All right, if you take your Bibles
and turn with me to Psalm 127. Psalm 127. And then I want you
to take your Bibles and turn over to 1 Chronicles chapter
22. Gonna hold our places in these
two places because this Psalm surely has reference to this
passage in 1 Chronicles chapter 22. We're gonna read the Psalm here
first. We're gonna read the first verse, and then I'm going to
show you the correlation between the two. The title of message
tonight is The House That God Built. The house that God built. The scripture says, a song of
degrees for Solomon. Except the Lord build the house,
they labor in vain that build it, Except the Lord keep the
city, the watchman waketh but in vain. And this Psalm, no doubt,
is written by David. It says, for Solomon. For Solomon, because it was Solomon
that God ordained, should build the temple. You remember, David
was a man of God. He was loved of God. He loved
God and he was a great king. The greatest king of Israel.
But you remember, because he was a man of war, he was a bloody
man. God forbid David that he should
build the house of the Lord. And he commanded that Solomon,
his son, a man of peace, was ordained to build the house.
Now look at 1 Chronicles and see if this is true. In 1 Chronicles
22, look at verse six. It says, then he called for Solomon,
his son, and charged him to build a house for the Lord God of Israel. And David said to Solomon, my
son, as for me, it was in my mind to build a house under the
name of the Lord my God. But the word of the Lord came
into me saying, thou has shed blood abundantly. Thou has made
great wars. Thou shalt not build an house
unto my name, because thou has shed much blood upon the earth
in my sight. Behold, a son shall be born unto
thee, who shall be a man of rest, and I will give him rest from
all his enemies round about. For his name shall be Solomon,
and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days. He shall build an house for my
name, He shall be my son and I will be his father. I will
establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever. Now, my
son, the Lord be with thee and prosper thee and build the house
of the Lord thy God as he hath said unto thee. Once again, I
want you to understand that this book is not just a book of history
about the building of the temple by Solomon. That's not the main
purpose. This is not merely a history
book, but remember, it is the story of God and his salvation
through Jesus Christ. The purpose of this book is to show forth Christ and his
salvation. Remember what Jesus said to the
Jews. He said, search the scripture.
In them you think you have eternal life, but what? They are they
that testify of me. On the road to Emmaus, he came
back and the scripture says, beginning at Moses and all the
prophets and what? The Psalms, he spake concerning
himself. Concerning himself. That's what the scripture is
here. So let us then see the text. that we're about to see is not
just about an earthly building. It's not about just the temple
of God that Solomon built, but rather the salvation of God and
the building, listen, of his church, the building of his church. This text is about the, is about the salvation of Christ. It's not about a family. Most
people, when they preach this Psalm 127, they start talking
about how to build a family or how to build a church building.
We want to build a church building, don't we? We're in the process
of building a church building. We desire that this local assembly
grow. We desire that God use it. But I'll tell you
this, unless God build it, listen, we build in vain. Unless God's
in it, there's no purpose in us building it. But there's a
much bigger thing here than families and earthly sanctuaries and local
assemblies and church buildings. This text is speaking of God's
building of salvation. The building of his church, the
salvation of God's elect. that if a sinner is to be saved,
listen to this, if a sinner is to be saved, except the Lord
God save him, all his labor is in vain. Now what the text says,
look at Psalm again, except the Lord build the house, except
the Lord save the sinner, what? They labor in vain. You labor
in vain if you're trying to save yourself this evening. If you
are trying to earn your salvation, you are laboring in vain. What
you need is for God to build the house. You need God to save
you. And so I'm going to show you
this in type. The purpose of this text is to
proclaim the salvation is of the Lord from beginning to end.
That's the purpose of this text. First of all, the three people,
the three things here that are mentioned in our text is first,
David, he's the one writing this. Then we have Solomon who is sent
to build the temple. And then we have the temple itself. These three are pictures, types
given to us. First of all, I want you to see
this. In this instance, David is a type of the law. He is a
type of the law. David was not allowed to build
the temple of God because he was a bloody man, a man of war. God required that the builder
of his temple should be a man of peace, which Solomon was ordained
to be a king of peace. He was ordained, God ordained
David to be a man of war. And God ordained Solomon to be
a man of peace. And God says of the man of war,
he shall not build my temple. And behold then the type, the
law of God is set against the sinner. The law of God is set
against the sinner. The law of God is strict in justice
and judgment, and therefore, listen, it can do nothing to
save the sinner, just as David could do nothing to build the
temple. The law can do nothing to save
the sinner. Look over in Romans chapter three.
Romans chapter three and verse 10. The Scripture says, as it
is written, this is the condition of every man right here in Romans
3.10. It is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.
There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongues they use deceit
and the poison of asp is under their lips. Now look at verse
19. This is the result of our sin,
of our ruined condition. Verse 19, now we know that whatsoever
things the law sayeth, it sayeth to them that are under the law.
Here's the purpose of the law, that every mouth may be stopped
and all the world may become guilty before God. What's the
purpose of the law? It is to shut men up. Shut men up to their guilt. Therefore,
here's the conclusion, by the deeds of the law, because man
is ruined and the law can only expose and condemn, therefore,
by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his
sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Now in the
law, God, this temple, this temple was used in conjunction with
the law. When this temple was built, we
know this, that that place was ordained of God where he would
meet with his people, and only in that place was the atonement
for sin to be made. according to the law. According
to the law, that was the place where the atonement was to be
made for sin. But see, the law of God was by
no means capable of removing sin. The law of God could only expose
sin. The law of God testified of one
that would come and remove sin, But even in the offerings of
the law that pictured Christ, none of those satisfied God for
one sin. Not one sacrifice, not any of
and all of those sacrifices could never remove one sin. Yes, they
pictured Christ who would remove sin, but the law itself could
not remove sin. You can see this in Hebrews chapter
10. Flip over there, Hebrews chapter 10. The scripture says in verse one,
for the law, having a shadow of good things to come, but not
the image of the things, can never, with those sacrifices
which they offered year by year continually, make the comers
there into perfect. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered? If it really worked, don't you
think that they'd quit? That's what he's saying. He said,
don't you think they'd stop if they really worked? Because that the worshipers once
purged, they should have no more conscience of sin. If it really
atoned for sin, then it should be done once and no more. But
those sacrifices, there is a remembrance again. made of sin every year. You remember when that atonement
was made every year, what did that remind them of? Their need
of an atonement. You see, the law can only give
you a knowledge of guilt. It cannot save you. It cannot
help you. The law then, like David, could
not build the temple. David could not build the temple. He was forbidden. Now, what David
could do, and he did, is he laid up the materials, didn't he?
David, he laid up those materials. He measured all the wood, he
cut all the wood, and he laid it up. He took the iron and he
made all the nails. He'd take all the gold and all
the silver and all the brass, and he'd make the doors of the
temple, and he'd make these things, these materials that were needed,
he supplied. But you see, David couldn't put
them together. You see, David couldn't put these things together. And so is with the law. The law
can measure the exactness of God's requirements. It can measure
the exactness. It can show the deity of God. It can show the holiness of God.
It can manifest the requirements of God. But what the law could
not do was build it. The law could not make the comers
there unto perfect. To look at the law of God, you
may see the absolute holiness of God and strict justice of
God. Here it is. Be ye holy, even as I am holy. Now that's what you can see in
the law. There's a standard, isn't there? There's a measurement. Here's a measurement of justice.
The soul that sinneth, it shall surely die. Our Lord Jesus, when
he talked to that lawyer, you remember? He said, Lord, what
must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said, how do
you read the law? See, he's wanting to do something. Jesus said,
well, you want to do something, go to law. He said, what do you
read? Love the Lord your God with all
your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all
your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. And Jesus
said, you said it, now go do that and live. And the man, what'd
he do? He justified himself. He justified
himself. See, the law, the law being summed
up, the love of the Lord your God with all your heart and your
neighbor as yourself. Listen, we've all failed. We've
all failed. We cannot put these things together. We cannot build our salvation
from the law. Why? We have failed. We have
sinned. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. And now, We like this lawyer,
men begin to justify themselves. This lawyer was trying to find
a loophole, wasn't he? He was trying to find a way around
the law. This is what men do. They use their traditions and
earthly wisdoms and try to modify the law to make it appear like
they're obedient. But such is the dream of fools
and liars. Some men go so far as to say,
yeah, you need to believe in Christ. Yes, you need the blood
and righteousness of Christ, but you've got to put your hand
to the work. You've got to make it effectual
by your will, or you've got to obey the law after you're saved.
You've got to obey the law to sanctify yourself. These deceived fellows believe
that Christ is the Redeemer, they believe he is the wisdom
of God and the righteousness of God, but most of these consider
themselves able to sanctify themselves, that sanctification is a work
of man, a co-work between man and God. They can somehow make themselves
holy by obeying the law. No, friends, our obedience to
the law has no part in our salvation. Why do you see that? In Galatians
chapter three, it says, for as many as are of the works of the
law, they are under the curse. You
got that? Anyone who is under the law is
under what? The curse of the law. For it
is written, curse is everyone that continueth not in all things. written in the book of the law
to do them. Now listen, friends, I know this
to be a fact. For us to be accepted with God,
the law must be fulfilled. Isn't that right? The law must be honored. In other words, Solomon could
have never built that house without the materials David supplied.
The materials must be used to build that temple. And listen,
in order to have salvation, the law must be used. The problem is that you're not
the one to use it. You see, just as David was not
permitted to build that temple, no man is saved by the law. And
listen to this, you're not permitted to save yourself. Why? Because God has ordained one
to build the temple. Who is that? Solomon. Solomon. And Solomon here is the second
thing is Solomon here pictures the Lord Jesus Christ. The builder
of our acceptance with God is Jesus Christ. because he is the
only one ordained of God to magnify the law. It says that in Isaiah
42 in verse 21, the Lord is well pleased for his righteousness
sake. He shall magnify the law and make it honorable. He shall
magnify the law and make it honorable. David was required of God to
shed blood of the enemies of Israel. And listen, the law will
shed the blood of God's enemies. It will. Everyone who is found
guilty underneath the law will be killed by the law, will be
destroyed. Yet behold, we are all born sinners. We are all born sinners. We are
all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. How then
can our salvation be built? If we're not to put our hand
to the work, if we're not to build our own salvation, then
how then is our salvation to be built? It is to be built by
our Solomon, the man of peace, Jesus Christ, our substitute. A substitute. this temple is
to be built, how our salvation is to be built. Look now at Calvary. Jesus Christ
came into this world, and I'll tell you this, he was a man of
peace, wasn't he? He didn't lift his hand to anyone. He was a man of peace. He came
into this world as a representative of all his people, and as he
went to Calvary's tree. What do you see there when you
see Calvary's tree? You see a man whose visage was
marred more than any other man. There was not one piece of his
flesh that remained unmarked. The thorns pierced his brow. The nails pierced his hands. A spear entered his side. But all of that pain was only
a representation of the true pain, the true suffering of Christ
was inward. as he suffered in his soul for
all the sins of his people. You see, the law demanded death. The law will have executed death
on every sinner. And in order to save us, in order
to build our salvation, Jesus Christ took our place as a substitute. and the law fell in full vengeance
on him, as God hath made him to be sin for us who knew no
sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Therefore, as our high priest, as our surety, as our offering,
here it is, by his one offering for sin, he hath perfected forever
them, that are sanctified by his one offering. This could
not be done by all of those Old Testament priests. All of those
Old Testament priests offered year after year and they could
never remove sin. But this man did by the sacrifice
of himself. There Jesus our Solomon, what
was he doing? He was building our salvation.
He was building the house of God. He took the beams and the nails
and the materials laid up in the law, and by his own hands,
he built our righteousness. By his own hands, he stitched
the robe of righteousness on our behalf. By his one offering to God, he
rent the veil and twain, thus making the way open to God. I could not even imagine the
surprise of those priests in that temple that day when that
veil was rent from top to bottom and the way into the most holy
was open. Astonishing what he has done.
He has made the way open so that we may be acceptable to God. Now behold the text. Go back
to the one in Chronicles there. See that Solomon is Christ. That's
my point here, that David, he pitched a law. He could not build
salvation, but Solomon, Christ, he does. This was ordained. Look
at verse 10 in 1 Chronicles 22. What is it God determined about
Solomon, about Christ? He says, he shall build a house
for my name. and he shall be my son, and I
will be his father, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom
over Israel." How long? How long? Forever. You see, I know that's not talking
about Solomon. You know that's not talking about
Solomon, don't you? Because his kingdom wasn't established forever.
The only kingdom established forever is Christ. This is Christ,
a greater than Solomon has come to build his church. You know
what the Lord says about building his church? He said, upon this
rock, I will build my church. What's he saying? He's just telling
you what scriptures told you for centuries. Except the Lord
build the house. They that labor in vain that
build it. Behold Christ, having then accomplished,
established our righteousness by His obedience, and having
pleased God by His one offering, the law now being satisfied,
His blood offering, paying for all the sins of His people. What
did God do? God did exactly what it said
in 1 Chronicles 22. He established His throne, His
kingdom forever. over all his elect. Therefore,
who is the one that built the temple? Who is the one that builds
salvation? The Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one that built the salvation
of his church. By his obedience, what? To the
law. He used the very materials of
the law to make our salvation. And by his offering for sin,
And God witnessed his success by his resurrection from the
dead. Now then, the temple. Who is
this building? This building, the scripture
says, except the Lord build the house. What is this? Who is the
house? It is the elect of God. It is the church of God. That's
what Christ was building. as God ordained the first tabernacle
in the wilderness. That pictured Christ, didn't
it? This was before the temple. What that old tabernacle looked
like? It was, I mean, very few understood what that tabernacle
meant. It was that old badger skin out
in the middle of the wilderness, that old tent. On the outside,
it looked horrible. On the inside it's beautiful,
but not everybody got to see that. Only the priest got to
see the inside of that, so very few understood its value and
meaning. But now look, there's a temple being built. There's
a temple so all can see its glory. It would not be hidden under
badger skin anymore. The glory of the temple when
it was erected would be manifest to everyone. Behold, what was hidden in the
Old Testament types and pictures is now made open. See, this is what he did when
he built that house, when he built that temple, when Solomon
built that literal temple, the glory of God was manifest to
everyone. Even so, when Christ built the
salvation of his people, the glory of his salvation is now
open and manifest to everyone. In other words, it sheds light
on all those Old Testament prophecies, all those Old Testament pictures.
This thing Jesus did was not done in a corner. It was done
in the open. That's what Paul said to Agrippa.
He said, this thing was not done in a corner. It was done in the
open. Now, the glory of Christ, the
manifestation of, you see, that's what I'm doing tonight, isn't
it? I'm taking that which is revealed in the glory of the
New Testament, and now it is shining light on all those things
in the old. It's revealing what was here
all the while, the salvation of Jesus Christ. But I know this,
no matter how glorious this message is preached, No matter how well
this temple that Christ has made, this salvation that he has made,
how glorious it may appear and how glorious it may sound, I
know this, no man by observation of this gospel will come to Christ,
by mere observation. Jesus said this, no man can come
to me except the Father which has sent me, draw him. That word
draw, you know what that means? Drag. except the Father drag
you, there's no way you're gonna come. This is because we are dead in
sins. We are dead in sins, we cannot
ever come to Christ by our own power or will. We are so far
off and so powerless, so wicked and corrupt, instead of coming,
we rebel. We rebel. And we will not come
to Christ. So wicked men go about to establish
their own righteousness. That's why wicked men try to
go about establishing their own righteousness. They will not
come to Christ. Therefore, if you read in the text, except
the Lord build the house. Accept Christ, obtain righteousness
by his obedience. Accept Christ, obtain redemption
by his blood. Accept the Holy Ghost, come and
give you a new heart. You will never come to Christ. Although this thing's been done,
not in the corner. This thing's done in the open.
This thing is very clear. It's salvations of the Lord. and yet men won't come unless
God gives them life and faith. All men's labor to approach God,
all their efforts of religion and ceremonies and traditions
are vain and empty and useless. That's what the scripture says,
except the Lord build the house. They labor in vain that build
it. Man's religion is as useless
as Cain's offering. Your obedience to God is as useless
as a warm bucket of spit. That's what Scott Richardson
used to say, is worthless. Therefore, all who believe on
Christ understand this, except God saved us, we would have never
been able to save ourselves had God not built that house in me. I would have never been able
to build it with all my religion. I want you to see, this is exactly
what Paul says over in Ephesians 2. Look at Ephesians 2. This
is exactly what Paul says. Follow with me in Ephesians 2
and look at verse 12. Ephesians 2 and verse 12. He
said, at that time, you without Christ being aliens from the
Commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenant of promise,
having no hope and without God in the world. Is that not the
most horrific situation? Without hope. without Christ,
strangers, aliens. But look, even while you were
strangers, even while you were aliens, without God, without
hope, look, now Christ Jesus, you who were sometimes a far
off are made nigh. Now, how are you made nigh? By
your decision. Was that how you were made nigh?
Were you made nigh by your obedience? Were you made nigh because you
were a good person? No, all His people are made nigh
by the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, who hath
made both one and broken down the middle wall of partition
between us. How did He do that? Verse 15, Having abolished in
His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained
in ordinances, for to make in himself twain one new man, that
he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross,
having slain the enmity thereby. Now you see, all of that is exactly
what I told you. He built the temple by his cross,
by his blood. He made all of his people nigh. He brought peace, having abolished
the enmity. What enmity? The law, satisfying
the law. That's how he did it. That's
how he brought his people near unto himself and made both Jew
and Gentile, all of his people, one. There shall be one fold
and one shepherd. But listen to this, in verse
17, this is how this salvation comes. This is how you are made
nigh in the experience of salvation. He says, and came and preached
peace unto you which were afar off. and to them that were nigh. Isn't that how you came? First
he came and what? He died for you. He accomplished
your salvation. Then what'd he do? He preached
to you about it. He preached to us about it. For through him, we both have
access by one Spirit to the Father. Now, therefore, because of all
this before, he said, therefore, you're no more strangers, but
and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household
of God and are what? Built. You're built. upon the foundation of the apostles
and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief's cornerstone,
in whom all the building fitly framed together unto a holy temple
in the Lord, in whom you're also built together for an habitation
of God through the Spirit. You were far off, Christ came,
he died, he accomplished your salvation, and by the Spirit
preached the gospel to you, and you were drawn by him, given
life, and now what? You are. You are the temple of God. Now I know this, look at me.
You're not gonna look in the mirror and see the temple of
God. You're not gonna look at your actions and see the temple
of God, are you? How do we see this? By faith. We see this by faith. that the
spirit of God now dwells in us. Matter of fact, faith is the
evidence that I am the temple of God. What was special about
that temple? God lived there. God dwelt there. What's special about the believer?
God dwells there. God dwells there. None of us by our own best efforts
and labor could have ever done this. but God, who is rich in
mercy, built this temple. And what is the center of the
temple? When you saw that temple in the Old Testament, what would
you see was the centerpiece of the temple? It was the Ark. It's the Ark of the Covenant.
What's the centerpiece of this temple? It is the Lord Jesus
Christ. It is the worship of Christ,
the worship of Jesus Christ, and it is by Christ that we now
have access to God. Now, fourthly, I want you to
see this. The Lord is the keeper of his temple. Look at verse
one again. Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain
that build it. Except the Lord keep the city,
the watchman waketh in vain. I know this, if you're a believer
in Jesus Christ, your harsh desire is to always be in Christ. The scripture says, he that believeth
shall not make haste. We don't want to go anywhere.
We want to be in Christ, always, continually, perpetually in Christ. We're like those who fled the
avenger of blood in the city of refuge. Do you suppose those
guys wanted to go anywhere else? You suppose they just want to
get out of that place? No, that was their refuge. We want to
stay safe in Christ. That's what Paul said. He said,
I count all things done that may win Christ. And what? Listen,
be found in him. Now listen, Paul was in Christ
when he spoke that, but he's saying future. He said, I want
to be found in him. When he comes again, I want to
be found in him. You know what I want him to find?
Not any of my righteousness, but the righteousness which is
of God by faith, by the faith of Christ, not my faith. I want
that faith built by him, that righteousness built by him. That's
what I want to be found in. I desire to be found in Christ,
don't you? We who believe long and desire
always to look to Christ by faith, only to Christ by faith, and
always to Christ by faith. Why? The just shall live by faith. By faith. And by faith, we receive
Christ. But our faith is never the object
of our faith, is it? Please, please may God keep us
from looking at our faith as an object to stand on. It's so
movable. Let the wind blow just a little
bit and our faith is so easily moved. My faith is not in my
faith. My faith is in Christ. Our faith is in Christ. The object
of our faith is Christ. So then with all our hearts,
we who believe in Christ, We live by faith, never turning
again to the works of the law. He is our Lord, our Savior, our
God. He is the builder of his church.
And listen to this, if I'm ever going to continue in faith, it
must be by his keeping. Just as the building must be
by his building, the keeping must be by his keeping. So we very take seriously. We
take seriously the exhortations, don't we? We should. We should
take them very seriously. Jude said this, keep yourself
in the love of God. How? Looking faith, looking for
the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. We take that very seriously. We are to heed the word of God.
As the Lord said this in John 15, as the father hath loved
me, so have I loved you. Listen to what Christ said, continue
in my love. If you keep my commandments,
you shall abide in my love, even as I kept my father's commandments
and abide in his love. Now, what were his commandments? These commandments, these are
serious things. If we're followers of Christ,
we are obedient to Christ. And Christ says, follow in my
love. Continue in my love. Jude said,
keep yourselves in the love of God by faith. What are his commandments? Simply this, believe and love. Faith and love are his commandments. Listen to what John said in 1
John chapter five in verse one through three, he said, whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And everyone that loveth him
that begat also loveth them that are begotten of him. You see,
there's the two commandments right there, faith and love.
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we
love God and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God that
we keep as commandments, and His commandments are not grievous.
You know what's not grievous to me? Faith and love. Faith
and love are not grievous. So in this, we are to be watchmen. We are to be watchmen. We are
to keep ourselves. We are to keep ourselves in the
love of God. We are to watch over our hearts,
friends. We're to keep ourselves from
sin. Little children, what? Sin not. We take that seriously. We are
serious watchmen. The sovereignty of God never
excuses us from our duty. Matter of fact, the sovereignty
of God should encourage us in our duty. But even this, if we were to
take all the zeal of our hearts and determination of our will
to do it, we couldn't do it with our own strength. We could never keep ourselves
in the faith, we could never keep ourselves in the love of
God, and we could never love God's people except He keep us. As it took God to build our salvation,
as it took Christ to accomplish it, as it took the Holy Spirit
to apply it, you listen, it will take the Lord to keep it. Except,
look at that, except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh
in vain. It is not by our zeal or our
work or our power, but we confess if we If it depended upon us
in the least measure to keep ourselves, we would all be lost. I confess. I confess. If God leave me, there's no hope
for me. Listen, because he built it,
you mark this down, he will keep it. Hannah, in her song, says, he
will keep the feet of his saints. He will keep the feet of his
saints. In Psalm 37, it says, the steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, yet
he shall not be utterly cast down. Why? For the Lord upholdeth
him with his hand. In Psalm 125, they that trust
the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, listen, which cannot be removed,
but abideth forever. Oh, are you builded of Christ?
Are you builded of Christ? Then we are sure of this, that
his people, his church, shall be kept by the hand of the Lord,
and he will never forsake us. And the reason we are kept, you
listen to this, because you're in union with Christ. You're
in union with Christ. With the Son of God, you are
in union with Him. He is our rock. He is the foundation
of His church, laid up by God and sure. And he even defies
all the host of hell. He says this, upon this rock,
I will build my church. And you listen, the gates of
hell shall not prevail against it. Believers, understand this, when Christ
set us free, we will never be captives again. If he set you free, you will
never be captives again. We will never again be charged
or condemned and nothing, Paul said this, I am persuaded that
neither death nor life nor angels. You know how powerful angels
are? They're powerful. No principalities, no powers,
nor things present right now, nor things in the future. Are
you worried about the future? You worried about what's coming
up, what's gonna happen? He said, I'm not worried about
what's gonna happen. I'm not worried about what's
happening now. I'm not worried about those beings I cannot see.
I'm not worried about what I can see. Nothing, nor height, nor
depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God that is in Christ. So the last thing
is this. If God built this temple, if
God built our salvation, if God swears to keep our salvation,
let me ask one question. Why do you worry? Look at the next verse. If that's
true, if the Lord's built the house and he keeps the house,
listen. It is vain for you to rise up early, sit up late, and
eat the bread of sorrows. For so shall he, so he giveth
his beloved sleep. If salvation is accomplished
by Christ and applied by the Spirit and kept by God and promised
to be kept, if we live by faith and faith is a gift of the Spirit
and Peter said we are kept by the power of God through faith
unto salvation ready to be revealed, why worry? Now listen, I know
this, you and I are weighed down by sin, by the old man of sin. You and I are troubled on every
side. We are prone to sin and unbelief. Yet God says to you this, I built
you. I'll keep you. Listen to God
speak to you right now. It is vain for you to rise up
early. It is vain for you to sit up
late and eat the bread of sorrows. It's vain. Though we're accused of Satan,
hated by the world, sick and in pain, dying, though we suffer
the loss of all things, how does worry help you? Can you change your lot by worry? You know, if I just worry more,
I think I can get over this if I just really think about it
some more. Is it not God of our salvation
sovereign in all things? Is our lot by accident? Does God not promise to do you
good? Therefore, in faith, trusting
completely in the love and grace of God through Christ our Savior,
listen what he says to comfort your soul. Why it's vain for
you to do these things? Because he giveth his beloved
sleep. Who is his beloved? Christ. Because Christ is at
rest. Should you not be at rest? You know, sometimes I marvel
at the prophet, when those hosts
of the Syrian army came to that prophet to get him. I think it
was Elisha, came to get him. And you know, his servant was
worried. His servant was really, he said,
there's a captain out there. There's an army out there. They
come to get you. He wasn't worried in the least.
And you remember what he said, he said, show him that they that
before us are more than they begin. Show that whole host of
angels, a legion of angels have been sent to protect them. That's
how we should live. That's how we should live. Why? Because Christ is at rest. And guess what, if he's at rest,
you're at rest. Remember, he built this thing.
He built salvation for his people. And if you're laboring for your
salvation, you listen, it's all in vain, except the Lord built
the house, your salvation's empty. My salvation is built all of
God. He chose me, he redeemed me,
he called me, and listen, he'll keep you. He'll keep you. Therefore, listen, yes, you're
a watchman. Yes, we are to do our duty. We
are to continue in the love of the Lord. We are to abide in
Christ by faith, and that's our desire, isn't it? But I know
this, He keeps me. So then, why worry? Are you worried about this election?
Why? What does that have to do with
anything? Nothing. Are you worried about this disease
and this virus? Why? Well, you know what it has
to do? Nothing. Are you worried about your own
sin? Are you worried about your own
abilities? Why? God built your salvation
and God keeps it. This should encourage us in our
duty, right? It shouldn't diminish it, it
should encourage us to know that it's always successful. I pray God will help you and
keep you in this. Except the Lord build the house,
they that labor in vain to build it. Solomon built this house,
Christ built this salvation. God purposed it. He fulfilled
the law that we couldn't do. And God says, I'll keep you.
Therefore, lay your head down and rest. Rest where? In the
beloved, in the beloved. Who's resting? He's seated, isn't
he? He's sitting down. We're sitting down in him, aren't
we? Good to God we'd see how things really are instead of
how they appear to be. That's how we look, we look at
what appears to be instead of what really is. what really is. You know how you find out what
really is? It's right here. God gave us the word, it tells
us how it is. I pray God will give us peace
and comfort in this.