We sang that song there a moment
ago, and it fits well with this psalm, Psalm 84. To the chief musician upon Giddeth,
a psalm for the sons of Korah. And we've mentioned this on more
than one occasion, but of course you remember Korah was one of
those whom the Lord calls the earth to open up and swallow
him up. But he didn't slay all the sons
of Korah, but he left some, and several of the Psalms are addressed
to them. And the Lord's judgments are
sure and swift, but his mercy is everlasting. And you know,
that's a glorious thing when we consider that It has pleased
the Lord to manifest His mercy to the men of the earth. Now
His judgments are sure. And let no man think that God
shall be anything less than just. He will not at all acquit the
wicked. He will by no means clear the guilty. He has plainly set
that forth in the scriptures. And life would be a pretty miserable
existence if that's the only thing we knew. about him but
in his kindness and his mercy he has manifested his determination
to show mercy to the sons of men and he has sent forth his
son into the world to die for sinners and what a glorious privilege
we have to see that and to be able to declare it to the sons
of men How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts. Now we don't
use that word amiable that much, but it means how kind, how wonderful,
how beautiful are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts. My soul longeth,
yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my
flesh cry out for the living God. Yea, the sparrow hath found
a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay
her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and
my God. Blessed are they that dwell in
thy house, they will be still praising thee, Selah. Blessed
is the man whose strength is in thee, and whose heart are
the ways of them, who passing through the valley of Baca, Make
it a well. The rain also filleth the pools. They go from strength to strength.
Every one of them in Zion appeareth before God. O Lord God of hosts,
hear my prayer. Give ear, O God of Jacob, say
law. Behold, O God, our shield, and
look upon the face of thine anointed. For a day in thy courts is better
than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper
in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God is a sun and
shield. The Lord will give grace and
glory. No good thing will he withhold
from them that walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the
man that trusteth in thee. How beautiful are thy tabernacles,
O LORD of hosts!" You know, only the Lord can give a man a love
for the dwelling place of God. Now we know that the Lord dwells
not in temples made with hands. He never has and He never will. But it has pleased the Lord to
give men the blessing to build tabernacles and temples in times
past. Now he had a reason for all these
things and he would show the temporary nature of all things
that men have. But he has also given in the
present time the gathering of the saints, which is the dwelling
place of the Lord. The Lord is pleased to dwell
among his people. where he inhabiteth the praises
of his people. And the blessing of God's people
is to be able to gather together and come together in one heart,
one accord. And the Lord said that where
two or more of you are gathered in my name, there I am in the
midst. Now that's a very important thing.
He didn't say y'all just get together when you get ready.
but he said when you're gathered together in my name that is when
I have authorized you to come together when I have called you
together when you have been given a desire to come together to
worship me he says I will be in your midst because the only
way that men will truly desire to worship him is when he calls
them together now there are multitudes that gather together because
they do so out of habit out of sense of duty or they were raised
that way, you know, it's just kind of in their mind, well,
we ought to go to church. And I'm certainly not against
anybody, you know, coming to church for whatever reason you
come. I mean, I wouldn't ever turn
anybody away. But the gathering together of
God's people is, as Brother Al was talking about this morning,
a free will offering. It is that which we come together
because we desire to. Now, a man can't desire that
unless the Lord gives it to him. You know, you can't desire anything
that the Lord doesn't cause you to desire. You know, men think
they can just do anything they want to, but you can't do anything
that you don't want to do. You might think you can, but
you can't. I mean, you know, you think about that enough,
everything that you ever do in your life, you do because you
choose to do it. Thanks be unto God that He is
the one who moves us to choose Him, to walk in His ways, to
desire those things. And so this morning, if we're
here and we desire to be in the presence of the Lord, there's
only one way that that could have occurred. You could not
have caused that to occur in yourself. Now, you can be here
because somebody made you come here. I used to make my children
come to the meeting. I mean, I didn't give them a
choice. If they was gonna live in my house, they was gonna be
here. And you know, some of them, when they got old enough that
they were no longer under my roof, they didn't come anymore.
They didn't want to. But thanks be unto God, by the
grace of God, some of them desired. to be among the people of God,
and I couldn't cause that to happen, and I couldn't prevent
it from happening. But I rejoice to know that the Lord, in His
grace and in His mercy, He does presently cause His people to
desire to come together to worship Him. How amiable are thy tabernacles,
O Lord of hosts, the place where the Lord is. Now I want to come
here, I like every one of y'all. I hope I love you with a pure
heart. But my chief desire in coming
together with the brethren is that the Lord will be here. Because
you see, that's what makes the sweetness, as we sang in that
song there a moment ago, that's what makes the sweetness of a
meeting. It's not how peppy the songs
were, or how good the preacher was, or any of those things. It's because the Lord is pleased
to meet with His people. And that's what we desire by
the grace of God. My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth
for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God. Oh, what a wondrous longing. Now I believe, as we have said
from the beginning as we begin studying the Psalms, that the
Psalms are the expressions of the Lord Jesus Christ. He alone
could know and understand the sweetness of the presence of
meeting with his father, as he spent many hours upon the mountainside,
sometimes all night in prayer. My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth
for the courts of the Lord, to be in the presence of the Lord.
My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. He says, Yea, the sparrow hath
found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she
may lay her young, even above thine altars. Now, we know that
You know, the tabernacle and of course the temple in later
times, they were pretty large structures. And no doubt, the
writer of the psalm here had seen a sparrow or something,
a little bird go up and lodge up in the upper parts of that. And he thought to himself, you
know, even the sparrow, has come into the presence of the Lord.
You know, he longed for that. He longed to be as that little
bird that could just fly up anytime he got ready. Now you see, that's
one of the things that we learn as we grow in grace is that the
Lord is not as the idols of the heathen. The heathen, they built
their temples and they set up their idols and they could always
go down there and they knew one thing was for certain. that the
idol was going to be right there where they put him. Because that's
where they put him. Now a lot of people, you know,
they have an idol for a God at the present time. And they say,
well, you know, the Lord, he's always going to be down there
at the meeting house. So we'll just go down there when
we get ready. If we don't feel like going,
we won't. But we know he'll be down there when we go next time.
You see, they have no feet. They have no hands, they have
no eyes, they have no mouths. They speak not, but our God's
in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever He hath
pleased. And so He's not always where you think He's going to
be. He's not always where you want Him to be. Because sometimes
He hides His face. And you know, if you read the
book of the Song of Solomon, you see that. Because there's
times when the bride is longing for the bridegroom. but then she can't find him.
And she says, oh, where is my beloved? And so this is the same
expression here as the Lord uses this illustration of this sparrow,
a swallow, insignificant little bird. The Lord said, as Brother
Al brought this out this morning, you know, the sparrows, they're
of very little worth in creation, but the Lord said, but not one
of them falls to the ground without me. And so even the insignificant
creatures, how much more those men and women who are the apple
of his eye, those whom he loves with an everlasting love, how
much of more value to him are they? Even thine altars, O Lord of
hosts, my King and my God, Blessed are they that dwell in thy house,
they will be still praising thee. You know, you can't keep God's
people from praising Him. The Lord said to the Pharisees,
He said, you know, if you should keep these from praising Me,
He said, the Lord will raise up the stones to praise Him. The gates of hell cannot prevail
against the Kingdom of God. The Lord will cause His people
to rejoice in Him, and nothing can prevent that. They will be
still praising Thee. Selah. Blessed is the man whose
strength is in Thee, and in whose heart are the ways of them. That is the law of God written
in his heart. You know, David said, Thy word
if I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. Now what
causes a man to hide the Word of God in his heart? Now some
people think, they say, well, I'm going to memorize the Scriptures,
but I'll be hiding the Word of God in my heart. No, memorizing
the Scriptures is not hiding the Word of God in your heart.
I'm not. I think you should memorize Scripture. I mean if this book
is precious to you, you ought to know some of it at least,
without having to open it up, you ought to know some of the
things that's in there. But memorizing scripture is not
important, but when the Lord is pleased to cause a man to
hide the Word of God in his heart, you see that is that hedge against
the darkness that comes to us, the whispering of our flesh to
us that constantly would have us to turn aside and not walk
with the Lord. I mean, our flesh is not our
friend. It appears to be our friend from time to time, and
it would have us to think that it's our friend, but our flesh
would turn us aside from the Word of God. Oh, that the Lord
might hide His Word in our heart, that we might be able to see
it and understand it. Blessed is the man whose strength
is in thee and in whose heart are the ways of the Lord, who
passing through the valley of Baca make it a well, the rain
also filleth the pools. Now, this is a pretty commonly
quoted passage of scripture, passing through the valley of
Baca. The valley of Baca, the word that comes from Bochum,
which means weeping. So it's the valley of weeping
is what he's saying here. Blessed, he said. is the man
whose strength is in thee, who passing through the valley of
Baca maketh a well, the rain also filleth the pools." That
is, his weeping is such that it just becomes, the pools are
there. But I think there is something
else here. And I think this is actually what the gist of the
thing is. While it is true that he is describing
the weeping of the man, he says here, who passing through the
valley of Baca make it a well. They go from strength to strength.
Every one of them in Zion appears before God. When we pass through
the valley of Baca, you see, if the Lord is with us, it is
not the weeping that is important. Because weeping, as long as we
live in this world, there's going to be weeping. But weeping may
endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. You see, the
people of God are not concerned with just weeping. I mean, that's
not our goal. Our goal is not to just be sad
and to be mourning. That's not it. But they go from
strength to strength, who passing through the valley of Baca, See,
we don't stay in the Valley of Baca. The Valley of Baca is not
a destination. It's not a vacation spot. It's not a spot we desire, but
passing through the Valley of Baca. It's just a place we've
got to go through to get where we want to go. But we go from
strength to strength because every one of them in Zion appeareth
before God. You see, the Lord brings men
through the Valley of Baca, but he doesn't do it just to cause
them to be sad. He does it to bring them to the
place of true joy, that they might behold the Lord and know
the way of the Lord. They go from strength to strength.
Now, you know, the Lord, he went through the Valley of Baca when
he walked in this world. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. But you know, the scripture describes
why he did that. He didn't go through the Valley
of Baca because he enjoyed being in the Valley of Baca. He didn't
enjoy the sorrows and the struggles that he had, but rather he desired
to be in the presence of God. And the scripture says, who for
the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising
the shame. See, the shame wasn't a thing
that he gloried in. But the shame was necessary for
him to be brought to that place where he might have joy. For
he shall look on the travail of his soul, and he shall be
satisfied. See, the Lord is pleased with
that which he came to do, even though he went through the valley
of Baca. Every one of them in Zion appears before God. O Lord
God of hosts, hear my prayer. Give ear. Oh God of Jacob, say
law. And who would we desire to call
upon but the Lord? Who's gonna hear us? I mean,
you know a lot of people have their confidence in a lot of
things. Some people are all worried about this coming election and
all of the things that's transpiring in the world. But God's people,
our concern is not with those things. Because you see, we know
who it is that knows the end from the beginning. We know the
one who turns the heart of the king with his every will. We
know the one who puts down kings and raises up others. And so
all of these things are in his hand. O Lord God of hosts, hear
my prayer. Give ear, O God of Jacob. Behold,
O God, our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed. And who is the anointed of the
Lord? The Lord Jesus Christ. And this is his prayer, and he
says, oh Lord, smile upon me. Now if he, being the anointed
of the Lord, desired, as a man, desired the presence of God,
how much more so than we who are so far from the presence
of God, how much greater should be our longing after him. For a day in thy courts is better
than a thousand. I'd rather be in the house of
the Lord, he said, than anywhere else. One day, just give me one
day in the house of the Lord's better than a thousand elsewhere.
I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell
in the tents of wickedness. What that word doorkeeper there
literally means threshold. He said, I'd rather be at the
threshold of the door of the house of God than I had to be
anywhere else. I'd rather be than to dwell in
the tents of wickedness, for sure. Because the tents of wickedness,
where does a man have to go to see wickedness? Does he need
to go down to the bar room, or does he need to You know, go
somewhere else, that's exactly right. All he's got to do is
get up and go look in the mirror. You know, and he'll see the place
of wickedness, which is in these old sinful hearts. And we would
turn aside from the way of God, apart from his grace and his
mercy and his kindness. And he said, I'd rather dwell
in the, I'd rather be a dope keeper I'd rather be at the threshold
of God's house, not even inside, but just right there waiting.
I'd rather be there than to dwell in a great dwelling place where
the Lord is not. For the Lord God is a sun and
a shield. The Lord will give grace and
glory. No good thing will he withhold from them that walk
uprightly. It's important that you don't
get in the car ahead of the horse. Now some people think that if
they walk uprightly, then the Lord will bless them. I mean,
that's pretty much the natural thinking of men. You know, if
you do good, God will bless you. If you do bad, He won't. But
the fact of the matter is the blessing of God is that he causes
his people to walk in an upright fashion. Because you're not gonna
walk uprightly if the Lord doesn't move in you to do so, to subdue
your natural way. The Lord will give grace and
glory. He does do that. See, he gives men grace. How
do we know that? We know that the Lord gives men
grace because men believe. Some men believe. Some men rejoice. Some men give glory to God. Why do they do that? Because
of the grace of God. He will give grace and glory.
He does. He said, I will call my people
from afar. He said, I will write my laws
in their heart. I will bring the blind by way
which they knew not. Because He does give grace and
glory. What a wondrous God he is, full
of mercy and kindness to all that call upon his name. That's
what he says. He will withhold nothing from
those who walk uprightly because they are those people who are
precious to him. And he will give them the blessings
of heaven. Oh, Lord of hosts, blessed is
the man that trusteth in thee. Happy is that man. You know,
there's no place on earth that is more blessed than to be brought
to a place to trust the Lord. Blessed, happy is that man that
trusteth in thee. Now he's not happy, he doesn't
become happy because he trusts the Lord, but the Lord causes
him to trust him. And in that trust, he has happiness,
because he says, I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of
my God than to dwell in tents of wickedness. Oh, what a wondrous
God we have, who's full of mercy and kindness. And he daily loatheth
us with benefits that we cannot imagine. And we can't begin to
number them, but we can see the hand of the Lord. Because any
time that we have a thought or desire when to worship the King
of Kings, we can lift up our hands and praise Him because
He is the one that brought those things in our heart, in our mind. Oh, that the Lord might give
us a heart and mind to praise Him. He's worthy of all praise.