Breathe out my woe, Thou often
win trials like sea billows roll. Have I hidden in thee, O Thou
rock of my soul? All right, back to Psalm 27. Thank you. Psalm 27. I really intended to
dwell on just one verse in this psalm, but after rereading it
over and again, the whole psalm needs to be dealt with. Every
verse is tremendous. I have entitled it, The Believer's One Desire, based
on verse 4. Verse 4 is the verse that really
caught my attention, a verse that many of you are familiar
with, I know. 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 and to inquire in his temple. So this is a psalm for
Seekers, believers, inquirers, he talks about. He says in verse
1, now really, only a believer can
say what he says here. I mean, only one who knows what
he's talking about can say this from the heart. But perhaps the
Lord is dealing with you, or at least you have an interest. Perhaps you can say from the
heart, Lord, let this be my confession after I hear this. Let me hear
this and let me believe this. All right? Look at verse one
now. Start there. We're just going to go down through
here. See what God's Word says to us. The Lord is my light and
my salvation. This is speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ, because the Scripture says that the name of Jesus,
every knee will bow and every tongue should confess that He's
Lord. So it's talking about the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Jesus Christ is light and salvation. This is what John's gospel says
in John chapter 1 verse 4 says, in him was life and the life
was the light of men. Christ is the light of men. In other words, men and women
and young people, man by nature is in darkness. until Christ
enlightens him. Man is in darkness about God.
Christ said, No man knoweth the Father, save the Son, and he
to whom the Son, S-O-N. But you could use S-U-N, couldn't
you? He's the light. S-O-N. No man knoweth the Father, save
the Son, and He to whom the Son revealed the
Father. So nobody knows anything about
God unless Jesus Christ reveals God. And that's what Christ said
He came to do. He said, I came to reveal the
Father. To reveal the Father. Christ
is the light of knowledge. He said, the Scripture says in
2 Corinthians 4, verse 6, God God who commanded the light to
shine out of darkness in the creation when God said, let there
be light in the beginning. He said, let there be light.
You see, the scripture says the world was without form and in
darkness. Well, God said, let there be
light. And there was light in the same
way. This is the way God's people
were. This is the way all men are by
nature, in darkness, not knowing God, not caring anything about
God. This was me. This was everybody here. But God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness back there, hath shined in our hearts
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, where is
it? In the face of Jesus Christ.
The light or the understanding of the glory of God, who He is
and how He is, His characteristics and how He does things, how He's
saved, in the face of a person. Jesus Christ. He's light. And
He's salvation. He's salvation. There's none
other name under heaven. given among men, whereby we must
be saved." Not Mohammed. Mohammed can't save. He's just
a man like we are. No more. Buddha can't save us. He's just a man. I've studied
that chubby fellow. He can't save a flea. He couldn't
save himself. Confucius can't save. He can
just say some clever things. Jesus Christ is the only Savior,
the only Messiah. That's what Christ said, I am
the way, the truth, the life. There's none of the, and I'm
quoting the scriptures, there's none of the name under heaven
given among men whereby we must be saved. He's called the Lord
That is, all things are in His hand. Jesus, the only Savior. Christ, the one mediator between
God and man. Just one. The only one. He is salvation. He's the only
Savior. He is, and David said, He's my
salvation. He's my salvation. I hope you
know Him as such. I hope you do. Anyone who believes and trusts
Jesus Christ, who knows this Christ, this is what they can
say. Look at verse 1. Whom shall I
fear? Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? If we fear God, now this is what
Scripture says, that fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom. This is what's missing. That's Proverbs 1, 7 and Proverbs
9, 10. This is what's missing in modern-day
religion. This is what Paul said in Romans
3, 18. There's no fear of God before their eyes. Everybody's so familiar with
God. They're on a first-name basis
with God, you know. But that's not the believer.
He fears God. And so, because he fears God, he doesn't fear man. That's the only thing that will
take the fear of man out of you, or the fear of the future out
of you. It's the only thing. You fear God, and then worship
Him, and He reveals Himself to you, and He speaks peace to your
heart, Comfort you and knowledge of him and his son. You know
that things are well with you, that God has ordered all things
concerning you. Of whom shall I fear? What shall
I be afraid? Nothing and no one. If I'm in
the hands of this all-powerful, all-sovereign God who's the judge
of the earth, who does right, whom Romans 8, 28 says all things
work together according to his sovereign purpose. They can't
be changed. That Satan and no one else can
thwart it. That he's doing exactly what he purposes to do. And I'm
in that purpose of his. Who shall I fear? What shall
I be afraid of? The only The only thing that
will give you this comfort is in the knowledge of an all-powerful
God. Now, this God that the modern generation is talking about,
who wants to do so much and you can't unless men let him, well,
he's no more powerful than we are. Then we need to fear what
communism, then we need to fear this and that and the other. If we trust the true and living
God, we know that we don't need to fear. Look at verse 2, when
the wicked, when the wicked, you see that? The wicked. When our Lord taught his disciples
to pray, he said, deliver us from the evil. Deliver us from evil. In the
original, it says the evil, the evil one. The wicked here is
the wicked one. prince of the power of the air,
Scripture calls him. And he has many of his ministers,
let's read on, it says, when the wicked even mine enemies
and my foes, you know who I'm speaking of, Satan and his demons. Now, I
know that this modern generation thinks that this is all fairytale-like
talk, you know, talk of the devil and so forth. No one talked about
Satan more than, and hell more than Jesus Christ did. Men choose to believe whom they
will, but Christ said, I beheld Satan fall. He said, I was there. And Isaiah 14 is the account
of that. Satan is very real. He is, and
his demons are very real. He said, our Lord said, Satan,
like a roaring lion, walketh about the earth, seeking whom
he may devour. This is what the Lord Jesus Christ
says about him. All right? He said he's like
a roaring lion. We'll look at verse 2 again with
that in mind. When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes,
came upon me to eat up my flesh, seeking whom he may devour, they
stumbled and fell." The Lord said to Peter, Satan
hath desired thee to sift you like wheat. And this is exactly what he desires
of every single one that trusts Christ, that believes Christ.
Everyone that's not under his rule, Satan's rule, is against
him. But what did the Lord say to
Peter? Peter, Satan hath desired thee to sift thee like wheat. But. What's Peter's hope? Say it out
loud, Terry. Christ said, but I pray for you. You see, it's stronger than he.
Men talk about the devil, and this is the reason that modern
man refuses to believe in God and refuses to believe in the
devil, because all their mixed-up notions about them. They've got
them backwards. They've got Satan all-powerful,
and they've got God helpless. They've got Satan doing all the
bad things in the world, and God standing by can't do anything
about it. Well, Scripture declares it's the other way around, doesn't
it? Scripture declares that God is
all-powerful, and He does according to His will among the armies
of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay
His hand or say unto Him, You can't do that. And that Satan
only does what God allows him to do. Is that what the Scripture
says? That's what it plainly says in
Job 1 and Job 2. Now that'll give you a little
peace about this thing. Somebody may have many questions
about all things that go on, but the Scripture says the judge
of the earth will do right. Though we don't fully understand
everything, we need to know that God is doing it. God is doing it. And our Lord
said to Peter, what he says to us, Satan hath desired thee,
the wicked one, like a lion, whom he may devour. But here's
the believer's hope. I pray for you. I'm stronger
than hate. I've crushed his head. I've crushed his head, his power
on Calvary's tree. Christ defeated him. He led captivity,
captive. Look at verse 3. Though an host
should encamp against me. Though an host should encamp
against me. Listen to Ephesians 6. I want
to read it to you. I want to turn and make sure
I don't misquote it. But Ephesians 6 says this. Listen. Now, David said, Though an host
should encamp against me. Ephesians 6, verse 12. I'm reading
from this. He said, We wrestle not against
flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places. And I'm not making light of the
devil. I'm not like these other preachers
who braggingly and boastfully talk about how they resist the
devil and all that. We're no match for him. He's
been dealing with human nature from the very beginning. He's
a lot wiser and more subtle and crafty than, well, he did in
Adam and Eve, didn't he? But I know who is a match for
him. And I know who's defeated him. And I know who he answers
to. I know who Satan answers to.
We read that, like I said, in Job 1 and 2. He has to come answer
to Christ. And we're wrestling against principalities. And this is why Paul said in
that same chapter, he says, Brethren, be strong in the Lord and the
power of his might. Because we're not wrestling with
flesh and blood. We're not dealing with another man here. We're
dealing with someone much more powerful than we are. And David
says this here. The wicked came upon me to eat
me, beat me up, he stumbled and fell. Oh, a host shouldn't camp
against me. Principalities and power, spiritual
wickedness in high places. He says, verse three, my heart
shall not fear. Why? He's a defeated foe. He's defeated. I love that story
in the Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, where the two The two were walking
to the Celestial City, and in the path to the Celestial
City, it said up ahead they saw two roaring lions, one on each
side of the path, just roaring and making all sorts of noise
like they were going to eat them up, you know, if they came anywhere
near. And they kept going, because the evangelist said, you've got
to go one way. Straight is the way. Straight
is the gate. Narrow is the way. This is the
only way to get there. Oh, this is a picture of Christ,
he said. Well, he says, as those pilgrims began to keep, kept
walking that way, and those lions, they looked so ferocious and
so fierce, the closer they got, the more they realized, they
finally realized, They were chained up. They could
only go so far. They could only go so far. They
couldn't touch his anointed. They'd roar and scare him to
death, but they couldn't touch him because the master had put
chains on him. He put chains on him. And so
there's real comfort right there for the believer. There really
is. He said in verse 3, "...my heart shall not fear, though
war should arise against me." And I tell you what, every believer
can say with the Apostle Paul in Romans 7, Paul said, I see
another law in my members warring against the law of my mind—sin. Really, Satan is not the believer's
greatest struggle, per se, is self. It's this, our biggest
enemy is our self. The wicked one we have to deal
with most is our self. Right? Paul said in Romans 7,
I see a law in my members warring against the law of my mind, bringing
me into captivity to the law of sin, lust, and covetousness,
and hate and envy and strife. And he says, O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? Anybody quote
the last verse? Romans 7.25? I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus Christ is the Deliverer. So David says, the war should
rise against me, in this will I be confident. Christ is my
confidence. He is my confidence. And this
is what David goes on to say. Look at verse 4. He says, Now,
does your Bible, if you have a King James Bible, The word
thing, is that in italics? Everybody? What that means is, whenever
you see a word that's in italics like that, it means it was not
in the original Hebrew or Greek, whether Old or New Testament,
in the Hebrew or Greek Bible. OK? That was added by the English
translator to help with the meaning, all right? That's a bad addition
right here. It's a bad addition right here.
It's not a thing that we desire. I dropped that word out of there,
OK? We won't do damage to it. We'll
help the text, I believe. One have I desired. There's one
that I have desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after. that
one will I seek after. Now, listen, there's a threefold,
David's going to give us a threefold desire of the believer here.
All right. Threefold. But these three are
one. Does that sound familiar? 1 John 5, are you with me? He said these three, these three
desires are fulfilled in one. These three are one. I want you
to turn over to Philippians chapter 3 with me. Philippians chapter
3. Philippians 3. I'll give you
plenty of time to find it. This is a believer's threefold
desire there in Psalm 27, but they're all found in one place.
All three desires are found in one. Or that is, one person. You see, the believer's one desire
is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. Every believer,
every believer, like the world, once sought and devoted all of
his being to seeking after pleasure and the world and the things
in it. But when God does a work—now,
it's not to say that Believers don't have desires after these
things anymore. But the thing is, they have this
one all-consuming desire. Whether they get these other
things or not, that's beside the point. They must have this
one thing. You see? Believers want a nice
home. There's nothing wrong with that, unless you be consumed with it,
unless you're absolutely coveted. All right? There's nothing wrong
with having a nice home, or a car, or a family, or desiring a wife,
or a husband, or children, or what have you, a good job that
you might attend church on the Lord's Day. There's nothing wrong
with that. OK? But whether you get these things
or not, this is the one thing that you must have. This is the
one. whom you must have. And this
is what the Apostle Paul said, and Paul wrote this in prison.
Paul didn't have any of these things, but he said, there's
one thing I do need at this time. Now, he could have used some
comforts, some fleshly comforts sitting in prison, couldn't he?
He could have used a nice pillow, Henry, couldn't he? He didn't
have it. He could have used some nice quilts and could have used
some nice home-cooked food, a couple of loaves of bread, good bread.
it living on hardtack and water, you know. Couldn't it? He said,
no, one. Read it with me. Philippians
3, verse 8, or verse 7. He said, Now what things were
gained to me are those things I thought that I had gained,
or those things that I thought were so needful, those I counted
lost for Christ. Yea, doubtless I count all things
but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things. I didn't
count them but dumb. Calvin knew her anyway. That
I may, and here's his desire, that I might win Christ and be
found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the
law, or me doing something. to be accepted with God, but
that righteousness which is through the faith of the faithfulness
of Jesus Christ on my behalf, the righteousness which is of
God by faith, that I might know him. The power of his resurrection,
the fellowship of his suffering, being made conformable unto his
death. Look down at verse 13 and 14. Brethren, I'm not there. I count
not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, he said. Read it there. I forget things
that are behind and reach forth unto those things which are before.
I press toward the mark for the prize. Here's the prize I want,
he said. Here's the pearl, what great
prize. The high calling of God in Christ Jesus. This one thing. This one thing. And back in Psalm
27, David said, this one thing have I desired of the Lord. And
that's what I'm going to seek after. You know, Whatever a man or woman
wants, really wants, is what they're going to go after it.
Whatever you really want, whatever I really want, is what we're
going to go after. And we're going to go after it
hard until we get it. That's just the nature of the
beast, isn't it? People do what they want to do.
If you want to go to a... Here's a silly illustration,
but you know, people just love... to go to ball games, you know. I like ball games, but I sure
ain't going to sleep on the sidewalk all night and wait for a ticket.
Well, men and women do, don't they? The World Series or the
Super Bowl or the Final Four or whatever it may be, you know,
they'll sleep all night long and get a ticket to the Big Blue
or the Carolina Blue or whatever blue it might be. They'll sleep
all night waiting on tickets to see old fellas running around
in their underwear. Want that? Men do what they want
to do. Here's the point I'm trying to
make. People do what they want to do. If they want it bad enough,
they'll seek it with everything they have. Well, David said,
This one thing I desire of the Lord, and that's what I'm going
after. And whatever it takes, that's
what I want to do to obtain it. People tell me, I'm seeking the
Lord. I'm seeking the Lord, and I want to argue. Argue. He said, seek and you shall find. I'm asking the Lord, I'm asking
the Lord, and I wonder, are you like that widow? Remember that
importunate widow in the Gospel of Luke who kept coming, kept
coming? And the judge said, I'm going to, I'm going to answer
her. She keeps coming. Because if you knew, if you desired,
He would ask, and he'd give it to you. He said, ask, you shall
receive. Now that means keep on asking,
keep on asking. Not a one-time thing. Salvation, not a one-time
thing. Salvation, not seeking, you know,
one day and then not seeking the next. Salvation, continual
seeking. All right? Now let me give this
illustration. This will hit home. That woman right there. She's
a woman now. But when I met her, she was only
17 years old. But I fell in love with her. I thought I was in love with
other women. It was puppy love. I really fell
in love with her. And I decided, she says she decided
before I did, but no, I decided I was going to have her. And
I was willing to do anything to have her. And like I've said
before, I climbed mountains, I swam the ocean. No, but I did
do lots of things. I went to great lengths to woo
her, to win her, to marry her. I got her, don't
I? Or rather, oh rather, she has
me. That's a good illustration, really,
isn't it? When the Holy Spirit shows a
man the beauty of Christ, a woman, a young person, the beauty of
Christ, his need of Christ, they say, I've got to have Christ.
I've got to have him, and I'm going to have him. The fact is,
Christ already determined to have him. David said, that's
what I'm going to seek after. That's what I'm going to speak
at. Look down at verse 8. Look at verse 8. When thou sayest,
seek ye my face. When's a man going to seek the
Lord like this? When he says, seek ye my face. When's somebody
going to seek the Lord and keep seeking until he's found of Him?
When the Lord says, seek my face, son. So I said, die place what
I see. You see Psalm 110 verse 3 says,
die people. What? Shall be willing. When? When they decide? No. When? Go ahead and say it louder. And that sinner says, I sure
do. He says, seek me. Believe I will. Believe I will. But not until
then. Look at the first thing he says,
I want to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my
life. I want to dwell in the house of the Lord. Now, turn
over to Psalm 68. Hurry, I'm running out of time. Psalm 68,
turn over there. Now, the house of the Lord, God
doesn't dwell in buildings. Men seem to think he does. That's
the reason they adorn them like they do. Make them out of glass
and put all these pictures and things. Well, if we make this
pretty enough, this will be a real spiritual place here. That's
pretty much an indication that the Spirit's not there. The less you have on the inside,
the more you have to have on the outside. The less of this you have, the
more of that you have to have. God didn't look on the
outward countenance anyway. God's not impressed with our
doings. It says God looks on the heart. It says where two or three people
are gathered. It says where? It doesn't say it's got to be
a fine building where two or three people are gathered. where two or three are gathered
in my name to worship God, seeking Christ." He said, that's where
I'll be. But generally, now listen, generally it is in the context
of the church, because the church is a group of people seeking
the Lord. That's what everybody in here, hopefully, probably
not everybody, but most people in here, come to seek a word
from the Lord. Isn't that why you came tonight? Let's hear what the Lord has
to say to us from His Word. I need a Word in season. One
of the ladies greeted me tonight, and she said, I've been looking
forward to this all day long. I need this. I need this. Well,
that's why believers come here. This is the house of the Lord. This is where two or three people
are gathered in His Name, sometimes more. And they seek the Lord. He said, well, that's where I'm
going to be. He dwells in their midst. Look at Psalm 68, look
at verse 15. Now it says the hill of God is
the hill of Bashan. What hill is that? Well, the
hill, Mount Zion. It's all the way through the
psalm called Mount Zion. And that talks about the church.
It's not talking about Israel over there. It's talking about
the church. The hill of Zion, remember that song we sang? The
hill of Zion yields a thousand sacred sweets before we reach
the heavenly field or walk the golden street. The hill of Zion
is a thousand sacred sweets. In the church where Christ is,
who is the sweetness, the goodness of God? Read on. The hill of
God, verse 16. Why leap ye ye high hills? Why
are you leaping? Well, because this is the hill
which God desires to dwell in. You see that? God does dwell
in a place, wherever His people are. Yea, the Lord will dwell
in it forever. He'll dwell in it forever. The church is the dwelling place
of God. And like I said, it's not a building.
It's the hearts of His people. It's the hearts of His people,
and that's a congregation of people. All right? Back to the
text now. Back to Psalm 27. This is where
God dwells, where Christ dwells, and where I want to be all the
days of my life. People said, I don't like to
go to church. Well, if I had to attend what most
people are attending today, I wouldn't go. I'm just being blunt with
you. If I had to listen to these fellows
that are preaching today, I would not go at all. If I had to watch and put up
with all this foolishness that's going on today and had to subject
myself to all this nonsense, all this begging and pleading
and pleading for my money and wanting to count my head, I just
wouldn't go. I wouldn't. But you find a place where people
are really seeking the Lord, and who are just trying to see
what this book says, who are seeking Christ, wanting to worship
God, singing songs, not because you're supposed to sing songs,
but out of hearts of gratitude and praise and worship. That's a good place to be. Good place to be, and it's a
foretaste. The song we sing says it's a
foretaste of glory divine. A person who doesn't like to
sing praises to God now is not going to be there then, in heaven
then, because that's all we're going to do in heaven. Contrary
to what people think, that we're going to be whatever, playing
golf away. Scripture says they sing night
and day. There's no night, but it uses
that as a an analogy. They sing. We don't like to sing
praise. Read his word. Hear the preaching
of the word. I really believe Christ is going
to preach to us for eternity. Oh, this is what the next thing
said. David says that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all
the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord. The beauty
of the Lord. Not to behold the beauty of the
church. And once again, that's why people
want to adorn their buildings, to draw people in and say, what
a beautiful church you have. That's not what I want people
to go out of here saying. What a beautiful church you have.
I want them to go out of here saying, what a beautiful Lord
you worship. Rex Ferguson said he wants to hear somebody go
out and say, not what a great sermon, but what a great Savior. Now, what a great preacher, what
a great redeemer. What a great gospel. To behold the beauty of the Lord,
the beauty of the Lord, to behold Christ, his power, his glory,
his person, his work. Now, Isaiah 53, a fellow and
I today were reading Isaiah 53, and it said in there, when we
see him talking about Christ, The natural man, when we see
him, there's no beauty about him that we should desire him.
That's what's wrong with all these pictures of Jesus today.
For one thing, there's not one single physical description of
Jesus Christ in all the Bible, not one. Nowhere does it say
his hair lays in locks either. I used to think that myself.
It doesn't say that anywhere. There's no description of him
except what's in Revelation 1. Read that one. It says his eyes are a flame
of fire. But they've got this picture
of Jesus, you know, he's got blue eyes. You show me a blue-eyed
Jew. There ain't no blue-eyed Jews.
He's got blue eyes, he looks like a cockade, he looks like
a wasp, you know, doesn't he? Doesn't he? Looks like a white
man, a blue-eyed white man. He's all pretty and handsome
and he's, you know, he's leaning over and he's looking so pretty
or he's knocking on the door and he's got this sweet Peter,
we got a lamb in his arm, you know. I get mad thinking about
it. But the scripture says when we
see him, there's no beauty about him that we should desire him.
That means he was an ugly fellow to look at. Doesn't it? That there's no physical attraction
to the man Jesus when he was on this earth. Why? Some of you
know why. That tabernacle of old in the
wilderness. Remember the tabernacle is such a picture of Jesus Christ.
The tabernacle, the tent where God said this is the only place
you're going to worship me. What it looked like on the outside
was a brown paper bag. It was covered with badger skin.
It looked like a rough ugly brown tent, and all the Moabites and
the Jebusites and the Hivites and the Hittites and the Parasites
and the Parasites. Yeah, they were there, too. They
drove by. They were riding by on their
camels, and they looked down at all those Jews milling around
in that tabernacle, going in, going out, and all that, and
they said, What are they seeing that? What's going on down there? They say they're worshiping God.
I don't see anything pretty about that. It's like a tent to me. Ah, but you go on the inside.
That's where the glory of God is found, on the inside. On the
inside, it's all laid with gold. And on the inside, it's the kind
of glory of God. And Jesus Christ says, when we
see Him, there's no beauty about Him we should desire. That's
the reason they killed Him. They were offended by Him. They didn't see anything else.
You're just a man like we are. He's just a carpenter's son. He didn't have a halo hanging
around his head. Because he didn't come to try
to get the world to see how beautiful he was. He had a people he was
coming to see. And the beauty they saw was on
the inside. The beauty they saw was what
he said. what they heard. I told you about
my dog. This is a picture of the believer. My dog doesn't love what I look
like. He thinks all humans look alike. Ugly. Tall. He thinks I'm tall. All humans look alike to a dog.
What is he enamored with? My voice. He delights to hear my voice.
And see, the just shall live by faith, not sight. It's the
reason there's no picture of Jesus in the Scripture. It's
the reason we're not supposed to have one on our walls either.
That's a graven image. It's a graven image. We see Christ
by faith. If we had a picture on our wall,
we'd worship it. We're supposed to worship a true and living
God. who's seated on a throne. We're going to see him someday
as he is. No picture will do him justice. Right? Oh, the beauty of the
Lord is in his person, not his face. It's in his person. It's in his power, it's in his
glory, it's in his work. The beauty of the Lord is in
what Christ came to do for sinners. To be made sin for us. You see
any beauty, listen, you see any beauty about that piece of meat
hanging on that tree on Calvary? That same, Isaiah 52 says, his
visage was marred more than any man. There's no adequate picture
painted of Christ on the cross. You see him, you see these pictures,
don't you? Him hanging there, and you got a little trickle
of blood here and there, a little trickle of blood down his face,
you know? A little trickle of blood down
his side, but other than that, he looks fair. Scripture says his visage was
marred more than any man. He was absolutely, he was beaten,
beaten, beaten, beaten, beaten to a pulp, pulled his beard out,
shoved a crown on his head, beaten some more. He was a swollen,
massive, unrecognizable human flesh. Blood just, look, it'd
make you throw up. You see the beauty about that?
See the beauty of that man hanging on a cross? I do. What you talking? Why you shaking your head like
this for? Huh? That's the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world. See, the sacrifice of old, the
Old Testament sacrifice, that same tabernacle, the high priest
of old That place was bloody everywhere. He took a lamb and
slit his throat and took that blood and sprinkled people and
book and altar and just, there's blood everywhere. You see any
beauty about that? That ain't pretty. That ain't
pretty religion. Don't talk about all that. This
is the beauty of the Lord. This is what puts away our sin.
God said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. There's only
one way to have sins put away. Blood, covered with blood. So that bloody piece of meat
hanging on the cross, now there's no beauty about his outward visage
desirable, but oh, I see the Lamb of God. I take away the
sin, my sins. God hath laid on him, Isaiah
53 said, the iniquity of us all. By his stripes I am healed. Do you see any beauty in that?
He was wounded for my transgression. Do you see any beauty in that?
It's the beauty of the Lord, you see. It's his person, it's
his work. Oh, David said, that's what I
want to look into all the days of my life. The beauty of the
Lord. Read the next thing. And to inquire
in his temple. To inquire in his temple. You
got any questions you'd like to ask the Lord? Oh, my. You see, the half hadn't
been told. to inquire in his temple. You
remember when the Lord said to his disciples, he said, I have
many things to say unto you, but you're not able to bear them
now. Well, John, they're able now. Those disciples are able
now. You know how their hearts are
burning on the road to Emmaus? Do you know how their hearts
burn when Christ opened the scriptures up to them? Let me ask you, when
God opens a word to you, just one little word in season, do
you know how your heart jumps a little bit? How you get a thrill
when the gospel, just every now and then, you get a little glimpse
of his glory and you get a little thrill out of it? Imagine. Try to imagine having the capability
of that never ending. That's just what he's saying.
That's what I desire, to inquire in his temple, to have the capacity
to stay awake for eternity and hear the gospel and be blessed
by it. With every word, to hang on every word with equal enthusiasm. You see, every word has eternal
significance. We don't have the capacity to
see it. We don't have the understanding. If we did, God would say, but,
and we said, God, yes. And so, now, there are single
words that do give us a thrill now, now. Behold, barely, and
on and on. He says, I want to inquire into
his temple. I want to inquire into his temple. Look over quickly, and I'll close
with these thoughts. I'm sorry, Psalm 65. David said,
One thing have I desired, and that will I seek after. I want
you to look how similar this is. Psalm 65. One thing that I desire, what
will make a man, and we've already talked about this, is seeking
the Lord. What will make a man seek the
Lord is when God says, seek ye my faith. What will make, or
rather, who will make? a man desire the Lord. You see, like I quoted to you,
when I see him, when we see him, there's no beauty about him that
I should desire him. I went for twenty years at least
hearing the gospel preached as a young fellow and I wasn't interested. I thought, well, I'd rather be
doing another thing, chasing girls. Well, what made me all of a sudden
desire the Lord? even of thy holy temple." He
said the same thing. He said the same thing? Same
thing. Why? He got the same desire. The believer has the same desire,
always. To know Christ, to win Christ. You see, God one day
decided that I would seek Him. And I sought Him. And I'm still
seeking Him by His power. Not my will. at His will. God decided one day that I would
desire the Lord, cause me to approach unto Him and desire
Him. And I desire Him. I still desire
Him by His power. I seek Him because He first sought
me. I found Him because He found me. I call on Him because He
first called me. I love Him because He first loved
me. I know him now because he foreknew
me, and I shall someday know him like he knows me now." You
think about that. You think about that. Well, I'm
going to quit with that. My time's run out. But, oh, my. People, you've got another hour. Just give me another hour. Verse
5. Go home and read it for yourself. He shall hide me. I didn't even
get to that. That's what we sung about. He shall hide me in this
pavilion. Well, Lord willing, we'll have
time to go through it. But this one thing, and I hope
it's your one desire. I hope he's your one desire.
Because this is the desire he'll feel. Like my pastor preached
Sunday. This is the will of the Lord.
You can be confident. But this is His will, that everyone
that seeth the Son and believeth in Him should have everlasting
life. That's the will of God. Lord,
if You will, You can make me whole. If You will, You can save
me. If You will, I want to know You. I will. You can be confident
of that. All right. Let's stand. We'll
dismiss this in prayer. We thank you for your word. We
thank you for inspiring your psalmist, David,
to write the very thoughts and intents of our heart. And every
believer in here can say the same thing. Every man, every
woman, young person, after God's own heart, like David of old,
can truly say from the heart, there's one thing, one person
I desire. And it's going to have to come
from the Lord, and that's what I seek after. O Lord, we desire
to win Christ, be found in Him, His righteousness covered in
His blood, know Him, and to someday be with Him where
He is, inquire in His temple. I pray that you might grant the
desire of everyone in here that truly, from the heart, desires
these things with David. And I know you will. I'm confident
you will. Every seeker you will be found
of. Every asker you will answer. So, O Lord, we call you to your
Word, to be true to your Word. We know you will. Reveal yourself. to your sheep. In Christ's name
we pray, amen.