Everybody just hum along. Oh, how merciful, how merciful. Blessed Lord, how merciful thou
art to me. Oh, how merciful, how merciful. Blessed Lord, how merciful Thou
art to me. Well, good morning. I didn't
expect that. It is so good to see all of you,
at least to see the whites of your eyes. I missed you. It's been two months since we've
met together in person, and I've appreciated your calls and your
cards, your texts, your emails. It's encouraging, you know, just
me and Janet, just preaching to Janet, which I've been, I've
been preaching her in our kitchen for 30 years, you know, so it's,
but it is, it is so good to have all of you here. I mean, just
turn your Bibles, if you would, to Psalm 122, Psalm 122. We can't
sing with our masks on, everybody pass out, so, Our order of service is we'll
have a scripture reading and prayer. Mike's going to sing
and then I'll preach and we'll be dismissed. I'm not going to
put out a bulletin every week. We can't do a call to worship.
It just will reduce a touch point, you know, if we're not doing
bulletins. But all the articles I would put in the bulletin will
be on the Facebook page. If you check those, they'll be
up several times a week. All the stuff that people leave
here for convenience sake, you're going to have to take home with
you, because people tonight are going to be sitting in your chairs.
And after the service, we'll disinfect the building, the chairs,
and all the touch points and everything, so it's safe for
people to come back tonight. If you want to leave your footrests,
feel free to leave them. I'll disinfect those. If you're
not comfortable with that and you want to take them home, take
them home. We thought that would be the best way to do that. And
just let me tell you, we're going to have to follow these safety
guidelines. And I'm sure it's going to be
for the long, long term, but we just got to do it for safety,
but also the comfort of people here in the congregation. We
got some people that are high risk and, you know, for their
sake, we're going to follow these guidelines. So I appreciate your
help in that. And while they are not here this
morning, everyone should know that we have two new high school
graduates graduating this afternoon. Lucy Simpson and Brady Floyd
are graduating this afternoon. We're awful proud of them. Wish we could celebrate them
in the normal way, but we can't do that, so. All right. Psalm 122. I was glad. Oh, I was glad. When they said unto me, let us
go into the house of the Lord. Our feet shall stand within thy
gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem is builted as a city
that is compact together. Whether the tribes go up, the
tribes of the Lord, under the testimony of Israel, to give
thanks under the name of the Lord. For they are set thrones
of judgment, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the
peace of Jerusalem. They shall prosper that love
thee. Peace be within thy walls and prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and my companion's
sake, I will now say peace be within thee. Because of the house
of the Lord our God, I will seek thy good. Thank God for his word. Let's bow together in prayer. Our father, our great, sovereign,
merciful heavenly father, We bow in your presence this morning.
Father, we bow humbly, knowing that we are but sinful men and
women, and we dare only come into your courts before your
throne in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, pleading his righteousness,
his obedience that makes us righteous, pleading his blood that cleanses
us from all sin. Father, we bow before you. We
praise your matchless name. We praise you for your goodness,
your character, your holiness, your justice, your mercy, your
grace. We praise you for who you are. And Father, we thank
you. How we thank you for your mercy
and your grace to sinners as found in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Father, how we thank you that you've seen fit to enable us
to again come together in person and to worship you together.
Father, we're thankful. Father, I pray this morning that
you would bless this time of worship. Father, give us an hour
of true worship. Give each of us here this morning
a heart of worship. Speak to our hearts this morning
and enable us to in awe and wonder worship God our Savior. Father,
I thank you for this congregation. I thank you for each one. I thank
you for your mercy and blessing and protection upon them. And Father, we pray your continued
blessing and leadership and guidance in the days ahead. Father, for
those that you brought into the time of trouble and trial, those
who are heartbroken over loss of loved ones, those who are
sick and hurting in different trials, Father, we pray for them. We know Thou art able. You can
comfort the heart. You can heal. You can touch.
You can deliver. Father, we hold them up to Thee.
We continue to pray for our world, Father, this awful sicknesses
sweeping across the land, that you would provide some relief,
that you would provide the answer to provide relief in this. Give us the grace and the patience
to wait on thee, knowing that this has come from your hand
and you're doing all things well today, just like you always have.
Father again, we beseech thee that you enable us to worship
Thee. Let us hear a word from Thee
this morning and to leave here rejoicing in Christ our Savior.
It's in His precious name we pray and give thanks. I was glad when they said unto
me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. I was glad when they said unto
me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. So come and go with me to my
father's house, to my father's house, to my father's house. Come and go with me to my father's
house where there's joy, love, and peace. Oh, how happy am I! I have found sweet rest on Jesus'
dear breast. In Jesus I found a sweet rest. From sorrow, from toil, and from
care, In Him I am happy and blessed, For He all my burdens doth bear. I came to the Lord for relief, with guilt and with sin. He cleansed me and gave me His
peace, a spirit to witness within. Though many the troubles I meet,
He'll keep and carry me along. I'll sit at His glorified feet,
For He is my joy and my song. Oh, how happy am I with my Savior
so nigh. I have found sweet rest on Jesus'
dear breast. Yes, I was glad when they said
unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord, Where there's joy
and love. All right, let's look again at Psalm
122. I could not think of a more obvious
or better text for our message this morning after two whole
months of not being able to meet together in person. I was glad
when they said unto me, let's go into the house of the Lord. It seems like an obvious text,
but I do believe the Lord's given me a message for us from this
psalm today. Now, this is one of several what
we call psalms of degrees. They just keep climbing higher
and higher and higher in glory. David wrote this particular song
for folks to sing as they would go up into the worship in the
temple. The priest would sing it or the
people would sing it as the priest climbed the steps into the temple. They would also sing this song
as they would travel up to Jerusalem when they would go up for the
different feasts, annual feasts. They sang this song. And they
sang this psalm and other psalms of degrees. when the people were
returning from captivity in Babylon. Remember, they'd been down there
70 years in captivity, and they were finally coming back to Jerusalem. They're going to come back and
they were going to rebuild the temple. They would be able now to go
into the house of the Lord. This psalm had special meaning
to them on that trip, don't you think? They were singing, oh,
I was glad, and they said unto me, let's leave this place. Let's
leave this Babylon. Let's go to the house of the
Lord. I pray it will be special for us this morning, too. David
says, verse one, I was glad when they said unto me, let us go
into the house of the Lord. Now, why was David so glad to
go to the house of the Lord? Well, I'll give you seven reasons
from our text this morning. And the first one is this. I
was glad when they said unto me, let's go into the house of
the Lord because there is forgiveness, forgiveness for my sin found
in the blood of the sacrifice that's offered in the temple.
Look back at 2 Samuel, book of 2 Samuel chapter 12. I just wonder
if when David was writing this psalm, did he think back to a
specific time that he went into the house of the Lord and he
was glad to go there and worship? Maybe he thought of that time
after he committed adultery with Bathsheba and he had her husband
Uriah killed. In 2 Samuel 12 verse 7, Nathan
had come to David after nine months, the baby was about to
be born. And David thought his sin was hidden. He didn't think
anybody knew. In verse 7, 2 Samuel 12, Nathan said to David, thou
art the man. Thou art the man. David, your
sin has been exposed. Your guilt has been exposed.
David, you are the man. In verse 13, David said unto
Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. It wasn't anybody else.
It wasn't somebody made me do it. This is my fault. This is
my sin. I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto
David, the Lord also hath put away thy sin. Thou shalt not
die. Now, how is it that David will
not die? David's right. He sinned against
the Lord. This is a grievous sin. How is it that David will
not die? Is he not guilty? No, he's guilty.
So why will he not die because of his sin? Well, Nathan could
tell David, David, you're not gonna die because God's put away
your sin. The blood of Christ has been
sacrificed for your sin. That's the only way your sin
can be put away. You will not die because Christ
died for you. Now, verse 14, he says, how be
it? Because by this deed that thou
has given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme.
The child also that is born unto thee shall surely die. Now, the sin of God's people
is forgiven. The blood of Christ is washed
it away, paid the debt in full. But there are always consequences
for our sin, always. The child is going to die. And
as long as this child lived, David wouldn't do anything. He
wouldn't eat. He just stayed by that baby and
he prayed and he begged the Lord, spare this child. He wouldn't
eat. He wouldn't wash. begging the Lord to spare the
life of this child. And then the baby died. And look
what David did. Verse 19. And when David saw
that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child
was dead. Therefore, David said unto his servants, is the child
dead? And they said, he is, he's dead.
Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself
and changed his apparel. And he came into the house of
the Lord and he worshiped. Then he came into his own house,
and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did
eat. When David found out that the child was dead, David got
himself ready, and he came into the house of the Lord, and Scripture
says he worshipped. He worshipped. Now I'm just confident,
during this previous nine months, David faithfully went to the
temple on the Sabbath day, the tabernacle, whatever they met
there, at that time the temple wasn't built, I'm sure David
went to the service on the Sabbath day. He wouldn't miss that. But
for nine months, David got no blessing. There was no joy for
he was just going through the motions of religion. And now
David's sin had been exposed. David's guilt had been exposed.
His guilt had been exposed. David felt his need. And he went
to the house of the Lord and he worshiped. When he was at
the house of the Lord, he was reminded how his sin had been
forgiven by the blood of Christ's sacrifice. David was glad. He said, I was glad they sent
him to me. Let's go into the house of the Lord. Let's go worship.
He wasn't going through the motions anymore. Now he's come to worship. Now he's come to hear a word
from God. And he was glad to see that sacrifice
one more time. That's how my sins put away.
He was glad. That's how I'm not going to die.
That sacrifice died in my place. Now, we don't offer blood sacrifices
here. There's no more sacrifice for
sin after Christ died. But we do preach the blood, don't
we? We don't offer the blood, but we preach the blood. We preach
Christ and him crucified. So I was glad when they said
unto me, let's go into the house of the Lord. I was glad because
of what I hear in the house of the Lord. I hear the gospel.
And nothing makes me gladder than hearing how my sin has been
put away by the blood of Christ. I don't have to do it. He did
it for me. Nothing makes me gladder than
hearing how my sin has been cleansed away by the blood of Christ. Christ is the only hope I have.
He's the only hope of righteousness. He's the only hope of forgiveness.
He's the only hope of eternal life that I have. So I was glad
when they said unto me, let's go into the house of the Lord
and hear of the Savior. Let's go hear a word from God.
and worship and hear one more time about the precious blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me hear one more time. You shall not die. You're the
man, you're guilty, but you shall not die because God's put away
your sin. Oh, that made me glad to hear
that. Then number two, I was glad when they said unto me,
let's go into the house of the Lord because that's where we
stand. Verse two in our text, Psalm
122. Our feet shall stand within thy
gates, O Jerusalem." Now, we call the tabernacle, the temple,
we call that the house of God, but really the house of God is
the Lord Jesus Christ. The tabernacle and the temple
are just pictures of Christ. The true house of God, where
God dwells with men, is the Lord Jesus Christ. And we call this,
people call this building the house of the Lord, the house
of worship. That's what you hear a lot now. They're, they're opening up the
houses of worship. Well, in this house, this is
where we come here, the gospel. This is where we come here, the
gospel of Christ. And this is where we're reminded
believers stand in Christ. We stand before God accepted
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'll show you how I look
back at Psalm 40. We stand in Christ because God set our feet
on Christ, the rock of ages. So we shall not be moved. God
put us there in Psalm 40. Verse two. He brought me up also out of
an horrible pit of the miry clay, and he set my feet upon a rock
and he established my goings. He set my feet on the rock. In
Psalm 62, David said, he only is my rock and my salvation.
I shall not be moved. I shall not be moved off. God's
established me on him. That makes me glad to hear that.
I love to hear that, that God has established my feet on Christ
and I cannot be moved off of him. I love to hear that. I love it. But you know what?
It was not always that way. I used to hate that, come to
the house of the Lord. Gotta go to church. I just, that preaching
is so boring. It lasts so long. But all that's
changed. Now I love it. Now I love to
hear that message because God's given me a new heart. He's given
me a new want to. He's put a new song in my heart.
He's given me a new love. That's what David says, verse
three, Psalm 40. He's put a new song in my mouth.
Even praise unto our God. Many shall see it in fear and
shall trust in the Lord. Oh, now I'd love to come to the
house of the Lord and hear how we stand in Christ. Look over
the book of First Corinthians. Believers stand in Christ. First Corinthians chapter 15. We stand in Christ, we stand
in this gospel, and we're not going to back away from it. We're
not going to compromise it because we don't have any other hope.
There's no other hope of salvation. There's no other message of salvation,
we stand in this and we will not back down from it. First
Corinthians one or 15, excuse me, 15 verse one. Moreover, brethren,
I declare unto you the gospel, which I preached unto you, which
also you have received and wherein you stand by which also you're
saved. If you keep in memory where I
preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain, you stand
in this gospel. and you're going to keep standing
in it if you truly believe it. If God's given you faith to believe
it, look back at Romans chapter five. We stand in Christ. We stand in this gospel and we
stand, believers stand in God's grace. Romans five verse one. Therefore being justified by
faith, We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom also we have access by faith into this grace, wherein
we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Believers
stand in God's grace and we stand by God's grace. It's all by God's
grace. So I was glad when they said
unto me, let's go into the house of the Lord and be reminded. I do not stand by my own power. But I stand by the power of Christ.
I don't stand by my own power, by my own good works. I stand
by God's grace. Now, that's good news to the
heart of a guilty sinner, because if I got to stand on my own,
I'm going to fall. I mean, there's no question about
it. I'm going to fall. But if I stand in Christ, I'm
eternally secure. And that makes me glad to hear
that. All right, thirdly, back in our text, Psalm 122, I was
glad when they said unto me, let's go unto the house of the
Lord. Because God's people are in the
house of the Lord. In verse three, David says, Jerusalem
is built, it is a city that is compact together. At Jerusalem,
the city of God is compact together. It's like bricks put in a wall.
They're compacted together. They're joined together. They
get strength from each other. Now, I can worship, I can worship
God when I'm by myself. I can worship God in prayer.
Can I do? I worship God as I sit in my
study and study God's Word. I can worship. I can see Christ. I can worship Him. But I tell
you, if you didn't know it before, I bet you're going to learn it
now. I can worship a whole lot better with you all. I can worship
a whole lot better when we're all here together. See, believers
need each other. Worship is just better when we're
all here. And we need each other to help one another, to encourage
and support one another. Look at the book of 1 Peter.
1 Peter 2. No man, no believer, is an island
unto himself. 1 Peter 2. Verse 4. to whom coming as into a living
stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious.
He also is lively stones are built up a spiritual house and
holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained
in the scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion, a chief
cornerstone elect precious. He that believeth on him shall
not be confounded. Now that Christ, he is, he's
the, he is the stone. He's the cornerstone, the foundation
and all believers are built upon him. But Peter says in verse
five, you also are lively stones. God's made you living stones
and you're built up together a spiritual house. That spiritual
house is God's church. God's church is not this building.
It's his people and their living stones built up together, cemented
together by love. And that wall of believers, the
church that God built up of his people, those living stones,
they draw strength from one another because they're compacted together.
You don't ever discount how much that you help and you encourage
your brothers and sisters. It can be a kind word. It can
be they need something done. You go do it for them. It can
be things like that. But your simple faithfulness to be here,
to show up every time these doors are open, that's an encouragement
to your brethren. That's encouragement to them.
I can tell you what else. It's an encouragement to me. It's
an encouragement to me to know that God's blessing you, that
God's given you a hunger to hear his gospel and a need that he's
blessing you. You encourage each other. We
need each other in that way. So I was glad when they said
unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. I was glad because
when I get there, you know who I find? I find my family. I find brothers and sisters.
I find other believers there who have the same heartfelt desire
that I have to worship the Lord. I find other believers there
who are in love with the same person I'm in love with. We're
all in love with the same Savior and we can worship Him together.
And they help me and they encourage me to help them. So I'm glad
when they said to me, let's go into the house of the Lord because
of who I meet there, God's people. Fourthly, I was glad when they
said unto me, let's go into the house of the Lord because in
the house of the Lord, I hear the testimony of God and I am
enabled to give thanks. Verse four, Psalm 122. Where
do the tribes go up? The tribes of the Lord unto the
testimony of Israel to give thanks unto the name of the Lord. Now,
God's testimony is the testimony that tells us of Christ. God's
gospel is a testimony. It's a testimony of who Christ
is, what Christ has done, why did he do it, and where is he
now? It tells us all about Christ. The gospel is not about you and
me. The gospel is about Christ. It's a testimony of him. The
gospel we preach testifies that salvation is all in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Salvation, righteousness is all
in Christ's obedience to the law. Not my obedience, but his
obedience to the law for me. Salvation cannot be by my morality
or by my law keeping. It has to be because of the Lord
Jesus Christ that he came and he did for me what I cannot do
for myself. He obeyed the law for me. That's
how I'm righteous. It's in him. Not in what I do
or what I haven't done, but it's in him. That's God's testimony.
God's testimony is that salvation is all by Christ's sacrifice
for me. Salvation is not found in what earthly pleasures that
I give up. You know, people act like, well,
I give up this sin and that makes God happy with me. Why wouldn't
you want to give up that sin? I mean, why would you want to
hang on to it? God's not pleased with that. The sacrifice God's
pleased with is the sacrifice of his son. Salvation is purely
in the sacrifice of Christ because only he, can take away sin. He's the only perfect man to
ever live. He's the only perfect lamb. He's the only perfect blood.
Only Christ and his sacrifice can take away sin. That's God's
testimony. God's testimony is that salvation
is all of grace. It's all of grace. And where's
that grace found? In Christ Jesus. Salvation is
not because I earned it. Salvation is not because I'm
better than somebody else. If I'm saved, if you're saved,
it's purely of grace, purely of God's grace, even though we
don't deserve it. Salvation is by grace. God sent
his son to be made flesh for this purpose. So he'd have a
body to be sacrificed, to put away the sin of the people that
the father gave him to save. Dan, if that's not grace, I don't
know what it is. Saved by grace. And all of the tribes, all of
God's people, I don't care where you go, they love to come and
hear this testimony. They come together to hear God's
testimony that salvation is in the Lord Jesus Christ and they
give thanks. Objects of mercy are thankful
people, thankful. So I was glad when they said
unto me, let's go into the house of the Lord. Let's be reminded
one more time that salvation is all in the Lord Jesus Christ. If any part of salvation depends
upon me, I will be damned. But if salvation is all in Christ,
if you can remind me salvation all depends upon Christ, all
the responsibility for this thing is on Him, then I shall surely
be saved. And I'll be glad. That'll make
my broken heart glad. That will make me come and worship
in Thanksgiving. I was glad when they said it
to me. Let's go into the house of the Lord. And here, one more
time, Christ is all. Fifth, I was glad when they said,
let's go into the house of the Lord. Because in the house of
the Lord, I see God's sovereign grace. Verse five, there are
set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David.
Now the throne of the house of David is God's eternal throne. David said, the Lord said unto
my Lord, sit here on this throne. That is the throne of Christ.
And David talks here about a throne of judgment that's set. It can't
be moved. It can't be overthrown. You can't have a coup. You can't
have a different king come in. This is an eternal throne that
is set. And that tells us about God's
sovereignty. You know, the king who sits upon
the throne of the universe, that's eternal, that cannot be moved.
That's the sovereign. Now, God is king. He's king over
every minute detail that happens in His creation. He rules over
it. That fact is seen all throughout
the Bible. God does what He pleases. God never wants to do anything,
ever. What He wills to do, He does.
God never wants anything. He never wants for anything.
God does as he pleases. He's the sovereign and his rule
is absolute. Nobody even has the right to
question God. Nebuchadnezzar learned that.
Nebuchadnezzar says, this is what I've learned. Nobody even has
a right to say to him, what are you doing? His rule is absolute. Now that's the truth. That's
just so. Well, here's the good news. This sovereign, who does
as He will, as He pleases, that nobody can change, nobody can
delay His purpose, nobody can resist Him. This Sovereign has
determined to save a people. He chose a people out of Adam's
fallen race, a people that didn't deserve it, and He chose to save
them. Then those people are going to be saved because the Sovereign
determined to do it. The whole Godhead joined in this
thing. God the Father purposed salvation in divine election
when he chose a people out of Adam's fallen race, then those
people are going to be saved because the sovereign chose to
save them. God the Son came and he purchased the salvation of
those people by his sacrifice for them. Those people are going
to be saved because God died to redeem them. And God the Holy
Spirit, he applies that salvation. When he calls God's elect to
Christ and he gives them a heart of faith to hear it and believe
it and love it, he gives them a nature that wants to come to
Christ. He's the one that gives them the nature that says, I'm
glad when they said unto me, let's go into the house of the
Lord. And God, the Holy Spirit will keep those people by his
indwelling power in their hearts. Then those people are going to
be saved. They cannot fall away. God won't allow it. He won't
let them. See, salvation is all of God's choosing. It's all by
God's doing, by God's calling, and by God's keeping. Salvation
is not my choice of God. If salvation was my choice of
God, I'm in trouble, because you know, I change my mind frequently.
Salvation is not in my choice of God. Salvation is in God's
choice of me. Now, if that's so, it's all throughout
the Bible. Well, again, here's the good
news from that. Since salvation is all of God, It cannot fail. It cannot fail. So come what
may, God's salvation cannot fail. No event in time. I don't care
how earth shattering we think it is. I don't care how much
it changes our world. Three or four months ago, could
you imagine this? Would you have even imagined
it? I mean, God sent a microscopic virus that just swept, it changed
the whole world, hadn't it? I don't care how earth shattering
we think it is. Nothing, no event in time can ever cause God's
salvation to fail, ever. No heartbreak. I don't care how
crushing that you think it is. I don't care, it's so crushing
You think you cannot move on. You think you cannot draw the
next breath because your heart is so broken in a million pieces.
No heartbreak, no matter how crushing that it is, will ever
cause you to lose your salvation. No heartbreak, no sorrow, no
matter how deep and how dark it is, will ever cause you to
be separated from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.
Ever. No sin of mine, I don't care how heinous it is, can ever
cause God's salvation to fail. No sin of mine, no matter how
heinous it is, no matter how much it makes me want to get
away from me, could ever make God cast me out. Not if the Father
chose me, not if the Son died for me, and not if the Spirit's
given me life. It can't. God is sovereign. See, that's
not just a good point of doctrine that separates us from the Armenian.
God is suffering. And that's good news. Oh, I'm
so glad. Because His will shall be done. Shall be. Then that lets His
people rest in calm assurance of salvation in Christ. Nothing
can threaten God's rule. Nothing can threaten God's hold
on His people. They are secured in Christ. Oh,
I was glad when they said that to me. Let's go into the house
of the Lord. Let's be reminded of Christ,
the sovereign, successful savior who cannot fail to save the people
that the father gave him to say, that'll make my heart worship.
That'll make my broken heart glad. Then sixth, I was glad
when they said unto me, let's go into the house of the Lord
because prayer is made in the house of the Lord. Verse six,
David says, pray for the peace of Jerusalem. They shall prosper
that love thee. David says that prayer for peace
is made in the house of the Lord. And truly prayer of all kind
is made in the house of the Lord, isn't it? And the people who
love the Lord, they prosper there. Now, what does that mean? Look
with me to Isaiah chapter 56. This will give us some help,
I believe on this. this matter of praying for peace,
the house of prayer. Isaiah chapter 56, verse three, neither let the son of the stranger
that joined himself to the Lord speak saying the Lord had utterly
separated me from his people. Neither let the eunuch say, behold,
I am a dry tree. Now this, the Lord says, don't
let the stranger who's from a far away land. Don't let him say
the Lord separated himself from me so that I can't seek the Lord.
I can't worship him. Don't say the Lord won't accept
me because I'm a stranger. I don't let the eunuch say, I've
got no hope of life. Don't let the eunuch say I'm
under a curse because I'm a eunuch. So there's no hope of grace for
me. Don't let them say that God says, because there's hope for
sinners in God's mercy. And here's why there is hope
for all kinds of sinners from all over the place. Look down
at verse seven. Even then will I bring to my
holy mountain. I'll make them joyful in my house
of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their
sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar for mine house
shall be called a house of prayer for all people, not just the
Jews, but for all people. The Lord's going to gather his
people. He's going to gather sinners
from all over the world. Sinners who have absolutely no
hope in themselves. He's going to gather them to
his house. He's going to go to them by his spirit and tell them,
let's go into the house of the Lord. He's going to make them
glad to go. He's going to make them joyful. And he brings them
to his house, his house of prayer. And God will condescend to hear
their prayer. He said, I'm going to hear their
prayer. I'll hear the prayer of all sorts of people, all people
from every nation, every background, every race, because this is a
house of prayer. And this house of prayer, this
thing's a two-way street. This communication is a two-way
street. Now, I'll tell you where it begins.
It begins with God. First, God speaks to us. He speaks
to us by His Word. He speaks to us by His Gospel.
He tells us about the sacrifice of Christ. Isaiah mentions here
the burnt offerings and their sacrifices, their sin offerings,
those things. God tells us about Christ, our
burnt offering. He tells us about Christ, our
sin offering. Those sacrifices that were offered
in the temple were pictures of Christ. See, God tells us about
Christ, how Christ's sacrifice has completely and utterly put
away the sin of his people. And we're joyful, joyful. That's
how God can save a sinner as rotten as me. That makes me full
of joy. First, God speaks and lets us
hear, and then we speak. See, we respond in prayer, in
praise and thanksgiving, and God will hear our prayers for
Christ's sake. He will hear our prayers because
of those sacrifices, because of the blood of Christ. Now,
that's how those who love the Lord that David talked about,
he said they'll prosper. That's how they're going to prosper,
because God's going to speak He's going to hear their prayer,
cause them to speak to him and make them pray, make them glad.
So I was glad when they said unto me, let's go into the house
of the Lord. This place is the house of prayer where God speaks
to my heart and where he enables me to speak to him in prayer.
And the Lord says, this is for all people, all people. And we
do no harm to God's word. We say all people at all time.
It doesn't have to be in this building. It's in the house. It's in Christ. Our prayer in
Christ. God will hear our prayers for
Christ's sake. So wherever you are, whenever
you are, whatever it is that you're going through, the Lord
calls all different kinds of sinners to come to him in prayer
and pour out their whole heart before him. I wrote an article this week
on your father knows. And after I got it done and posted,
I kind of wanted to rewrite it. But this is what was kind of
in my mind when I wrote that. I didn't do a very good job of
communicating this thought. But when our girls were little,
you know what? Really, they just had a horrible
day. Something awful happened to them.
You know how it is. They're just little. And you
know what really, truly comforted their heart? Janet would say,
Mama knows. I'd say, Daddy know. I know.
I know. What is it that you need? What
is it that's causing your heart to break? What is it that's filling
you with worry and doubt and fear? Your Father knows. He already knows. Pour it out
before Him. Just empty your heart out before
Him. And when you're doing it, empty your heart out of praise
and thanksgiving that He would condescend to hear our prayer.
Oh, that makes my heart glad. Does that make you glad? Well,
then seventh, I was glad and they said unto me, let's go into
the house of the Lord, because in the house of the Lord, I hear
about peace with God. Verse seven, peace be within
thy walls and prosperity within thy palaces. This world is a
very troubling place. It's full of turmoil. It's full
of hatred and trouble on every side. We need a place where we
can go have peace, don't we? And this world is especially,
especially against God's people that believe Christ and that
trust Him. Now there's no way for the believer
to have peace with this world. The only way you can have peace
with this world is to compromise the gospel. And by God's grace,
we're not going to do that. But the believer can still have
peace while we're in this world. Not peace with the world, but
peace while we're in the world. by having peace in the heart.
And our natural heart, that's a troubling place too, isn't
it? It's full of sin which causes all kinds of trouble, turmoil,
you know. And our heart, our conscience,
will not be quiet about it. Our conscience will not be quiet
and peaceful because our sin deserves damnation. Well then
how, while we're in this body of flesh, can we ever have peace?
Peace in the heart. in the blood of Christ's sacrifice.
It's the only place that there's any peace. The only way a sinner
like you and me can have peace with God, peace of heart, is
by having peace with God. And sinners have peace with God
through the blood of the sacrifice of Christ. His sacrifice takes
away the sin that makes God angry. And there's peace. In Christ,
there's peace with God. And there's peace of conscience.
If Christ died for you, You have no sin to feel guilty about.
No sin. You have no sin to fear condemnation
because Christ was already condemned for you. Christ already died
for you. You have peace if there's nothing
to fear. You have peace of conscience
if there's no sin to feel guilty about. And that's what lets the
believer have peace while we're in the world. Not with the world,
but in the world. This is peace in the heart. that
cannot be shaken, that cannot be taken away, no matter how
bad the storm rages. It's peace which passes all human
understanding. I was glad when they said unto
me, let's go into the house of the Lord. Because God's children
tend to have less enjoyment of this peace. Now, this peace is
perfect. It's always perfect. But our
enjoyment of it's not perfect, is it? And we have less enjoyment
of this peace when we absent ourself from the house of the
Lord. We absent ourself from the message that reminds us of
Christ's sacrifice for us. Hearing the gospel gives my heart
peace, peace with God, but also gives me peace with you. And
it motivates me to pray for you, to pray that my brothers and
sisters enjoy peace too. David says in verse eight, for
my brethren and my companions sake, I will now say peace be
within me. I want my brothers and my sisters.
I want you, my companions in this thing. I want you to have
peace of heart too. So I pray that God give you peace.
And when God enables me, I'll preach the gospel of peace to
you. I want you to have peace. And this goes back to what I
said a minute ago. God's people help one another. They help strengthen and encourage
one another. And one great way to do that
is by praying for one another. I'm thankful to hear from y'all. I'm praying for you. I'm praying
for you. Because I need it. I do. I need it. I told you this
before, at times I'm sitting in my study and it's just, I
mean, I got nothing. I got nothing but dry words on
a piece of paper. I mean, nothing. The words are
true. They correspond to the scripture,
but I got nothing. And then God turns the light
on. I see there's the message there. And I thought somebody
praying for me, that encouraged me praying for me. I need it.
And that motivates me to pray for you to say peace. God, give
him peace, give him peace. So verse nine, David sums it
up, he says, because of the house of the Lord, our God, I will
seek thy good because of what I hear in this house. I'll say
I'll seek thy good. Hearing the gospel, it reaches
the heart of God's people. It touches your heart and it
comforts your heart, it feeds your heart, it teaches you. But
the gospel also motivates the hearts of God's people. It motivates
us to seek the good of God's people. I want to seek your good. As a faithful pastor, I want
to seek your good. by doing everything that I can
do to be sure that this house, this house built here on Hurricane
Road, continues to be a house of prayer, that it continues
to be a place where the gospel is preached. Because the best
thing that we can do for you, if you want to do good for somebody,
the best thing you can do for them is let them hear the gospel. That as a church body, let's
be determined. This is what we're going to do
for each other. This is what we're going to do for our children.
This is what we're going to do for our community. I want to
do good for people by enabling them to hear the gospel of Christ. I was glad when they said unto
me, let's go into the house of the Lord. I was glad because
of what I hear there, the gospel that's preached there. I was
glad because of the prayers that are made there. I was glad because
of the people that I meet there. They help my soul and make me
glad. I pray as we leave here today, that you'll be like I've
been for the past few days. I've been preparing this message.
I had that chorus Mike sung just, I mean, just stuck in my head.
I was glad when they said unto me, let's go into the house of
the Lord. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, how we thank you
for this, your word. And Father, I pray you'd take
your word that you would speak to the hearts of your people,
speak to our hearts, enable us to see believe and to rest in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us be glad. Let our hearts
be full of joy at Christ our Savior. That someone as wonderful
as he is would condescend to save sinners such as we are. Father, how we thank you. Father,
I pray that you bless your people. Bless this people that are gathered
here this morning as we go back to our homes and Go back out
into the world this week and do what it is we can do this
week. Father, bless your people. Keep them safe. Watch over them. Lead and guide. Bring us back
again when it's the right time. It's in the precious name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, for His sake and His glory, that we pray
and give thanks. Thank you. You're dismissed and
Lord willing, we'll meet again Wednesday night. I don't think
we need to divide, you know, everybody up. I think our normal
Wednesday night crowd will fit in here sufficiently. So, Lord
willing, we'll see you Wednesday night.