Y'all spread out wide. I'm gonna
keep my head on a swivel. That's a good tall pulpit. I don't think I'll need my glasses.
Don't let me forget them. It's a pleasure to be here. I'm
thankful for your pastor to ask me to come preach. I've heard
people say that my whole life. Since I was a little boy, I thought
it was greeting and salutations. Thank you, it's an honor. I mean
that. Those men meant that my whole
life. It is an honor. God has put him responsible for
this pulpit. And he's asked me to come and
preach to you. And I hope I'm not here to instruct
you. And I'm not here to guide you
along in a stern way or give you some things that you want.
I'm just here to bring dessert. I got a real easy job, in a sense. And I don't have to tell you
what I think. I'm just going to tell you what the Lord says.
And I hope we can rejoice in that. There's many here. I'm thankful for Brother Obi
and Cody and Luke's come out preach for us. Brother Bob, been
a Lord Jesus influence my whole life and I'm thankful for the
congregation here and for your pastor and his wife. He won't say this, you know it,
but I'll say it for him. Gabe Stoniker is God's ascension
gift, Christ's ascension gift to Kingsport, Tennessee. He sent
him here, he's God's man. And I know you love him, and
he loves you, and he's laid down his life for you. And you take
good care of him. I know you do. And he wants to
look after you. He loves you, and his wife loves
you. When a man is called of God, his wife's called of God.
And she labors in ways that you don't see. And he does too, but
she does. Many times a thankless job, but
I know you love them, and I just, I had to say that. My wife has
spent, Friday was our anniversary. For you that weren't in Rocky
Mountain, I'll tell you here. Friday was our anniversary, and I was
in Rocky Mountain. I wasn't there. But it's okay,
I'm a good, I bought her a good gift, a real good gift. I got
her a mop. I'm not joking. Is that bad?
It's one of them steam ones, she asked for it. She got me
luggage. I think I can go home, I'm not
real sure. We'll see after this weekend, and thank you all. I'm
thankful for your pastor and his wife, and I'm thankful for
you all. You all sent us that microphone
and that sound board. The brethren in San Diego, thank
you. It warms their heart to know that you even pray for them,
much less you look out for them, and they're grateful. They're
grateful. If you will, turn with me back to Psalm 27. Psalm 27. I talk a lot faster than Gabe,
and we're probably going to turn some, but I'll try to slow down. Psalm 27. Sometimes things hit you as someone
else reads them. Gabe read those first three verses,
and as one that's been encamped around, that war rose up against,
I can tell you that's a good thing to know to go into battle. knowing that the Lord is watchful. The Lord's mindful of you. I can tell you that with sincerity
and experience. And you think there couldn't
be nothing better than to be protected by him and shielded
by him in war. But this warrior, David, this
king warrior, has something to tell us. That's important. There's something more important
to him. Look here in verse four. David writes, one thing have
I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after, that I may
dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold
the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple." I don't
know how old David was when he wrote this, but we do know he
was mature. We do know he had experience.
He had experienced what he was writing here. This wasn't a theory.
This wasn't a systematic theology. David had lived it. He had lived
it. It says down in verse 13, I had
fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord. It's his instruction. Be of good courage, and he shall
strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say. He said, oh, trust
me. Trust me, I've lived it, I know.
Wait, I say, on the Lord. David had known this and been
taught this his whole life. He was a shepherd boy. He fought
lions and he fought bears. He had experience in it. He was
a mighty king. He had relaxation. He had a nice
hammock and a beautiful court and a big mansion, didn't he?
He'd been a warrior. He'd won battles and lost battles.
He'd slept in good beds. He'd slept in caves. He'd been
hated by his enemies. And he'd been loved by his brethren.
Loved by them. Those he reigned over. He was
a talented musician. And he was God's pen. The Lord
moved his hand to write the hymnal for his church. He had a lot
of experience. And this man had so much experience.
He'd been rich and he'd been poor. Been young and been old.
He says one thing. There's one thing he desired.
He's had it all. He's got a good flavor of everything
there is to take in this world. He said, I desire, not I'd kind
of like to have, I desire one thing. I've desired of the Lord
and that will I seek after. I may dwell in the house of the
Lord all the days of my life. I want to be with him forever
to behold the beauty of the Lord. While I'm there, I want to see
his glory. I want to see his holiness and
to inquire in his temple. I want to go where he is, be
in his presence, and speak to him. In the beginning, God, you
said that years ago, now let him sit down with me and spend
10,000 years telling me what that means. I want to know. I
want a word from you. That's all one thing, did you
know that? He lists three things, that's all one thing. To be in
his presence and be made like him. To be in his presence, you
must be made like him. I want to be with the Son. I
want to look at four things real quick. Four words, four one things
we'll look at. First, a word to an unregenerate
man, and it's a word to the unregenerate world, to everybody walking this
world. So we'll turn to Luke 18. David had desired one thing,
but he had to get there, didn't he? There was a time he didn't. Luke 18, begin in verse 18, Luke
18, 18. There's a parable of the rich
young ruler. A certain ruler asked him saying,
good master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, why
callest thou me good? Let's get down to the foundation
real quick. There's none good save one, God. There's none good but God. You
know what he's covering right now? The whole first tablet of
the law. For starters, he's saying he is God. Is that what you're
saying? You call him a good master? Thou knowest the commandments.
Now he addresses the second table. Do not commit adultery, do not
kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness. Honor thy father
and thy mother. And that rich young ruler said,
all these things I kept from my youth up. And you know what? Outwardly, he may have. As far
as his neighbors are concerned, as far as, of course, mama always
loves her baby boys. Precious little fellow. He's
a good guy, isn't he? He said, I've kept all these
things from my youth up. And the Lord knowing how to deal
with these children. That's how he dealt with that king. Abimelech. Abimelech said, I
was righteous. You're going to kill a righteous
nation? He said, don't you ever forget, Abimelech. He said, the
only reason you didn't have Rebekah is because I turned your heart.
So he let this triangular ruler lay with that. He said, I've
kept these things from our youth up. He said, yeah. Verse 22. Now then Jesus heard these things.
He said to him, yet lackest thou one thing. David desired one
thing. And our Lord tells this unregenerate
man, There's one thing you lack. One thing. That's simple, isn't
it? One thing. And he tells him, he said, sell
all that you have and distribute it unto the poor and thou shalt
have treasure in heaven and come, follow me. When he heard this,
he was very sorrowful for he was very rich. This man was rich
in a lot of temporal things. He had youth. He was rich. He was the rich young ruler.
He had power. What's that bring? Favor with
others? He had religious status, probably an office in the church,
local church. He had a title. Respected in the community, wasn't
he? Everything he had was something that would burn up. All the things,
plural, he had is gonna go away. It's gonna die. The Lord was
not teaching this, that believers cannot or are not to have things
in this world. The Lord saved a lot of rich
folks in old scriptures, didn't he? Paul told us this, if you
see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after
the flesh and not many mighty and not many noble are called.
He didn't say any, did he? It's not many, not many. Christ
is speaking to this young man concerning not possessions, but
total commitment to the Lord, total submission to him, total,
he is your necessity. You gotta follow him. What are
we gonna eat? Wherever he eats. We gonna have something to drink?
He'll sort that out. We'll be thirsty, he'll give
us drink, he'll give us food. He said, forsake your idols,
forsake your youth, forsake your status. Forsake your religious
pedigrees and your titles and everything that's you. Forsake
yourself and be like a sheep and follow the shepherd. Totally
dependent on him. That's too steep a price for
this young man. And let me tell you something,
nothing's changed. That is too steep a price right now, in 2022,
for billions and billions of people. You consider all your belongings.
They're going to burn. They're going to fail. You consider
your education and your degrees. Your sheepskin on the wall. Well,
there'll come a time it's going to fall off the wall, ain't it?
It's going to rot. All your precious loved ones.
I got four children. I love them. They'll be a day
they won't be mine. They'll be gone. They're gonna
die, I'm gonna die. What about my righteousness? All my good
works towards God. Lord said they're filthy rags.
What do you do with filthy rags? Burn them. You burn them. It's
all set for the burning, isn't it? For billions and billions
of people, this price is too high. And I'm gonna tell you
a little secret. For a long time, that price was too high for this
rich young ruler. It was too high. How could it
ever be? The Lord has to turn the heart. He has to give a new
heart. There has to be a new creation.
And you know what's that new? The old man does not want anything
to do with this. This is religion. We won't have
a man reign over him. This is rules and they're ruled
by love. I don't care what you're ruled
by. They don't want nothing to do with it. And that new creation that
he gives, this is liberty. This is freedom. We have a Lord. We have a king, a defender, an
all in all. He's everything. The Lord said
in Matthew 6, no man can serve two masters. For either he will
hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one
and despise the other. You cannot serve God and men.
It can't happen. Everything I have, the Lord gave.
We had a big fire come through California a couple years ago.
And my neighbors had asked me, we got evacuated. And they said,
oh, it looks like on the maps your house burned down. I said,
that ain't my house. I said, oh, you renting? I said,
yeah, that's the Lord's house. He owns it. It's the earth and
the fullness thereof. If he's going to burn it down, it's his
house. He can burn it down. And if he don't want to burn it down,
it ain't going to burn down. You can't burn it down. I said,
whatever he chooses to do, that's fine. They said, you're crazy.
I said, no, I'm at peace. There's a difference. You think
I'm doing this. I'm calm as a cucumber, buddy.
It's his house. What he's going to do is right.
Another way to word what this young man was sorrowful for.
This is going to seem odd to the world, but it's true. He
was very sorrowful because he had much riches. Here's another
way to word that. He loved this world and he hated
the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, now that's extreme. No,
it's not. You're either going to serve
God or mammon. You're either going to buck or bow. That's
all there is to it. The Lord told us, seek ye first
the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be
added to you. As I travel, I've always reminded that Lord said,
you forsake your mother and father and sisters and your children
and everything else and you follow me. And he said, in this world,
that means right now, I'll give you a hundred fold in this lifetime. And you know what? I got a real
nice place I'm staying at. I had a car ride. I was chauffeured
all the way to Kingsport. Did you know you own property
in Hamo, California? Bob, you come out there. You
own a house. Do anything you want to with it. Here's keys to the
car. Take it and put as many miles on it as you want. It's
yours. It's yours. Lord gave it to me. I'll share
it with you. We seek his kingdom first. All these other things
will be added. These other things will be added. That's a word
to the unregenerate world. There's one thing you lack. It's Christ. One thing. That's
the only thing lacking. Everything else don't matter.
It don't matter. This is a beautiful building.
applauded you yet for it. This is fabulous. But you've
got the gospel here. What if he was a tent? What if
he was a tent, looks like badger skin, huh? That's okay too, isn't
it? We need him. All right, what's
a word to the believer? Turn over to Luke 10. Back to
Luke 10. It's all a word to the unregenerate
world. There's one thing they need.
Here's a word to the believer. Luke 10, verse 38. Story of Martha and Mary I know
we're familiar with. Luke 10, 38. Now it came to pass
as they went that he entered into a certain village and a
certain woman named Martha received him into her house. He was there
in Bethany. And she had a sister called Mary,
which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. But Martha
was cumbered about much serving and came to him and said, Lord,
dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone?
Bid her therefore that she come help me. We know Martha and Mary and Lazarus
were loved of the Lord, but oh, how often I wish my prayers were
not mine. I'm so thankful there's intercession
made. How many times have I been demanding? Lord, don't you care?
You know how insinuating that is? I can't look down at Martha. I can't. Jesus answered and said in her
verse 41, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about
many things. You got a whole lot going on,
honey. But one thing is needful. One thing. One thing's needful.
And Mary, this one sitting at my feet, hath chosen that good
part She's chosen me, she's come to me. You know what happens
if the Lord draws one of his sheep to himself? That's the
power, that's the workmanship of God Almighty to do that. But
there's something precious that comes with that, which shall
not be taken away from her. That thing that you need, that
you lack, it's him. And whenever he's drawn you to
his feet, to be a sheep and follow him, If he's done it, if we've
chose to follow Jesus, you might choose to stop at McDonald's
and do something else. If he's drawn us, we've come
to him, it shall not be taken away from you. The gifts of calling
God are without repentance. There's two ladies, those are
loved of God. Jesus loved Mary and Martha and
Lazarus. And the Lord instructs and teaches
those that are his. And Martha was so covered about
by cooking and cleaning and taking care of the house and all the
worldly things, and she was angry that her sister wasn't helping
her and she was mouthy to the Lord, wasn't she? We can get
so wrapped up in serving the Lord. We, and I'm talking to
you too, and you who labor around here. We can get so wrapped up
in serving the Lord that we neglect to be served by the Lord. So many times, I just think,
well, I have to do this. The Lord gave this to me, and
I have to do it. He needs me. No, we don't. They taught us that in the army.
They said, if you think you're important, get you a five-gallon bucket
of water. And you put your finger in that bucket of water. And
as fast as you pull your finger out, see how quick that hole
fills in. That's how important we are. He doesn't need me. If he needs somebody to preach,
he can make a donkey do it. He can make stones call out to
him, couldn't he? The Lord said in Psalm 50, if
I were hungry, I would not tell thee, for the world is mine and
the fullness thereof. Mark 10 says, but whosoever will
be great among you shall be your minister, your servant. And whosoever
of you will be chiefest shall be servant of all. For even the
Son of Man came. He's the chief among us. In case
there's any confusion, he's the greatest. And he came not to
be ministered unto, but to minister. How's he gonna serve this one
that we need to give his life a ransom for many? He gave his blood. Go read Matthew
27 sometime. Read it slow and then tell me
how you feel. How'd that make you feel? He laid down his life
for his people. That's service. Martha's running
around and she's doing a lot of things, needful things, but
they could've waited. The Lord was there speaking.
God Almighty was in her living room. Do we get a hold of that? These dishes need washed. Oh,
that'll make you, if the Lord does something in you, you'll
build your life around worship. You will build worship around
your life, I know that. She was there hearing him. It says in
verse 39, she had sisters called Mary, which was also at Jesus'
feet, and heard his word. She sat in adoration and amazement. Just listen. God was speaking. God was speaking. Growing up,
my pastor, Put it plainly, your grandpa looked me dead in the
eye and he said it would do us good to just sit down and shut
up sometimes. Just sit down and hear what the
Lord has to say and wait on him. As important as that passage
is, there's instruction in it. We need to hear the other half
too, don't we? We remember about this Mary. Some people say, well,
the Lord take care of me. The Lord take care of me. and
get fatalistic about things. If he's gonna feed me, if he's
gonna give me a job, if he'll give me a pastor, he's just gonna
plop one in my lap. No, Mary was the one that had
that box of alabaster ointment. She anointed the Lord for his
burial. How'd she know to do that? She
set his feet in herd. She was his child, he taught
her. She knew these things. And she anointed his head with
the alabaster boxworm, and she wiped his feet with her hair.
And those people said within themselves, what's she doing?
That's a year's worth of wages, 300 pence. We could have took
that and fed the poor. And Lord said, you've always
got the poor with you. She's got me right now. I won't always
be with you. Seek him while he may be found.
Call on him while he's near. Aren't we? Mary hearkened to the word of
the Lord. And his word went forth. She didn't sit around 24-7 acting
all spiritual all the time. She was there to hear him when
he spoke. And through the week, whatever she was doing, she got
after it, didn't she? She went to work. But boy, she dropped
everything when the Lord spoke. That's a word to a believer.
He's the one thing in evil. Now what's the word from? That's
a word to the world, the word to an unregenerate person, the
word to a believer. What's a word from the believer?
If the Lord does this to somebody, if he works in them, what are
they going to say? They're going to talk about one thing. John
9. Let's turn over to John chapter 9. We've been going through, I spent
a lot of time in John 9. We've been going through John
9 and 10 for a couple months there in San Diego, and just
got to John 11. But here in John 9, the Lord
came to a blind man, and his disciples said, why is this fellow
blind? Did he sin, or did his parents
sin? We know all sins come short of
the glory of God. But he said, no, he said, this man. He said,
this is for my glory. And that blind man was sitting
there and he said, oh great, here comes a bunch of other people around
picking on me. He didn't say a word. And the Lord went to
him and spit on the ground, made mud, and shoved it in his eyes.
Oh, what happened? And they said, go to the pool
of Siloam. Wash. He did. Still didn't say a word. He bathed. He come forth to see.
Oh, man. From birth he'd been blind. Now
he sees. The Lord did something to him, didn't he? Well, his
neighbor said, what happened to you? And he said, I heard
some guys talking, there's one named Jesus, and he spit on the
ground, and he did a story. And he put it in my eyes, and
I went to the pool, and I come back, and now I see. I said, well,
that ain't good enough. We're gonna have to take you
to church. They took him to the Pharisees. What happened? Now,
each time, the story gets a little shorter, and a little shorter,
and a little shorter. It gets a little more simple,
a little more plain. It says in verse 23, they brought
his parents in. And they said, is this your son?
They said, yeah. Was he blind from birth? Uh-huh. They said,
who did this? John 9, 23, therefore said his parents, he's of age,
ask him. Don't ask us, I ain't getting
this. Then again called they the man that was blind and said
unto him, give God the praise, we know this man's a sinner.
And he answered and said, whether he be a sinner or no, I know
not. One thing, this is a guy that
the Lord just worked in three hours ago, three hours ago. He's seen 10 people his whole
life. He's never seen a hummingbird. I was walking there, I said,
what's that? I said, that's a palm tree. He'd never seen one. He
said, I don't know much, but there's one thing I know where
I was blind. Boy, that's something to know.
You ever been blind? Now I see. He did it. I was dead. Now I'm alive. I
was blind. Now I see. I was made thirsty. Now I know where living water
is. I was hungry. And now I know who the living
bread is, the bread of life. One thing I know, what did this
man know that's all tied up in this one thing? He knew his lifelong
friends couldn't help him. They never had. He knew his neighbors
couldn't do anything for him. He knew his parents couldn't
do anything for him. They just threw him under the bus so he
didn't get kicked out of church. The religious folks, they couldn't
do anything for him. And more importantly, he knew
he couldn't do anything for himself. He couldn't do anything. But
God reached down his hand for me. I was in a miry pit. He was made like me and come
down and picked me up. You gotta get underneath somebody
to pick him up. He went down to the very bottom. He did this. This one that was called out
from the world. This one had experienced blindness
and insight. He knew one thing, didn't he? He knew the Lord. You needn't
know anything else. He knows us, he'll reveal himself
to us. Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica, he said, brethren,
beloved, knowing your election of God. We know your election
of God. Our gospel came to you, not in
word only. Not in a theological dissertation or this is a checklist.
Okay. Yeah. He said that he said, no,
it came in power, came in power. And then the Holy ghost and then
much assurance. I don't think this is right.
I know this is right. And we know what manner of man
you are. He said, you came followers of
us and the Lord and haven't received the word and much affliction.
This wasn't easy. There was some tears. It was messy. The Lord reveals what you are,
that gets messy. You reevaluate everything that's
ever happened in your whole life and what you think you are. He
said, you were examples to all that believed in Macedonia and
Acadia because you furthered the gospel. He said, I know you're
God's elect. You turn from your idols, you
as the idol. You get that? You turn from you.
You took sides with God against you. And he said, now you look
for his coming. This weekend, I've said that
three times. This must be the third time. What if the Lord
came right now? Wouldn't that be wonderful? You
that believe. It's a world's over. No more
pain, no more tears, no more trials. It's done. And we get
to be made like him and be with him and see him as he is and
praise him. I thank him, but boy, my thanks
ain't much. I want to praise him as he deserves to be praised
and thank him as he deserves to be thanked. This man was blind and he knew
it. That's refreshing to hear. I
know some people said they've been saved their whole life.
That's too long. That's too long. Ain't no good. You will have
to be blind before you can see. You will have to die before God
makes you alive. You're gonna be made a sinner
before he makes you holy in Christ. A sinner's a precious thing.
The Holy Ghost has made him so. It's a precious thing. He knew
he was blind. He wasn't looking for the Lord. You know how I
know? He couldn't, he's blind. The Lord came to him. He didn't give his heart to Jesus.
The Godhead in a body gave him a new heart. He gave him a new
heart. It was a new creation. One thing
to another believer, you're missing one thing. One thing to a believer,
there's one thing. Christ's the one thing. One thing
from a young believer, he's the one thing. He's God. He done
something for me. What's one word from an aged
believer? This'll be my fourth point. I'll
go quick, okay? Philippians 3. Philippians chapter 3. Here's an apostle. I always think too, mankind, we
just got everything wrong. Anything we think is right, it's
not according to the word of God ain't right. That's all there
is to it. What if the apostles just showed
up? What if the Lord brought the apostles back? I always tell
the folks, they're not little bald-headed guys in robes that
hum. They're a commercial fisherman.
You ain't gonna pick on them. They'd probably handle you pretty
good in a back alleyway. These are some ruffians. That
gives me comfort. That's just like me. That's just
like me. Simple men. Here's what Paul
wrote to the Philippians, an aged believer. Philippians 3,
verse 12. Not as though I had already attained,
either were already perfect. I'm not perfect. I'm not saying
this as if I'm holier than thou, but I follow after. Listen to
what I have to say. If that, I follow after, if that
I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of. Christ Jesus, I want to follow
that one that apprehended me and apprehend him. What's that
mean? That one that come got a hold of me, I'm going to latch
onto him. And just like Jacob, I ain't going to let you go until
you bless me. Brethren, I count not myself
to have apprehended. This ain't my doing. But this
one thing, one thing I do. What's he do, Paul? Forgetting
those things which are behind. What's behind? Everything. Everything. There's some people I know that,
and I've lived it. Foolishly one time, I was deep
in darkness, and that was a heavy burden I carried. And mom told me, honey, why don't
you ask the Lord to take that from you? And a fool answered
her. I looked her dead in the eye,
and I said, it's not time yet. Like I know how long a trial
ought to last, how foolish I was. Oh, I should have cried out to
God, Lord, take this from me. And if not, give me the grace
to be okay with you not taking this from me. And so he was pleased
to let me sit, not a little longer, to teach me that lesson. Paul
said, I'm forgetting those things. What's behind? The sin. It's
been put away as far as east is from the west, hasn't it?
Let it go. Reach forward. The wounds of
the past, the shame of the past, let it go. Or what we think are
iniquities, are good works of the past. I was born into a family
of believers. I was underneath the gospel my
whole life. I've had two of the best preachers this nation's
ever seen preach to me, be my pastor. Put all that behind. I preached the gospel this morning
to some people. Kevin put that, it don't matter. It don't matter. Put all that
behind, every bit of it, and reaching forth unto those things
which are before. What's he mean? Those things
which are before the foundation of the world. I pressed towards
the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus. forsake everything and follow
me. And you know what Paul says?
There's one thing. I want to forsake everything and follow
him. Now, do I need to brush my teeth
this morning? Yes. My old friend used to say, faith
and good common sense go hand in hand. A chicken's got a head
this big and it's got enough sense to get out of the rain.
But I forsake all and follow him. How do we press towards
the mark? How do we run our race? to be in the presence of Christ,
to have him, to latch on to the one that's latched ahold of us,
to love the one that loved us first. How do we do that? We
look to his word. We got it right here. You can
go in any store. I don't care what, if it's sold under fiction
or nonfiction, ain't none of my business. Right there's the word
of God. Go spend $10 and get you one. We're without excuse,
aren't we? It's sold, baby. It's on your phones. We look
to his word. We hear the preaching of the
gospel. Well, they say a lot of good things. The Lord said
plainly, and I won't back down from it because he said it. He
said, those false prophets, they will not profit my people. They
ain't going to profit my people. Right there's a man in this county
that preaches the truth. We look to the word of the Lord.
We listen to the preaching of the gospel and we fellowship
and we worship with his people. It's a necessity. Sheep are a
herd animal. They get scared when they're
alone. They run from stuff they get further lost when they're
alone And they get cold and they get sick and they get weighted
down and if the shepherd don't shear them that's going to kill
him That's that code will get so heavy and bogged down. It'll
kill them. They'll die We have to be together
for the Lord's people here in the gospel preach seeing it preached
from his word thus saith the Lord That's reaching towards
him and wherever he's magnified Back in our text Psalm 27 When God shows us that this world
is vanity, just like He showed Solomon, we try everything, it's
nothing. It's going to burn, it's going
to go away. Nothing in this world satisfies. And when God shows
us that He is the one thing needful, not a doctrine, not a, that's
correct, a person. He's the person that's the one
thing needful. And he shows us our own vanity, our own blindness. And we see his person and his
work, his holiness, his accomplished redemption. Then we press towards
Christ. We press towards his person.
We press towards his word. And we press towards, and we're
all funneling in together. We're pressed together, fitly
framed together, right? I've compacted them, he said.
I squeezed y'all together. We're compacted together with
his people. And we don't ever want that to decrease. Do you?
Do you want to forget your Lord? I don't. Do you want to not be
with his people? I don't. I've met some people,
they said, well, they went to church for a while, a long time,
and then they retired and they moved away. And I said, were
you hearing the gospel preached? And they said, I'm not. Why aren't
you going to services? And they said, I'm retired. I said, did you divorce your wife?
I said, well, I thought you was quitting everything. If you retired,
why would you quit going to services? That doesn't make any sense.
You don't leave your love because your job changed. We want that
not to decrease. His word, his preaching of the
gospel, and his people, we don't want that to decrease. We want
it to increase, don't we? Increase. In this world, Lord, grow us.
Grow us in grace. Grow us in understanding. Grow
us in love for you and the people you dwell in. Our brother Britt
said this this morning. This year is the closest a believer's
gonna get to glory is us being together and worshiping our Lord
together. This is a foretaste. This is
just like a down payment on a house. Earnest. The earnest of the spirit. And we get to worship him together.
That's something, isn't it? We want it to increase, don't
we? So when the Lord shows us these things, Psalm 27, verse
four, David writes in his old age, one thing have I desired
of the Lord. And that's what I'm gonna seek
after, just like Paul. Anything changed? Nothing's different
between David and Paul and you, is it? That's who I'm pressing
towards. One thing I'll seek after, that I may dwell in the
house of the Lord all the days of my life. Forever. Forever. An eternity to be with him. What
are you gonna do while you're there, David? I wanna behold
the beauty of the Lord. I wanna behold the sun. who all
his glories manifest in. And I wanna inquire in his temple.
I want him, Lord, speak to me. That's what you prayed. Lord,
be with us and speak to us, if you'll please. And if I'm there
made like him and I'm in his temple with all you that's in
his temple and made like him, Lord, speak to us. Here he comes,
here he comes. And just like Paul wrote to that
church at Thessalonica, come, come, Lord. Oh, we wanna see
him and be made like him, don't we? One thing, one thing I desire. Do you desire that one thing? If it's world's vain and you
can't do it yourself, ain't nothing you can do for yourself. Lord
showed you that. He showed you what you are, showed you how holy,
righteous Christ is. And he convicts you that he's
accomplished everything. It's only his work and he's the
victor. Inquire of him. Seek that one
thing, and he'll reveal himself. He's faithful. Beg him for mercy. Beg him for his presence. He's
faithful. Amen. I hope that's a blessing
to you.