Look with me tonight in Psalm
84. Let's go to Psalm 84. I think this psalm was written
by David. I believe it was. It really doesn't
matter as to who the author was because
it's the Spirit of God who inspired whoever wrote it, but most of
the writers who have made some comments on Psalm 84, they believe
that David was the writer and that he wrote this when he was
banished from Jerusalem due to his wayward son Absalom driving
him out of the capital city. David was a man greatly persecuted
and he had his own troubles and he had his own trials. And being
away from Jerusalem meant being away from the house of God, the
place of worship. And as he writes this psalm,
it is obvious that he desires to be in the place of worship,
where God is honored, where Christ is lifted up, and he misses it. He misses it, something awful. He's bothered, I'm sure, by the
fact that he's away from his kingdom, his throne, because
he's still the king of Israel. He's bothered because he's away
from his family. But that which bothered him the
most was that he could not meet with the people of God. and worship,
and it just left a void in his heart. This was to him a great
time of trial. In this very psalm, he expresses
his love for worshiping God with the saints, that is public worship,
and he tells us that he longed to be with the people of God
in order to adore the Lord together. He expresses in this Psalm, Psalm
84, great affection and an earnest desire to be found among the
saints of God who gather for public worship. I know that we ought to, and
we do, I'm sure, worship God in private. And I admonish you
to do that. I admonish you to read the scriptures
yourself. This is the Word of God. The
only way you're going to find out what God has to say to you
is to get into His book. Read His Word. And then you should
seek God's face in prayer. God speaks to you through this
book. He's not going to speak to you
through a dream. He's not going to speak to you through some
kind of mystic feeling. He'll speak to you like He speaks
to all of those to whom He speaks through this book. What we ask
for then is, Lord, as I read your book, As I read the scriptures,
enable me to have some understanding of that which I read. And Lord,
give me eyes to behold your son, the son of God, the son of righteousness
in all the scriptures. We have before us all of the
written word of God. This is a massive book. It is
the depths of it you cannot plumb them. There are great heights
in this book that you'll never ascend fully. This book is full of mysteries
that you'll never fully understand. But this is what you can grasp
if God would enable you to do so. It's a book about Christ
Jesus. It's a book about the Son of
God. You see, God the Father has been
pleased to put all of the blessings that He has for all of the ungodly
men that He intends to bless. He's been pleased to put them
all in the hands of Christ Jesus. And He's revealing his son in
this book. And we know that in the Old Testament,
our Lord Jesus is set forth in pictures, in typology, in figures. Why, any time you read about
a sacrifice, about an offering, an animal being offered to God,
your mind should immediately run to Calvary, run to the cross
of our Lord Jesus. Think of him dying in the stead
of guilty people. This was the reason God ordained
sacrifices in the Old Testament. You couldn't come to God to worship
him, to adore him, to draw near to him without a blood sacrifice. I mean, Abel sets that forth
in Genesis, the fourth chapter, and God himself set forth this
in Genesis, the third chapter. Here's Adam and Eve and their
guilt and their rebellion. Well, how can God receive them? On what basis will God have any
mercy upon them and have any dealings with them? It's upon
the basis of an innocent life being sacrificed in the stead
of the guilty. And that's seen then throughout
the Old Testament scriptures in the offering of animals. Animals. And God insisted. He ordered
it in his law that these animals be innocent and spotless. They can't be blemished. They
couldn't be diseased. They couldn't have a bad hoof.
They had to be as perfect as they could possibly be. And all
of this is for a reason. You see, God has a reason for
the things that he ordained in the Old Testament pertaining
to these sacrifices. It's because they were to direct
the attention of the offender, of the sinner. to one who would
come, God's lamb, and he would offer himself as the sacrifice
for the sins of his people. So all of the Old Testament then
points to Christ Jesus. It's not a book, the Old Testament
is not the 39 books about Israel. It is 39 books about the Son
of God. setting him forth. And then in
the New Testament, we get to him who actually came into this
world, the son of God. I read to you there from Matthew,
the second chapter to begin the service. The kings who came from
these said, where is he that is born? King of the Jews. We've
come to worship him. He is the king. We've come to
honor him. We've come to adore Him. And
all of the four gospel narratives set forth His life, His miracles,
His words, His preaching, His teaching, and His death. His death. And then as we read
from Acts through the end of all the epistles of the book
of Revelation, we find out more fully the reason, the reason
that He died. He died that God might be just
and justify sinners like us. He died so that God could be
gracious to us without in any way compromising His law and
His justice. So all of the book of God is
about Christ Jesus and the necessity of us believing Him and resting
in Him as our all in all for salvation. And the way that we
find out about Christ is through reading this book. That's why
I do tell you, I direct you to have private devotions. You should have some time, maybe
set aside in the morning or in the evening or during the day
at some point to read the Word of God for you. This is for your
benefit. And then seek God's face. However, I believe there's something even
more important than what we would call private worship. You know
what it is? Public worship. That's even more
important. And this is what David missed.
This is what David is expressing in this psalm. He's saying he
has been cut off In the providence of God, indeed, he's been cut
off from public worship, from gathering with the rest of the
saints of God. And this breaks his heart. He's very troubled by it. And
he longs to be there, and he thinks about what they're doing.
All the saints of God are meeting together, and they're singing,
and they're worshiping the Lord. And so he writes this psalm,
this psalm. where he longs for public worship. And I say public worship, I believe,
to be the most vital aspect of a believer's life. Name anything
about a believer's life, and I'll tell you this, put this
ahead of them. Put this at the head of the list
The most vital thing in your life as a child of God is public
worship. Well, you say, well, I don't
think it's as important as private worship. Well, let me give you
a few things to think about. First of all, this is how we
publicly, this is how we identify with the people of God. We confess
our faith here. You can't confess your faith
prophetly. Now it's good to read the scriptures,
I want you to do that, and I would never discourage seeking God
privately, because you need to do that. But I'll tell you this,
we identify with the people of God, we identify with the gospel. We identify with the ordinances. We identify with the Word of
God. We identify with the Lord Jesus
Christ as we come together as a people of God. That's why public
worship is so important. Our Lord talked about confessing
Him. He said, if you're ashamed to
confess me before men, I'll be ashamed to confess you before
my Father, which is in heaven. If we believe in our hearts,
the Lord Jesus, and confess Him, the scripture says you'll be
saved. Well, you can't confess Him in private. You confess Him
publicly. You confess Him among the people
of God. I'll give you something else.
Why is public worship so important? Because this is where the gospel
is preached. This is where the gospel is preached.
There is no place on earth more important, not even equal to
that which this place is, where we come together to hear of Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. This is the most important place
there is. This is more important than your
home. This is more important than your
job. We come here to worship God,
and we worship God by hearing of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It's the most important thing
you can do. When you set out the vital things in your life,
this has got to be at the top. I want to hear the gospel preached.
I want to know how God saves sinners. I want to hear about
the bloody death of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to hear
about His imputed righteousness. I want to hear about the grace
of God. I want to know how God can receive
a poor old sinful man like me. I learned this through hearing
the preaching of the gospel. I want to go where God is honored,
and God is honored where his gospel is preached. You know
where lost people are saved? Where the gospel is being proclaimed.
You know where the sheep are fed? Where the gospel is being
set forth. You cannot be your own pastor,
though a lot of people have taken that job to themselves. And that's
a big mistake. You can't be your own preacher. God has ordained, in His Word,
He's ordained men to minister to His people and lead His people
in public worship. The scripture says in the book
of Ephesians, he gave some apostles and some prophets and others
evangelists and pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints. You know what that means? The
mending of the saints. The mending of the saints. You
know what needs mending? That which is broken. You get
out here and the world breaks you and the world works you over
and the devil, he tries you and he tempts you and lots of times
you fail and you struggle out here. You come to hear the preaching
of the Word of God. You come to hear God's servant
and you're mended. Don't you find the Word of God
does that to you? And it does you good. It does
you good. It isn't just an exercise in
religion. You come in here and God speaks
to your soul. God helps your heart. God gives
you some zeal for life and joy in life. And you're reminded
of Christ Jesus and His love for you and His bloody death
for you and that He cares for you, that you're His sheep and
He's your shepherd. And that just mends you. It puts
you back together. That's kind of my job. I'll patch
you up and say, go back out there. And you come back in Wednesday
and say, I need patching up again, preacher. And that's what we
do. That's what we do. You see, it
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. What we're doing tonight, I'll tell you what this does,
because we're honoring Christ Jesus. I'll tell you what we're
doing. Number one, we're worshiping God. It's the only way you worship
God is to honor his son. Because I promise you this, and
the Bible says it, God honors those that honor his son. If
you want God to honor you, you better honor his son. We want
God to honor, I want God to honor me, I want him to honor my ministry,
I want him to honor our church. Well, what are we going to do?
Honor ourselves? Brag on ourselves? I'm gonna
brag on Christ Jesus. Honor the Son. We want God to
save sinners. How's he gonna do that? It pleased
God with the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. That's
why we preach Christ. And we feed the sheep. And we
leave all men without excuse. You see, it's in public worship
that the gospel is preached. I'll tell you something else.
It's in public worship where God gives his word that he'll
meet with his people. Now he gives his word. So you
can go to the bank on this. He says, where two or three are
gathered together in my name. When he gathers us in the name
of Christ Jesus, He says, I'll be with you. I'll meet with you. So if I want to meet with God,
and I do, you do too, don't you? And I know you do. And all of
you, I hope, want to meet with God. I want to meet with God
tonight. If I want to meet with God, I've got to come where God
makes Himself known. Where God reveals Himself. Where
God sets Himself forth. Where God has said, I will be
there. Well, where will He be? Where
we honor Christ. That's where God will be. If I want God to speak to me, if I want God to minister to
me, I've got to be under the sound
of his word, and that's in public worship. In the book of Revelation, which
we're finishing up now, where did John see the Lord Jesus? Where was he making his presence
known? In the midst of his people. Wherever the people of Christ
are gathered together, that's where Christ Jesus is going to
be. He's going to be where people boast in Him, that talk about
His glorious deity and His marvelous humanity. He's going to be where
men speak of His bloody sacrifice who speak of the success of His
work of redemption. He is not going to be where people
are led to feel sorry for Him. He's not going to be there. He's
only going to be where men make their boast in the Lord, who
speak of His reign, who speak of His rule, who speak of His
power, who speak of His grace, who speak of His salvation. I speak for myself, can't speak
for you, but I suspect that I do. But I'll tell you how I feel.
Those times when I have most, most realized the reality of
the presence of the Lord with me is right in here, listening
to the Word of God. Right in here. Now, I'm not gonna
take anything away from private times of worship. I wouldn't
take anything away from that. But there's something about the
preaching of the gospel. There's nothing equal to it. And I'm not saying that because
I'm doing the preaching. I'm a messenger with the message. But it's the right message. And when somebody's telling you
the truth about Christ Jesus, you better listen. And as you
listen with the desire and prayer that God the Spirit would minister
to you, God does reveal Christ to you and you're made to rejoice.
Your soul is fed. I'll tell you something else
about public worship. It is our security against error and apostasy. This is how God keeps you on
the right track. There's a lot of religion out
here in this world. All flavors, all brands. You name it and it's being preached
out there somewhere. What's gonna keep me from error,
preacher? What's gonna keep me from apostasy? What's gonna keep me from leaving
the truth? It's as I listen to the word
of God and as the spirit of grace takes that gospel and keeps on
feeding my soul with it, I stay on the, could I call it this
way? The straight and the narrow. The straight and the narrow. I know that this building, there's
nothing special about this, except when the people of God are here.
And then this building is sanctified. You know what I mean? It's not holy, but it's set apart
for special use. And the special use is, this
is where the people of God gather. This is where we join our voices
in singing as our brother leads us in these hymns of worship
and praise. This is where one of our brethren
will read the scriptures to us and lead us to the throne of
grace. And this is where the gospel of Christ Jesus is proclaimed. It is our security against error. We have seen others leave this
message, and they think, and we think, they're sound, and they're settled, and they're
not gonna be moved, and then they're moved about by every
wind of doctrine. You know what the reason is for
that? They left the truth. They left
the gospel. You'll get in a real mess if
you leave where Christ is exalted. I'll tell you something else
about public worship. It's the nearest thing to heaven. It's the nearest thing to heaven
on this earth. In heaven, nothing is done in
private. Everything is done in public. Is that right? That's right. There's no you about heaven. It's all of the people of God
gathered together. You know what heaven is? of public
worship. That's what it is. Nothing less
than that, a place of public worship. We'll be singing, worthy
is the lamb that was slain, who has redeemed us to God by his
blood. And he'll be preaching, and we
know who the preacher will be, the prince of preachers, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And I'll tell you something else
about public worship. It not only helps you, your presence
helps others and encourages others. That old saying, no man is an
island, that's true. I tell you, it helps me to see
you. And it's a great encouragement
to me to see you and to fellowship with you. And to be reminded,
there are others that are also in love with this glorious Savior. And there are others that are
fighting the same fight. I'm not the first one to have
a go at this Christian race. It sure does help me to know
there's some others in there with me. There's some others
in there struggling right along with me. And we're not saying
we're head and shoulders in spirituality. and Christian maturity above
others. What we're saying is we all need
help. We need divine help. We need
divine instruction. We need the word of God. We need
the spirit of God. We need to be instructed in the
things of Christ Jesus. And as we gather together, the
word of God helps us. And as we see each other, it
encourages us. It helps us. Look at what David says here
real quick. He says in verse one, Psalm 84,
how amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts. How lovely.
Oh, how lovely is a place of worship. This is the most beautiful
spot on earth to me. Isn't it to you? Where God is worshiped. Not the
building. The most beautiful thing is that
people are getting together to exalt Christ Jesus. And so David
says in the second verse, my soul longs for, it yearns for,
yet even thinks for the courts of the Lord. Here's what he's
saying, this consumes me. This consumes, this is my life. This is what I'm all about is
what David is saying to worship God. He says, my heart and my
flesh cries out for the living God. I can't come into the presence
of all the saints and worship with them. And I cry out for
it. I cry out for God's presence.
Verse three, yea, the sparrow has found a house and to swallow
a nest for herself where she may lay her young, even thine
altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. I envy the fowls,
the birds of the air. They get to spend their lifetime
right there where they build their nests in the place where
the saints of God are gathered together. where the voices of
the children of the Lord, they join themselves together in praising
the King. Oh, if I could just be like them,
that's what he says. And so he says in verse four,
blessed are they that dwell in thy house, the priests and the
Levites. Oh, how happy they are, how highly
favored they are. They'll still be praised in thee.
And then he says, Selah. I'll just stop and think about
this a while. He said, what a blessing it is
for people to be in the place of worship. And then he says,
blessed is the man happy to be in. It is the man whose strength
is in thee, in whose heart are the ways of them. You see, the
people of God, most likely this was It was a song sung by the
Jews on their way to the Feast of Tabernacles. And they traveled
to Jerusalem in a caravan. And as they went along and went
through the little towns and villages, more people would join
in and it got to be a big crowd of people. And he says in verse
number six, who passing through the valley of Baca, that is in
this great caravan of saints, they make it a well. Baca, that's
a valley of weeping. But when all the people of God
journeying together and they said, we're going to worship
God. We're going to exalt the Lord.
We're going to observe the Feast of Tabernacles and remember how
God took care of our fathers and our mothers during their
exodus out of Egypt and how he provided for them with manna
from heaven and water from the rock. We're going to worship
God. Oh, isn't it wonderful to be going to worship the Lord
together. So even through the valley of
weeping, the valley of tears, makes it a well, makes it an
oasis. Let me tell you something. Our journey through this world
is like going through a valley of weeping. But as we come together
to worship, it becomes like an oasis. Isn't that what this is,
an oasis? from the desert, from the wilderness,
from the dryness of religion and the deadness of wickedness
and ungodliness in the world, we come in here and we say, oh,
isn't this refreshing? To be among the people of God
and feel the gentle breezes of the gospel of God's grace. It's
so refreshing, it does us so much good. He says, the rain
also filleth the pools. The rain of God's mercies and
blessings. He says they go from strength
to strength. Every one of them in Zion appeareth
before God. They're going in the strength
of the Lord. I wish I could go. That's what
David is saying. I wish I was with them. And so he says in verse eight,
oh Lord, God of hosts, hear my prayer. Give ear, oh God of Jacob. Selah. Oh, that God would hear
us. And he says in verse nine, behold,
oh God, our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed.
Who is that? That's Christ Jesus. He's the
anointed one. Oh God, as you see us, here's
this vast caravan of sinners going to Jerusalem to worship
God. And here's this caravan of us
sinners on our way to glory. Oh God, look on us through the
anointed one. Look on us in Christ. See his
perfections. See his beauties. Don't look
at our failures, Lord. Don't look at the feebleness
of my faith. See my Savior. See His obedience. See His sacrifice. Look on His face. Ah, it says,
for a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. Somebody said,
the worst that God can give you is a whole lot better than the
best that the devil can give you. Here's what David said, if just
one day in your presence is better than a thousand days out there
in the world of ungodliness. He said, in fact, I'd rather
be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the
tents of wickedness. I'll take the lowest position.
If I could just be there. If I could just be there. I'd
hold the door open for everybody and say, welcome to the place
of worship. and I'd get to hear again. That's what he's saying. And
here's the reason, verse 11, for the Lord God is a sun and
shield. He's our warmth. He's our light. He's our life and he's our shield.
He's our protector. And he says with great confidence,
the Lord will give grace and glory. What kind of grace? Any kind of grace it is, he's
gotta give it, right? If it's grace, God's gotta give
it. Saving grace, justifying grace,
forgiving grace, sanctifying grace, glorifying grace, sustaining
grace, living grace, dying grace, sufficient grace, you name it,
it's God's grace, he's gotta give it. And David says, the
Lord will give grace, He will give grace, and He will give
glory, because wherever He gives grace, He gives glory. Grace
is glory in the bud, and glory is grace in the full flower.
He will give grace and glory and no good thing, nothing good
will he withhold from them that walk uprightly before him. You
know who those are who walk uprightly before him? Who walk in the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. And he's not gonna withhold any
good thing from you. And so he finishes up this way.
Oh Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee. Oh, how
blessed is that man who believes this God, this God who's to be
worshipped, this God who blesses, this God who gives grace, this
God who gives glory. Blessed is that happy, well off
to be envied, is that man that puts his trust in thee. There's
no use to put your trust anywhere else. Everybody else will fail
you. The arm of the flesh will fail you. You dare not trust
your own. You can't trust yourself. It's better to trust in the Lord
than to put confidence in men is what the Bible says. Blessed is the man who trusts
in the Lord. Oh God, help us to trust you
and worship you and help us to understand just how vital it
is what we're doing here today. It's just absolutely vital to
worship the Lord publicly. Let's sing a closing song.