Look at what we just sang, okay? Look at the words of this that
we sang. I hope and pray this is the feeling
of your heart. I love thy kingdom, Lord, the
house of thine abode, the church our best Redeemer saved. He loves
it with his own precious blood. I love thy church, O God, her
walls before thee stand, dear as the apple of thine eye. What
about our eye? Verse 3, for her my tears shall
fall, for her my prayers shall ascend, for her my care and toil
and service shall be given, till toils and cares shall end. Beyond
my highest joy, more than anything else, a day, one day in here,
is better than a thousand anywhere else. Can you say that? That's
what we just sang. I prize her heavenly ways of
sweet communion. Is this sweet to you? Solemn
vows of worship, or hymns. I love this hymn, don't you?
Of love and praise. Sure as thy truth shall last,
to Zion shall be given the highest, brightest glories earth can yield,
and then brighter blessings. I love your smile. That's good.
Psalm 84. We've looked at this many times
together. A favorite of mine, just one
year ago on a Wednesday night, we looked at this. And I was
reading it again in my own enjoyment, and I thought you might enjoy
looking at it with me. How amiable are thy tabernacles,
O Lord of hosts, how amiable, lovely, lovely, beloved. The church is beloved of God. He loves the church. And by God's
grace, I do too. I love, I can truly say, I love
the Lord. I love His truth. I love His
kingdom. I love this place. I love this people. I love what we're doing. I love his worship, his praise,
his prayers, the prayers these men pray, and we pray together.
These songs of Zion, I love these songs more than all. I'm a music lover, I love songs,
I listen to songs. I was talking to Brother David
Edmondson, he loves music too, and he and I both concluded that
maybe we ought to quit singing those songs. They get in your,
the songs of the world, they get in your head and you can't
get them out. And they're pretty worthless. But all these songs,
I'm telling you, When the Scriptures tell us to
sing, make melody in your hearts unto the Lord, sing unto the
Lord, it will do your heart good to sing these songs of Zion.
By God's grace, I believe I love the Lord, I love all these heavenly
things. This is a heavenly place He's
made us to sit in. Do you say the same? How lovely. And if we do, it's because He
first loved us. He must love us, or we wouldn't
love Him. How enviable are thy tabernacles,
tabernacles, tabernacles. That's places of worship, synagogues,
little church houses like this, where God is, where God is. God loveth, Psalm 87, God loveth
the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Psalm 46, God's in the midst
of her. She shall not be moved. This little place has been here
a long time. Because God's in the middle of it. She shall not
be moved. This is where God is, where His people meet together
to worship God. And David says, Oh, how amiable,
how lovely, beloved to me and my Lord are thy churches, O Lord
of hosts. Churches. We just got back from
an amiable place, Cottageville, West Virginia. which the world
doesn't know of, doesn't care, and does not care to go there.
Dingus, West Virginia. You ever been there? It's a heavenly
place. It really is. I told you this
story one time. Mother Frank Tate, who was in
Cottageville preaching, he worked a job that a man, a fellow worker
of his, somehow or another ended up in Dingus, West Virginia doing
something. And he came back and he was telling Frank, you'll
never believe where I've been. And he just thought it was the
worst place on earth. He said, you can't believe where
I've been, he told Frank. He said, I went to a place called
Dingus, West Virginia. Frank says, I know it well. I
go there all the time. He said, on purpose? Yes. It's amiable. Many and I have commented so
many times, there's nothing there in the middle of those Appalachian
Mountains but a church house full of people that love the
Lord, and there's not a better place on earth to be. A lot of people don't know where
Rocky Mount, Virginia is. You say Rocky Mount, they say
North Carolina? No, not North Carolina. Fairmont, Crossville, Kingsport,
Newcastle, Ewing, we go on and on. Very few in these big cities. There may be some, I don't know. I don't know of many. Now, Amiel,
Lord of our tabernacles, O Lord of hosts, Lord of the universe. He's called that many times in
the Scripture, isn't he? The Lord of creation, the Lord
of angelic or heavenly hosts, Lord over all. David wrote, What is man that
thou art mindful of him? There's another psalm of Korah,
Psalm 8. And what is man that thou art
mindful of him? Son of man, that you would visit
him. And of all places, Rocky Mount, Virginia. Dingus, West
Virginia. Cottagefield. That's the Lord,
isn't it? That's the Lord. He's the Lord
of hosts, and yet he condescends to visit and meet with little
people. Verse 2, My soul longeth, yea,
even fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My heart, my flesh,
crieth out for the living God, my soul. David, from his heart,
could say that I love the Lord with my heart, mind, and soul,
and strength. All of it, David. No, we would
have to admit that our love is weak. Our affection often strays,
but when asked, like our Lord asked Simon Peter, didn't He? He looked right at him and said,
Simon, son of Jonah, lovest thou me more than these? What'd He
say? Yea, Lord. How about you? The Lord asks you a point, He
knows, He knows your heart. What would you say? Lovest thou
me more than all this? Yes, Lord. Thou knowest. Thou knowest. The reason I do
is because you put it there. There was a time I didn't have
any interest whatsoever. Right? David said, My soul longeth. My heart and my flesh cryeth
out for the living God. Another psalm I love, Psalm 42. Another psalm for the sons of
Cora. It says this, Psalm 42, As the
heart Or a thirsty deer panteth after the water brook, being
chased by the enemy, by the adversary. That's how we feel when we run
to this place. So panteth my soul after thee,
O God. My soul thirsteth for God, the
living God, the true God, the God of the Bible. We don't just
meet here to play church. God's people don't play church.
That's what a hypocrite does. God's people aren't hypocrites. And David says, when shall I
come and appear before God? Then, and I believe here in Psalm
84, David was somewhere not in Jerusalem, maybe out fighting
battles, maybe no one is sure when he wrote it. Maybe when
Absalom was chasing him and he had to leave. At any rate, he
was away from the tabernacle. He was away from the people of
God where they worship. And he longed to be there more
than any place else with them more than anyone else. He said,
I can't stand being away from the house of God. Anybody know
what that's like? My soul longeth, fainteth, fainteth,
fainteth. for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cried out
for the courts of the Lord. The temple tabernacle had basically
one big courtyard. The temple had many. Solomon
built the temple elaborate with many courtyards. But the courts
of the Lord were where the common priests would gather together. Now picture this. This was real. The sons of Levi
were the priests to God, and there was one high priest, right? And God chose that man. And he
and he alone could go into the Holy of Holies, not without blood,
and offer up that sacrifice. But the priests, his sons, the
sons of the high priest, they would cut wood, they would wash
dishes, they would make bread, they would trim the candles,
you know, make candles, this and that and the other, and take
out the ashes from the altars and bring the incense in and
do all that work. Now picture this, they're all
in the courtyard, a bunch of them. What are they doing? They're fellowshipping. around the house of the Lord,
the things of God. One of them got the bread and
brought it in, and they started talking about the bread. They
started talking about the manna from heaven. One brought in the
candles for the light, and they started talking about God, who
was light, God who caused the light to shine out of darkness.
And on and on it goes. They're fellowship. They're priests
of the Lord, in the courts of the Lord. And they're talking
about the things of God. And they're serving the things
of God. And they're building up one another on this most holy
faith. This is a court of the Lord. And all of us are priests. Revelation 1 says He's made us
kings, that's sons of the King, and priests. Isn't it? And so
that's what we do. Peter said, we're a royal priesthood,
a holy nation. So David loved the courts of
the Lord, the courts of the Lord. In verse 3, the sparrow, he says,
found a house, swallowed the place, and asked for herself
where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of
hosts, my King and my God. The sparrow found the house.
A nest, a place for her young. What a place this is for our
young. I'm so glad you have your little
biddies with you. What a place this is, huh? What a dangerous place that is
out there. What lies, what temptations,
What snares, what pits, what traps, what... Our Lord called it this present
evil world. That's what He called it. It's
a dangerous place. I know. I fell for it. This is a good place to have
your young. It's a good place. The best place. What they learn
in here is of eternal value, infinitely
more important than anything they'll learn out there. In fact, we bring them in here
to try to unlearn what they're learning out there. Hath not
God made foolish the wisdom of this world? What is the wisdom
of God? The world calls it foolishness.
We know, and our children know, at least in their heads, Christ
is the wisdom of God. We come in here to hear what
Christ said, what God said, don't we? Oh, what a blessed place
this is to have our young, a nest, Sparrow, he says, swallow. What insignificant little birds.
The Lord spoke of sparrows, didn't he? He says, is not a sparrow
sold for farthing, just a couple of pennies? Worthless little
bird. Ah, but his eye is on the sparrow,
isn't it? He said, there's not a sparrow
that falls to the ground. That's your heavenly Father,
isn't it? Apparently David made a law that
no one was to disturb any nests that a bird built in the rafters
of the tabernacle. No, no. She, that mother, and
her babies are not to be disturbed. If they come here, they're to
find a place forever. Leave them alone. A dwelling
place, a safety, a refuge. Is that what you found here?
Don't you hope and pray your children do someday? Oh my, his altars. Oh, you know, there's only one
altar, right? David was alluding to the altar
of incense, the altar where the sacrifice was made, but we have
an altar. It's not right here. There's no mourner's bench here.
We don't tell people to come down here. We don't have an altar
call. But whenever the gospel is preached,
it is indeed a call to the altar. Now what's our altar? Not a what. It's a who. Christ, our altar. That's what Hebrews 13 talks
about. We have an altar. Christ is the
altar. We come to Him. We tell everyone,
come to Christ. Come to Christ. And this altar
is in every church house, every tabernacle, where Christ is preached.
The altars, the altar which is Christ. Verse 4, blessed are
they that dwell in thy house. Oh, how blessed are they that
dwell in thy house. They will be still praising thee. For those that
dwell in thy house will be still praising thee. You can read that
either way. Those that really dwell in Christ,
Christ will never cast them out, and they're going to be still
praising Him forever. They will never be cast out,
and throughout eternity they'll be still praising Him. But you
can read it like this, Blessed are they that dwell in thy house,
they will be still praising Him. Go to Isaiah 30
with me. Isaiah 30. We turn to this all the time.
This is a favorite of mine. Isaiah 30. Isaiah said this, and he warns
and warns and warns about Egypt and Pharaoh. He says, don't try
to find some peace there. Don't try to find some refuge
there. Don't try to find some wisdom
there. Don't do it. Don't go to the world for answers,
for help, for refuge, for peace, for safety. Don't do it, he says. Pharaoh. David writes it over and over
again. The horse is a vain thing for safety. Chariot. Egypt. Verse 7, the Egyptians shall
help in vain, to no purpose. Therefore have I cried concerning
this, their strength is to sit still. Where, Isaiah? In the courts of the Lord, in
the house of the Lord. Come, sit at the feet of the
Lord Jesus Christ with his word before us and sit still and be
still and know that I am God. We go out into the world, don't
we? We go out into the world and look to the world and look
all around us in all this darkness and dimness and anguish of spirit. Vexation, isn't it? Noise and
pestilence, what do we hear? Many voices, most of them wrong. And we come in here, we need
to hear one voice. We need to hear Him speak, who
is wisdom itself. No, we need to hear Him who speaks
wisdom, who speaks peace, who speaks truth, who cannot lie. We need to hear God speak who
cannot lie. Look at verse 15. Thus saith
the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, in returning, where? To his courts, to his house,
to his people, to him, and rest shall you be saved. Do you not
feel like whenever you hear the gospel you are saved all over
again? You are saved from Guilt of sin, we get guilty, we get
dirty, we go out there and we get dirty, our minds and hearts
and filth. We come back in here and we hear
about, we confess our sins, we pray and call upon Him for mercy,
and the blood of Jesus Christ, the gospel of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us. Like Barbara used to say, I feel
clean when I hear the gospel. Turning and rest, we get rest
here. Shall you be saved from despair? In quietness, verse 15, and in
confidence. This is about one of the only
places you can come and just be still and be quiet. This is a sad generation where
very few people can stand to be alone. Very few people can
stand to be in a room where there's no music playing, or a TV on,
or something going on, or a device in their hand or something. Genesis 32, where Jacob was left
alone with the Lord. Oh, and wrestled with the Lord.
Came away from there with great peace. Most of the time is alone with
God. And we need that. We need to
hear from Him alone. Quietness and confidence. Confidence, that's trust, that's
faith in Christ and God. His Word is true. That will be
your strength. We're going to need strength.
When we leave here, our faith needs to be strengthened when
we come in here. And when we leave here, we're
going to need to be strengthened. Oh, look at this sad statement
at the end of it, and you would not. Some would not. Jonah 2.8, they that observe
line manatees, and that's all that the world It's lie and tell
us about vanities. Vanity of vanity. Oh, this will
make you happy. This will make you rich. No, it does the opposite. Vanity of vanity. They that observe
lie and vanity. Oh, look. Look here. Look there.
I'm going to go here. I'm going to go there. No, don't do that.
Come here. They that observe lie and vanities
forsake their own mercy. You do harm to yourself when
we stay away from the house of God. I'm glad you're here. I'm glad I'm here. I need to
hear this. Oh, blessed are they that dwell
in thy house, they will be still. The world is not still, is it?
But he leads us beside what? Still waters and restores our
soul. He tells us, be still and know
that I am God. You're going to pass through
that Red Sea. It's going to overflow. The overflowing scourge of God's
wrath is going to destroy the Egyptians. They're not coming
out of here because you trusted them. Be still. Selah. What does Selah mean? Pause. How many people pause, stop,
think, meditate, consider? Blessed, verse 5, blessed is
the man whose strength is in thee. Oh, how blessed is a man,
is a woman, is a person whose strength is in the Lord. The Lord. in whose heart are
the ways of those that dwell in thy house, them, them, those
that dwell in thy house. Blessed is the man, is the woman,
whose strength is in thee. Listen to this, Psalm 33. There's no king saved by the
multitude of the host. A mighty man is not delivered
by much strength. If you're trusting in the United
States of America and our president and our armed forces and all
that, you're trusting in a vain thing. A mighty man is not delivered
by much strength. A horse is a vain thing for safety,
neither shall he deliver any by his great strength. Behold,
the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that
hope in his mercy, to deliver their soul from death, to keep
them alive in famine." That's who the Lord preserves. And so David went on, Our soul
waiteth for the Lord. He is our help. He is our shield. Our heart shall rejoice in him.
We trust in his holy name. O let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon
us according as we hope in thee. Blessed is the man whose strength
is in thee and whose heart are the ways of them. See what it
means to be strong. The strength that you and I need
more than anything else is strength of faith. We need to be strong
in faith. What does that mean? It means
believe God. Trust God. That's what it means. Where does faith come from? Here
in the Word. No place else. Bless you. They who dwell in thy house shall
be stilled and blessed, their strength is in thee, in whose
heart the ways of worship, praise, thanksgiving, who, passing through
the valley of Baca, make it a well and a rain, also fill the pools. Those in whose heart are the
ways of our Lord, that is, his worship, his praise, his His
fellowship, His truth, His wisdom, His righteousness, His sanctification.
He has redempted the ways of the Lord in whose heart the Word
of God, the worship of God, the love of God. Passing through
the valley of Baca. What's that? The word Baca means
weeping. Passing through this valley of
a veil of tears. In the world, our Lord said to
His people, Not the world. His people. Ye shall have much
tribulation. Not the world. David was envious
at the prosperity of the wicked in Psalm 73. You remember? David
was envious. David thought, what I'm doing
is vain because they have no troubles. They're not in trouble
like God's people are. Their heart is fat, their eyes
are standing out with fatness. It doesn't seem like they get
everything they want, everything they wish. And David was being
envious of them. And then he went into the house
of God and heard a man, maybe Nathan, stand up and preach the
Word of God, what we're looking at. And David said, that's so
foolish. How could I be so foolish to
envy the prosperity of the wicked who are like fat calves being
fattened for the slaughter? David said, I'm with the Lord. He's my portion. They get the
world, and they're going to perish with it. What do we give? God. And we'll never perish. Passing
through the valley or veil of tears and sorrow and trouble
and trials and these tribulations, these things are God's love and
mercy and grace for God's people to keep us from this world, to
keep us from wanting to stay here, to wean us from this world.
You shall be hated, our Lord said, of the world. That's a
good thing. Oh, the trials that God's people
go through, this valley of tears, this world of tribulation, are
the blessings of God upon His people. The world wants to stay here
forever. Our brother Coffee, he wants
to go home. My dad wanted to go home. All of God's people
want to go home. Where's that? Well, it's not the house, it's
home. Hebrews 11 talks about People
that are looking for a city whose builder and maker is God, if
they'd been mindful of where they came from, they'd have had
the opportunity to go back. But no, they said, no, we're
looking for a better place wherein dwelleth righteousness, where
our God is, our righteous Lord is, where His people are, where
we'll be doing forever, without being molested, with perfect
heart, doing forever what we love to do here. We pass through this valley,
God. We pass through. You must through much tribulation.
We pass through. Though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, veil of tears, weeping, the endurer
has done that. Day in and day out in this dark
place for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. I'm telling you,
sister, in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, we change. The darkness
will be passed. The light now shining, no more
tears. God shall wipe away all the tears.
And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.
And since you love doing this here, you're going to love it
there. You're going to be doing it perfectly. It passes through the valley
of Baca. Make it a well. They make it a well. It says
they make it a well. Make it a well. God makes it a well.
You know Isaac, you remember studying in Genesis, you know
what Isaac, the son of promise, Abraham's son, was? You know what his occupation
was? He was a whale digger. You remember that? He dug whales
everywhere for everybody, the children of Israel. That's a
good illustration of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's dug whales. Here's one. Kingsport and on
and on. Little whales. Listen to Isaiah
12, I believe it is. It says, yeah, it says, God's
my salvation. Lord of Jehovah is my strength,
my song, he's my salvation. Therefore, with joy shall you
draw water out of the wells of salvation. Wells. God makes it a well, and
brethren, we ought to too. Don't come in here with a God's
people ought to be the most content, happy, joyful, thankful, upbeat
people on earth, you know? My, my. Make it well. This is
a good thing. And the rain, verse 6, filleth
the pools. Oh, my. The rain filleth It says
in Isaiah that he shall come down like rain upon the mown
grass, the Word of God, like rain. Deuteronomy says, my doctrine,
my Word shall drop as rain, as dew upon the tender grass. Isn't it refreshing? The rain
filleth the pools, and every now and then we'll fill that
pool. The Lord will have us fill that pool, and boy, doesn't that
fill our hearts with joy and gladness. Maybe He'll fill it
again, and one of your bitties will get in it. Wouldn't that
just fill us with joy? Fill up the pool. This is a well,
a pool, this is a pool of Bethesda. That's what this is. This is
a pool of Bethesda, and Christ the Lord reigns. upon us and
fills us with His presence. Verse 7, they go from strength
to strength. See, this is where we will cover
strength. For all of God's people get their
strength. Every one of them, in Zion, appears before God.
Right now, our brethren out there are meeting together in Zion. They're appearing before God.
God's people. They're not just coming to church.
They're coming to God. They're coming to Christ. They're
coming to worship Him. They're coming to hear from Him.
That's our prayer, isn't it? This is our prayer. Verse 8,
O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer. You know, you've heard prayers
by professional religionists, and they say prayers. The Church
of England used to have a book of prayers. Well, that may be
okay, I guess. Prayer, as we saw last Wednesday
night, and a brother listened to that and called me. And I
don't share with you the texts I get and the calls I get from
people that listen. Maybe I ought to. You'd be greatly
blessed, greatly blessed. A man who's probably listening
right now from California, he says he and his son listen in
on Mixler every time. And they said, the Lord just
blesses them so much, they're so thankful. And he said, oh,
what it must be like to be there in person. And he didn't have a place to
go. Don't take this for granted.
But every one of them, if they can, are appearing before God
in these places where the Lord dwells. And we all pray, O Lord
God of hosts, hear our prayer. Give ear, O God of Jacob. Give ear, hear our prayer. Hear
us. Bless us. Meet with us. Look
upon us. Verse 9, Behold, O God, our shield,
and look upon the face of thine anointed. Who's that? Christ. That's his name. Christ means
anointed. Isn't our prayer always, from
the heart, Lord, for Christ's sake, O God, for Christ's sake,
have mercy upon us, for Christ's sake. He will. He does. He has. He does. He
will. Every time. He's promised to
hear us. Christ said it. Christ said it. Pause and think about that. Verse
10, A day in thy courts is better than a thousand. That is, a thousand
anywhere else. A day in thy court. It really
is. It really is. Brethren, I have lived 23,375
days. That's 64 years and 14 days.
Margaret's lived more than me. She's lived 23,000, I don't know,
400, 500 and something. But stop and think about it.
That's a lot of days. I've experienced a lot of things
in my lifetime, no less than Solomon. That is, maybe to a
lesser degree, but I've experienced every single thing that's spoken
of in Ecclesiastes. Yes, I have. And I have absolutely,
by God's grace, by God's Word, by God's Spirit, have taught
this by experience. I have found out it's vanity. It really is. It will not fulfill
you. The eye is never satisfied with
seeing. The ear is never satisfied with
hearing. The mouth with tasting, eating, drinking, the flesh is
never satisfied. Never. Never enough. Never enough. Brethren, I'm here to tell you,
from God's Word and from experience, Christ is enough. This is fulfillment. Christ is
all the fullness. It pleased God that in Him should
all fullness dwell. And just a draft, just a drink,
just a sip, as it were, of this gospel, if the Lord blesses it,
just fills you up, doesn't it? Just fills you up. Fills you
to the fullness, doesn't it? One day, one day here is better
than a thousand anywhere else. One day. Can you not truly say
that, those of you who've lived? And you know, that's what Moses
wrote in Psalm 90. Teach us to number our days. Didn't he? I did. A number. Sit
down and number them. And then multiply 70 times 365.
See how many you've got left. Not many. Think about it. Number our days. We've just got
days. What are we going to do? What are we going to spend our
days doing? Our Lord said, oh, that they
were wise and consider their latter end. Apply our hearts
to wisdom. Redeem the time. Buy the truth
and sell it not. Take advantage of every opportunity
because the time is short. My days are passing by like a
weaver's shuttle, aren't they? They really are. They really
are. A day in thy court, so. And brethren, as I've been saying, if you find
great pleasure in coming in here, oh my, there's coming a day,
one long eternal day where it'll never end. It'll never end. David
said, I'd rather be a doorkeeper or a door sweeper. Sister Amy,
if you come early enough, she's out there sweeping the threshold
of the door, the mat, every time. And I thank her every time. We ought to. Anybody does anything.
Thank you, thank you. She just seems to enjoy doing
it. I think I speak for her. I know
I feel this way. I'd rather be a doorkeeper. I'd
rather keep the door or sweep the mat. in a little brown house
like this than to dwell in a white house. In fact, if I was invited
to go there, I don't think I should. But brethren, I have been bidden
to come to this God's house by God himself. What a privilege. What an unworthy privilege. What an honor that's been bestowed
upon me for God to call me to His hand. Oh, I'm so glad and
thankful and grateful when they sit under me, come to my hand. I want to talk to you. God, the
Lord, Oh, I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to
dwell in the tents of the wicked. 4, verse 11, the Lord God is
a sun and a shield. Oh, the sun. Aren't you thankful
for the sun? Do you enjoy the sun? I do. I like to be in it. I do. Some people think I'm crazy.
I'm out there in the hottest part of the summer, just out
there, just working. I love it. I like to sweat. I really do. I know what you're
thinking. But you know what I don't like?
Winter. Cold. I don't like it. But it's
beautiful. But the sun. Aren't you grateful
for the sun? Huh? It's life. Light. Warmth. Oh, what a picture the sun is
of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's the sun. I love to bask in the sun of
righteousness, the gospel of the sun. He's a shield. He's
my protection. Some of you love Psalm 27, don't
you? The Lord is my salvation, you
see, my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? Brother, you
look out in the world and there's a lot of things that would make
you fearful, don't they? You know, Israel of old, every
single nation on earth wanted them dead. Israel, you know how
big Israel is as a country? Do you? Geographically, the size
of Rhode Island. It's less than Franklin County. And the whole world wanted them
dead. Wanted to just sink them. Forever. It's like they've been wanting
Israel just gone. I can't do it. Why? Because God said, they're
mine. They're mine. And that picture
of his people, though the whole world is against them. David
said, though a host should encamp against me. Whom shall I fear? God is with me. May the Lord
open our eyes like he did Elisha's servant who went out there and
saw all the, who was it, the Syrians surrounding them. He went, oh, master, oh. And
Elisha said, Lord, open his eyes. And he did, and he went out and
saw the mountains and the hills with chariots of fire surrounding
two men, Elisha and his servant. You mean there were thousands
upon thousands just there to protect two fellows? Yep. Oh my, the Lord is with us. Whom
shall I fear and be afraid? But we're so unbelieving, aren't
we? We can live 60 years, 70 years, 80 years, even 90 some
years in worry, can't we? That's splashing. Well, I'm glad
God's God. I am. I'm sure glad. The Lord's a sun and a shield. The
Lord will give grace and glory. My, my. We'll need another thirty
minutes on that. What is the grace of God? What
is the gift of God? What is the goodness of God?
What's the gift of God? Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable
gift. The wages of sin is death. The
gift of God is eternal life through His Son. Jesus Christ is the
gift, the grace of God, and glory. God has glorified us. Whom He
did foreknow, He did predestinate. Whom He predestinated, He called
by our gospel. Whom He called, He glorified. Justified. Whom he justified,
he glorified. Father, I will that they may
behold my glory. We have. No good thing, verse 11, he says,
will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. Notice things
in italics. The translators added that. And
it's okay. Psalm 34, I believe, says the
same thing. Psalm 103 said He giveth us good
things to enjoy. But what is the one thing, Nathan,
that really good thing? Psalm 47, David said that. Listen,
it goes right back to where we started. One thing have I desired
of the Lord, and that will I seek after. that I may dwell in the
house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty
of the Lord, to inquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble,
he will hide me in his pavilion, the city of refuge, the secret
of his tabernacle. He will hide me and set my feet
on a rock. Isn't that what we come here for? And my head will
be lifted up above my enemies." What head? Christ's head. We'll see him high and lifted
up like that ark, Noah's ark, after the whole world was overflowed,
one thing stood above it all, and everyone in it safe. That's the way it is. That's
the way it's going to be. And so he ends with this, O Lord
God of hosts, Blessed is the man, is the woman, is the young
person that trusted in thee. Stand with me. Our Lord and our God, how we
thank you for this blessed, blessed, blessed book. How blessed we
truly are to read it. Take it not from us, O Lord.
Thank You for giving it to us. Oh, forgive us for not esteeming
it more highly, for not treasuring it. And it's not just a book. It is Thy truth, Thy Word, Thy
voice, if You speak, when You speak. Thank You, Lord, for giving
us Thy Word. We esteem it. David said he found it. esteemed
it in greater riches than all gold and silver, sweeter than
the honey in the honeycomb to the taste. Thank you for it,
Lord. Oh, remember Thy Word unto Thy
servants, Thy people, upon which Thou hast caused us to hope.
Lord, bring these words back to mind when we go out into this
dark world. We no sooner leave this little
city of refuse, we go out there and we become troubled and anguished
and fearful. Oh, Lord, remind us what we just
heard and read. Cause us to trust in Thee, to
look to Thee. Thank You, Lord, for Your Word.
Thank You for Your houses, Your tabernacles. Oh, how amiable,
how lovely, how wonderful they are. The house of Thine abode.
The church that our blessed Redeemer saved with His own precious blood. Thank You. Thank You for this
one. Thank You for all the others. Hedge us about, Lord. Protect
us, we pray. We know You will. But we're told
to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. And they will prosper that love
His Church. Oh, Lord, give us a love. Give
us a desire for Thy Kingdom more than anything else. Oh, Lord.
For Christ's sake, we give thanks and are met here tonight. Amen.