Okay. I love you. Once again this evening we greet you in the name of the
Lord Jesus. It is good to be able to speak
with you and maybe in a few weeks we'll be able to meet again as
a congregation, but until then this will, I hope, be a blessing
to you as you still can hear the Word of God and worship in spirit and in truth, wherever
you are. And be you with your family or
just an individual, it's good to know that the Lord says, I'll
never leave you and I'll never forsake you. Let me just say
this before I read some scripture, and I'm going to be reading from
Hebrews chapter 10. if you want to follow with me,
Hebrews 10. We're very much aware sermon
audio has had their troubles, and it is due to the fact that
there are just so many people using sermon audio, and if it
does crash or if you have difficulties, we want you to know that we broadcast
on three separate sites. Of course there is sermon audio,
but if that freezes or you have difficulties there, go to our
Facebook page, go to our website I should say, and from there
you can watch on YouTube or Facebook. And each of those, all three,
sermon, audio, YouTube, Facebook, Each of them is the exact same
live broadcast. And so if you do have issues
with your connection, feel free to try one of the alternate live
streams. I'm not too much on these things,
but Matt has informed me of what to say to you, and he's taken
care of this, and we very much appreciate his expertise in making
sure that the Word of God goes forth by way of the Internet. I want to read just a very few
verses to you here this evening from Hebrews chapter 10. And I'm going to begin in verse
11, Hebrews 10, 11. And every priest standeth daily,
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins. But this man, this God-man. After he had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever, he sat down on the right hand of God, and
it says, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. May God bless the reading of
his word, and may he bless in this service this evening as
we meet together. Let me have prayer with you,
and then Susanna is going to sing, and then I'll bring the
message for you. Lord, we're very grateful that
we can join our hearts together for worship. In your good and
wise providence, we are prevented from meeting together as a congregation. And we don't know how long this
separation will be. We certainly miss each other. Lord, you know that we need the
fellowship and we enjoy seeing our brothers and our sisters
in Christ Jesus. And yet we know that all of these
things are under the reign of our God and Savior. Lord, we
bow to your will and while we don't begin to understand The
things that you do nor the reasons that you do them, we do acknowledge
that you reign over all things. And that includes times of sickness
and times of well-being. And it also includes this virus
that is certainly potentially a dangerous thing. It has been
dangerous for many. Lord, we ask that you would keep
our congregation safe. Keep us well. Lord, hedge your
people about. You're the great physician. We
ask that as the great physician, you would prevent us from catching this disease. And if we do, according to your
will, we pray that you will heal our bodies according to your
eternal purpose. Lord, we thank you that the issues
of life and death are in your hands. And the one who governs
over all is our good and wise and gracious Savior. The one
who loved us and who gave himself for us. Father, I ask this evening that
you would speak words of peace to your dear children. It's very
easy for us, especially in the atmosphere in which we live,
the climate of danger and fear it would seem on every hand,
it would be easy for us to even become like those who don't know
you and be full of fear and worry and anxiety. Lord, give us a
spirit of joy in Christ Jesus. Let us be filled with great confidence
in the Master. And Lord, we know that all things
will work together for the good of your dear children, those
who are called according to your purpose. And so we rejoice in
your purpose We rejoice in the salvation in Christ Jesus. We ask that you would indeed
bless, especially the members of our immediate congregation,
but there are others, Lord, of your people who are, we think,
watching and tuning in this evening, and they also believe the gospel. Go to other houses of worship.
But they join us this evening to exalt Christ Jesus and listen
to the message of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We're
thankful for these. We thank for other faithful ministers
of the gospel. Or there are several men who
stand boldly and preach the gospel of your free and sovereign grace. We're so thankful for them. And
we ask that you would hold them up and provide for them. Lord,
provide for your people who, due to no fault of their own,
have perhaps been laid off, lost their jobs. Lord, we are thankful
you have promised that you will provide for your children. And
we ask that you do that for those who are beginning to get in the
midst of a need. And may we recognize your good
hand in all things. And as we meet together tonight,
Lord, we ask that you would send forth your word in power. May
the gospel of our dear Savior be very precious to us. the message
of his great accomplishment of salvation. Lord, we rejoice in
him and the good things that we have in him. And we're thankful
that you're our God and that we have the privilege to address
your people even in this way. by means of the internet and
those who shall listen later to the CD or the DVD or whatever. Lord, these are gifts that you've
given to us and so we shall continue to be faithful even in these
unusual times in which we find ourselves. So bless your dear
children and Lord save the lost make us to rejoice in Christ
Jesus. These things we ask in the name
of our Savior and for his sake. Amen. There is coming a day when no No more clouds in the sky, no
more tears to dim the eye. All is peace forevermore on that
happy golden shore. What a day, glorious day. What a day that will be when
my Jesus I shall see. And I look upon his face, the
one who saved me by his grace. When he takes me by his hand
and leads me through the There'll be no sorrow there,
no more burdens to bear, no more sin to bear. me what a day glorious day that
will be what a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see
and I look ? Joy will swell in my soul ? ?
Seeing Him who made me whole ? ? Standing in His righteousness
? ? Christ my Savior I will bless ? ? Joining with the saints above
? ? Objects of His saving love ? What a day that will be, when
my Jesus I shall see, face, the one who saved me by
his grace. When he takes me by the hand
and leads me through the promised land, what a day, glorious day. In that pure, happy land, joining
with the ransomed band, I will sing sovereign praise, and of
Christ who took my place, freed from sin, my Savior's name. What a day, glorious day, that
will be. What a day, that will be, when
my Jesus I shall see, me by his grace when he takes
me by the hand and leads me through the promised land. What a day,
glorious day that will be. What a day, glorious day Well, I thank you for that. I'm
going to begin this evening in Psalm 65, and then we're going
to go right back to the portion that we've begun to look at,
and that is Psalm 91. But let me begin here in Psalm
65. Psalm 65 and verse 4. And I hope and pray that God
will enable me to deliver to you the
message that I believe He's given to me, laid upon my heart for
this evening. And I ask the Lord to minister
to His people. Even as I prayed a few minutes
ago, these are troubling times, days of anxiousness for many
people. Unusual days. None of us have
ever seen the likes of this sort of thing, and nerves are on edge,
and people are short-tempered, and that sort of thing, and the
doomsdays are coming out. But Let those who know God, who believe
the Lord Jesus Christ, let us as always rest in Him and find
our peace and our joy in our Savior and in what He has done
for us. A wonderful verse of Scripture
here. It's one of my favorites indeed. Psalm 65 and verse 4,
and I'll use this as a launching place for my message. Blessed
is the man. And you can go through the Scriptures,
and I'm sure you have. You've heard messages on the
man who is blessed. And this is the initial blessing. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest. You'll notice that David presents
this choice of God in the present tense. And even though it is
a blessing that precedes the foundation of the world, we become
very much aware of our election by virtue of our calling by the
Spirit of God. That's why Peter says, give diligence,
brethren, to make your calling and election sure. And if you
do these things, you're not going to fall. So the only way we know
of our election is if we're called. called to faith in Christ Jesus,
called to cast our burden of sin upon Him, called to come
to Him, to believe Him and to rest in Him. So he says, blessed
is the man. Oh, how blessed is that man,
is that woman, is that person that thou choosest. He sets the
election down as the very foundation blessing. This is the first one. All of the rest proceed from
this. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causes to approach. He causes us to approach unto
him or unto thee. And this is effectual calling.
Now get the order because David lays this out for us. Here's
the very first one God chose us. He chose us unto salvation. He chose us to be a holy people. He chose us to be without blemish. He chose us to be those who are
conformed to the image of Christ Jesus. He chose us, 2 Thessalonians
2 verse 13, unto salvation. Blessed is that person whom you
choose, Lord, That's the blessed person. The world says, blessed
is the wealthy, blessed is the healthy, blessed is the man who
has a big family, everybody's doing well, everybody's got good
health, and everybody's got money in the bank, and everybody's
got their houses paid for. The world says, blessed is that
man, but David says, now wait, blessed is the man that God chooses. That's the blessed man. You want
to talk about blessing? The blessing of God's choice
in the salvation. The reason you believe, the reason
you draw near to Christ Jesus is because God chose you in the
salvation. Not for any good thing that you
did. Not for any work that He foresaw
that you would do, but only because of His own purpose of grace.
He set His heart on you. He loved you with an everlasting
love. This is the very foundation grace. This is the one that leads to
all the rest. It's no use in talking about
all the other blessings of God, all the things that God has done
for us, unless we understand they all issue forth from this
blessing. Blessed is the person that thou
choosest. And that leads to this. God causes
us, He makes us, He forces us, He draws us to approach unto
Him. This is effectual drawing. This
is effectual power of grace. The Lord sends us the gospel.
He sends to us the message of redemption. The message of this
is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ
Jesus came to the world to save sinners of whom I'm chief. He
sends that message forth and then the Spirit of God works
mysteriously in us and He draws us to the Savior. As it puts
it here, He causes us to approach. This is not of us. You understand
this. He causes us to approach. Who
caused you to approach to Christ? You're just going along life's
merry way. You didn't have any thoughts
of the Lord Jesus Christ, but God dealt with you and He caused
you to approach unto Jesus Christ. And the reason He caused you
to approach to Jesus Christ for salvation is because initially
He chose you. So here's the order. Here's the
choice of God. And then He's the one who calls
you to approach. And watch this, it is that you
might dwell, dwell in God's courts. That's what we're going to be
dealing with. That's what we've been talking about from Psalm,
the 91st Psalm, that we may dwell in thy courts, that we may abide.
He chose us, He drew us, and therefore we abide in His presence. And then that leads to satisfaction. We shall be satisfied with the
goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. The same God
who chose us, the same God who brought us by effectual grace
to draw near to Him. in order that we might dwell
in His courts, that we might abide in Christ Jesus, He's the
one that causes us to be satisfied with the goodness of God's house.
We're satisfied with Christ Jesus. We're satisfied with God's house.
There's nothing in this whole world that can really satisfy
except the grace of God to us in Christ Jesus. That satisfies
us. even of his holy temple. Now
go over with me. Now go over with me to Psalm
91 with that given as an introduction. No wonder then David says, oh,
the blessedness of the man you choose, the man you cause to
approach, to dwell in your courts and to be satisfied, to be satisfied. Are you satisfied? I tell you,
I'm satisfied with Christ Jesus. I'm satisfied with his salvation. I'm satisfied with his forgiveness
of sins. And I'll tell you who is more
satisfied with Christ Jesus, God the Father is. He is satisfied
with what he did. He's satisfied with his redemptive
work. And the evidence of that is he
arose from the dead. He brought him back from the
dead. And then he took him home to heaven. And he said, sit here
at my right hand till I make all you enemies your footstool.
God's satisfied with Christ Jesus and he's our satisfaction. was
satisfied with Christ Jesus. Now, look here in Psalm 91 in
verse one, and here's the subject I'm dealing with this evening.
What is found in the secret place? What is found or what is to be
found in the secret place? He that dwelleth. He that dwelleth. Remember, David said there in
Psalm 65 that we might dwell in thy courts. See, whoever the
writer is here is saying the same thing. He that dwelleth,
he that abides, he that is there and remains in the secret place
of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Now, by the grace of God, we've
been brought into this secret place. We've been brought into
the presence of the Lord. And as we're brought into the
presence of the Lord, We see some wonderful things. We see
some marvelous things. And this is what I want to deal
with this evening, what is to be found in the secret place. I think of Aaron, the first high
priest of Israel, when he entered into the holy of holies, because
that's really what this is alluding to. the Holy of Holies, where
God dwells. And when Aaron on that day, it's
talked about in Leviticus 16, that day of Atonement, when he
went in to that Holy of Holies, what did he see? What did he
find? What did he observe? We know
he did some things, and I'm not gonna get into all that he did
on the Day of Atonement, though that makes for a marvelous study.
It's in Leviticus chapter 16, and you read that later if you
would. But what did he observe? And even now, as we who are the
people of God, who abide in his courts, who dwell in the very
presence of God through Christ Jesus, we dwell in His presence
representatively in our Savior because, as it says in Ephesians
chapter 2, we're seated in Christ in the heavenlies. We're already
in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. He's the head, we're the body.
As surely as he's there, so we're going to be there and therefore
God speaks of it as though it's already done. That's how certain
our salvation is. There's no question about the
salvation of God's people. There are no ifs, ands, or buts
about our salvation. We're gonna be there and in God's
mind and in God's purpose, we are there through Christ Jesus. Now what do we see there? What
can be found in the secret place of the Most High? What can be
observed as we abide under the shadow of the Almighty? Alright, what can be found there?
Number one, I give you five things. Number one, here we will see
a revelation of the very glory of God. we'll see a revelation
of the glory of God. In Zechariah 2, 5, for I saith
the Lord will be unto her, will be unto Jerusalem, be unto my
people, a wall of fire about her, and I will be the glory
in the midst of her. The glory in the midst of her. When we, by faith, enter into
the Holy of Holies. When God causes us to approach
unto Him, and we enter in, we enter in to be with Christ, to
trust in Him, to bow at His feet, and to rest there in His presence. The first thing we see is a revelation
of the glory of God. Listen, the glory of God is the
first reason for everything. God's glory. And though the heavens
and the earth declared the glory of God, creation does. Nowhere
is God's glory more seen than it is seen in salvation. This
is God's glory. Moses said, Lord, show me a glory. I'll show you my glory. I'll
make my goodness pass before you. I'll be gracious to whom
I'll be gracious. I'll be merciful to whom I'll
be merciful. That's God's glory. And as we
enter into the Holy of Holies, we see a revelation of God's
glory. Look with me back in Exodus chapter
40. Look in Exodus, please, chapter
40. Right to the end of the book
of Exodus. Last chapter. And look at the
last statement. of verse 33, Exodus 40, 33, last
statement. So Moses finished the work. What work? The work of making
sure that tabernacle was built to all of the exact specifications
of God. So Moses finished the work. Then, now watch this, verse 34.
Then something happened. and a cloud covered the tent
of the congregation, where tent is tabernacle. This cloud covered
the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled
the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter
into the tent of the congregation, and here's the reason, because
the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled
the tabernacle. He couldn't even go in. The glory
of the Lord, that bright, bright Shekinah glory just filled that
place. And Moses couldn't even go in.
He made that place according to the instructions that God
gave him, but after it was finished and God moved in and God manifested
His glory, Moses couldn't even go in. And I'll read the rest of it,
verse 36. And when the cloud was taken
up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward
in all their journeys. But if this spiral of a cloud,
because it come out of the top of the tabernacle as a spiral,
and then it just, it spread out over the congregation of Israel.
When it was not taken up, then they journeyed not. They didn't
move any. until the day that it was taken
up. Then when that cloud got to be a spiral again and began
to move, then Moses said, time to pack up and move now. And
verse 38 says, for the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle
by day and fire was on it by night in the sight of all the
house of Israel throughout all their journeys. That bright,
light coming out of the tabernacle, from behind the veil, from the
Holy of Holies. Moses wasn't even able to enter
in there. And that bright light represented,
it represented the abiding presence of God. That's what it represented.
Now, that doesn't mean God's presence was only in that bright
light because God fills the universe. All the universe is in God. God
is everywhere. But ever since 2,000 years ago
when the Lord Jesus came, that glory of God has abided in a
man. This is the astounding thing.
So go with me to the New Testament. We're talking about the glory
of God. What do you see in that holy place, that holy of holies? We see the glory of God, a revelation
of the glory of God. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
4. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter
4. You see, here's a glory that
defies description. How would you describe the glory
of God? Who has the mind, the intellect,
the vocabulary to set forth the fullness of the glory of God? And yet the glory of God abides
in one man. That's astounding. It abides in one man. Why Moses
and all the children of Israel, they saw the glory of God, the
Shekinah glory come out of the top of the tabernacle. It's amazing. It was so bright. It was so illuminating. It was so glorious. Moses couldn't
even go in there. And yet that glory of God abides
in a man. Look here in 2 Corinthians chapter
4. Verse three says, but if our
gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. In whom the God
of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not,
lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus, the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God. Where is it? In the face, in the face of Jesus
Christ. We behold Christ Jesus and we're
looking at the glory of God. The glory of His wonderful person. The glory of His work. You see,
those that dwell, those that abide in the secret place of
the Most High, here's the first thing we observe. It's the very
first thing we see. It's the glory of Christ Jesus.
That's the very first thing. Now we observe that glory by
faith. You know, when the three favored
disciples, Peter, James, and John were on the Mount of Transfiguration,
did they not get a glimpse of that glory? Well, surely they
did. As our Lord revealed to them
his inner majesty, and even his very clothing became brighter
than the noonday sun. They saw his glory. When Philip,
went down to Samaria to preach the gospel. Scripture says he
preached Christ unto them, there's great joy in the city. Why do
you think he preached Christ Jesus? I can tell you, he had
seen his glory. When the Apostle Paul wrote to
the Saints of God in Corinth. And he said, when I was with
you, I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Why was his subject confined
to that message? I know why. He had seen His glory. When Peter and John had healed
that man there at the gate called Beautiful, at the temple, And
then they were a big crowd gathered and Peter preached the gospel. Boldness and such courage. And then the authorities said,
don't preach anymore in that name. And they said, we've got
to tell what we've seen. Would you have us obey you or
obey God? Where did all that boldness come
from? Well, you say, well, Peter was just a bold man. No, he wasn't. This was a man who, he had proved
to be a coward. I don't know the man. I don't know
the man. I don't know the man. He denied three times. But now
he's filled with courage. He's filled with this spit and
vinegar that God gave him and he's not backing down. We've
got to tell what we know. We are witnesses of him. Well,
what has happened to Simon Peter? He saw the glory of Christ Jesus. You read Foxe's Book of Martyrs. You read of those saints of God
who went They went to be hung by the neck, they went to the
fire to be burned. And they went there and you read
of them, they're singing hymns, they're praising the Lord Jesus.
What is the basis for all their courage, facing death like that? I mean, the very thought of that
to many of us, it just sends shivers down our spine. Could
we do that? Well, they did that by the grace
of God. What was the reason? What gave
them such courage in the very presence of death? They'd seen
His glory. Why is it you can, listen on
television or radio. I listened to a little message
Nancy asked me to listen to this afternoon of a preacher. Didn't
preach the gospel and she said, he missed it. I said, yeah he
did. Why doesn't he preach Christ
and Him crucified? I can tell you. It isn't because
he isn't a nice fellow, he's a nice fellow. but he hadn't
seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's
the problem. That's the reason preachers don't
preach the Son of God and His substitutionary work. They haven't
seen His glory. But if God ever brings you into
the Holy of Holies, He ever brings you to the feet of the Lord Jesus,
that which will leave you in awe, is the revelation of the glory
of God in Christ. Go back to John chapter one.
Look at John chapter one and verse 14. John chapter one and
verse 14. John 1.14, and the word was made
flesh. And dwelt, you're very much aware
of the word dwelt, is tabernacled among us. And we beheld his glory. What kind of glory? The glory
as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John is simply telling us that
the glory of God abode in the very person of Jesus of Nazareth. The word was made flesh. Jesus
of Nazareth was God manifest in the flesh. John said, we beheld
his glory. And those who dwell in the secret
place of the Most High, who abide under the shadow of the Almighty,
we see the glory of God in him. And if you've never seen His
glory, that means you're not in the Holy of Holies. That means
He hasn't caused you to approach to Him. Because if He ever causes
you to approach unto Him, this is the first thing you're going
to be overwhelmed with. The first thing you're going
to see is a revelation of the glory of God. Those people who saw the Lord
Jesus, Most of them only saw a man. They didn't see anything
beyond a man. An unusual man, many of them
said, an extraordinary man, there were others who said that, but
they didn't see the glory of God in His face. But a few did. And it says here, He's full of
grace and truth. That Old Testament tabernacle,
It was full of pictures, rituals, full of ceremonies, full of shadows. But our Lord Jesus is the full
manifestation of God. He is the tabernacle of God.
He is the one who has the glory of God in Him and on Him, and
therefore He's full of grace. He has abundant grace. You come
to Him for grace, and when He gives you grace, He is none the
poorer for it. When He gives you all the grace
you need, which you need an abundance of it, He's still got just as
much grace as He had before He ever gave it to you. And you
who are the people of God, you need this grace that sustains
you and keeps you and encourages you. He gives you that grace.
He gives you grace day by day. And still He's got more grace
left over for the rest of us. He's full of grace. That Old
Testament tabernacle wasn't. But this one who is a very tabernacle
of God, God in the flesh, he's full of grace and truth. Truth. That Old Testament tabernacle
is full of images and shadows and pictures and all those sorts
of things. He's full of truth. full of truth. Well, what's the first thing
you see in this Holy of Holies? First thing you're going to see
is a revelation of the glory of God. Take the second thing
you're going to see. The second thing you see, those who dwell
in the secret place of the Most High. Those that abide under
the shadow of the Almighty. The second thing you see is this.
You'll see a very prominent view of substitution and satisfaction. First of all, you see the glory
of God. Secondly, you're gonna see a very prominent view of
substitution and satisfaction. You see, when Aaron went into
that Holy of Holies, he didn't go in without blood. and you
didn't go in without sweet incense burning on hot coals. That indicated
the blood satisfied God. It was a sweet savor to God. And it pictured the death of
our Lord Jesus, which was the sacrifice that put away our sins
and satisfied God, is very sweet savor to God. But as he went in and he went
to the mercy seat, do you know what he saw? Dried blood. And then he just
added more on top of it. Blood. That was always very prominent
in their worship. You know, every morning and every
evening they had to kill a lamb? And the Lord said, you'll do
this continually, perpetually, every day. Every day. And that, besides all the other
sacrifices that were offered to God, the trespass offering,
the sin offering, and various other offerings, the burnt offering,
but always the morning sacrifice and the evening sacrifice, the
blood. And on the Day of Atonement,
when Aaron went in there, he went in with blood. He got a
prominent view of substitution and satisfaction. The blood of
the goat that he took into the Holy of Holies on the day of
atonement was to satisfy God. And it was offered to God as
a substitution for his people. And that's what Christ was. Christ
was a substitute for us and he satisfied God. You see, the Scripture
says, without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of
sins. What is it that you see when
you go into the secret place, and you dwell there in the secret
place of the Most High, and you abide under the shadow of the
Almighty? You're going to see a presentation
of the glory of God, and you're going to see the evidences of
substitution and satisfaction. You see, something has to be
done for God. And one of the things religion
today never touches, because they don't know about this, they
don't know that God had to be satisfied, something had to be
done for His justice, for His law, before He could do anything
for us. That's what religion today doesn't
know. Salvation is presented this way. Well, you can have the forgiveness
of your sins, you can have help. with your journey through life
and everything's for you, everything's about you, and you're the one
that gets all of these things. And I say, what about the glory
of God in all this? And this is what men in religion
are missing. It's the substitutionary work
and the satisfaction to the justice of God that honored the Father. And therefore, He forgives us
of our sins. You see, the very foundation
of the glory of God, I'll put it this way, the very foundation
of the glory of God is the substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus. That's
what satisfied Him. And the very foundation for our
forgiveness is that very same work of substitution and satisfaction. Oh, I tell you, when you go into
the secret presence of God, you're going to get a very, very prominent
view of substitution and satisfaction. You're going to realize just
how important this is to God. It may not be important to you,
I don't know. And I hear, once in a while I'll
hear preachers preach. I don't listen to them too much.
But it's obvious to me that they don't care too much about the
substitutionary work of Christ Jesus, nor his satisfaction that
he made for their sins upon the cross of Calvary. But it was
the satisfaction made to the justice of God. That's why the
scripture says he's a propitiation for our sins. What does that
mean? He's our mercy seat. He's the one who's satisfied,
who honored God. God's justice has been offended. All sins against God. You want
to be forgiven? You can only be forgiven in a
way that exalts our God in his holiness and in his righteousness. And that's only through substitutionary
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the reason we're brought
in to dwell in the secret place, the reason the Spirit of God
causes us to approach to the Lord is because of what Christ
has done for us and how He satisfied God. No use talk about forgiveness
of my sins unless you're gonna first of all talk about is God
satisfied? Because I guarantee there ain't
going to be no forgiveness of my sins unless a holy God is
honored, whose law has been broken, whose
justice demands death for sin, and only on that basis can he
forgive me. What do we see? What's to be
found in the Holy of Holies? What's to be found in the secret
place of the Most High? Well, here's the third thing,
a purity that speaks of the very character of God. A purity that
speaks of the very character of God. Within that Holy of Holies,
there was the Ark of the Covenant. Inside was the law of God. Up
on top of that was a solid gold lid called the mercy seat. And up on top of the mercy seat
were two cherubims. Their wings touched. And they,
one on one side, one on the other, looked down upon the mercy seat
as though bowing in the presence of the majesty. The majesty of God indicated
by that Shekinah glory. These are the ones who Isaiah
heard crying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. Let me ask you a question. When
it comes to this holy place, this holy of holies, this secret
place, who do you think is able to go in there and stay? Well,
it says this, turn to Psalm 24. You know, for so long that veil
hung between the holy place and the holy of holies, which spoke
no entrance. They're at the tabernacle. You
can't go in. No entrance for you, no entrance
for anybody except the high priest, and he only one day of the year,
and then not without blood. And that veil hung for hundreds
and hundreds of years. But then our Lord Jesus came,
He bore the penalty for our sins. He was forsaken. God turned His
back on His Son because His Son was made sin for us. Justice
was boiling because of our sins. And then it was all poured out
upon the Son of God in its fury and in its vengeance. And having
exhausted the wrath of God, Christ bowed his head, gave up the ghost,
and then something happened that veil rent into from top to bottom. God was satisfied. But wait,
still, the only way you're gonna get into the Holy of Holies is
to be pure, because that's how God is. He's not going to abide
evil in his presence. Nothing corrupt can enter into
his presence. Nothing rotten, nothing defiled,
nothing that can defile can draw near to God. Look here in Psalm
24. Look at verse 3. Who shall ascend
into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy
place? That's what we're talking about,
his holy place. Talking about dwelling in the
secret place of the Most High, abiding under his shadow. Who
can stand there? Who can stay there? Well, I'll
tell you, he that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath
not lifted up his soul into vanity, nor sworn deceitfully." Now ultimately,
first of all, he's talking about our Lord Jesus, because verse
5 says, he shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness
from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of them
that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob, see law. But we
are given the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Who of God
has made unto us wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption? As it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. When you look into this secret
place of the Most High, it's obvious it's a place of holiness. It's a place of purity. Who's
going in there? I can tell you exactly. those who are pure. No wonder
Christ said, blessed are the pure in the heart. They'll see
God. They'll dwell with God. You see, everything we need's
in Christ Jesus. I quoted wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, redemption. What is sanctification? That's
holiness. You're not trying to make yourself
more holy, are you? I say live a godly life, yes. Live a life that is patterned
after our Lord Jesus, who is our example. But don't think
that you are increasing or adding to your holiness. Christ is our
wisdom. Christ is our sanctification. Christ is our righteousness.
Christ is our redemption. He's our all. You can't improve
on what He's done and who He is. And we are pure, we're pure
in Him. And that's very obvious when
you enter into the secret place of the Most High. It's a place
of purity. And all those saints of God who
are in heaven now, they're all washed in the blood of Christ
Jesus. And like Isaiah says, they're
clothed in the garments of salvation. Pure even as He is pure. And
then fourthly, and quickly, there's something else to be found within
the secret place of the Most High, and that is a peace that
passes understanding. Now, there's no peace to the
person who's laboring for salvation because you always wonder, have
I done enough? Well, their answer is you haven't.
If that's what you're looking for, you haven't. Scripture says
it's not of works. There's no peace to the person
who depends upon his or her repentance or his or her faith, because
you're always going to be wondering, have I repented enough? And I
can tell you right now, you haven't. Have I believed enough? I can
tell you right now, you haven't. Is my faith strong enough? No,
your faith's not strong enough. We want to believe, we do believe,
but our belief is weak, it's faulty. We do repent, we want
to repent, we should repent, but we have repentance that needs
to be repented of. But to that person who believes
in his heart of heart that all God requires of you has been
satisfied by Christ Jesus, and you sit in heavenly places in
Him, washed in His blood, and made the very righteousness of
God in Him, you have peace. The world can't give you that
peace, and they can't take it away either. Our Lord told His
disciples, peace be unto you. He said, peace I leave with you,
my peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth, give
I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. Well, why shouldn't we be at
peace? I asked them, why shouldn't we
be at peace? After all, we dwell in the secret
place of the Most High. We abide under the shadow of
His wings. The Lord said to His people in
Isaiah 32, 18, my people should dwell in a peaceable habitation. That's where we dwell, in a peaceable
habitation. Nothing should ever upset us,
nothing should trouble us, because nothing can do us any harm. Those
who dwell in the secret place of the Most High, who abide under
the shadow of the Almighty, we dwell in a peaceable habitation. We're perpetually in the presence
of the Lord. Let me ask you this. This is not going to happen literally,
but what if, what if right now you could be in the immediate
presence of the Lord Jesus? And he said to you, sit here
at my feet like Mary did and learn of me. I'll watch over you, I'll keep
you safe. If you could hear his sweet lips
speak those words to you, would you feel safe? Well, sure you would. You would
feel that nothing could ever disturb your rest. Well, let me tell you something.
You do abide in his sacred place. He is with you. You are safe. You are. And then here's the last thing.
There's one more thing. that is to be found within the
secret place of the Most High, a rest that cannot be disturbed. Our Lord Jesus said, come unto
me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest.
Notice the command, come unto me. Not come to the church, not
come to the front, not come to the altar, not come to the preacher,
not come to the priest, come to me. I'll give you rest. I'll give it to you. You can't
earn it. You can't merit it. Somebody can't talk you into
this rest. He said, I'll give it to you.
I'll give it to you. You come to me. What does this
rest, what does it have to do with? Rest from the guilt of
sin. Rest from the reigning power of sin. rest from the fear of
divine judgment. It's the rest of believing we
have a finished salvation in Christ Jesus. And it's rest from
all threats of the law. It's rest. No wonder we read
in Hebrews four, there remain it therefore a rest to the people
of God. And I fear that so many of the
Lord's people don't enjoy this rest. It doesn't mean you're
not safe, but it means that you're anxious for no good reason. That's what it means. You worry
for no good reason. You're unsettled for no good
reason. We have rest in Christ. We have
the rest of an untroubled conscience. You see, God has given to us
a conscience. The people of God have a conscience.
Each of us do. That conscience God gave us is
only disturbed if you're guilty. That's the way he's fashioned
that conscience. Unless it's been seared with
a hot iron, conscience is only disturbed in the presence of
guilt. Well, let us remember in Christ
Jesus, we don't have any guilt. And the conscience is quiet. It's the rest of trusting his
providence. that he's directing all things
to the end that he has appointed. There's no need to fear. Well,
that's the message for this evening. What's found in the secret place,
a revelation of the very glory of God, a prominent view of substitution
and satisfaction, a purity that speaks of the very character
of God a peace that passes all understanding, and a rest that
cannot be disturbed. Let's pray. Thank you, Father,
for the privilege of gathering together, though not in person,
but around the word. Many of us who are of like minds
believe in this gospel of your grace. Lord, I pray that we'll
come to better understand and embrace our glorious position
in Christ Jesus. We dwell, we dwell, we abide
in the secret place of the Most High. We're there under the shadow
of the Almighty. Oh, how this ought to, it ought
to encourage us. It ought to help us. Lord, help
your dear people, some struggling, some anxious. Lord, you have
to speak peace. My words alone won't do anything. But by your spirit, you can speak
to the hearts of your dear people. And we'll just sleep like babies
tonight. will be so encouraged to know
that even now, even in this old world, with all of its troubles,
with all of its problems, with all of its sicknesses, we're
seated in the presence of Christ Jesus. Nothing can hurt us there. We listen and we learn from Him
and we see His glory. and we get a prominent view of
substitution and his work of satisfaction upon the cross of
Calvary. We see his purity, we get peace
there, and we get rest. All that we need comes from Christ
Jesus. So bless your people. Lord, glorify
your name and save the lost. For Jesus' sake, with thanksgiving,
we offer this closing prayer. Amen.