or a Scripture reading this morning,
and you can put a marker there. Turn with me to Psalm 134. Psalm
134. Behold, bless ye the Lord, all
ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of
the Lord. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary
and bless the Lord, the Lord that made heaven and earth. Bless
thee out of thine. If you will turn back with me
to Psalm 134. Psalm 134 is the last of the
songs of degrees. I very seldom start a series
of messages and then preach those messages out of town, like our
studies in Genesis and Exodus and all the New Testament epistles
and the Gospels. I've all preached those verse
by verse here at home. But I felt led of the Lord to
go through these psalms of degrees, and not just at home, but everywhere
that I went, I preached from these psalms. And if comments
means anything, they were well received and rejoiced in everywhere
that I preached them. But this is the last one. And
many say it was sung after the typical feast. Most of these
were sung on their way to the feast. And Spurgeon and several
of the other writers that I read said that they believe this was
sung after those typical feasts were observed and in recognition
of the priest of Israel whose holy appointment was to sing
praise unto God night and day. I don't know if you were aware
that a portion of the Levitical priesthood was appointed to do
nothing but sing, nothing but sing praise unto God. There were, as David numbered
the Levites from 30 years old and upward, 38,000 Levites, 38,000
priests in Israel. 24,000 were appointed to the
work over the house of the Lord. 6,000 were appointed as judges and
officers, and 4,000 as porters. They carried. It was their job
to carry and handle the things of the tabernacle. They had to
be carried a certain way by certain men, certain precautions taken,
means and flow. And then there was 4,000 who
were called singing priests. singing priest. And their appointment
in the priesthood was to sing praise unto God and to tell of
His blessings upon Israel. Now if you want to read about
that, it's in 1 Chronicles 23, 1 through 5. We'll tell you about these. And
then in 1 Chronicles 9.33, we're told that these were the chiefs
of the fathers of the Levites. There was 38,000 of them to start
with, and these weren't a bunch of people who just, what else
we gonna do with them? I can't do anything, so we'll
make them singers. No, these were the chief men. These were the chief of the fathers
of the Levites. And these chief fathers of the
Levites were chief throughout their generations, and they all
lived in Jerusalem. They didn't make a pilgrimage
to Jerusalem, they lived in Jerusalem. Their sole occupation was to
sing night and day in the sanctuary. And they sang as they stood guard
over the house of God. Who are these night watchers?
These Night Watchers, that's what I titled the message, The
Song of the Night Watcher. Well, who are these Night Watchers?
Well, first and foremost, the Night Watcher's Christ. It's Christ. He stands alone
in the sanctuary and sings praises unto God. Nobody ever prays God
like our Lord Jesus Christ. Nobody ever addressed him as
father with more sincerity and more purity than the son himself. Think about that. Standing in
the midst of the sanctuary, he prayed. He prayed. He conversed
with the father. A lot of times I pray and then
I wonder when I'm done, did you really pray? Was this really
a prayer? He never thought that. He never
thought that. In his prayers, he praised the
Father. Oh, he resisted evil, how he
resisted evil, until his sweat becomes as great drops of blood,
knowing that he had to stand before God as our substitute,
and the wrath of God fall on him for our sins, and his sweat
become as great drops of blood. But he listened. He said, nevertheless,
Not my will, but thy will be done. Never, never a man spoke
like this man. Never. Never. He spoke, he could
lift his eyes up to heaven and pray. And praise God in the sanctuary. And our psalm opens with an exhortation
for all his servants to bless the Lord. And the chief of the
servants is Christ. These were the chief men because
they were typical of Christ. The scripture said, he being
in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but made himself of no reputation and took on him the form of a
servant. This is God's servant, my righteous
servant, God calls him. My righteous servant, this is
the servant of God and he stands alone in the sanctuary. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many for he shall bear their iniquities. Jesus
Christ is the chief of the priests and is in fact the priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek. A one of a kind, had no mother,
no father, no beginning and no end. A priest forever after the
order of Melchizedek. And therefore he's able to save
to the uttermost all who come unto God by him. Has there ever been such a priest?
Who in the history of the priesthood has ever been more faithful,
more loyal, more godly, more zealous more committed or more
caring than Jesus Christ. Who in all of the priesthood, no matter how dark the night
or how cold the air or how stormy the weather, it is midnight. A full gale wind blowing on the
sea. Waves so high that the ship was
just tossed about. They couldn't row the ship. They
couldn't save the ship. They were all about to go under
and they looked and here comes Christ walking on the water.
He wasn't running. He wasn't jumping wave to wave
trying to dock. He walked in the storm. Just walked. It don't matter how dark the
night, or how cold the air, or how stormy the weather, His sweet
voice is heard in the sanctuary, blessing God's holy name. Somebody
said these saints left Jerusalem in the wee hours of the morning.
They had a long trip. And as they left Jerusalem, they
could hear that long night watcher in the sanctuary. They could
hear Him singing. Hear Him singing. Praise unto
the Lord. Living God. But these night watchers,
it's also inclusive of all his church servants, he says, the
word is plural, and he would have to be talking about his
saints. In 1 Peter 2.9 he said, but ye
are a chosen generation and a royal priesthood. and a holy nation
of peculiar people, that you should show forth the praises
of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous
light." That's what these singers were doing. They were singing
praise to God. They were praising Him, praising
Him. And that's what we do. Being
reminded of the power of God that dried up the seas to make
a way for His a ransom to pass over. Isaiah writes, therefore
the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing,
undesigned. They're going to come singing,
and they're going to be filled with everlasting joy. They shall obtain gladness and
joy, and sorrow and mourning will flee away. It will flee
away. In Isaiah 35, he pictures this
world as a spiritual wilderness Utterly uninhabitable until the
Lord comes and establishes His church. Now he's talking in spiritual
language here. And he says this place is a wilderness,
it's a desert, it's uninhabitable. And yet he comes and he establishes
church. Where did the Lord establish
His church? As far as I know, He only makes
reference to it once. And He calls it, My church in
the wilderness. My church in the wilderness,
my assembly. He established it back yonder
in the wilderness. Completely uninhabitable land. And the Lord comes and he establishes
church. And when he does, the place they
occupy, he said, shall blossom, Isaiah 35, it shall blossom as
a rose. Oh, my soul. The parched ground shall become
a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water. And what used
to be the land of dragons shall be covered with grass and reeds
and rushes. Isn't that so, where God plants
His church? Grass is green in here. Oh, it's
a wilderness out there. Isaiah 35, 10, and the ransom
of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting
joy upon their heads. And the Lord Jesus Christ Himself
sings praise unto God over the salvation of His people. Can
you imagine God singing with joy over you? Huh? You can't take that in, can you?
Listen to this. Chapter 3, verse 17. The Lord
thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. He will save. He's not trying to save. He's not making an effort to
save. He will save. And He will rejoice
over thee with joy. He'll rest in His love. Now watch this. He will joy over
you. was singing. You can't imagine,
can you? Oh, my soul. And all his saints,
Ephesians 5, 19, being filled with the Spirit, speaking to
themselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing
and making melody in their heart to the Lord. And then thirdly, only a small
portion was appointed to stand in the sanctuary And I see that
my Lord alone is the Night Watcher, continually singing praise unto
God and His people. I've showed you that in the Scripture.
They all come to Zion with singing. They have melody on their heart. But here He talks about all of
these out of these thousand, 4,000 of them were appointed
to this occupation of singing night and day, and this speaks
to me of ministers of the gospel. They're chosen of God, appointed
by the King of Israel to stand in the darkness and sing praises
to God. Sing praises to God. This world
is a world of darkness. Now that's just so. That's just
so. Yeah, but you say Christ is the
light of the world. He is. And there's light in Him.
And there's light in His people. Ye are the light of the world,
he said. But that doesn't mean that the world is all lit up.
This world is nothing but darkness. Nothing but darkness. When the
scripture speaks of calling us out of darkness, it doesn't mean
that darkness has vanished from the earth. It means that darkness
has vanished from in here. Now we have light. Now we see.
Light is here. And it's in Christ and in us
and in our gospel. And he said, here's the condemnation.
Light's come into the world and men love darkness rather than
light because their deeds are evil. They love that darkness.
They're not going to leave that darkness. It takes an act of
God for a man to leave that darkness and love light. to come in here
and rejoice in the truth. Paul said, 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 shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. And we stand by night in the
house of the Lord, because it's always night in this world. Always. So who's the night watcher? The
Lord Jesus Christ, Jehovah's righteous servant. All the saints
of God called and translated from the power of darkness into
the kingdom of His dear Son, and ministers chosen stand in
the house of the Lord and sing praises unto God. And so long
as ministers sing, so long as they think, his voice is heard
and there's light. But when his voice is silenced,
when his voice is silenced, look out, darkness envelops that place. It envelops the land. These are the singers, these
are the night watchers. These are the people who stand
guard on the sanctuary, on the temple of God. What do these
singers sing about? Listen to this, verse 1. Bless
ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord. Lift up your hands
in the sanctuary and bless the Lord. What does it mean to bless the
Lord? I used to tell people, the Lord
bless you. I didn't know what that word
blessed meant. How do you go about blessing?
I know what it means when the Lord blesses. He blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. He made provision
for us in Him. All His appointments were for
us. I understand that all the means of the preaching of the
gospel and the giving of the Holy Ghost and all of these things,
I understand that those are all blessings of God and every good
and perfect gift cometh down from above, comes down from the
Father of lights, with whom is no variable in us, neither shadow
of turning. I understand that. How do I bless Him? What could
I possibly have that I could give to Him? He has everything. He was complete
before any of this stuff started. What are you going to give to
God? He owns it all. In Him we live and move and have
our being. What can I give to Him? When
he talks about us blessing God, here's what he's talking about.
Just acknowledging God for who He is. Just acknowledging for who He
is. For what He's done. For what He is doing. And for
what He's yet going to do. That's how you bless Him. You just acknowledge Him. Just
acknowledge His work. Acknowledge His Son. Acknowledge
the gift of the Holy Ghost. Acknowledge the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. The religion of this world uses
the name God, and Father, and Jehovah, and Jesus Christ, and
so forth. But in those names, there is
no acknowledgement of who He is. If I just stand up here and
use the word gospel in general, I haven't acknowledged anything.
I'm saying the same thing they're saying out there in every church
in the land. I've made no distinction whatsoever. in that name that they use. So, in general, there is no acknowledgement
of who He is. Now let me tell you something.
To know God is eternal life. Eternal life is not talking about
how long it lasts. It's going to last forever. He
says that in Scripture, but when He's talking about eternal life,
He's talking about the quality of it, not the length of it.
Eternal life is to know God. It's not a program or a system
of theology. Eternal life is not a feeling
or a sense of salvation. Eternal life is to know God by
the revelation of God in Jesus Christ, in His person and in
His work. He declares His name, the very
name of God. In John 17, our Lord prays this
high priestly prayer just before He goes to the cross. And these
words it says in verse 1, John 17, spake Jesus and lifted up
His eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. That hour prophesied of from
the beginning. That hour secured in the everlasting
covenant of grace. The very hour of accomplished
redemption. The hour has come, glorify thy
son, that thy son may also glorify thee. That is, manifest in this
hour and in this sacrifice and in my obedience the very glory
of God. Manifest your justice and your
righteousness and your holiness and your goodness and your mercy
and grace and love and kindness and longsuffering and even your
righteous wrath, glorify me that I might glorify
thee, that I might manifest to you. Manifest yourself in me
and I'll manifest you in my work and in my person. And as you manifest this glory
in me, I will in turn glorify thee. Why? What is this manifestation
of glory all about? Verse 2, John 17. As thou hast
given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal,
that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent. That's eternal life. Servants standing in the darkness
of this present evil world sing praises unto the glory of God
our Savior. We talk about His justice, talk
about His righteousness, talk about His wrath, and talk about
His love and His mercy and His grace. We acknowledge His grace. By grace are you saved through
faith and batting out of yourselves. It's the gift of God. He tells us this, grace is even
in election. There's a remnant, he says, according
to the election of grace. And if it's grace, then it's
no more works, otherwise grace is no more grace. He quickened
us together with Christ way back yonder. By grace, he said, ye
are saved. Called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to his own purpose
and grace. which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began. And by faith we have access,
Paul said, into what? Into this grace wherein we stand. We acknowledge his sovereign
grace. I'll be gracious, he said, to whom I will be gracious. And
whom I will, I'll harden. We acknowledge his justice. He
told Moses, he said, I am the Lord. Moses said, show me your
glory. He said, OK. I'm going to put
you back here in the cleft of the rock. I'm going to put you
in Christ. He's the rock. I'm going to put
you back here. I'm going to hide you in him. And then I'm going
to pass by and I'm going to declare my glory to you. And here's what he told me. He
said, I am the Lord. The Lord God, merciful and gracious and long-suffering
and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin. Are you listening? And will by no means clear the
guilty. God is just, inflexibly just,
unchangeably, infinitely just. And the soul that sinneth shall
surely die. He's not going to change. Well,
preachers, we're all sinners, guilty before God. If God will
by no means clear the guilty, how does He forgive sins? All
your sins were laid on Him. Huh? All your sins laid on Him. laid
on Him the iniquity of us all. All the sins of all God's elect
were charged to His Son, our substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. And when charges were brought
against our Lord on the cross, He opened not His mouth. That means He didn't want to
give them the satisfaction. No. That means He was guilty. He was guilty. He was hanging
there in our room instead. Guilty. Had nothing to say. Nothing
to say. When He was made of a woman and
made under the law, He was made sin for us who knew no sin. He took upon Him the likeness
of sinful flesh. And when the holy and righteous
wrath of God fell on Him, God manifested the glory of His justice. He spared not His own son. but
delivered him up for us all. But just as glorious was the
outcome of the cross, he was delivered for our offenses and
raised again for our justification. God's justice killed him and
God's justice raised him. God's holy justice was satisfied
in His Son, and now that satisfied justice secures us in His resurrected
person. And if we had time, I could show
you each of God's attributes manifested in Christ crucified,
and then manifested the glory of God in His resurrection. And
then lastly, those servants, They're singing about, they're
blessing God, they're acknowledging God for who He is. Praise God
from whom all blessings flow. We sing that song. And then lastly,
as the pilgrims left Jerusalem, it's not even daylight yet and
they could hear the night watchers singing this verse, verse 3.
The Lord that made heaven and earth Bless thee out of Zion. Where had they been to Zion? What's that? That's God's church.
That's God's church. They went where they were told
to assemble themselves together and they worshiped God in those
pictures and types of Christ. They worshiped God by faith and
now they're leaving. And they've been over there blessing
God, and now the singer said, God gonna bless you. You're not
gonna go away empty. He's opened your heart, opened
your mind. You see things that you'd have
never saw if you wasn't there. The Lord that made heaven and
earth bless thee out of Zion. I love this hymn we often sing
as our call to worship. Praise God from whom all blessings
flow. Praise Him above, ye heavenly
host. Praise Him, all creatures here
below. Praise Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost. Praise God. Praise God. The Lord that gave you your being. The Lord in whom we live and
move and have our being. Have you ever thought about that?
God gave you a being, Russell. that He might save your soul
and manifest the glory of His name in your salvation through
His Son. He's given you an existence. The dirt don't have it. The trees
don't have it. The birds don't have it. The
fish don't have it. You have it. Do we ever think
about it? Do we ever praise Him for it?
What a privilege! My soul, He singled you out from
billions. And here you are. Here you are.
Little assembly. I don't see how we can keep from
praising Him, do you? I don't see how we can do it.
I don't see how we can get through the day without doing it. The Lord in whom we live and
move and have our being, the Lord, Lord of creation, providence
and salvation, Lord of the dead and the living, Lord of lords
and King of kings, bless thee. I love that. I pray that God
will bless you, and I do everything in my power when I study to get
things arranged to be a blessing to you. But I'm so limited. But He ain't. This is the God
who made heaven and earth, and that's what that singer is telling
you. He can bless. If He blesses you, you're blessed.
That's all there is to it. There ain't no way of saying
too much about it. You see what he's saying? Oh,
he was singing out of that sanctuary. He could hear them marching,
going out. He could hear the horses and the wagons leaving,
going back home. He said, the Lord that made heaven
and earth, bless they. Bless they. When I was little, I'd get excited
around Christmas time. But I get especially excited
when one of my sisters come to visit for Christmas. They were
kind of well-off. And they had plenty. And she
always brought the nicest gifts. I'll give you a little power.
I couldn't distinguish anything. I didn't know what I saw when
I took the wrapper off. They were very well-off, and
they showed it. and their generous gifts. Now listen to what our
Lord says in Ephesians 2. Says He quickened us together
with Christ, raised us up together with Him, made us sit together
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that, here's the reason,
that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of
His grace and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. I get excited when I come up
here. If the Lord blesses, He can bless
a dead sinner and make him walk. He can call you out of darkness. Nobody else anywhere can do that,
but He can call you out of darkness into His marvelous light. He
can take the worst man, the worst rebel, that man who hates God
just like the Apostle Paul, and He can make him His prime servant. He'll make him pen from the heart. Is there anything that he...
This is God Almighty. Can he bless? Oh my soul. I get excited just thinking about
it. Will he take this gospel and bless it to your hearts and
minds? Said he would. Said he would. Oh, I get excited. I tell you,
he don't give little gifts. I don't even ask him when I get
ahead of him. Now if they come and tell me
I'm dying of cancer, I'm going to talk to them about it. He
gives big gifts, don't he? I give unto you eternal life. You believe not, because you're
not of my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep
hear my voice. And I know them. And they follow
me. And I give unto them eternal
life. And nobody's going to pluck them
out of my hand. And even if you could, they're
in my father's hands. That's two hands, ain't it? And
my Father's greater than all, and I and my Father are one. And then in Psalm 133, talking
about Zion, being blessed in Zion, he says, for there the
Lord commanded the blessing, even life. evermore. That's back in Psalm 133. In
Zion he commanded the blessing. Would you be blessed? Huh? Would you be blessed of God?
Then go where he tells you to go. Where does he tell you he's going
to be? Where two or three are gathered together in my name.
I'll be, that's where I'm going to be. You want to be blessed?
Go there. You ain't going to find it out
there. It ain't out there. Ain't nothing out there but darkness. Nothing out there but vain deceit.
You want blessed? Go where the Lord is. He alone
can bless. Where is He blessed? In Zion.
In Zion. Oh, may the Lord teach us to
sing this song from our hearts. Thank you.