Good morning, brother. If you
will, let's be turning to Psalm 27. Psalm 27. I'd listened to one of the messages
down there in Louisville, Arkansas, where the Gabe Stoniker preached.
I had about two pages of notes on Psalm 27, verse 14. I took
a break and thought, well, I'll just listen to a message. Brother
Gabe got up and talked for a while, and he preached out of Psalm
27, verse 14. I said, well, we'll save that for next week, in case
any of y'all is tuning in. Mike and Karen send their greetings.
They're down there at the conference and enjoying it. I talked to
Brother Eric Lutter, who's preaching down there. He says, hello. And
then the brethren in Apopka, they've received what we took
up to send to them for the Hurricane and they are grateful to all
of you And they said to say hello and then brother Cody Hanson
said hi and that was the four I could remember I've been more
than that this week, but I Want to at least at least give you
those psalm 27 Title my messages the only thing The only thing
verse 4 David writes here the one thing have I desired, one
thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, I'm gonna
go after it, I'll seek after it, that I may dwell in the house
of the Lord all the days of my life. Two, behold the beauty
of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. We don't know how
old David was when he wrote this psalm, but we know he was mature. We knew he wasn't a greenhorn.
He'd been at this for a while. He knew what he was talking about.
Down in verse 13, he said, I had fainted unless I had believed
to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. And
he gives us instruction, wait on the Lord. You see that? Be of good courage and he shall
strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say on the Lord. giving
good advice from strong experience. Wait on the Lord. I've waited
on him. Be of good courage while you're waiting. He'll strengthen
your heart. I know he will. I've had it happen. Trust me. So this is a seasoned
believer. This is a well-instructed believer
that's writing this song. He'd been a shepherd boy, fighting
those lions and bears, hadn't he? And he'd been a mighty king. Relaxing, just on one of those
verandas, and eating the grapes, and sitting in a hammock, having
somebody fan him. He's been on both sides of that,
hasn't he? He'd been a warrior. He won battles, he lost battles.
Lost men, gained men. He'd been hated by his enemies,
and he'd been loved by those that he'd reigned over. He was
a talented musician. Boy, could you imagine hearing
him play the harp? and sang, but he had a beautiful voice.
He was God's pen to write the hymnal for the eternal church.
Oh, what a songwriter. That's just the hymns. I think
he could probably write a good country tune, too, wouldn't you
think? His experience so much, oh, so, so wide. He had a stone for a pillow,
he had fine linens for a pillow. He was lonely, caved by himself,
and boy, he had some companionship, didn't he? He had had a child. He knew what
it was to be a father and he knew what it was to lose a child.
Everyone die. Young. He said, I've been young
and now I'm old. I've never seen the Lord's people
beg. He's experienced a lot of things and he weighed all of
this. He weighed his entire life experience, his entire walk as
a believer. And he said one thing, one thing
have I desired of the Lord, and I'll 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 waited
off. He said, that's the only thing
I desire. What's some other one things? Better pay attention. Better look at these, shouldn't
we? Turn over to Luke 18. Let's see what the Lord has to
say about this. Luke 18. Here's a word to an unregenerate
man. One thing, and it's a word to
this whole world, isn't it? Luke 18. Luke 18, verse 18. The story
of the rich young ruler. And it says, a certain ruler
asked him, saying, good master, what shall I do to inherit eternal
life? Jesus said unto him, Why callest
thou me good? None is good, save one God. Y'all are already starting off
on the wrong foot, Richard Young Ruler. Master. Good master. That sounds so religious and
pious, doesn't it? Who else called him master? Judas. Y'all went around the table,
Lord is it I? Lord is it I? Lord is it I? Judas
said, Master, is it I? He said, You just said it. Now
we call him master, he is our master, but he's our Lord, isn't
he? I'm just coming for some good instruction, some theological
discernment. Oh, he said, he starts off, why
callest thou me good? There's none good save one, God.
And that's who's talking to you. Verse 20, thou knowest the commandments. You know the word of the Lord.
Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear
false witness. Honor thy father and thy mother. You know those.
And he said, all these have I kept from my youth up. I've done all
that. I'm a moral man. I'm a good person. Now when Jesus heard these things,
he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing. We ain't gonna
deal with that yet. Let's get down to the meat and potatoes.
Yet lackest thou one thing. Sell, see right there? Sell all
that thou hast, and distribute it unto the poor, and thou shalt
have treasure in heaven. And come, get rid of, put all
those things you put stock in away. Drop it. Come, follow me. And when he heard this, he was
very sorrowful, for he was very rich. This man was rich in a
lot of temporal things, wasn't he? Things you desire, things
I desire. Now we can lie to the world and
say, oh, well, I'm just, I'm over that. No, you ain't. He
was young. You want to be young? You want
to hit, quit her? Back to where your knees bent
good. Yeah, have that energy. Oh, if I had the knowledge I
have now and the energy of a child, wouldn't that be fun? He was
young. He was wealthy. I don't, I don't
seek philcathelucre, but I tell you a little bit extra money
in the pocket never hurt nobody, did it? Young and wealthy. He was
educated. Oh, he knew things. He was respected
in the community. Eloquent speaker. Well learned. Learned. Powerful. He's in charge. He was a ruler,
rich, young, in charge. He had religious status, probably
had titles in the church, didn't he? Well-respecting the community,
moral, neighbors liked him. All of those things that will
eventually burn. It's all gonna burn. The Lord's
not teaching that believers cannot or have not had things in this
world. We know that, don't we? Paul
wrote to us and said, for you see your calling, brethren, how
that not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many
noble are called. He didn't say not any, he said
not many. That gives hope to the pauper
and the king, doesn't it? We've always had some wealthy
fellas. Abraham, you can go down the
list, can't you? David, the one writing this? Christ is speaking to this young
man concerning total commitment to the Lord. Get your priorities
straight. He said, I'm the priority. Now you're going to have to eat
some food, and you're going to have to sleep somewhere, and
you have to wear some clothes. You can't walk around naked and go
to jail. You have to work some. But he said, I'm the priority.
And that's where he just cut straight to the bone, hit him
where he lived. It's me or this world. Which one you want? That's too steep a price, isn't
it? He said, forsake your idols, forsake your youth, forsake your
status, forsake your religious standing, and your pedigrees,
and your titles, and your sheepskins, and everything else, and follow
the shepherd. Just be like a sheep. Follow
the shepherd. Forsake it all. That's too steep
a price for billions and billions of people. Consider your belongings. Think about your house, and your
cars, and your clothes, and everything else. It's gonna burn. It's gonna
go away, isn't it? What about your education, your
degrees on the wall? I'm not shunning education. That's
a good thing. Do that. It's gonna burn. It's gonna go
away. We'll lose our minds, won't we? What about your precious
loved ones? Oh, that's what most people don't consider an idol,
is it? Your children, your brothers and sisters, your mommy and daddy.
Think about those idols. They gonna stand for you in judgment?
They won't stand with you and hold your hand in judgment. No,
they're going to go away too. They're going to die. I'm not
going to live forever. You're not going to live forever.
What about your righteousnesses? What about all those good works
you did for God? Filthy rags. We do filthy rags.
Burn them. We do with used menstruation
cloths. That's what the Lord said. That's the best work she
ever done for me. Burn them. It's all going to burn, isn't
it? You can't have both. You can't serve two masters,
can you? For you hate one and love the other, or else he would
hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and
mammon. Good instruction in business or anything else, especially
in spiritual things. You ain't going to learn nothing.
You ain't going to get a hold of nothing until you get down to one thing.
If you're in business, do one thing. Be good at it. Pick one
thing to be real good at. Business will go better, won't
it? That's good dating advice. Pick one spouse and be good to
that spouse. Don't pick a bunch of them. We must see the Lord for his
worth. Another way to word what he's
saying to this rich young man, where he says he was sorrowful,
is that he loved this world and hated the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, now I don't know about that. He's just sad. That's just
a hard saying, wasn't it? What's another way to word that
accurately, comparing scriptures to scriptures? He went away.
He's like, oh man, I hate that. I had tickets for this weekend.
I got stuff scheduled. That seems so meek and nice,
doesn't it? There's two sides of the fence. That side of the
fence says, I hate God and I love this present evil world. Well,
that's drastic. No, it's not. I'm warning you
ahead of time. Well, my kids are in town. Something important
is going on. He said, seek ye first the kingdom
of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be
added to you. Don't you worry about that other stuff. It'll
be added to you. That's a word to the unbeliever. Word to this
world. What about a word to the believer? We need a word, too,
about one thing, don't we? Turn over to Luke 10. Here in Luke 10, verse 38, came
to pass. As they went, he entered into
a certain village. A certain woman named Martha received him
into her house. 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? Don't you care? that my sister
hath left me to serve alone. Bid her therefore that she help
me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou
art careful and troubled about many things, but one thing, one
thing is needful. And Mary hath chosen that good
part which shall not be taken away from her. She'd been drawn
to Christ. One thing that that rich young
ruler lacked, Mary had it. and she cleaved to him. She come
to his feet and listened to him, heard his words. Who are these
two ladies? They seem wildly different, don't
they? Both of these ladies loved of God, like Jonah. Oh boy, that
would have been a hard one to deal with, wouldn't it? And Moses,
the meekest man that ever lived. That's two ends of the spectrum.
You know what both of them people are called? God's prophet. Well, I like that
one better. Well, ain't the one you got.
Both these are love to the Lord. It says in John 11, Jesus loved
Martha and her sister and Lazarus. I know she was loved to God.
His Word says so. She was cumbered about and got
kind of poppy, didn't she? To the Lord, who she knew who
she was talking to. The Lord instructs and he teaches
those that are his. If you've got life in you, it's
going to grow. If it ain't growing, there's a problem. Martha was
so cumbered about by cooking and cleaning and setting the
table, and she had to get the tablecloth down. How many chairs
do we need? We need two more? Go get two
more chairs. Why are you all sitting down?
We got chairs to get. Is she out there butchering chickens
in the driveway? Whatever she's doing, she's cumbered about.
She's taking care of all the worldly things. And she was angry
that her sister wasn't doing enough, and she got mouthy to
the Lord about it. She hasn't gave as much as I've gave. She
ought to give her part. Ever thought that? She hadn't
pulled her weight around here. I'm pulling all the weight. I'm
doing all the work. I'm working harder. I've slept
less. I've lost sleep over this. She's in there sleeping like
a baby. That ain't right. Wake up. One thing. One thing's needful. We can get so wrapped up. I'm
not talking about, there's plenty I could go on about the false
religion. Y'all ain't setting any false religion right now.
You used to, you don't now. I don't need to talk about that,
do I? I ain't on TV trying to speak to all of San Diego County.
I'm speaking to you. Something we can get wrapped up in. We
truly serve the Lord so much and we get entangled in serving
the Lord that we lose being served by the Lord. That's so. We can get so tangled
up, what about the insurance for the building, and the live
stream, and the broadcast, and the audio, and the this and that,
and there's a crackle in the audio. I got told one time the shade of
my face was too red on the internet, and I said, why ain't red in
person? Come on down. Fast food will starve you to
death, buddy. It ain't gonna work. We can get so wrapped up
in serving the Lord that we neglect to be served by him. by Him. I need to hear that. You need
to hear that. Things still need to happen.
Trash still needs to get took out. Lot bill still has to be paid. But
we can get so wrapped up in the stuff and the serving that we
miss being served by Him. He don't need me. If I don't
talk, He can make a donkey or a stone get up here and talk
to you and preach to you. I need to be nourished by the
word. I was thankful to go to that conference, just sit and
listen. That was wonderful. I look forward to the day we
can have a conference here. I'm just gonna sit and listen. I'll do all the
trash-taking that you can have. We'll smoke turkeys all day.
Just sit and listen. I talked to my brother the other
day, and he was down there in Arkansas, and he said, yep, he
goes, I gotta preach once, and I gotta listen to three messages
before I drive back home. I said, boy, that's precious. Look him
in the eye. It ain't the same online. It ain't the same on
sermon audio. Read the article I emailed you
by Greg. It ain't flesh and blood. Somebody's listening to this.
I don't care, I'm preaching to you. I'm not sitting here to
the YouTube. I'm not sitting here to the sermon
audio and the internet wires. I'm sitting here to you. Look
you in the eye and you look me in the eye. We was just talking
about that. God didn't say he'd meet with you on Cox cable. He said he'd meet with you where
two or three are gathered, where he's gathered. One thing's needful. That'll
stuff get took care of, won't it? He said, if I were hungry,
I would not tell you. Well, they ain't gonna make it
without me. You put your finger in a bucket
of water and pull it out real fast and see how long it takes
for that hole to fill up. That's how important I am. You
understand that? He said, if I was hungry, I wouldn't
tell you. The world's mine and the fullness thereof. It's all
his, he don't need me. He came, Lord don't need us to
minister to him, we need him to minister to us. And Mark 10,
it says, whosoever will be great among you, whoever's the greatest
shall be your minister, shall be your servant. What's that
a picture of? That's so I can get on my soapbox?
Nope. That's a picture, isn't it? And
whosoever of you will be the chiefest shall be servant of
all. For even the Son of Man came
not to be ministered unto, He didn't come for us to instruct
and to wait on and to serve, but to minister, to give His
life a ransom for many. He came to lay down His life
for His people. Whoo! That's something, isn't it? We can get wrapped up in the
picture of some time we miss the person. That's who is needful. His presence. Martha was running
about doing a lot of things. that could have waited. She needed
to be at the feet of the Lord Jesus, and she needed to hear
Him. She needed to sit at His feet and hear Him. Verse 39 says,
She had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet
and heard His word. This is out of tune in our learned
generation, but you need to be more like your sister. Can't
say those things now, right? You ostracized somebody. Well,
she's a good example. Do what she did. Sit at his feet
and listen. She just sat. Mary sat in adoration
and amazement. God was speaking. Do you know what his voice sounds
like? Sometime in the next 60 years, I'll tell you all about
it. Oh, it took me precious. I've heard him speak in my heart.
I heard him speak in his word. But to hear, won't be a voice
sweeter, will it? She sat and listened to God talk.
The other one's out there butchering chickens and sweeping floors.
They're both his. He instructed. Our pastor used
to tell me when I was a little kid, he said, oftentimes it would
do us good to sit down and shut up. Quit yapping and sit down. Hear
what God has to say. An important As this passage
is, and instruction is, we need this. Don't be cumbered about
this world and the things. Just sit down and hear. Sit down
and look to the Lord and see Him exalted and thank Him. Thank you, Lord. Look at all
our brethren. This is great. Look how kind
He was. I know what I am. I don't deserve this. I haven't
merited anything. He's just gracious, isn't He? Oh man, what a God
we have. Our God is God. As important
as that is. We gotta have the other side
of that coin, too, don't we? We don't run blindly. We have to
use some discernment. We have to compare scriptures
with scriptures and have some just good common sense, don't
we? Are we all supposed to just be lazy and lay around all day
and wake up and read Gil and then Hawker and then Spurgeon
and then Mahan and then Fortner and then read Philpot and then
read this one and read that one and Ryle and... Man, no. That ain't it. That's like eating
Michael Phelps, one of them gold medals. I saw his diet one time
and I thought, I'm gonna eat like he does. 40,000 calories a day. I ain't
equipped for that. That's for him, not me. Now I shall try. I'd like it.
No, we don't run blindly and just lay around all day, do we?
The Lord gave us something to do. There was a certain man that
was sick named Lazarus of Bethany, Martha Mary's brother, wasn't
it? the town of Mary and her sister Martha, and in the parentheses
there in John 11, it says, it was Mary which anointed the Lord's
feet with ointment. That's that same Mary. She anointed
his feet with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, cried,
whose brothers Lazarus was sick. That was in parentheses. You
think the Lord just thought, well, they need to get their
history straight. No, throughout scripture, throughout the New
Testament, we're told several times, this is Mary that anointed the
Lord's feet. She had what? An alabaster box. Y'all ever
heard that? We've heard that before, haven't
we? She had an alabaster box. She broke it open. They got mad.
They said, that could have fed somebody for a year. It's like a year's
wage. It was expensive, wasn't it? That one that sat at the
Lord's feet, she used everything she had to serve the Lord. And
I want to tell you something. Mary was a child of God. You
hear me? And write this down if you need
to. She did not steal that alabaster box. You hear me? She didn't sneak in somebody's
house and steal that alabaster box. And she didn't fake an injury
and let the government send it to her because she's on the draw.
She did not do that. And she didn't go to the soup
kitchen of a false church and take that alabaster box. She
went and labored for it. She put what was in her hand
to do and labored for it. What would she labor at? It don't
matter. It don't matter. She worked as unto the Lord.
She was a good steward and she used it to serve Him because
it didn't matter. It didn't matter. Well, that's a word to this unregenerate
world, a word to a believer. Let's see a word from a believer
about one thing. Turn over to John 9. John chapter 9. We see the one thing that's needful
to a believer One thing that the unbeliever lacks, it's the
same thing. Here's a word from a young believer.
We've been looking at this for several weeks now, we'll look
again. John 9, verse 23. There's that blind man, the Lord
put the mud in his eyes and gave him sight, told him to go wash
in the pool of Siloam. He said, therefore, said his
parents, he's of age, ask him. I didn't pick the verse wrong
to start with. It's on purpose. Therefore, his
parents said, He's of age, ask him. Then again called they the
man that was blind and said unto him, give God the praise. We
know that this man, this Jesus, is a sinner. He did something
on the Sabbath day. He broke our laws. And he answered
and said, whether he be a sinner or no, I know not. One thing
I know, one thing I know that whereas I was blind now, I see."
What did this man know that is tied to this one thing? He said,
I know, whereas I was blind, and now I see. What was tied
to that? What had he experienced in what
that short sentence says? His lifelong friends couldn't
help him. They couldn't give him sight.
He'd been like this since birth, hadn't he? His neighbors that
drug him to church, to the Pharisees, they couldn't do anything for
him. His neighbors couldn't do anything for him. His parents,
they couldn't do anything for him. They couldn't give him sight,
and they're the ones that just threw him underneath the bus,
because they were scared of the Pharisees. They didn't want to
get kicked out of church. They didn't want to lose their
position. Well, at least sacrifice your own son to keep your standing
in the church. A false church, what horrendous
acts. Religious folks, they couldn't
do anything for him. There's ones mad at him, and
he knew he couldn't do anything for himself. But God, He reached
down His hand for me. God did it. And I was blind,
and now I see. That's one thing I know. This
one that was called out from the world, this one that had
experienced blindness from birth, I have never done that. He now
sees. I had experienced spiritual blindness
from my birth, and then one day, I saw. I love what Brother Gabriel
said about that. It's so precious. The Lord didn't
leave me alone. I have a brother that's been
through the same trial I've been through. And he said, somewhere in that
20-year period, the Lord saved me. I didn't grow up in false
religion. I didn't have that moment that
you're like, oh, this is the truth. This is a lie. That's
what God says. I didn't experience that. There's
some grief that comes with that, some trials. But this man, physically
he was blind, and now he saw. Spiritually, he was blind, and
one day, right then, he knew the Lord. All in the same day. That's a precious thing. And
he knew he was blind. Paul tells us that in 1 Thessalonians.
I'll let you read it. It's your time. I preached from
it before. He said he knows your election of God. Brethren, I
know you're God's elect. You don't know you are, but I
know you are. Pastorial privilege. I get a
little intuition, I think. I look people in the eye when
I preach to them. Paul said, I know you're calling an election.
Sure, brethren. He said, our gospel came to you
not in word only. There's a whole mess of people
that agree with the gospel. Did you know that? A mess of
them. There's a remnant that needs
it. There's a remnant that ain't nothing in this world worth it.
Mother, father, daughter, son, jobs, location. It don't matter. I love my children. I'd die for
them. I'd let them die as the Lord enables me. He's much more
valuable than they, and he's able to keep them. That's a double
blessing, isn't it? He said, It came to you not in
word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost. We was
baptized in fire. That's what we looked at Wednesday,
wasn't it? It burned in my bones. My heart burns within me. This
happened, and you became followers of us. You didn't stay off by
yourself. You get with other people. Read
that article by Brother Rick Ward. That's beautiful. Sheep's
got to be together. They get scared. They can't eat. They can't eat when you get that.
They can't get to feed when they're by themselves. So you were examples
of Macedonia and Achaia. He said, because the word of
God went out from you. And he said, and you've turned
from your idols, and you wait for the Son of God. You know
what he said I was blind was? That's him turning from his idols.
That's so refreshing to me, to hear somebody say, I was in darkness.
I was lost. I didn't know the Lord since
I was a baby. John the Baptist can say that, I don't know nobody
else can. I was playing religion and I was, like Gabe said, I
said that to you too. I was a staunch Calvinist. I
wasn't apologetic until God saved me. It was so, I never disagreed
with it. That was truth. It was the truth. And then I
found the one that is true. Christ who is the truth. He burned
within me. That man was blind and he knew
it. And he wasn't looking for the Lord. The Lord came to him.
He didn't give his heart to Jesus. The Godhead came in a body and
gave him a new heart. That's what happened. And he
knew it. That's one thing to an unbeliever, one thing to a
believer. This is one thing from a young believer, a brand new
one. Now we'll hit us where we live.
Let's look at a mature believer. You wanna do that? That's what
we are. Philippians 3. It's a wonderful thing. That man told
the truth for the first time in his life. He said, I know
not. He always had something to say before that, didn't he?
God gave him a new heart and he realized he didn't know nothing.
But he knew Christ. He was the one thing. Here's
the word from an aged believer. This is the word from, one thing
from, an apostle. Well, the apostle is used more
than the other ones, isn't he? Philippians 3, verse 12. Not as though I
had already attained, either were already perfect. Paul's
saying, it's not as if I'm perfect and you do what I do. If you
want to be a man, be like me. He's not saying that, but I follow
after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended
of Christ Jesus. He said, don't just listen to
me as a man. He said, you follow me as I follow
Christ. And that's who we need to cling
to. That's who we need to look to. Verse 13, brethren, I count
not myself to have apprehended. I'm not saying I did anything,
but this one thing, I do. Here's Paul, mightily used of
God, that wonderful apostle, he's telling us, he goes, there's
one thing I do. Forgetting those things which were behind. I hear
so much about what was before. Not what Christ did before, but
what mankind's done before. Paul said, I forgot those things
before. Did he tell us about Gamaliel? You know all the great things
I did in the church when I was a Jew? Oh, it's something, man. We used
to do this. No, he said, I forgot it. It don't matter. I'm forgetting
those things which are behind. What else is behind? All my sin.
All the strife between brethren. All the arguments I've had in
the past. Forget it. Forget it. Brother Henry said,
I'd be the most successful psychiatrist in the world if I could get people
to forget. That'd be a good thing to do, isn't it? As Dad said,
pay no attention to it. Yeah, it's hard to do, isn't
it? But he said he strives for this. One thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those
things which are before. Reaching forth, reaching forth.
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of
God in Christ Jesus. I want to know nothing among
you save Christ and Him crucified. How do we press towards the mark?
How do we run our race? Seeking Him, longing for His
return. We do it by looking to His Word. We are so blessed. Most people in this country can
read, and you can go to any store. I don't care if it's under fiction
or it ain't. Hush. It's nonsense. Getting dabbling
in the politics of man's world. Leave it alone. You can go to
any Walmart you want, or store, or Kmart, or whatever, and buy
you a King James Version Bible, and you can sit down and read
it. We go to His Word. How are we going to reach for
Him and run this race and press towards the mark? We read His
Word. We hear the preaching of the gospel. How can an Ethiopian
treasurer, eunuch, charge all them storehouses? Educate a man.
He wasn't no fool. He's the secretary of the treasury
for Ethiopia. And he said, how can I understand
this unless some man tell me? We read his word, we press towards
the mark by hearing the preaching of the gospel, and by fellowship
and worship in that with his people. Christ dwells in you. Well, if you want to be next
to Christ, won't you be where his people are? Doesn't that make sense?
I love him. I've used this illustration before.
If I just walked around town and professed to everybody how
much I love Kimberly. Oh, I love her. I believe her.
She's the sweetest thing there was to me, I'm gonna spend eternity
with her, I love her. And then every evening she goes up there
to Lawson Valley and goes to sleep, and I sleep down here.
You'd say, well, now hold on now. I don't sound like a good
relationship, does it? You'd question my love, wouldn't
you? We're with God's people gathering at the sound of the
gospel according to his word. See those three things? That's
how we press towards the mark. What'll change from, from Abraham's
day to our day to however long the Lord lets this earth go on.
Nothing's gonna change. Same yesterday, today, and forever,
isn't it? They gather together. Back in our text. Bet you didn't think we was going
back to it, did you? Psalm 27. When God shows us this world's
vanity, it's all vain. And He shows us He's the one
thing needful. We see our own vanity. We see
our own blindness. And we see His person and His
work. And then we press towards Christ
in His person, in His word, in His people. And we don't ever
want that to decrease. We want that to increase. You
get that? We don't want it to decrease.
We want it to increase. And then we say with David, Here
in verse four, Psalm 27, four. One thing have I desired of the
Lord. I didn't earn this. I don't have
a leg to stand on and demand this in myself, but I desire
it. I'm gonna tell him about it.
John Newton preached one time and an old lady said, the Lord
saved me and he ain't never gonna hear the end of it. I'm gonna
thank him and I'm gonna praise him. I ain't gonna stop. But
David said, one thing I've desired of the Lord and that will I seek
after. I ain't just say, well, I asked
him, I'll be diligent. I'm gonna seek after it. I'm
gonna put my shoulder to it. One thing I've desired of the
Lord, that I will seek after it, that I may dwell in the house of the
Lord all the days of my life. Not rent a place, and well, we're
back and forth, and that one comedian just died. He said he
got baptized 14 times. That's a terrible thing, isn't
it? not going back and forth. Well, this is convenient for
a season. And while I went for a while and I stopped and I went
for a while, I want to dwell in his presence in the house
of the Lord all the days of my life. What were you going to
do there? To behold the beauty of the Lord. He's beautiful and
I want to see more of his beauty. I can't handle it right now,
but there's going to be a day come I can. I could see him in his fullness
and his holy, holy, holy, You get a look at Him to see that
He's holy, and you'll know that He's holy, and you'll be in His presence.
I want to see the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple. How am I going to pray to Him
if I'm there with Him? He's going to talk to them. Lord, whenever
you wrote, in the beginning, God, could you tell me really
what that means? When you said here, what's that mean? Can you
tell me that? I sure can. Wouldn't that be
precious? to spend our eternity with the
one that saved us and gave his life for us and has kept us this
whole time, that's the one thing I desire. I know what I am. I know he saved me from myself,
and I want to be with him. I want to dwell where he dwells.
Do you? Do you? We'll dwell in his word, we'll
dwell in his gatherings, his local assemblies, and we'll dwell
with his people until he comes, until we're with him, won't we?
Amen, all right, let's pray together. Father, be with us today. Don't
leave us to ourselves. We pray that you have gathered
two or three here today in your name to worship Christ and see
him high and lifted up. Give us strength in our new man
that desires to hear of him and have his presence among us. Allow
us to turn from this evil world that is this old man of death. we're cumbered about with. Let
us seek the one thing needful. Thank you for this great salvation. Thank you for this grace that
you've given your people. Oh, and forgive us for what we
are. Keep us as you promised you will. Till that day we're
made like him. Be with your people everywhere,
Lord. Those that are in heavy trials and struggling, give us
a word of comfort. allow us to point our brothers
and sisters that are suffering to the great position. It's in
His name that we ask it. Amen.