Let us turn again to God's Word
and I want to read Psalm 84, opened of course with part of
Isaac Watts' paraphrase of this particular psalm. Psalm 84, to
the chief musician upon Gethse, a psalm for the sons of Korah,
we read in the title of the psalm, psalm 84. How amiable are thy
tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth
for the court of the Lord. My heart and my flesh crieth
out for the living God. Yea, the sparrow hath found an
house and the swallow a nest for herself where she may lay
her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and
my God. Blessed are they that dwell in
thy house, they shall be still praising thee, Selah. Blessed
is the man whose strength is in thee, in whose heart are the
ways of them, who, passing through the valley of Baker, make it
a well. The rain also filleth the pools,
they go from strength to strength. Every one of them in Zion appeareth
before God. O Lord God of hosts, hear my
prayer. Give ear, O God of Jacob, Selah. Behold, O God, our shield, and
look upon the face of thine anointed. For a day in thy court is better
than a thousand. I have rather be a doorkeeper
in the house of my God. that dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God is a sun and
shield. The Lord will give grace and
glory. No good thing will he withhold
from them that walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the
man that trusteth in thee." You will observe in the reading that
there are various statements concerning the We have it of course in verses
4 and 5. Blessed are they that dwell in
thy house, they will be still praising thee. Blessed is the
man whose strength is in thee and whose heart are the ways
of them. Then again in the final words,
O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee. Surely in that latter verse we
see that this man who is blessed or happy, that's the basic meaning
of the word, the happy man, is a man of faith, a man whose trust
is in the Lord, is God. And it's not only here in Psalm
84, but previously in Psalm 40 we read again of this man whose
faith is in the Lord, blessed, is that man that maketh the Lord
his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside
to lies. The man that makes God his trust. And this faith that the man possesses,
it's not something that's passive. True, he is one who is waiting,
as we see there in the opening words of Psalm 40, I wait it,
patiently for the Lord, he says, in waiting I wait it. There is that recognition that
faith looks to God, faith waits upon God continually, but as
I said, faith is not something that is passive because in the
midst of all that waiting this man desires that the Lord would
come and appear for him, that God would in fact make haste
to come and help him. Later in Psalm 14 verse 13, Be
pleased O Lord to deliver me, O Lord, he says, make haste to
help me. And at the end of the Psalm,
make no tarrying, O my God, he wants God to come to appear as
his help, as his deliverer. And so his faith is not inactive,
though it is a faith that looks to God. and waits upon God, there
is an earnest desire that the Lord would yet come and appear
for his children. This is the man, the blessed
man then, that is trusting in the Lord, is God. But this morning,
in Psalm 84, I want us to turn to what we're told concerning
this character in verses 5, 6 and 7. Psalm 84 then, and verses 5, 6 and 7 are the
words that we come to for our text. Blessed is the man whose
strength is in thee, in whose heart are the ways of them, who
passing through the valley of Baker make it a well, the rain
also filleth the pools, they go from strength to strength,
every one of them in Zion appeareth before God. before we come to
consider the text in its spiritual significance, because the Psalms
of course have much to say with regards to the experiences of
God's people in every day, in every dispensation, in every
generation. The Psalms are those scriptures
that we if we are God's children can relate to. They relate to
us and our experiences if we are men and women of faith. But before we come to that I
want to say something with regards to the historical context in
which the psalm was first given by the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit. What do we read here in verse
7 concerning the blessed man, or we might say the company of
the blessed. They go from strength to strength,
it says, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God. The reference here is to those
who are making a journey, they are travelling to Zion. They long after the habitation
of God, in the opening verse, how amiable are thy tabernacles,
O Lord, of whose my soul longeth, yea, even fainteth, for the courts
of the Lord. The psalm was written with regards
to the great festivals that the Jews, the ancient people of God,
were to observe. Three times every year, remember,
all the males were to travel to the place where God's tabernacle
was set, first of all at Shiloh, and then in the days of King
David it was taken to Jerusalem, and then Solomon built a temple
to replace the tabernacle. But every year the males were
to make The journey to the place where God's special dwelling
was, be it Shiloh or be it Jerusalem, the three great feasts, the Feast
of Passover and the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles. And we see how that was commanded
by God through Moses in Deuteronomy chapter 16 and verse 16. And we know that there are some
of the Psalms that very much relate to those who were making
that journey. The songs of degrees, as they
are entitled in Psalms 120 to 134. And the word degrees is from the Hebrew word to bring
up. It's used with regards to the
Tabernacle. When the Tabernacle was set in
Jerusalem and they were to bring the Ark of the Covenant to that
place. And remember we read at one stage
when the Ark had been taken by the Philistines
and then it was brought again into the boundaries of Israel
because the Philistine god Dagon was made to fall before the Ark
of the Lord and for a period it is housed in the house of
Obed-Edom and the house of Obed-Edom is greatly favoured And then
we're told how it was the Levites who were to bring it up. They
brought it up. They brought it up with it in
1 Chronicles chapter 15 and verse 14. And the particular verb that
is used there to bring it up is that from which the word degrees,
as we have it in Psalms 120 to 134, is derived. Psalms of bringing up, Psalms
of ascents we might call it. And those Psalms were the Psalms
that they would often sing as they were making the journey
from every part of Israel to go either to Shiloh or to go
to Jerusalem to worship the Lord. And isn't there some reference
to that manner of their travelling? Here in verse 7 they go, it says
from strength to strength The margin gives from company to
company. They go, as it were, from one
resting place to another resting place. These places on the way
as they are making the journey, where others would also gather
and then they would continue their journey up to Jerusalem. And so as we look at these words
that I announced as our text verses 5, 6 and 7, can we not
say of this blessed man that he is a man on a journey? The
blessed man is a man who in this world is very much a pilgrim. Blessed is the man whose strength
is in the earth. In his heart are the ways of
them who, passing through the valley of Baker, make it a well.
The rain also filleth the pools. They go from strength to strength.
Every one of them in Zion appeareth before God. They are journeying.
They are strangers as they travel. They are pilgrims. and they're
walking in that pilgrim way. And we know, as we read of such
characters there in Hebrews chapter 11, that this was very much the
mark of those of faith in the Old Testament. These all died in faith, it says,
not having received the promises. but having seen them afar off,
and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed
that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they
that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country,
and truly if they had been mindful of that country from whence they
came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned,
but now they desire a better country. that is unheavenly,
wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he
hath prepared for them a schedule. Oh, they were strangers here
upon the earth. They walked in that pilgrim way. And I say that is the mark of
God's children in every day, in every generation. We examine
ourselves and we say, well, is that the mark of us? We know
that we are in enemy territory in a certain sense, what evils
abound, what wickedness, but we think of the state of affairs
in our own nation and those wicked laws that are constantly brought
into being enacted in Parliament and we feel ourselves to be something
like those that we read of there at the end of Hebrews chapter
11. We wonder, where will the scene
end? Will there be those dreadful
persecutions yet? How they had trial of cruel mockings
and scourgings. Yea, moreover, bonds and imprisonment. They were stolen, they were sworn
asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wondered
about in sheepskins and goatskins being destitute, afflicted, tormented,
of whom the world was not worthy, he says in the parenthesis. How
we see that God's word is so applicable even to ourselves
in this evil day in which we are living. Let us come to the
words of the text this morning, and I want to seek to draw out
from these verses something of the mark of those who are this
pilgrim people. First of all, to see the mark
of spirituality. They are a spiritual people. Look at verse 5. Blessed is the
man whose strength is in thee, in whose hearts are the ways
of them. If you will observe some of those
words in that second clause are in italics. In other words, they've
been introduced in the translation. It literally says, in whose heart
the ways. In whose heart the ways. God's ways, what's being spoken
of. It's not enough to be outwardly
in the way of God or in the ways of God. We must be those who
know what it is to have that way or those ways of God in our
heart. the spiritual people, you see.
God hates their formalism. We want more than the outward
form of God in us. We want to know in our own soul
something of the reality of those things that we read of here in
the Word of God. We see quite clearly time and
again in Scripture how God will judge the formalists, how God
condemns the hypocrite for example there in Isaiah chapter 29 and
verse 13 wherefore the Lord said for as much as his people draw
near me with their mouth and with their lips to honour me
but have removed their heart far from me for their fear toward
me is taught by the precept of men Therefore, behold, I will
proceed to do a marvellous work among these people, even a marvellous
work, and to wonder, for the wisdom of their wise men shall
perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be
hid. This is God's judgment, you see,
upon the formalists. It says, I have removed their
hearts far from mine. Or can we say truly this morning
that our hearts are really in the ways of God? our hearts are
in the Word of God. They're not only in the promises
of God, but in the precepts of God. We want to walk in the way
of God's commandments. We don't merely give a mental
assent to God's truth, but we desire to be those who, as we
experience these things, are practising these things, and
living this life of the pilgrim and the stranger here upon the
earth. I say, God, hates the formatives,
and now God condemns all hypocrisy. We see that so clearly, do we
not, in the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. What
sharp words the Saviour speaks against the Pharisees, how He
exposes their religion as being nothing more than pretense. In Matthew 15 verse 7, Ye hypocrites,
he says, Woe did Esaias prophesy of you, referring to those words
of Isaiah 29. How Christ applies that word
to the Pharisees. Ye hypocrites, woe did Esaias
prophesy of you, saying, These people draweth nigh unto me with
their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips, but their heart
is far from them, but in vain. blinded worshipment, teaching
for doctrines the commandments of men. They are those whom the Lord
condemns, condemns because of their wicked ways. And then again
of course we have that great 23rd chapter in which Christ
repeatedly denounces the scribes and the Pharisees And there at
verse 27, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For
ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful
outward, but are within full of dead men's bones and of all
uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear
righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and
iniquity. Friends, our heart, our heart
must be in our religion. And if our heart is not in these
things, if we know nothing of the reality of these things,
and simply come and go and attend in an outward fashion, are we
not in danger of being identified with the formalists? Identified
even with the hypocrite? It's those in whose hearts are
the ways, the ways of God. Is that our experience? Can we really identify with those
of whom we read there in Hebrews chapter 11 concerning Moses? We are told by Faith Moses forsook
Egypt, turned his back on all the treasures and all the pleasures
that would be his as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He despises
those things and identifies himself with the poor and afflicted people
of God. His was truly the faith of Abraham. What do we read there concerning
Abraham, the father of all them that believe? When he hears the
call of God, he comes out. There is separation. When he
was called to go out, this is Abraham, by faith Abraham, when
he was called to go out into a place which he should after
receive her and inheritance, obey, and went out, not knowing
whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the
land of promise, as in a strange country dwelling, in tabernacles
with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. All friends are we those who
desire to walk in this way, walk by faith and not by sight, as
those who are seeing the invisible God. That was Moses' experience.
He saw him who was invisible. Our eyes then upon the Lord we
look away from all the evils that abound, all the wickedness
that surrounds us. We desire to come to God and
we find that The Lord's Day, the Sabbath, is indeed a sanctuary
to our souls, our amibles, says the psalmist. Our thy tabernacles,
O Lord of hosts, my soul longeth, yea, even fainter for the courts
of the Lord, my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living
God. We don't merely desire to come
together in discussion, On the Lord's Day we might find some
refreshment to our poor souls, but we want to anticipate that
glorious dwelling in heaven, our ultimate destination. This
is not the presence of God himself. Whom have I in heaven but thee,
says the psalmist elsewhere. There is none other on earth
that I desire besides them. Are we those who are travelling
then to the heavenly Jerusalem, you know, something of that real
faith of God in our souls, that blessed man that trusts us in
the Lord as we read at the end of the psalm. Do we have that
faith that is from God, that faith that is of the operation
of God? Are we those then who are truly
spiritual pilgrims here upon the earth? We recognize that
the things that are seen are the temple things, and we see
that the unseen things are the eternal things. That is our ultimate
desire. This Mark then of the pilgrim,
he is one who is spiritually minded. The ways of God are in
his heart. But then also here, in verse
5, we are told something of the strength of this man. Blessed
is the man whose strength is in Thee. His strength is not
in himself. He has no innate strength. He
has no innate ability. He recognizes that. He is a man
who feels his complete and utter weakness. He is so impotent. Do we feel that? The godly man,
you see, he recognizes that he cannot even form one right thought
of himself. That was the testimony of the
Apostle Paul, was it not? Not that we are sufficient of
ourselves, he says, to think anything of ourselves. Not sufficient
even to think. Right thoughts of God, which
we are just left to ourselves. Isaiah says, Thou also hast brought
all our works in us. Or do we recognise that? Christ
says without mercy, ye can do nothing. This is so contrary
to fallen human nature, is it not? How we see fallen men full
of pride, full of self-sufficiency. how they can master anything. This is the wicked pride that
is in man's heart as a fallen creature. We see the evidence
on every hand of the truth of what we read in scripture concerning
man's history. When God created Adam, he was
made in the image of God, made after the likeness of God, made
to enjoy fellowship with God? That is man's chief end, is it
not? To glorify God, to enjoy God forever in the language of
the short ecstaticism? That as we read there in Genesis
chapter 3 of the Fall, that that most noble of all God's creatures,
as a serpent comes to eat with those wicked words, ye shall
be as God. Ye shall be as God. The man wants
to be all together equal with God. This is what Satan himself
desires. And this is what he implants
into the mind, into the heart of Eve, into the mind, into the
heart of Adam. Ye shall be as God, so they partake
of that forbidden fruit. of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. Pride. It is pride, accursed
pride that spirit by God have hoards, do what we will. It hoards
us still and keeps us from the Lord. It's in all of us. We see it around us, yes, in
the ways of men and how they discount the word of God and
the ways of God, how they fall scorn on these things. But it's
in all of our hearts by nature. We're not better than others.
We're those who are completely dependent upon the grace of God,
upon the sovereign grace of God. It's interesting, in Psalm 102,
in verse 23, the psalmist says concerning God, He weakened my
strength in the world. All friends, if we're in the
way of God, He will make us constantly feel our own innate weakness,
the weakness of our sins, what we really are as fallen creatures. Man might strive after God and
seek to be as a God himself, and yet how great is the fall
of man. Man is of his father the devil,
really, the wicked, fallen creature. And when God, you see, teaches
His people, He makes them to feel their weakness, their sinfulness. Moses says in Psalm 90, Thou
turnest man to destruction, and sayest, Return, ye children.
There it is. On the one hand, God turns a
man to destruction, makes him to see that he has completely
destroyed himself, and then God says, Turn. Lord, He makes that
sinner willing to turn, willing to come to Him again. He favours
him with that grace of repentance, that real turn in his soul, that
turning of his life inside out and upside down. Isn't Christ
exalted as the Prince and the Saviour who gives repentance
and the forgiveness of sins to His Israel? But it's not enough,
is it, to feel our weakness, to feel our helplessness, to
recognise how hopeless we are if left to ourselves. We must
surely really know what it is for God to be our strength. For
God to be that One who is truly mighty, to say, blessed is the
man, it says, whose strength is in the, the man whose strength is in
his God. who draws all his strength from his God. We have it again in Psalm 89,
a great psalm that speaks of God's covenant and speaks of
him who is the covenant head of his people. Psalm 89 verse
19, Then thou speakest in vision to thy holy one and sayest, I
have laid help upon one that is mighty. I have exalted one
chosen out of the people. I have found David my servant. With my holy oil have I anointed
him. Who is this David? Oh, this is
David's greatest son. This is a prophecy of the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is the true beloved of God. And God says,
I have laid help upon one that is mighty. Isn't the Lord Jesus
Christ that one who is mighty to say, able to say, unto the
Ottomans, all that come unto God by Him. It's not enough to
know what we are, in all our sinful weakness. We must also
know the other side of the question. We must know all that Christ
is. in his great ability to save, in his willingness to save. His
willingness to save all that comes to God by him. Look at
how the psalmist pleads with God in his prayer here in verses
8 and 9. He says, O Lord God of hosts,
hear my prayer. Give ear, O God of Jacob's seal. Behold, O God, our shield and
look upon the face of thine anointed as he prays to God. He wants
the Lord God to look upon his shield. Who is his shield? What
is his shield? The anointed. Look upon the face
of thine anointed. He is pleading Christ for his
acceptance with God. It's only in Christ that he can
find acceptance. there can be acceptance nowhere
else except in him who is the friend of sinners and the saviour
of sinners. This is the one then whom God
has laid help upon, who is strong and mighty to say that the blessed
man is that man whose trust is only in the Lord, whose strength
is in the Lord. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in the Lord. Doesn't God say to his servants,
Paul of old, my grace is sufficient for the earth, my strength is
made perfect in weakness, my strength is God says in weakness. These are the ones, the weak
ones that He grants that strength to, the ones that He gives those
exceeding great and precious promises to. Those words at the
end of Isaiah 40, familiar words I'm sure, He give us power to
the fight and to them that have no might, He increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and
be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but they that wait
upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up
with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall
walk and not falter." Or they go from strength to strength. This is the constant experience
of God's people. We have to constantly learn our
own weakness. We don't just learn it in a day.
We're learning it all our lives. What are we of ourselves? We're
all weak. And we have to constantly find our strength only in the
Lord. And so as we journey on in that pilgrim way, we're those
who truly go from strength to strength. The blessed man whose
strength is in the Lord is God. But then thirdly, with regards
to the marks of this pilgrim, does he not also, in the way
that he travels, know something of sorrow and grief and sadness? Verse 6, "...who passing through
the valley of Banquo." Banquo literally means weeping.
"...who passing through the valley of weeping. As we go from strength
to strength, as I've already intimated, we must also go from
weakness to weakness. We have to increasingly discover
the truth with regards to ourselves, our all nature, what we are as
the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, the fallen creatures. And how awful it is to learn
that lesson, that we really are fallen creatures. And what is it that dwells within
us by nature? Nothing but the flesh. And the
flesh never changes. That that is born of the flesh
is flesh, says the Lord Jesus Christ. That that is born of
the Spirit is spirit. This is why you see every sinner
If he is going to be saved, he must know that new birth. He
must become a partaker of a new nature, a partaker of the divine
nature of fetuses. But all the conflicts, the flesh
lusteth against the spirit, the spirit against the flesh, and
these are contrary one to the other, saith Paul, and ye cannot
do the things that ye want. Or we cannot of ourselves do
any good thing. And now he fills the child of
God's eyes with many things. When he fills his innate weakness,
his inability, his simpleness. I know that in me, this is the
great apostle you know, in Romans chapter 7, he says, I know that
in me, that is in my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing. That's me. The sink of sin. the sink of
iniquity. This is actually what causes
the child of God to weep, fills his heart with sorrow. They pass
through the valley of Dagon. Oh, we see the evil all around
us, it grieves us, it should grieve us. All the great rejoicing
over sodomite marriages, But it's not what we see outside,
it's what we're brought to feel inside, is it not? We're not
to have that spirit of the Pharisee who says, stand by thyself, come
not nigh me, I'm holier than thou. What are we? Are we not
those who with ourselves are nothing but sin? And we live in a sinful world.
And this is the conflict, you see, there's a conflict with
the flesh, the world, and the devil. And he causes us great
grief, and God deals with us, does he not? If we're God's children,
he'll deal with us, he'll teach us, he'll instruct us, and on
things like him, he'll show us more and more what we are. We'll
learn something of his chastenings. If we're his children, we cannot
escape, whom the Lord loves, he chastens us, he says, and
scourges us. Every son whom we receive, if he and you are chastening,
God dealeth with you as with sons. What son is he whom the
Father chasteneth not? Then we probably know something
of chastening from our earthly father, and did he not make us
weak? Or will we not then know something of sorrow when our
heavenly father comes to chasten us and correct us? It's a grievous
thing. We'll know what it is. to pass
through the valley of Vaca and yet here is the amazing thing
ultimately this spiritual pilgrim finds
spiritual satisfaction even bitter things are made sweet to him
who passing through the valley of Vaca make it a well the rain
also filleth the pools. Oh, what a word is this! He passes
through the valley of weeping and yet that's very valid is
to him a vow. With joy shall we draw water
out of the wells of salvation, says the Prophet Isaiah. When
will we draw water out of the wells of salvation? as we increasingly
feel the bitter thing that sin is, then salvation will be so
sweet to us, and so precious to us. Think of David's experience.
How David longed and said, all that one would give me, drink
of the water of the well of Bethlehem. He was a Bethlehemite himself,
was he not? And he remembered the well by
the gates. and his desire was that one would give him a drink
of the water of the well of Bethlehem. Who is the well of Bethlehem,
ultimately, spiritually? Is it not the Lord Jesus Christ? Is it not the Lord Jesus Christ?
And do we desire to draw water out of that well? The well, the
wells, it's a plural. Oh, there's such great supply
there in the Lord Jesus Christ, such a glorious efficiency to draw water out of the wells
of salvation. You see, ultimately then, these
pilgrims, or they very much know something of the Lord's blessing,
do they not? We referred at the beginning
to those Psalms, very much associated with the descending to Jerusalem
for the Great Feast, the songs of degrees, and one of them,
Psalm 126, tells us, Thy that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth,
daring preciously, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing. bringing
his sheaves with him. It's not simply bacon, passing
through the valley of bacon. Oh, there's something sweet here,
something precious here. Though our cup seems filled with
gore, there's something secret. Sweden's Wall says, Joseph Hart,
how true it is, friends, this is the blessed way of the pilgrim,
is it not? This one who is a stranger here
upon the earth, he has no continuing city, though he looks for that
city which is to come, he knows something of foretaste of it
here upon the earth, he knows those watering places, those
precious Sabbath days, which the Lord has given to us when
we come together and assemble and seek, to unite in the corporate
worship of God. And all that such occasions might
be, some earnest at heaven, that place where congregations ne'er
break up, where sabbaths have no end, is the poet. How amiable are thy tabernacles,
O Lord of hosts! My soul, longeth ye even thanketh
for the courts of the Lord, my heart and my flesh cryeth out
for the living God. or that we might be those then
who do bear something of these marks of the man that the psalmist
goes on to describe, this blessed man, this happy man, whose strength
is in thee, in whose hearts are the ways of them who pass him
through the valley of Baker, make it a well, the rain also
filleth the pools, they go from strength to strength, every one
of them in Zion appear before God, or is that what we desire
above all? To come to appear before God,
to see Him. To see Him with the eye of faith,
to know that faith which is the gift of God. To walk by faith
and not by sight, seeing the invisible One. O Lord of hosts,
blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee. Amen. Hymn 286. The tune is Hamsters
340. Pilgrims we are to pain and bound. Our journey lies along
this road, this road unless we travel round to reach the city
of our God. 286. Oh Prince, we are to Canaan bound. Our journey lies along this road. This wilderness we travel round
To reach the city of our God And hear us travel To sit around a monster's feet
And he'll tell the wonders of his love The world and Satan have unseen
Flying mountains seem to reach the skies With scarce a gleam
of hope between The troubles come, and Jesus
sings a peering ray, and that strong arm shall guide us home,
which thus protects us by the way. A few days or months or years
In this dark desert to complain A few sighs, a few more tears