I receive several bulletins each
week by email from our friends at different churches that we
know and that we love. We send our bulletin to many
of them. And one of the reoccurring scriptures
that I see in many of the bulletins that I receive is something that
David said in Psalm chapter 122. Would you turn there with me,
please? Psalm 122, verse one. 122nd Psalm, verse one. David here wrote, I was glad
when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. Now I want to ask you something
that I want you to ponder in your heart and in your mind and
not answer out loud. The question is, and I'm very
sincere in asking this, are you glad to be in the house of the
Lord this morning? Are you rejoicing to be sitting
where you are, listening to what I'm about to tell you? Now the
word glad here in verse one, not only means rejoicing, but
it also means merry and cheerful. Sometimes in our daily lives,
we're just more merry and cheerful than we are at other times. Some
call it being in a good mood. Some say, oh, he got up on the
right side of the bed this morning. Sometimes we're upbeat, we're
positive, merry and silly with excitement. And we're not really
sure why. I often think about when a young
man meets that young lady of his dreams and knows that she's
the one that he wants to marry and spend the rest of his life
with. He can't imagine spending time without her. Wow, just the
mention of her name makes his stomach feel with that nervous,
fluttering butterfly sensation. But let me sincerely ask you,
do you get that feeling when you hear about your heavenly
beloved? Your heavenly husband, the Lord
Jesus Christ, is hearing about him one of your life's greatest
joys and privileges. You know, when Abraham's servant
found Rebekah, a bride for his son Isaac, he couldn't even think
about eating. They invited him to dinner, and
he couldn't even sit down to eat. He said, I will not eat
until I have told you mine errand. And then he said, I'm Abraham's
servant, and the Lord hath blessed my master greatly. And he's become
great, and he hath given him flocks, and herds, and silver,
and gold, and manservants, and maidservants, and camels, and
asses. And Sarah, my master's wife,
she bear a son to my master when she was old. And to him hath
he given all that he has. He said, don't hinder me that
I may go to my master. Rebekah had never laid her eyes
on Isaac. She had only heard about him
through the words of Eliezer, the servant of Abraham. But when
Eliezer, Abraham's faithful servant, began to tell Rebekah about how
great Abraham and his son were, and how that his son Isaac was
heir to all, that he was so honorable that he had been willing himself
to die for the glory of his father, when she heard these things,
she could not resist going. She got, I'm sure, that nervous,
fluttering butterfly sensation in her belly. And she said, let
us go into the house of Abraham and Isaac, just from the word. Don't you know on that long journey
home, I calculated one time about how long it took, several months.
Don't you know that she asked Eliezer by the campfire over
and over again, could you tell me one more time about Isaac? Are you glad when someone says
unto you, let's go into the house of the Lord? Do you consider
it one of life's greatest joys and privileges? David said, I
was glad. I was merry. I was cheerful.
I was ecstatic. You see, this was a personal
joy to him. David said, I was glad when they
said to me, let us go into the house of the Lord. You know,
there should be nothing that would cause the true trusting
child of God to be more glad and more cheerful than to come
into the house of the Lord. Well, that's where the Lord himself
dwells. David was not only glad that
he was included, but David was glad that others had the same
interest. David found great joy in that
others said, let us, you and me, go into the house of the
Lord. David was glad, he wasn't sad, he wasn't mad, but glad,
he was merry, he was cheerful and rejoicing. Are you? Now I
don't say this to discourage anyone, but it's nonetheless
true. Someone who really doesn't have an interest in hearing the
gospel, the gospel of Christ, more than likely won't. But if
God gives a sinner life, with that life always comes the interest
of knowing the one who gave them that life. And they too will
be glad to go into the house of the Lord to hear the sweet,
sweet story of how Christ died for the sins of chosen sinners
according to the scriptures. 1 Corinthians 15 three. And why
wouldn't we be? After all, it's the house of
the Lord. It's where the Lord Jesus dwells. Not in this building
that we call the church, but in the hearts of His people.
That's where God dwells. That Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith, that ye being rooted and grounded in love may
be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and
the length and the depth and the height, and to know the love
of Christ. Do you know the love of Christ?
That love of Christ, which passeth knowledge that you might be filled
with all the fullness of God. I was glad when they said unto
me, let's go into the house of the Lord. But ye are not in the
flesh, but in the Spirit. If so, be that the Spirit of
God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he's none of his. And if Christ be in you,
the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because
of righteousness. And that's his righteousness,
friends, not yours. We have no righteousness. Our
righteousness is filthy rags. He who knew no sin was made to
be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. That's the only place it's found,
in him. Oh, I was glad when they said to me, let's go into the
house of the Lord. David was glad and rejoiced in
what was said to him, and David was happy, merry, and cheerful
over who said it unto him. There's nothing that makes a
child of God happier and rejoice more than to know that their
family and their friends have an interest in worshiping the
true Lord, God, and Savior that they do. Let us go. Aren't those
precious words? David had a double joy. First,
he was glad for the sake of others, glad that they wished to go themselves. And secondly, David was also
glad that they had the courage and the urgency to ask others
to go. What a glorious day it is when
people shall say, come ye and let us go up to the mountain
of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. And he will
teach us his ways and we will walk in his path. David loved
and delighted in the fact that he was invited by others to go
into the holy place and worship in company. He was a man after
God's own heart. He was glad to find sinners willing
to invite others to public worship, to the house of the Lord, not
made with hands. It's not a house made with hands,
friend. It's made eternal in the heavens. These folks did
not say, let us go into religion. They did not say, let us attend
our denomination. They said, let us go into the
house of the Lord. You know, many who would never
come along may come willingly with you. I'm convinced that
the gospel will never mean anything to our lost children. It'll never
mean anything to our lost family members, our lost friends, until
and unless they see that it means something to us. Years ago, when
Teresa and I lived near Nashville, we would have family members
who would come in from out of town and visit, and they would
stay with us. And on Sunday and Wednesday,
it seemed to never fail that they just expected us to stay
home from church since they were there with us. And I'm not trying
to convince anyone that Teresa and I are super spiritual, because
we're not. We're just sinners saved by grace.
But I will tell you this much, to whom much is forgiven, there
is much love. Isn't that what the Lord Jesus
told the Pharisee Simon? He said, when I came into your
house, you didn't offer me water for my feet or oil for my head,
which was a custom. He said, but this woman, since
I got here, she's washed my feet with her tears and she's dried
them with her hair. He said, to whom much is forgiven,
there is much love. So Teresa and I would always
go on to church. We'd invite them to come. And
if they declined our invitation, we just kind of say, okay, see
you after church. You see, if we would have stayed
home from worship with them, what would that say to them?
What would it say to them without saying anything? Well, it would
say to them that the worship of our God really didn't mean
that much to us. I was glad when they said unto
me, let us go into the house of the Lord. And it's with great
joy that we do. And it's because of the great
esteem that we have for the one that loved us, called us, and
saved us by his grace. It's with great concern and urgency
that we invite others to come with us. Just maybe the Lord
to give them ears to hear, eyes to see, and hearts to believe.
The child of God prefers the house of the Lord to their own
house. And why wouldn't we? The Lord's house is our home.
The Lord's house is our school. The Lord's house is our hospital. It's where we want to live and
where we want to die. Look at verse two here. It says,
our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. Do you remember
what Moses said to his brother-in-law, Hobab? He said, come thou with
us and we will do thee good. For the Lord hath spoken good
concerning Israel, meaning God's people. Come go with us. We'll
do you good because the Lord's gonna do us all good. That's
a good encouragement to give someone. God's people with great
joy come into the house of the Lord. It's where they worship
their God. It's where they receive instruction. It's where they receive revelation. It's where they grow in grace.
It's where they grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm
so glad that I have a house of the Lord to go to. where I can
hear the truth about God and the truth about me and the truth
about how a wretched sinner like me can be reconciled to a thrice
holy God. You don't hear that everywhere.
I'm so glad that I have an interest in God. I hear men pray that
from this church. Lord, thank you for giving me
the interest to be here. That's a good prayer. That's
something we ought to thank God for. Not everybody has that interest. Not even professing believers,
a lot of them don't. I am glad that I have an interest. That hadn't always been the case.
I'm glad that I'm able to go. I'm glad that I'm willing to
go. It was God who made us both willing and able, was it not?
I am glad that I am glad. Our Lord said, no man can come
except, here's the exception, dear friends, except the Lord
drawing. No man, no woman to come. They
don't have the ability to come. Bless the Lord drawn by his mercy
and his grace. Our Lord said, you will not come
to me that you might have life, but it was God who made us willing
in the day of his power. God made you willing. Is he not
worthy of our worship? It took the power of God to make
it so. And I'm so glad that I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ because it's the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believe it, to the Jew first
and also to the Greek. Now, I don't know if anyone here
this morning that is a natural Jew, there may be one that I'm
not aware of, but we're all Gentiles and I'm thankful that God came
into the world to save wretched Gentiles like me, aren't you?
Only a true worshiper is glad to go into the house of the Lord.
God's people are glad to go into the Lord's house. God's people
want to be there. We know that we have passed from
death into life. How do we know that? Because
we love the brethren. He that loves not his brother
abides in death. God's people love God's people,
period. God's people love to worship
their God with God's people. Would you turn with me to Hebrews
chapter 10? You can let your place go in
Psalm 122. I want you to look in Hebrews chapter 10 with me.
Beginning in verse 19, Hebrews chapter 10, verse 19. Now I want to point this out before
I read these verses. All these verses that I'm about
to read here is all one sentence. It's all one thought by the Apostle
Paul, who I am convinced wrote the book of Hebrews, though we're
not told. But in verse 19, he writes, having therefore brethren
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way, which he had consecrated for us through the
veil, that is to say his flesh, and having a high priest over
the house of God, let us draw near. And then I love here how
Paul encourages these Hebrew believers. He includes himself
with them, much like David did. David said, let us go. or it
was said unto David, let us go. Now, continuing with the same
sentence here, the same thought in verse 22, Paul says, let us
draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. having
our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies
washed with pure water. Verse 23, he says, let us hold
fast the profession of our faith without wavering for he is faithful
that promised. Verse 24, and let us consider
one another to provoke unto love and to good works. Verse 25,
not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the
matter of some is. Now watch closely to what Paul
says here. This is why we're not to forsake
meeting together with one another, but exhorting one another. And so much the more. It's a lot more involved than
just encouraging and exhorting one another. So much the more.
It's vitally and it's crucially important to exhort one another,
but so much the more we encourage one another, we pray for one
another, while we even preach to one another. I hear folks
all the time encouraging one another with the Word of God.
Preach to me anytime. We preach to one another. We
worship God together. We have the same God. We have
the same Savior. We worship them together. We
seek God together. We receive from God together. We grow in grace together. We
grow in knowledge together. Well, we're a family together.
And I've heard all my life, Hal, that in the end, the only people
that you can really count on is your family. Well, that's
true. In most cases, it's not always blood relatives, but the
family of God. You can count on them. You can
count on the family of God so much the more. Look down at verse
38. The Holy Spirit inspired Paul
here to write, now the just shall live by faith. But if any man
or any woman, for that matter, draw back, my soul shall have
no pleasure in him or them. But we are not of them who draw
back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of
the soul. And again, here we see two groups,
them that draw back, them who apostatize unto perdition. And that word perdition means
Ruin. It means loss. It means damnable,
perishing ways. And then the second group is
them that believe unto the saving of the soul. This is another
place where I wish we didn't have a chapter division in the
Word of God, but in Hebrews 11, verse 1, Paul continues on and
he says this, Now faith is the substance. It's the grounds. It's the basis. It's the confidence. of things hoped for, things expected
and trusted to receive, the evidence of things not seen. Now, I don't
know if you've ever really thought about that, but first we ought
to consider what is this faith that's spoken of? Well, it means,
first of all, the original Greek word means to be persuaded. Remember
what Paul said? I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed unto him. Faith is to be persuaded. It means to have conviction.
It means to have a strong opinion. It means to have strong views,
thoughts, ideas, assurance, confidence about the things that you hope
for according to the promise of God. Listen, God has given
us some precious, precious promises in this book. Do you believe
them? Then God's given you faith. You've
got strong convictions that they're so. How do you know they're so?
And we say, I just know that they're so. God has revealed
it. His spirit's revealed it to my spirit, and I know that
it's so. I can't explain the unexplainable.
It's the evidence of things not seen, things that have not yet
come fruition, but very soon will, and they will because God
promised them. It's the proof, it's the evidence
that you believe that your salvation is true and valid and that God
will do all that He promised you that He'd do. Is your salvation
true and valid? Is your faith in Christ valid
and true? Is your claim of being a child
of God correct? Can we know? If so, how can we
know? What's the evidence and what
is the proof? Well, I believe that the Scriptures,
the Word of God, gives us some ways to know. You know, when
a baby is born into this world, there's abundant evidence that
they're alive. While they breathe and they cry
and they eat and they do all the things associated with human
and physical life. And as time passes, they grow
and they perceive more and more and learn more and become more
responsible as they become adults. It's the same with the child
of God. Same principle. Their new spiritual life is manifest
in ways that they may be identified and evidenced as God's people.
Let me just give you a few in closing. I won't keep you much
longer. First is the evidence of hearing and believing God's
word. John the Beloved wrote this.
He said, he that is of God, heareth God's words. Ye therefore hear
them not because you're not of God. John 8, 47. John also said,
we are of God. He that knoweth God, heareth
us. And he that is not of God, heareth not us. Hereby know we
the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. God's people give evidence
of believing His word. The Lord Jesus said, my sheep
hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. That's another
evidence right there. Even though I didn't write that
one down. We know, we have evidence that we're the children of God
because we follow Him. You know, there was once a young
lady that began reading a novel, and after a chapter or two, she
just lost interest. She said, this is the most boring
book I ever read in my life. She shut it. She stuck it back
up on the shelf. And later she met a young man,
and when their relationship began to blossom and become more serious,
she discovered that he was an author. And he began to tell
her some of the titles of the books that he had written. And
one of the names of one of the books sounded so familiar. And
she soon discovered that the book that she had found so boring
was one of his books. So what did she do? She immediately
got it off the shelf and began reading the book again. And she
didn't stop reading until she was finished with it. She couldn't
get enough of it. What made the difference in this
young lady's attitude toward the same book? You know what
it is. She was now fascinated by the
book because she had affection for the author. To some, the
word of God, the Bible is nothing but fables. And to others, it's
dull and it's confusing. But the one who personally knows
the author is fascinating. I told you this story once. I
hope I can tell it right again. But there was a well-known orator,
a man that often gave speeches at conventions and that type
of thing. And at this particular meeting, he was just asked to
attend. And there was an old gray-haired preacher sitting
up front when they began. At the beginning of the convention,
he stood up and he read Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want. And when he got done, there wasn't
a dry eye in the place. And the fellow that was with
the great orator looked over at him and said, I've heard you
read that psalm many, many times, but I'm telling you, that old
preacher outdid you. And the orator looked at him
with tears in his eyes. And he said, I knew the psalm,
but he knows the shepherd. God's Word speaks to the child
of God. It describes them. It rebukes
them. It delights them. It convicts
them. It assures them. It saves them. Within the pages of this book,
they find solace for their troubles. They find guidance for their
problems. They find hope for the future.
And this is a great evidence that a sinner is indeed a child
of God. It's a letter from the Father
to His child. We grow to appreciate our Father's
words of instruction and warning and comfort. And the more we
read His letter, the more appreciation and understanding we have for
the One that wrote it. What's another evidence that
we've passed from death to life? The conviction of sin. That's
another one. God has made His people to hate
their sin. Paul asks this question, shall
we continue in sin that grace may abound? He said, God forbid.
Now the child of God knows that as long as they're in this body
of flesh, there's a war that goes on within their members.
It's a constant struggle. It's a constant battle. None
of us can live above sin. That's why Job said, I abhor
myself. He wished it wasn't so. That's
why Isaiah said, woe is me, I'm undone. And not only am I undone,
but everybody around me is undone. I live in a world where everybody
is men and women of unclean lips. We're all in the same boat. Paul
said, oh, wretched man that I am. Why, Paul was one of the greatest
apostles that ever lived. He didn't say, oh, wretched man
that I was. He said, oh, wretched man that
I am right now. God's people hate their sin. They're convicted of their sin.
They want their sin to be gone. Don't you want your sin to be
gone? They see that their sin is what separates them from God. It's what hides his face from
them. And then thirdly, we've already
mentioned, but another great evidence is our love for God's
people. That love is the evidence that
we're in Christ. Paul wrote, but it's touching
brotherly love. You need not that I write unto
you, for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. John
said, we know that we've passed from death to life because we
love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother
abideth in death. Well, let me tell you the other
side of that. He that loves his brother abides in life. May God
enable us to make our calling and election sure, for if we
do these things, Peter said, we shall never fail. Another
evidence of spiritual life is peace. Do you have peace? Therefore being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Brother, you've got peace because
it's through Christ that you had it. Peace of God passes all
our understanding, and it keeps our hearts and our minds in,
by, and through Christ Jesus. Peace. The word which God sent
unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ. He's the Lord of all. Peace I
leave with you, my peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth,
this world doesn't have any peace to give, Lou, none. Not as the
world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. Oh, do you have peace in this
troubled world? I'm telling you, if you do, what
a great evidence that you have Christ. Another evidence of being
a child of God is the chastening of the Lord. Whom the Lord loveth,
he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. And if
you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as sons. For what son
is he whom the father chasteneth not? What an evidence. You know,
although no child likes to be chastened, it's an evidence of
both love and parenthood. You know, my mom used to wear
me out, and then she'd say, I'm only doing this because I love
you. I'm like, yeah, right. But I found out that was so.
Other children may aggravate us with their disobedience. Boy,
I tell you, a trip at Walmart will reveal that. But we don't
chasten our correct other children because they're not ours. The
same holds true with the children of God. Although God has created
laws for which there are penalties when broken in this physical
and moral realm, He's not at this time chastening the disobedient
and the unsaved world. You know why? Because they're
not His children. But He chastens those that He
loves. And if he chastens you, he's dealing with you as a child. He disciplines his children and
his chastening proves his love for us. Another great evidence
that God has saved us by his sovereign grace is an appetite
for divine things. And we come back right to the
beginning. David said, I was glad when they said unto me,
let us go into the house of the Lord. What a scriptural evidence
of God's grace. Blessed are those who hunger
and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. They
shall be. Do you hunger and thirst for
righteousness? You'll be filled. God promised
you would. Oh, if we can find satisfaction
and pleasure and delight only in the world, then I'm afraid
that we're dead in sin. Dead while we yet live. But if
we're thirsting for Christ, thirsting to be in His presence, thirsting
to bow to His Lordship, if we long for His love, mercy, and
grace, strive to walk in the light of His countenance, If
we're hungering for the bread of life and nothing but Christ
Himself can satisfy us, what great evidence that God has given
us eternal life. When Christ is the chief object
of our desire, then there's eternal rest for the soul. And faith
in Christ is great evidence that we have redemption. Faith that
is the eye of the soul discovers the blessing of Christ and Him
crucified. You see, we confess Him and we
trust Him as the only mediator between God and man. There's
no one else we can go to. There's only one mediator. There's
only one advocate. There's only one who can stand
in the presence of God and plead your cause. And that's the Lord
Jesus Christ. What think ye of Christ? That's
the question of that. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Are you afraid? Do doubts arise in your mind?
Of course they do. We all fear the unknown. But
the child of God knows how this thing ends. There's nothing unknown
to us. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. With faith in Christ, the sinner
has a happy ending. Actually, the saved sinner has
no ending. That may be a better way of putting
it. We only have eternal life, and that's face-to-face with
Christ forever. Well, I'm out of time, but let
me give you two more quickly. Love and devotion for Christ
is an evidence of salvation. If we truly believe that Christ
is all, we'll endeavor to love him with all our heart, all our
soul, and all our spirit. Another evidence is humility.
Humility is an evidence that proves that we're blessed of
God. All God's people are humbled
under their sense of sin. It's a great revelation of our
sin that causes a great need for Christ. Those that are well,
those that are whole, those are righteous in their own eyes have
no need of a physician, but the sick do. But the question is,
do you see your need of Christ? There's mercy to be obtained
right now. Today is the day of salvation. Except you be born again, you
cannot see the kingdom of God. You cannot enter the kingdom
of God. If you have not the spirit of Christ, then you're none of
his. To be happy and thankful in time
is to be safe for eternity. Whosoever believes on Christ
shall not be ashamed, shall not be. You see, Christ is the foundation
and he's the rock on which we build this house. And when the
storms of life beat vehemently upon this house, it shall not
fall. Why? Because it's the Lord's
house. And it's built upon Christ, the
rock, the sure foundation, the firm foundation. How firm a foundation
we stand upon. I was glad when they said unto
me, let us go into the house of the Lord.