Psalm 122. Verse 1 says, I was glad when they said unto
me, let us go into the house of the Lord. Don't you love that
verse? Don't you love that? Everybody
was walking in this morning and saying, glad to see you. Glad
to be here. I love this verse of scripture.
I absolutely adore this verse of scripture. At some point in
our life, God changed our want to. You know that? Every person does exactly what
he wants to do. Somebody say, well, you know,
I'm not doing what I want to do. That's not true. There are
reasons why you're doing exactly what you want to do. Every person
does exactly what they want to do. And at some point, God changed
what makes us glad. I just think that's wonderful. Most people start coming to the
house of the Lord as children. And what torture it was. Absolute torture. There was a
little boy one time in a Sunday school class and his teacher
was teaching on Pharaoh, God hardening Pharaoh's heart. And
he said, this is hardening my heart. And that's the truth,
isn't it? Man, what torture it was. Why
do we have to go to church again? Does anybody remember that? Did
anybody feel that way? Why do we have to go to church
again? A little boy was in a church
service one Sunday morning and he looked up on the wall and
there was a plaque with a bunch of names on it. And he asked
his mom, what are all those names up there? And she said, she whispered
to him, those are all the men who died in the service. And
he said, which one? Morning or evening? If I have to sit through another
one of these, I'm going to die. I'm going to die. If God does not lay hold of a
sinner's heart, if God in mercy does not reach way down and squeeze,
that child will become a teenager. And that teenager will become
a young adult, and that young adult will become a middle-aged
adult, and then an aged adult, and his tune will not change. It will not change. Why would
you want to waste your precious time in the house of the Lord? Why would you want to do that?
But David said, don't you love David? Don't you love God's saints? This does not diminish our desire
to see our Lord one bit. He gave us commandment. You love
your God and you love your brethren. And we do. I cannot wait to sit
down and talk to my dear brother. I love this man. And he said,
and all of God's saints. that God has reached in and squeezed. Every single one of them says,
I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house
of the Lord. David said, God changed my want
to. That's what he did. He didn't just say right here,
I went when they said unto me, let us go to the house of the
Lord. He didn't say, I knew I needed
to go. When they said unto me, let's
go to the house of the Lord, I knew I needed to go. He did not say, I was too afraid
not to go. I thought I'd better go. What
he said was, I was glad. I was so glad. So glad I needed it so badly. I was craving it. Have you ever
experienced that? I was missing it. And somebody
finally said to me, let's go to the house of the Lord. And
I thought, man, that's just what I needed. That is just what I
needed. Go with me over to Song of Solomon. A few books over, Psalms, Proverbs,
Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, just before Isaiah. Song of Solomon, chapter 3. Verse 1 says, By night on my
bed I sought him whom my soul loveth. I sought him, but I found
him not. Have you ever been there? Oh,
I'm trying to pray. Lord, just let me pray one. Let
me pray for just 10 seconds. Let me just care for 10 seconds. Lord, I do want to see you. I
do. I just don't feel anything in my heart. What is wrong with
me? What's wrong with me? He said, I sought him, but I
found him not. Or she, the bride said, I sought
him, but I found him not. Verse two, I will rise now and
go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will
seek him whom my soul loveth. I sought him, but I found him
not. The watchman that go about the
city found me, to whom I said, saw ye him whom my soul loveth? It was but a little that I passed
from them, but I found him, whom my soul loveth. I held him and would not let
him go. Oh, I was so glad. I was so glad. Do you know what produces that
kind of gladness and desire in a heart? Do you know what produces
that kind of absolute joy and desire in a heart? The absolute
distaste and hatred of sin. That's what it is. Go with me
over to Romans chapter 8. Romans 8 verse 19 says, For the earnest expectation of
the creature, and that word translates the creation, the earth, the
creation that God made. The earnest expectation of the
creation waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. The earth
has a hope. It's waiting for the manifestation
of the sons of God. Verse 20 says, For the creation
was made subject to vanity, sin, not willingly, but by reason
of him who hath subjected the same in hope. God said to Adam,
Cursed is the ground because of you. For thy sake, cursed
is the ground. Verse 21, because the creation
itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption
into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Even the
flowers of earth are going to be set free. Verse 22 says, for
we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain
together until now. And not only they, But ourselves
also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves
grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit." That
means to know. To know the redemption of our
body. We have redemption. We have redemption. through the precious blood of
him whom my soul loveth, the Lord Jesus Christ. If we are
in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have redemption, period. But as of this moment right now,
as of this exact moment right now, we don't physically know
the experience of that redemption. We have not physically entered
in to the experience of that redemption. We haven't. We haven't. But we haven't laid hold of it
physically yet. And until we do physically lay
hold of it and know it, experience it, not only will this whole
creation continue to grow, volcanoes are going to continue to erupt.
The earth is going to continue to quake. Animals are going to
continue to attack animals. Humans are going to continue
to attack humans. Wickedness, sin, vileness, it's
going to grow and it's going to consume everything. And not
only will the creation groan over it, but all of God's children
will groan over it too. Every single one of them. They
will absolutely groan over it. The reason is because verse 16
right here in Romans 8 says, The Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children,
then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if so
be that we suffer with him. If we suffered with him. If we
suffered in him. When He experienced all that
He experienced, if we experienced that in Him, then it says we
are going to be glorified together with Him. We're going to experience
the exact same glory that He experiences. God's Holy Spirit
has given us a foretaste of the things to come. We have a foretaste
of what's coming. The world has no idea what's
coming. The world has no idea what is
next. God's children do. The Spirit
has given them an insight, a foretaste of what's coming. Look with me
over at 2 Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter 3 verse 13 says, Nevertheless we according to
His promise look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. There is a new one coming and
righteousness dwells in it. We are looking for it. We are looking for it. We are
honestly waiting on it. Isn't that right? We're waiting
on it. We are thinking about it. We are talking about it.
We are reminding each other of it. A new heaven and a new earth,
one wherein dwells righteousness, the righteousness of Christ.
And it brings such a relief, such a a wonderful, sweet relief
to this awful, bitter taste of sin that we can't get out of
our mouth. When God's Spirit blesses His
Word to this heart, isn't that such a sweet moment of relief
from this bitterness of sin? Our Lord has put a new taste
in our mouth. He's given us new taste buds. My grandmother is French. Not,
you know, everybody says they're Irish somewhere. I mean, she
was French. They spoke French in their house.
She didn't learn English until she was six. And I don't know
if that's why, but all of us drink coffee. Every, almost every
person in the family tree drinks coffee. And we started as children. We have broken the tradition. I think they're wired enough
as it is. But I don't ever remember not waking up and having a cup
of coffee, her age or younger. I don't know why, but that's
just what we did. And it was very little coffee at first.
It was tons and tons of cream and sugar. They put, you know,
they get a teaspoon out and you put sugar in it. Well, then you
get old enough to make your own coffee and that teaspoon becomes
a tablespoon. Two heaping tablespoons of sugar. Three heaping tablespoons of
sugar. And I loved it, and I craved it, but my tastes have changed. And I don't put anything in my
coffee anymore. I drink it black. And when something accidentally
happens and any amount of sugar, the tiniest amount of sugar,
goes into my coffee, I hate it. I can't stand it. It leaves such
a terrible taste in my mouth. I physically abhor it. I can't
drink it. And that's what God does for
His child regarding His own sin. What that child once craved,
I mean craved, I mean craved, Now he absolutely abhors it. There's a new soul, there's a
new man inside that hates it. This flesh still craves it, that
old man still wants it, but the new man is going to have dominion
over the old man, and he hates it. But everywhere we go, every
way we turn, spoonfuls and spoonfuls of sin
are being poured into our cup. You can't get away from it. We
pour our own spoonfuls, the whole creation pours spoonfuls and
spoonfuls of sin into our cup. And the only way that a child
of God can get any relief from it is to run to Christ. That is the only way. And there
is a place where he said he has chosen to put his name there. He said where two or three are
gathered in my name for the purpose of worshiping me, I am in the
midst of them. I'm right there in the midst
of them. And God's child learns from experience that if he will
draw nigh to God, God will draw nigh to him. And that's why every single child
of God, every one of them, when one says to another one, let's
go to the house of the Lord. That's why all God's children
say, that makes me so glad. That makes me so glad. Do you
know there's not one child of God? Now, I only have two. They
are daylight and dark. They're both mine, but they're
completely different. Do you know that there is not one child
of God that does not have that same heart that cries, Oh, let
me run to the house of my Lord. Relief is in that house. remembrance of my redemption
is in that house, it's in there. If we truly come together to
glorify and honor and magnify His name, if we are not here
out of duty, how many times have we thought,
and I'm talking about believers, how many times have we thought,
I have to go? And I'm going to tell you, I do have
to go. For two reasons, number one,
I'm the pastor, but number two, I do have to go. I need it. But I mean, if we're not here
out of duty, if we're not here just, you know, this is what
we do. This is what we do. We put worship
first. It's just what we do. I mean,
if we're here to glorify God's holy name and praise him and
honor him and thank him and magnify him, then the one whom my soul
loveth is in that house. How could we worship if he would
make himself known right now? Boom. And we were worshiping
with God. He said, I'm there, I'm there.
Go with me back to Psalm 122. Verse one says, I was glad when
they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. Charles
Spurgeon said about this verse, he said, the word was not go,
but let us go." He said, there is double joy in that. He said, I'm glad that they wanted
to go. He said, I'm so glad they wanted
to go. It does my heart good to know
that they wanted to go. Do you enter into what he's saying?
It gives me so much encouragement and it gives me so much comfort
to know that the other children of God wanted to go. He said,
but then I'm glad that they asked me and I wanted to go. I'm so
glad I wanted to go. We all know the importance of
coming to the house of the Lord, our own coming to the house of
the Lord for the good of our own soul. We all know that. I believe we've already taught
our children that. I believe every person in here knows that.
We all know the importance of coming and worshiping in the
house of the Lord for our own comfort and encouragement, right? If we don't feed, we're going
to become malnourished. We know that, right? Let me tell us something we may
not know. This is something that we may
not know. We may not know the importance of our coming to the
house of the Lord. and hearing the gospel preached
for the soul's good and the comfort and the encouragement of our
brethren. For their soul's good, their
comfort, their encouragement. I wrote in my notes, it could
almost be considered a ministry. That's not true. It is a ministry. It is a ministry. The ministry of God's saints. If we don't feel up to coming,
and I get it, if anybody gets it, I do. If we don't feel up
to coming for our own sake, all we have to do is remember what
good it will do and what encouragement it'll bring and what comfort
it'll bring to our brethren. And that's all the reason to
go, isn't it? For our brethren's sake. I want to encourage all
of you, if I can. I want to comfort all of you. Somebody say, how are you going
to do that? I'm going to walk through that door and count myself as
one of the us. Isn't it so encouraging? It is
so encouraging. Do you remember that time Elijah
got so depressed? Elijah. He was so depressed. He kept begging the Lord to kill
him. He said, Lord, kill me. Please
kill me. He was so depressed. He said,
Lord, I'm all alone. I'm all alone. Nobody else cares. Nobody else fears. Nobody else
bows, and the Lord said to him in a still, small voice, he said,
no you're not, buddy. I have 7,000 in Israel that I
have reserved who have not bowed the knee to Baal. How much encouragement
do you think that gave Elijah? How much comfort do you think
that brought to his heart? You think that revived him to
get out and start preaching the gospel again? God said, what
if God revealed to us, I have 7,000 in Kingsport that I have
reserved. How much energy, how much pep
in our step would that put in preaching the gospel? Spurgeon said the same thing
about David. He said he may have been sad before But this happy
suggestion cheered him up. It pricked his ears at the very
mention of his father's house. He said, how good it is for brothers
and sisters to call each other and say, let's go home to our
father's house. So good, what an encouragement.
Verse 1 says, I was glad when they said unto me, let us go
into the house of the Lord. Now, for your encouragement,
I'm going to let you know that we're not going to look at each
one of these verses. Just verse 1 and verse 2, and verse 2 will
be brief. Verse 2 says, Our feet shall stand within thy gates,
O Jerusalem. You want to talk about encouragement?
You want to talk about comfort? He said, our feet are going to
stand within the gates of that beautiful city of God. Turn with
me back to Psalm 23. Psalm 23. Verse 6 says, Surely, goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will
dwell in the house of the Lord forever. He is not talking about
this house. He's not talking about any house
of worship that is on this earth. Look at Psalm 27, verse 4. He
said, 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. He's talking about the place
where God dwells. He's talking about the place
where the saints of God can sit and just behold the beauty of
the Lord. What a wonderful thing to do.
What a wonderful way to spend our time. Zechariah 1 calls it
the house of mercies. The house where every saint will
eternally live who has received the mercy of God. Every saint.
Our Lord himself called it my father's house. He said, I am
going to prepare a place for you in my father's house. And David said, our feet are
going to stand in that house. Look down. You see those feet
down there? Our feet. We don't know what we shall be.
It doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we do know that
it's going to be our feet. I mean our feet. Job said, I
know that with these eyes. I'm going to see the Lord." These
eyes right here. When our Lord arose, He said,
touch me. Touch my scars. Touch the very actual body that
paid the debt of your sin. You touch the same body that
you watched them hang on a tree three days ago. When our Lord
ascended back up to His Father in the Mount of Olives, that
angel said, this same Jesus is going to come again just like
you've seen Him go. And I don't know if it's going to be
in our lifetime or not. I believe maybe every believer
has thought at some point the Lord is going to return in his
lifetime. But I do know I will be standing on the earth when
it happens. All of the dead in Christ are
going to rise first. And when He does come back, I
thought about how glorious this scene is going to be. Sometimes
I can't help but think about the reality of these
scenarios. Everything our Lord has written
in this book is a reality. It's all a reality. It's not
fairytale. It's all a reality. and you talk about glad, look
with me at Matthew 24. Matthew 24, now the scripture says that God's
angels desire to look into these things. And it says that every
time a sinner on this earth repents, all the angels of glory erupt
in rejoicing. And Matthew 24 verse 29 says,
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be
darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars
shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be
shaken. And then shall appear the sign
of the Son of Man in heaven, And then shall all the tribes
of the earth mourn, because they didn't bow the knee to Christ. And they're all going to mourn.
And he went on to say, They shall see the Son of Man coming in
the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall
send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet And they shall
gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of
heaven to the other. Can you envision the Lord descending? And these angels he's bringing,
in another place it says it's an innumerable company of angels. You could not count them. And
there he is. All eyes see him. And with Him,
at His command, according to His decree, according to His
Word, all of this huge innumerable company of angels disperse all
over the face of the earth. And they come to each elect child
of God with absolute joy. If they delight over one sinner
repenting, if heaven erupts with joy over one sinner repenting,
How much joy do you think they're going to be to do His bidding
when the day comes of the final redemption of the purchased possession? Can't you see the smiles on their
faces? The joy, the elation. And they
come to each one, grab him by the hands or her by the hands
and say, let us go to the house of the Lord. And all the saints
are standing in the streets of glory. And they say, I think
God just delivered us. Just like Peter, he was in prison
and God sent an angel and he went past the first ward, second
ward, the gates opened, he shoved him out in the street and he
was just standing there. I think God just delivered me. Did an
angel come get you? Yes. Did an angel come get you? Yes. And I was so glad when he
said to me, Let's all go to the house of the Lord. It's time. So glad. When is that feeling
going to go away? It's not. It doesn't go away
here. It only gets stronger. It only
gets stronger. How glorious. How glorious. That's enough. That's enough.
I was going to go back to Psalm 22 and show you a little bitty
something in each verse, but that's enough. How glorious. Seeing my eternal house of worship
and the God who's in it, my Lord who's in it, gives me a heart
to be glad to come to my temporary house of worship to see my Lord
that's in it. May God truly bless these hearts. May God quicken us. May God send
a revival in the midst of this room. How about in the midst
of our years? How about in the midst of Kingsport?
But what about right in the midst of this one body right here?
Lord, send a revival. Start the work with me. Make
me glad. Let me hear the gospel like it's
the first time I've ever heard it in my life. Let me rejoice. and truly say, I was so glad
when they said to me, let's go to the house of the Lord. All
right, let's all stand together.