the Word of God verse by verse,
and that's what we're going to do this morning. That said, I'm
glad to be here. I'm glad to see you. I really
am. I believe you're glad to see
me. You act like it. David wrote in Psalm 119, maybe
John's already dealt with it, he said, David, fear thee will
be glad when they see me. I'm glad to see you. I believe
you're glad to see me. I'm glad to be here. And this
is the way this Psalm begins. It says in verse one, I was glad
when they said unto me, let's go to the house of the Lord.
I was glad. I'm glad I'm here. I'm glad you're
here. I'm glad. I'm glad. And you're
glad. We wouldn't be here if they hadn't
said unto us, let us go to the house of the Lord. Now who are
they? Look at Revelation 22 with me. Revelation 22. Who are they?
Well, they are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, aren't
they? Triune God chose a people. Psalm 65 says, blessed is the
man whom thou choosest and causes to approach unto thee. We wouldn't be here. We sure
wouldn't be glad to be here. if they hadn't said, Come. If they hadn't chosen. Look at
Revelation 22, verse 17. The Spirit and the bride say,
Come. The Holy Spirit is the one whom
God the Father and the Son sends with the gospel to bring His
people to hear His voice. The Holy Spirit said, Come. The Holy Spirit fetches his people. You wouldn't come. I wouldn't
have come. I'm thankful my parents brought
me. My parents brought me against
my will. Didn't they, John? They brought
me, but I'm thankful. Paul thanked the Lord for Timothy's
mother and grandmother for teaching him the scriptures when he was
a child. And they brought him, I know,
like my parents brought me. I'm thankful. But ultimately,
truly, it was God that brought me. I left. I left the gospel. I left the house of God. And
I can't preach or teach without using these two words, but God. I left, but God brought me back. The Spirit sent the Spirit to
fetch me, like Oma Fibisheth, to fetch me and bring me here. The Spirit and the bride. say
come, and he that heareth say come. There were people, and
you invite people to come, and you bring your children, you
invite people to come, don't you? That's about all we can
do, is invite, and we can't make anybody come. And you sure can't
make them glad to be here. But God does. Spirit and the
bride say come. And I remember people instrumental
in me coming, and I'm thankful for those people. Well, here's
what they say. Verse one, they say it. Let us
go into the house of the Lord. Let us go to the house of the
Lord. So I'm glad to be here. But the time I wasn't, I'm glad
you're here. There was a time you probably
weren't glad to be here. And we are glad to be here because
we're glad in the Lord, aren't we? We're glad in the Lord. It says, let the people of God
be glad because the Lord reigns. Aren't you glad God reigns? Aren't
you glad? Look around at this world. It's
a mess, isn't it? Well, God reigns and rules over
us. Aren't you glad that he is your Lord? You didn't make him
Lord. He didn't ask you to accept him
as Lord. He came and told you he was your
Lord through the preaching of God. Aren't you glad? Aren't
you glad? Aren't you glad in the person
and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ? That's what David said.
He said, Let those that seek thee be glad and rejoice in thee,
such as love thy salvation, say, The Lord be magnified. David
said, Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work. Aren't
you glad that salvation is of the Lord? Aren't you glad? So
glad. And I want you to look at Psalm
90, Psalm 90 with me, look over there. And another Psalm says,
Psalm 48 says, God's people are glad because of the judgments
of the Lord, the judgments of God. Let Mount Zion rejoice. Let the daughters of Judah be
glad because of thy judgment. The judge of the earth does right.
And everything he does, his dealings in everything is right. And for
God's people, it's all good. The judgments of the Lord. Aren't
you glad that God reigns and rules and works everything together? All of his judgments and all
of his dealings concerning us, aren't you glad? So glad. Well, look at Psalm 90. Now this
is, only God's people know this. Verse 15, Make us glad according
to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us. Make us glad, Lord, that you've
afflicted us. How could you be glad? Paul one
time said, I rejoice in my afflictions. I glory in my infirmity. Didn't
he? Why is that? Because whom the
Lord loveth. He chasteneth. He sends afflictions
in trial. The people of this world are
in this world, and they love it. And they don't have the troubles
like God's people do. They don't. Psalm 73, David spoke
about that. They're not in trouble as we
are. But he said, the waters of a
full cup are wrung out on his people. Troubles after troubles
after troubles. Why? He's bringing us out, making
us want out. Make us glad according to the
days you've afflicted us. Afflictions. We're going to look
back someday and be so glad of every single trial that he sent
us. Every single trial. Affliction. I already quoted it. Psalm 119.75. They that fear thee will be glad
when they see me. Aren't you glad in God's people? Aren't you glad to see your brethren?
Aren't you glad? And we're loathe to leave. We
hate to leave. One day there won't be, we won't
have to leave. Glad. Come into the house of God, but
go back to our text, Psalm 122. He says, I was glad when they
said unto me, let's go to the house of the Lord. Now that's
why we're here. The Lord said unto us, let's
go or come. And what is it we're doing here?
Well he says, Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. And we go up, verse 4, to the
testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord.
I'm so glad that I'm here, and I'm so glad that you're here,
and I'm so glad that we do one thing here. Most of you are in
religion, and they have to do all sorts of things to get people
to stay there. But God's people want one thing,
don't they? The preaching of the gospel, the preaching of
Christ. That's what keeps us here. That's
what brought us here. That's what keeps us here. And
that's what we're going to keep doing here, isn't it? I was glad. I was glad. He said in verse
2, we go to the house of the Lord. Our feet shall stand within
thy gates, O Jerusalem. Our feet shall stand within thy
gates. Blessed is the man. You remember
Psalm 1? Blessed is the man, the woman
that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth
in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. Look at Psalm 26 with me, Psalm
26. I love this Psalm, Psalm 26. You know, we're like Luther.
The Lord sent us the truth. And Luther, you remember, he
took a stand for the truth. And he said, here I stand. I
can do no other. Well, the Lord brought us to
his house to hear his gospel. Make a stand for the truth, the
defense of the gospel, to hear the gospel. And he says here,
and it's our text, our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. And we say, just like Luther,
here I stand. I can do no other. He's brought me here. He's brought
you here to hear the gospel. And this is where you want your
feet to be. Standing, standing on the promises,
standing on Christ's rock, sitting, seated together in the heavenly,
in Christ Jesus. Look at Psalm 20, 26. I love
this, this Psalm. He says here in Psalm 26, verse
four, I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in
with dissemblers. I've hated the congregation of
evildoers and will not sit with the wicked. We don't gather with
people that don't worship our God, do we? This town or wherever,
Fayetteville or other places, may have these county-wide revivals
and meetings and prayer meetings and all that. You don't go there,
do you? You can't meet with those people. You can't stand with
them. You can't stand it. You can't
stand that other gospel, can you? You're not going to sit
with them. He said, I've hated the congregation of the evildoers. I hate this false gospel. I really
do. Don't you? With a perfect hatred.
God's enemies. Look at Psalm 26 verse 8. Lord, I have loved the habitation
of thy house, the place where thine honor dwelleth. I love
God's house, the place where his honor dwelleth. And so he
says in verse 12, my foot standeth in an even place, a good place
in the congregation. So you're sitting here, you're
standing on Christ the Rock, you're here because they said,
come. Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit
said, come. Donna, you come. You sit, your feet are gonna
be right here, standing on Christ the Rock in the house of the
Lord. That's why you're here. And if you're glad, then be glad
in the Lord. So he says in verse three, Jerusalem,
is build it as a city that is compact together. Jerusalem,
Jerusalem. Now David loved the city of Jerusalem,
he did. But he is talking in the Holy
Spirit about the church, New Jerusalem. When you look at the
word or the name Jerusalem throughout the Bible, think of the church,
because that's who he's principally talking about. You know, in Revelation
21, John said, I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, that's the
church, coming down from God, out of heaven, prepared as a
bride adorned for her husband. This was a marriage made in heaven. This is Christ's bride. He chose
every one of them, like Rahab. Like Rahab, the harlot. He chose
them, like Rachel. And it says in verse 11, she
has the glory of God. The great city, the holy Jerusalem,
descending out of heaven from God. This is Jerusalem. What's
Jerusalem mean? City of David. Son of David,
this is his city. David loved to go to Jerusalem. That's where he dwelled. That
was his city. And that's where he loved to be with God's people. City of David, it's called the
City of Peace, Jerusalem, City of Peace. This is where God has
ordained peace. How? By the blood of his Son,
the Son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ, Jerusalem. So he says
here, Jerusalem. City of God, City of David, City
of Peace is builded. Who built this city? Huh? Who made the church? I hate,
I hate these signs and where they
introduce some preachers talking about they built this church
or they founded this church. Except the Lord built a house,
they labor in vain to build. The Lord built. We've got an
old stone, I guess they called it a cornerstone back in Southern
Baptist religion when it first started to grow, like this one. It first started in Southern
Baptist false religion. and they put a stone, a concrete
plaque in the side of that, in front of the building, said,
founded such and such a day, it's got a man's name on it.
I've been meaning for years to take that out of there. I'm going
to. One of these days, everybody's
gonna come, there's gonna be a big hole in the wall. I'm gonna
take that out. The church of God was founded,
was built by Jesus Christ. and it's held together by Jesus
Christ. Unless the Lord builds a house, they labor in vain to
try to start, try to build, try to found a church, okay? So he
built this, and he built it as a city, his habitation, the habitation
of God's people that is compact, together, joined together, vitally
joined together. That's the city of God. Join
together. I love the word together. Here
we are together. I'm glad to see you. I'm glad
to be here with you together in God's house, worshiping the
Lord, hearing his word. Aren't you? Would you rather
be in any place you'd rather be? Do you mean that? David said, I was glad when they
went in the house of the Lord. I was so glad. He said in another
song, he says, one thing I desire of the Lord, and that's what
I'll seek out, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all
the days of my life. What house is he talking about?
Well, the eternal house of the Lord. Behold the beauty of the
Lord and inquire into his temple. But he's also talking about the
house of the Lord on earth. He said, that's where I want
to be, with God's people together, worshiping the Lord. And because
they say it, in the fullness of times, he gathered together
in one all things in Christ, even in one. We're here because
our Lord has gathered us together, together, together. Ephesians
2 said he's quickened us together with Christ and made us sit together
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. This is a heavenly play. A heavenly play. And I'm thankful
for it. So he says in, look at verse
three, we're compact, we're vitally joined together. What is it that
joins us together? The Spirit of God and the gospel
of Christ. We're bound by love's strong
cord. That's the gospel of Christ.
That's the cords of a man. That's the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. who said, this is where the tribes
go up. This is where the tribes go up. The tribes of the Lord, they
go up. Now, when you come to God's house, literally, you come
out of the world, he brings you out of the world. And the children of Israel, when
they were in Egypt, they were in the slime pits. That's where
the Lord found them, in the slime pits. That's where he found me,
in the world, in the slime pits. He lifts up the beggar off the
what? The dunghill, because this place
is full of it. And I was in it, steeped in it,
and loving every minute of it. But God brought me up. You see that? Where the tribes
go up. When he brings us out of this
slime pit of the world, out of the dung heap of the world, he
brings us up to his house, elevates us, exalts us to his very throne,
glorifies us in the Lord Jesus Christ. We go up to the house
of the Lord. Oh my. Jerusalem was a city set
on a hill, and the church of God, the temple of God was set
even above that. Okay? A city set on a hill can't
be hidden. And the church, the temple was
up on a hill. Everybody could look. And that's where they all
ascended to. And this is where we've come.
The Lord brought us up out of the miry clay and set our feet
on a mountain. I'm so glad. Where do the tribes
go up? Tribes, you know, it was Judah,
there was Benjamin, there was Levi, and all these different
tribes, Naphthala, and so on and so forth, Manasseh. Well,
the tribes here are Tribes like the Rainers, and the Parkers,
and the West, and the Rogers, and the Myers, and the Chapmans,
and the Walenskys, and the Mahans. That's the tribes of the Lord. You know, He has a people out
of every kindred, nation, and tongue. You think
about that. Now, I don't know about your
relatives. Well, I do. You all came from
Adam. You're all just a bunch of nobody, a bunch of sinners.
But my family were Scotch-Irish. Everybody today wants to be known
as being Irish. I don't know why. They were the
most heathen people ever to live on the face of this earth. Heathen.
They went out to war naked. They did. They went out and they
were so wild, Tommy, that the enemies ran from them. Wouldn't
you? That's my relatives. That's the
tribe. And he comes. Why would he choose? Don't you think, you know, people
are so proud of their family name. And I'm thankful for my
dad, Henry Mahan. But there's no honor in being
a Mahan. The honor is in being a son of God. But God, rich in
mercy, for His great love, what with He loved us, chose out of
every sorry, no good, worthless kindred on the top side of God's
earth. Tribes. Tongue. Every tongue. Southerners. Yankees. Isn't God good? All of them. Mexicans. Africans. God's so good. It's where the
tribes go up. Why are we here? What are we
doing? We go up. He's brought us up out of the
miry clay, set our feet on a rock. We come here, verse 4, to the
testimony of Israel. to the gospel. This is the record
which God testified of His Son. This is the testimony of Israel. This is the gospel of God's true
people. There's another gospel out there,
which is not another, but a perversion of the gospel. We come here,
and I'm going to preach the gospel more clearly, more fully in the
next message. But the gospel is the gospel
of our sovereign God and His Christ. Now, they chose a people
before the foundation of the world. There is no other gospel.
Anything less than this is not the gospel. Anything more than
this, in addition to this, is not the gospel. chose a people
in Christ and gave those people to Christ in a covenant before
the world began and sent Christ in the fullness of time to be
their covenant head, to be their righteousness, to be their savior,
to be their Lord and master, and gave them to Christ and to
finish this work, to accomplish the salvation of those people,
the great shepherd of his lost sheep, to find them, to bring
them all, sent the Holy Spirit, to round them up by the preaching
of the gospel and bring them all back home. This is the gospel,
the good news that salvation is of the Lord from the start
to finish. He purposed it, he provided it, he purchased it,
he applies it, salvation of the Lord. election by the Father,
redemption by the Son, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit. Man has nothing
to do with it. And this is to the glory of God,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That's the gospel
in a nutshell. This is why we come here. Paul
said, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of Christ,
and woe is unto me if I don't preach that gospel. And you have
a pastor, you have a faithful pastor, God called. This is how
you know him. God called him to do one thing, preach the gospel,
and that's what he does, doesn't he? I expect to see every head
in here nodding. He does. Why? Because that's
where the tribes of Israel go up to this testimony. That's
what they need to hear. This is what God demands. This
is what God's people need to hear. They go up to the testimony of
the Lord, verse four, to give thanks, to give thanks, under
the name of the Lord, give thanks. You know, we need, we have no
other reason. We don't need any other reason
to be here than to give thanks, to give thanks. We come here
to give thanks. We pray, we call on the Lord,
we give thanks. Romans 1 talks about people who
don't know the Lord, irreligious people, and says they aren't
thankful, vain in their imagination. They think that everything they
have, they did it by their works and by their hard-earned whatever. Oh, we come to give thanks because
it's by the grace of God we are what we are. We have what we
have. We know what we know. Everything's by grace. And we
come to give thanks to God for everything. everything. One of the greatest proofs of
depravity is that you can't get somebody to come in here and
just sit down and give thanks. Right? We're here to give thanks.
To the name of the Lord, the name of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
Messiah. Look at verse five. I've got
to hurry. He said, there in the city of God, The house of God
are set thrones of judgment. Thrones of judgment. Thrones. Throne of God the Father, God
the Son, God the Holy Spirit. These three reign. They reign
in Jerusalem, in Israel, Mount Zion. Thrones. God's throne is
a throne of judgment. I'm so glad. The judge of the
earth. God's throne is a throne of mercy.
Aren't you glad? God's throne is a throne of grace,
isn't it? Thrones of God. We can come boldly
to the throne of grace to find grace and help when we need.
I love to think about Solomon. Queen Asheba said one time, the
Lord loved Israel because he, yeah, I know he did, because
he put you on a throne. And God put Christ on the throne for
his people, and he loved them, and he put Christ there. And
I love to think about the thought that anybody could come to Solomon
anytime they wanted. As great a king as he was. Come
on. Well, we can come boldly to the
very throne of the Most High, the throne of grace, where He'll
receive you. It's right here. Thrones, thrones,
prophets, apostles, God's Word reigns and rule, thrones. He's
put men over His church, men after His own heart, like your
pastor. I'm so thankful. Look at verse 6. So He says,
pray, pray. for the peace of the church. Pray for the peace of the church.
You know what Satan's grand design is? To disturb the peace. To sow
strife and discord in the church. That's how he started this whole
mess between one man, there was one man and one woman, and Satan
came and split them apart. You know, they were angry at
each other and at God. That's his grand design. So Simon,
so David, the psalmist says, pray. Pray for the peace of this
church. Some of you were a part of a
terrible strife in the beginning that the Lord used to form his
true church. We were talking about it last
night, weren't we, John? That's a terrible thing and busting
and fighting. It's not supposed to be that
way. Pray. Pray for the peace of God's church.
Pray. Look at verse six. They shall
prosper that love thee. They shall prosper. Let me read
this to you from Jeremiah, if I can find it real fast. Jeremiah
29. Listen to this. Jeremiah 29. Seek the peace of the city, whether
I've caused you to be carried away captive. See, this is where
the Lord has caused you and told you to come, and you're sitting
right here. Seek the peace of that city. Seek the peace of
this place. Because he says in Jeremiah,
pray unto the Lord for that place, because in the peace thereof,
you shall have peace. You'll have peace if there's
peace in the church. If there's fussing and fighting,
you won't hear the gospel. If you get mad at your preacher,
you won't hear a thing he says. If you get mad at somebody else,
you won't hear a thing the preacher says. And you'll eventually leave,
right? You've seen it happen. Pray. Pray. Who's going to keep us
from falling out? Who's going to keep us compacted
again? Who's going to keep peace in the church? The Prince of Peace. He's ordained
peace. You ask him. Keep asking. Don't
enter this building without asking him to give us peace, to show
us the Prince of Peace. Don't do it. Don't come in here
and hear this gospel without praying for your preacher. You
hear me? Men ought always to pray without
ceasing. Paul said, brethren, pray for
us. The Word of God made that free call. Pray. Pray. Because you'll have peace. So he says here, this is my prayer,
verses 8 and 9, I quote, for my brethren. You're my brethren. I'm thankful. I'm glad to be
able to call you brethren. I believe you're glad to call
me brethren. two brothers named Robert and
Daniel. One of them, I believe, knew
the Lord. Robert is with the Lord. And
a sister, Rebecca. Well, I got a whole lot more
brothers and sisters now. I got another sister named Rebecca
sitting right there, just as close. I love her just as much.
I'm so glad. And so I'm going to pray to the
Lord, like David said, for you, my sister. I am. I got a brother named John. I
got a bunch of Johns. A bunch of Johns. We got in our
church, we got 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and the Gospel of John. Four
Johns. Right there in the fifth. John chapter 6. Johns. My brethren. I love to be able to call them
brethren. Nothing I love more than somebody, the Lord reveals
himself to somebody, and I get the privilege of baptizing them,
and I get to say from the heart, with confidence, I baptize thee
my brethren. I don't call everybody that until
I know the Lord revealed himself to them and he joined them to
his church. I don't call them that. But when he does, I look
forward to calling them my, it's a blessed term, for my brethren. and companions. Did John get
to this yet? I'm a companion of them that
fear thee. I have no friends in this world.
Honestly, I don't hang out with, we don't go to dinner with, do
we, Manny? And they don't come to our house, and I don't hang
out with anybody in this world. I just don't. I don't have anything
in common with them. They're not my companions. How can light
have fellowship with darkness? Can't. How can Christ have fellowship
with Baal? You can't. Boy, you're my companion. I'm glad I got you. If I didn't
have you, I wouldn't have anybody in this world. You're my companion. That's what David said. I'm a
companion to them that fear them. So for my companions, I say,
peace within thee. Verse 9, I'm closing, because
of the house of the Lord our God, because of the church of
our God, because of the people of my God, because of the worship
of God, because of the gospel of God, I'm going to seek the
good of God's church. Not my good. I'm a nothing and
a nobody from nowhere, and so are you. But boy, God's house,
God's church, God's kingdom, God's Christ. Oh, what a privilege,
what an honor, what a blessing, what mercy, what grace to be
brought up to sit among princes in a heavenly place to hear the
gospel of the King of Peace. How blessed we are. Oh, may the
Lord bless that. Okay. Glad to be here.