Go with me, if you would, back
to Psalm 27. Psalm 27. I would like for us to look at
one verse in this Psalm. And before we read this, I want
to very humbly and very fearfully say, that I believe this is the
desire of my heart. And I pray that this is the desire
of my heart. I sincerely pray that the Lord
has made this to be the desire of my heart. And I pray the same
thing for you. Verse 4, Psalm 27, verse 4, it
says, 1. The word thing is in italics. It was added by the translators
to make this more readable. But it was originally written
to say one. Have I desired one? Have I desired of the Lord? Who is it? Who do I desire? Who do you,
do you desire? Who have we been allowed? And I want to emphasize that
word. Who have we been allowed made
to yes, but who have we been allowed to desire? Who have we
been allowed to desire of the Lord? Verse one says it's the
Lord. Who do we desire of the Lord?
The Lord Himself. The One who is our light, verse
1 says. The One who is our salvation,
verse 1 says. Not just showed us the way to
salvation, but is our salvation. The one who is our strength,
verse one says. The one who is our safety, the
one who is our life, not just a big part of it, is it. One have all of God's people
It is their King, it is their Savior, it is their Redeemer,
it is their Friend, it's their Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Turn with me to Psalm 73. Psalm 73 verse 25 says, Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth
that I desire beside thee. Truly. A child of God can say
that truly. Truly concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, because of our sinful flesh,
we second guess ourselves. And we think, now wait a minute,
wait a minute. I feel like I desire everything
but Him. I feel like this sinful flesh
right here desires everything in this world beside Him. And that's so, isn't it? That's
so, isn't it? This flesh is just so prone to
wander. Lord, we feel it. It just takes
the smallest thing to take our desire, our heart, and run away
with it. For the old man of the flesh,
that is true. Lord, I feel like I just desire
everything but you. For the old man of the flesh,
that is true. But the good news is for a child
of God, the old man of the flesh does not reign over the new man
of the spirit that has been created by God in Christ Jesus. He does not. And when you get
right down to it, assess your own self on this, who or what
would you take in exchange for the Lord Jesus Christ? If Christ
was here, if Christ was put before you, what on this earth could
you hold up next to Christ and say, yeah, I'll take that over
Christ? Nothing. Not for a child of God. If we can honestly say nothing,
Nothing, nothing but Him. If we can honestly say that,
that is Him in us saying that for us. Hold your place right
here and turn with me over to Galatians 4. Galatians 4 verse 4 says, But when the fullness of the
time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that
we might receive the adoption of sons paid With the price of
blood. And because you are sons, God
hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying
ABBA father. Isn't that so comforting and
in that so relieving. Verse seven says, wherefore thou
art no more a servant, but a son. And if you're a son, then you're
an heir of God through Christ. That responsibility is not laid
on us. God sent the spirit of his own son into the hearts of
all of his people, crying for them. I'll take Christ. Give
me Christ father. One thing have I desired. He
does that for us. Oh, how thankful we are. If we
truly can see that and see that He's given us a desire to say,
I can't have anything but Christ, then that's His work in us. That's the hand of God and His
work causing us to will and do His good pleasure. Look back
with me at Psalm 73. Verse 26 says, my flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my
heart and my portion forever. That's what David said in Psalm
27. The Lord's my light, the Lord's my salvation, the Lord's
my strength, the Lord is everything for me. Everything that I have
before God, everything that I need before God. He said right here,
my flesh and my heart fail me. I cannot rely on my flesh and
I can't rely on my heart. One thing have I desired and
I don't rely on my heart. It fails me, but God is the strength
of my heart. Up in verse 24, He said, Thou
shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
You will guide me through this life. Where will He guide us
to? Christ, Him. You'll guide me,
and then afterward you'll receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven
but Thee, and there's none upon earth that I desire beside Thee. Because God in love and in kindness
has caused us to say it, we say, one, have I desired of the Lord. We do say it. Look with me at
John chapter six. John 6, last Wednesday night
we looked at verses 37 to 40 here which say, all that the Father giveth me
shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. For I came down from heaven not
to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me. And this
is the father's will, which hath sent me, that of all which he
hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it
up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the son and believeth on
him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the
last day." He said, I'm gonna do that. Right before he said
that, he said in verse 32, if you look with me at verse 32,
Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses
gave you not that bread from heaven, but my father giveth
you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which
cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. Then said
they unto him, Lord evermore give us this bread. And Jesus
said unto them, I am the bread. I am the bread of life, he that
cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall
never thirst." Now look down at verse 41. The Jews then murmured
in him because he said, I'm the bread which came down from heaven.
And they said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father
and mother we know? How is it then that he saith,
I came down from heaven? Jesus therefore answered and
said unto them, murmur not among yourselves, no man can come to
me except the father which hath sent me draw him and I will raise
him up at the last day. Verse 48, he said, I am that
bread of life. Verse 51, he said, I am the living
bread. It's me, it's me alone. All right, now look at verse
60. Many therefore of his disciples,
when they had heard this, they said, this is a hard saying,
who can hear it? When Jesus knew in himself that
his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, doth this
offend you? What and if you shall see the
Son of Man ascend up where he was before? It is the spirit
that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak
unto you, they are spirit and they are life. But there are
some of you that believe not for Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believed not and who should betray him. And
he said, therefore said I unto you that no man can come unto
me except it were given unto him of my father. From that time,
many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him.
Verse 67 says, then said Jesus unto the 12. All right, we see
what happened here. He told them, I must do this.
I must draw. I will give life. I'm the bread.
It's me. From that time, His disciples
went away and He turned and looked at the 12. And I don't believe
for one minute this was a passing, flippant question. I believe
He looked them right in the eye and posed this question to them
in a way that said, you search your soul for your true answer.
The end of verse 67, He said, will you also go away? Will you also go away? Verse
68, then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. And we believe and are sure that
thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. That means
we believe that you are God almighty manifest in the flesh. The Lord
said to him another time, flesh and blood didn't reveal that
to you, my father did. We believe you're the sovereign
God who has come down to save us from our sin. And because of that, Lord, there's
nowhere else we can go. And how we thank God for that.
Think about this. Just take a minute and think
about this. Where else could we possibly
go for mercy? the kind of mercy that we need,
being the kind of sinners that we are. Where else could we go? You know how we say mercy is
so rich, but God who's rich in mercy, and it's so free, and
it's so abundant. Where else? There's only one
source. Where else could we go for mercy?
There's nowhere else to go. Lord, there's nowhere else to
go. Where else could we go for blood forgiveness without the
shedding of blood? There's no remission of sin. Where else could we go for righteousness? That's, that's a, uh, that's
perfection of deeds without Where else could we go for sanctification? That's a perfection within, that's
a holy perfection within. Where else could we go for redemption? Where else could we go for acceptance
with God? Where else can we go? Can we
go to the law? Well, there's always the law. No, there's not. Lord, there's nowhere else to
go. Where else can we go for peace? Do you need peace? Where else can we go for comfort,
really? In this world, they cry peace
and peace, there's not any. Comfort, there's not any. Where else can we go for assurance? Lord, you're the only one. You're
the only one. One have we desired. One have
we desired. And all of God's people can say
that. One have we desired. Because
of that, there is one thing that we desire. Because there is one
that we have desired, there is one thing that we desire. Go
back with me to Psalm 27. Psalm 27 verse 4 says, one thing
have I desired of the Lord, 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. It is a very interesting
thing. It is honestly a very interesting
thing, but God's people seek out what they already have. God's people spend their lives
on this earth seeking out what they already have. The only way
that sinners can seek the Lord and the things of the Lord is,
the only way they can do that is if the Lord has already found
them and caused them to seek Him. drawn them to seek him. They have to already be found
of the Lord and they have to already possess what they seek.
No man or woman can come to Christ unless the father draws him or
her. He does the finding, he does
the drawing. But when a sinner is found and
drawn, every time that sinner starts to seek. Every time that center will seek
what his or her heart has been made to desire. It's the evidence of possessing
what we desire, seeking for a child of God. This is it. Verse four
says, one thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek
after. That I may dwell in the house
of the Lord all the days of my life. I want, this is what I
will seek after. David said, I want to dwell in
the house of the Lord all the days of my life, all the days
of my eternal life. I want to dwell in the Father's
house. In John 14, our Lord said, in
my Father's house are many mansions. What is the Father's house? What is the Father's house? Christ is the Father's house. It pleased the Father that all
fullness should dwell in Him." All the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. David is saying right here, and
all of God's people say, I just want to dwell in Christ. One thing have I desired. And
I'll spend my life seeking after this. I just want to live in
Christ. That's all I desire. That's all
I want. That is all that I want. Go with
me. I'll be brief, but go to Philippians
3. Philippians 3. Verse 4, Paul said, though I might also
have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that
he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. Circumcised
the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin
and Hebrew of the Hebrews as touching the law of Pharisee
concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness
which is in the law blameless. But what things were gained to
me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I
count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ
and be found in Him. not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may
know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship
of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death, if
by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead."
Paul said, I just want to be found in Him. That's all I want. One thing have I desired of the
Lord that will I seek after that I may be found in him, that I
may dwell in him, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord. What would you do there? What would you do there, Paul? What would you do there, David, all the days of your life? If
we dwelled in the house of the Lord, what would we do there? Behold His beauty. That's what
we would do. Go with me back to Psalm 27.
Verse 4 says, One thing have I desired of the
Lord 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." My margin says, the delight. The delight of the Lord, the
concordance goes on to say, the delightfulness, the pleasantness,
the kindness, the favor, the grace. The grace. When our Lord came
here to this earth to be our substitute, Isaiah 53 says, there
was no beauty in Him that we should desire Him. Why is that? Why would He come that way? Why
would He come that way? The reason is because He was
our substitute. And there is no beauty in us
that we or anybody else, especially God, should desire us. But Isaiah
61 says, He came to give us beauty in exchange for ashes. And in order for Him to do that,
He had to take our ashes in exchange for His beauty. But now that all that's complete,
now that that transaction is totally complete and all of our
ashes have been put away, that's glorious news. All of your ashes
have been put away. Now that all that's done, All
that's been left in the grave, gone forever. Now that our Lord
has risen with the dew of youth on His brow, the dew of life
on His brow and on ours, now that we are risen with Him, with
that being settled forever, Psalm 29 verse 2 says, give unto the
Lord the glory due unto His name, Worship the Lord in the beauty
of holiness. We worship Him in all of His
glorious beauty now. His holiness is beautiful. What are we going to do in the
house of the Lord forever? We're going to look at His holiness. I can't even expound on that,
but all I can say is it is beautiful. It is so beautiful. His righteousness
is beautiful. It's gorgeous. His redemption
is beautiful. He is beautiful. He is altogether lovely. He is altogether lovely. If we are beholding His beauty,
it just means we're looking at Him. That's all it means. David
said, for all of eternity, I just want to look at Him. I just want
to look at Him. Back in Psalm 27, verse four
says, one thing have I desired of the Lord, 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. Inquire means learn of, search
out, know more of his temple, his person. In the time of trouble,
he hid us in his temple, in the secret of his tabernacle. His
person, who he is, what he's done for his people. We just
want to know more about it. Don't we? His sacrifice that
he made in his own body, his own temple to God throughout
all of eternity. We're going to be crying more
about the Lord. Jesus. What I know. We're gonna know as we have been
known, but we will never exhaust the knowledge of the Lord Jesus
Christ. For all of eternity, we're gonna
cry more, more. Tell me more. More about the
Lord Jesus would I know. More of his grace to others show. More of his saving fullness see. More of his love who died for
me. Tell me more. More about the
Lord Jesus, let me learn. More of His holy will discern. Spirit of God, my teacher be,
showing the things of Christ to me. More about the Lord Jesus
in His Word, holding continual communion with the Lord. Don't
you look forward to being able to hold continual communion with
the Lord? Hearing His voice in every line,
making each faithful saying mine. More about the Lord Jesus on
His throne, riches in glory, all His own. And He said, everything
I have, I give it to you. More of His kingdom's sure increase. I grow to love that more and
more. Of the increase of His kingdom, there'll be no end.
How great is the kingdom of God? How great is His kingship? How great is His throne? As great
as it is, it will increase. His greatness will increase forever. Of His increase, there'll be
no end. More of His kingdom, sure increase. more of this glorious prince
of peace. I want to know more about him.
That's what David said. That's what I want to do for
the rest of my life. I want to know more about him.
Verse four, one thing have I desired of the Lord 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. Now I'll close with this. If
that is our desire, if it is, if it's not, then don't bother
turning with me. But if that honestly, if we can
honestly say because of him, not because of me, but because
of what he's done in me, that's my desire. If we can honestly
say that, then turn with me to Psalm 37. Psalm 37 verse four, this is
a promise from our God. Psalm 37 verse four says, delight
thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires
of thine heart. One thing have I desired. He
said, if your desire is the Lord, then you'll have the desires
of your heart. If that desire is in you, it's only because
He put it in you. It's the only reason. And He's
already given you what you desire. So if you desire Him, be of good
cheer, you have Him. If you desire Him, you have Him.
You have His beauty. You have His glory. You have
His temple. You have Him. You have Him. Lord,
please make that to be our desire. Please make that to be our desire.