, depends on thy supporting power, Accept our thanks for
mercy's past, and be our guard while life shall last. Let us not murmur nor complain
at what thy wisdom shall ordain. Sickness or health may blessings
prove, as ordered by thy sovereign love. Our moments move with a
ringed haste, Nor know we which shall be the last, Danger and
death are ever nigh, And we this year perhaps may die, Prepare
us for the trying day, Then call our willing souls away, We'll
quit the world at thy command, And trust our spirits to thy
hand. Whom have I in heaven but Thee,
and there is none upon the earth that I desire beside Thee. May this be our experience in
2050. May the Lord add His blessing.
Amen.