I invite you to turn with me
tonight to Psalm 122. Psalm 122. I began a series on these a few
weeks back, and these are called Psalms of Degrees. If you look
at the heading in your Bible, that's what it'll tell you, beginning
with Psalm 120 and going all the way through Psalm 134. They're
also called by a lot of the historians and commentators, Songs of Ascent. When you went to Jerusalem, you
were going up. You were going up to Jerusalem. And they called them Songs of
Ascent. But they were songs as best I
can... You can't find any kind of information
in the scriptures as to what they were, so I'm relying on
the Jewish historians and so on who said that they were sung
by weary pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem to partake of those
typical feasts and by faith worship the living God in the place and
the way that he commanded. And as we study these precious
songs I want us to see their purpose and how they are to be
understood. We're reading these things. How
do I apply them? What is he talking about here?
Who is he talking to? Well, first I want us to see
that these Psalms are describing the attitude of our Lord Jesus
Christ as He journeyed, sojourned through this land on His way
to the house of God. On His way to the right hand
of God. And all through these Psalms,
he's talking about his own attitude. The Holy Spirit reveals that
in these. And then the second thing I want
us to see in these Psalms is the attitude of God's saints
as we make our way to the house of God. Our Lord said, in my
Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. We're on our way to
the house of God. And our whole life is a pilgrimage
going in that direction. And then thirdly, I want us to
see that he's talking here about the proper attitude of every
son of God as we journey to God's ordained place of worship, as
we prepare our hearts for worship. And in these songs, they're calling
to memory all the things that God had done for us. If you want
to prepare your heart for worship, you're not going to get there
watching TV or listening to the birds sing. You're going to get
there by calling to memory what God's done for you. And you're
going to begin to thank God for all these things that He's done
for you. You can't thank on these things without being grateful,
can you? God in His mercy and grace called you and passed others
by and we can't be grateful. And as we think on these things,
we begin to prepare our hearts for worship. And that was the
whole purpose in these songs, all the way up to Jerusalem.
That's where they had to go to worship God. And with these things in mind,
I want us to see three things in this song concerning the house
of God. That's his subject in this song. And the first thing I want us
to see is the heart of the pilgrim as he ascends up to Jerusalem.
Listen to this first verse. I was glad. I was glad. Are you glad when the day comes
that the saints can gather together and worship God? Aren't you glad?
I tell you, I spent a lifetime in religion. Grew up in it. Joined it myself when I become
the right age. And the Lord saw fit to save
my soul and call me out of that mess. It was nothing but anti-Christ
religion. That's all it was. And He saw
fit to call me out of that. And I tell you, the privilege
that He's given me to meet with the saints of God, I'm glad. David said, I was glad when they
said unto me, let's go up to the house of the Lord. I was
glad. And that's the first thing I
see in this part of this pilgrim. I was glad when they said unto
me, let's go up to the house of the Lord. And when God the
Holy Spirit gives us an understanding of how things really are, we'll
be glad. See, the only reason people are
in comfort is because they don't understand what their real condition
is. Until a man is made aware of
what he really is and what kind of a world he really lives in,
he has no need of mercy and grace. He's got no need of these things. He's not going to be glad it's
just another burden you're laying on him to do something else.
And he's not interested. I remember being so full of questions.
And they were all of the sort that were mysteries to everybody
else I talked to. I saw God's absolute sovereignty
in the scriptures and I started talking to men about His sovereignty
and they knew nothing about His sovereignty. God's absolute and total sovereignty. God's election and predestination. They told me, oh, you thought
I had polio or something. Man, they looked at me like I
had the plague. Oh, don't go there. Hidden things
belong to God. I said, yeah, but they're not
hidden. stated clearly right here in the Scriptures. The revealed
things belong unto us, don't they? God's irresistible grace and
calling. Oh, His grace is not irresistible. Oh, yes it is. Oh, yes it is. Well, why do some live? Because
He hasn't extended that grace to them. If He extends His grace
to you and His calling to you, it will be irresistible. Irresistible. And then think about this, salvation
already accomplished. I knew nothing of that. When
I first seen that, I just didn't know what to say. I thought,
you're reading that wrong. Everybody in this world can't
be wrong about this, can they? Yes, they can. John said, we
know that we are God and the whole world lies in wickedness.
Yes, we can. Salvation already accomplished
and God's elect accepted in Him and God's glorious name and character. One mystery after the other and
no matter where I went or who I talked to, they had no idea
of anything on these subjects. I had no conversations whatsoever. And some were even plagued with
superstitions, fear, concerning these things. You couldn't even
say the word predestination. It's okay to quote the Bible,
folks. They said the hidden things belong
unto God. But I soon discovered that things
God didn't want us to know, He didn't allow His prophets to
write. You remember in the book of Revelations,
He showed John all these things. Oh my, what a privilege. He opened
that door and let him peer right into heaven. And he showed them
all these things that were to be. All the things concerning
Christ and his people. And then he said, John, put your
pen up. Well, why couldn't John write
of those other things? He saw them. He said, you put
your pen up. You're done. The revelation's
complete for now. John heard the voice of seven
thunders and when they were done he grabbed his pen and began
to write but a voice from heaven came to him and said, seal up
those things which the seven thunders uttered and write them
not. We can't talk about those things
because we got no written account of them. And the only thing we
know about God been written in that book. If we don't believe
that, we don't believe anything. And every scripture and every
promise and every declaration in this book is for our understanding. That's what it says. It's profitable.
Written for our learning that we, through patience and comfort
of the scriptures, might have hope. And they're profitable,
he said, for doctrine. Well, if I can't look into these
things, then what good are they for doctrine? But they're there
for doctrine. And they're profitable for doctrine.
They're profitable for reproof and correction and instruction
and righteousness. That the man of God might be
furnished in all things. I've got everything I need if
I've got that book and have an understanding of the gospel.
I don't need anything else. Finally somebody told me about
a man up in Ashland, Kentucky. He said he deals with those doctrines
every Sunday. I said, are you telling me at
prime time on Sunday morning there's somebody on there dealing
with predestination and election? Oh, yeah, every Sunday. I didn't
believe it. I just didn't believe it. And
so he said, well, only thing I can tell you is stay home next
Sunday and turn the TV on. So I did. And Henry Mahan come
on, and he was dealing with them subjects. And I told my wife,
I said, we're going to Ashland this afternoon. We packed up
the car, I went up, introduced myself, and I met him. And I
attended that night, and I told her, I said, this is where we're
going to church from now on. This is where we're going. There's
nothing in this world to help the believer accept such places
and things as God has ordained. That's what I want you to know.
John said, we know that we are of God. How'd he know that? God
revealed it in his word. And he revealed it in our hearts.
and He revealed it in their heads. We are God, and we know the whole
world lies in wickedness. And here's how we know that.
The Son of God has come and given to us an understanding that we
may know Him that's true, that we're in Him that's true. This
is the true God and eternal life. And oh, what a humbling thing
it is to discover that God has but a single place for you to
go. A place designated by Him where
He promises to be and to teach and to give us a spiritual understanding. If you wanted to know God in
that day, you went to Jerusalem. I'll give you an example. The
Ethiopian eunuch. They told him if you want to
know something about God, you have to go to Jerusalem during
the feast day. And he packed up his entourage
and got in that chariot and they drove all the way over, however
far it was, to Jerusalem. And he went through all the feasts
and he listened carefully to all the law that was read and
all the priests that said what they said and he came home as
ignorant as he was when he got there. And then God sent him
a preacher. And he said, here's what this
whole thing is about. And he got up there and Ethiopian
eunuch was reading from Isaiah. And beginning at that same place
where he was reading, he preached Christ to him. And then that
Ethiopian eunuch understood those feasts. He understood the law. He understood all those mysteries
that he couldn't learn by just looking. God sent him a man. And there was a time and a place. Oh, I tell you, I was glad to jump in my car.
I had to drive 50 miles to get to church. I was glad. I was
happy. 50 miles was nothing to get to
hear somebody that knew these great mysteries. Oh, I drove
150. God's people go to his house
expecting to be fed, expecting to learn. They went to those
feast days not to sit back and look, but to be partakers. To
be partakers. They went there expecting to
learn and expecting to worship and expecting to be blessed and
they were never disappointed. What a privilege God has given
to us here in this place. You've got a nice place. We're
not meeting in dens and caves of the earth like some of those
old fellas. Some of them had to worship God down in the tombs.
You think about that. Here we are in a warm house,
lights, Heat and air. Oh, I'd be glad. Glad. We have every advantage of modern
science at our fingertips. Not threatened by enemies. How
glad we ought to be to come here and be taught of God. Lord, teach
me and I'll be taught. Isn't that what you say? Let
God be true in every man's life. Teach me. Teach me. Use whatever
means you designate proper, but teach me. We say that and then
we run out and bend our own means. You're not going to learn anything
from God doing that. You see, He said all these good
and perfect gifts, they come down from above. They come down
from the Father of Lights. And here's the thing about the
Father of Lights who gives all these good gifts. With Him is
no bearableness, neither shadow of tyranny. What he's ordained
to be done, it's going to be done. The way he ordains it to
be done is the way it's going to be done. So here's the heart of the worshipper.
He understands not everything and every detail, but he understands
enough to know that God has done something special for him and
he's done it through a certain man in a certain place. And he's
happy about it. He's glad about it. He's glad
to go back. And then the second thing I want
us to see in this song is the reason for his gladness. The
house of God, now hear me, is the body of Christ. That's the
house. This ain't the house, this is
the building. Our church up home, that ain't the church. Church
is the people who assemble inside of it. The house of God is the
body of Christ and his body is his church. And Jesus Christ
is God. Invisible God. And in the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
And the Word, that invisible God, was made flesh. Why? To manifest His glory. There
is no other way for you to learn the glory of God except in Christ.
The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory. What glory? The glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. His physical body is a representational
body. It's a substitutionary body.
The union of God and man. And He actually came down, the
invisible God, and robed Himself in human flesh. Here's a union. You couldn't tell where man stopped
and God began. He was the God-man. Don Porter
used to try to emphasize that. He'd say, the God-man. He said,
you can't put them too close enough together. He merged them
together in one. And that's our hope. That union
that we see in Him is representative of the union, that eternal union,
where God has chosen us in His Son, put us in His Son, in a
holy covenant union with His Son. And everything His Son came
to do, He did for us. How else could He do that except
as a representative man? And so that body is His Church. His body is the Church. God's elect are predestinated
in Him, chosen in Him, made provision for in Him, made acceptable in
Him, called to faith in Him, buried with Him in baptism wherein
also you're risen again with Him through the faith of the
operation of God. When a man is baptized, that's
what this scripture is talking about, He sees as that pastor,
evangelist, whoever he is that lays him down under the water. He sees that burial as his burial
in Christ. Being buried, put to death, buried. Satisfied divine justice. And
then when you raise him up out of the water, he's risen to live
a newness of life. When Christ rose from the dead,
he wasn't going back to that grave again. He wasn't going
to that cross again. The second time He comes will
be without sin unto salvation. Everything is in Christ. And these things that we do,
like the Lord's table and baptism, we have a spiritual understanding
of what that means. And we have no body, no eternal
body, but the body of Christ. Scripture says, We know that
if the tabernacle of this flesh be dissolved, what happens when
you take that body out of the cemetery and they put it in that
grave and they shovel dirt in your face? What happens? This
body is dissolved. It goes back to the earth from
which it was taken, back to the dust from which it was created. And he said, we know if the earthly
tabernacle of this flesh be dissolved, we have a building of God, a
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. What is that?
That's Christ. That's Christ. The body of Christ
is the house of God. It's represented here, not by
a building, but by those assembled in it. And where they assemble and where
God puts His means, that's where God has promised to be. It doesn't
matter. We've got a small crowd here
tonight, but it doesn't matter if there's just two or three.
If we meet in His name, and we worship Him through His gospel,
He's in our midst. That's what He says. So the first
reason for our gladness is that we're going up to assemble in
God's house, and then secondly, because God's throne is there. Can you see that in the song?
There are thrones there in Jerusalem, thrones he said. And he's not
talking about that Jerusalem over there in Israel, he's talking
about that heavenly Jerusalem. He's looking with eyes of faith,
that's why his heart's made glad. And he's going there to worship
God from his heart. The king's house was in Jerusalem,
the throne was in Jerusalem. And even so, in spiritual Jerusalem,
God said, I've set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. His throne's
there. His rule is established there.
He said, if I come along with the finger of God and cast out
demons, he said, then you know the kingdom of God has come.
Kingdom of God, the king. Who else could take away that
stony heart and give you a heart of gold? Who else could call
you out of darkness into his marvelous light? Who else could
wrestle down the strong man and take from him all that armor
wherein he trusted and dissolve your hideout, your refuges, tear
them down, bring you into subjection to every thought of Christ? Who else could do that but the
King? He said, I've set my king there
and let the heathen rage and let them all imagine a vain thing
and let them all organize themselves together and be against his anointed. Let all of them threaten to break
his bonds and cast away his cords. He that sitteth in the heavens
will laugh. He'll laugh. He said, here's
what you better do. My son that I set on my holy
hill, my king, I set him on the holy hill Zion, you better kiss
the son. That's what you better do. Your
life's in his hands. He's Lord. He's Lord. Serve the Lord with fear and
rejoicing and kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish from
the way. God's authority is seated in the house of God. He's Lord.
You know, We were talking about this earlier. When Paul addressed the Thessalonians,
he wrote them that first letter, he said, I know your election
of God. How do you know that, Paul? He
said, because when my gospel came, it came not in word only.
It came in power, it came in the Holy Ghost, and it came with
much assurance. That's not confidence in your
confidence, that's confidence in Christ. How much confidence
did you have? Enough to rest your soul in his
hands. And he said, by that I know your election. The second reason
he gave for that is this. You become followers of us and
the Lord. Oh, you mean the Lord established
his authority in his man. Yes, he did. Yes, he did. I tell you, the first time I
heard Henry Mahan, he wasn't any bigger than I am. The fact
is, I think I'm a little taller than he was. And I met him, and
he wasn't no big man. He wasn't an intimidating man
at all. But I feared him, because I knew
when I heard him preach, I knew this is God's man. He's put his authority in this
man. and he's going to preach to me,
and I'm going to bow to his authority. That's what Paul's saying here.
We're not dictators or anything, but he establishes authority. Obey them that have the rule
over you. Isn't that what the scripture
says? And that's what we do. It's an evidence of your election.
And you've become examples. God saved you the same way he
saved me. The same way he saved every one of us, by his grace.
You've become examples. And you've learned to wait in
patience for the Lord of Glory. Believers are all one in Christ.
Scripture said there's one body, one spirit, one hope of your
calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father
of all who is above all, in you all, and through you all. That
sound like one to me. We're all one in Christ and we
gather here to hear one message. And we listen to it until we
come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son
of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of
the fullness of Christ. Ephesians chapter 4. So what
are you saying, Preacher? I'm saying fellowship as fellows
in the same ship. That's what I'm saying. And I
have no fellowship with devils, and we don't drink the cup of
devils, and we don't eat at devils' table, and what fellowship hath
righteous with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light
with darkness? So we gladly sojourn up to the
house of God expecting and anticipating godly fellowship. My soul, on
Sunday morning, I look so forward to that. We get to see one another.
We've all been parted. We've all been working. We've
all been exposed to this present evil world. And now we have a
time allotted that God takes that away from us and we come
together in precious fellowship around the name of God. He said,
man, I'm glad. I'm glad. And then he tells us this in
verse four of our text. He said, we're going up there
for the testimony of Israel. The testimony of Israel. He said,
to the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to
this book, this word, it's because there's no light in them. All my friends, don't just come
into this place because it's Tuesday night. Don't do that. Don't just come up here because
it's what everybody else does. Come up here hungry to hear.
Come up here with hearts prepared to worship God. Come up here
expecting a blessing. You're gathering before God.
He's the Lord of the dead and the living. What is it that you
need that He can't give you? And if God spared not his own
son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also
with him freely give us all things? What do you need? We ought to
be here expecting. We ought to expect him to save
our children. I pray for my children, but I
can't say I expect him to save them, but I ought to. He said, this salvation is for
your children. That's what he says in the book of Acts. It's
for your children and your children's children. And as many as the
Lord thy God shall call. We ought to come here expecting.
Why wouldn't He save your kid? It ain't no different from anybody
else's. We doubt God so much. There's
so much unbelief in us. I tell you, when you try to look
at it, you just want to walk around with your head hanging
down, don't you? Hey, was he going to save my
kids because they're mine? No, he's going to save them for
the same reason he saved you. For his glory. And that's the
way we all pray about it. Oh, but you don't know, you don't
know, you don't know my son. My son hates the gospel. They
all hate the gospel. But you think God can't change
their hearts? I was the biggest rebel that ever lived. And I'll
tell you, he melted me down in one session. He brought me to
my knees in one session. Paul said, he saved me first,
the chief of sinners. He said, now listen to this.
He said, God came into this world to save sinners of whom I'm chief. And he did that, he said, for
an example to you. were an example to all who believed. He took me off the bottom of
the barrel. He scraped up the junk on the
bottom of the barrel and saved me. Now if he could save me,
you're way better than me. He could save you. And that's
the way we ought to look at it. One old man told John Newton,
he said, you hear that such and such down there in the county
of Bath? He said, the Lord saved him. He said, I'll never doubt
his salvation for anybody again. Old John Newton looked at him
and he said, well, brother, he said, I haven't doubted God's
ability to save since he saved me. Who could be worse than me? Ain't
that the way we ought to look at it? Oh, my soul. We gladly
sojourn up to the house of God expecting and anticipating godly
fellowship. Come up here hungry, thirsty. Come up here needy sinners. Come
up here expecting to hear and be taught. Come up here to be
with those called of God. Oh, what an encouragement we
are to one another. You just don't realize it. What
would you do if you had nobody? Just you and Tammy. Nobody else
here. Nobody to put their arm around you and say, I understand.
I understand. Huh? Oh, we ought to look forward
to that, shouldn't we? If we're right in our professions
of faith and God's done a genuine work in us, we're going to live
with one another for eternity. Surely we can get along for an
hour or so down here. Huh? We're going to spend eternity
together. We ought to cultivate that, shouldn't
we? That ought to take priority over our families. Family of
God ought to take priority over everything. We ought to be more
concerned with that than we are with anything else. And when
we really understand what it is, we will be. Everything else
will revolve around that. See, our generation, we've been
taught to work the gospel into our schedule. You don't do that. You build your schedule around
the gospel. That's what you do. Gladness and anticipation ought
to fill our hearts at just the mention of going up to the house
of the Lord. And then lastly, I want us to
see what the pilgrim hopes for when he gets there. And when he's found what he has
found in the past. What does he find? What does
he long to find? Well, he begins by telling us
a heart of peace. One of the Psalms that I spoke
of earlier in this series, he said at the end of it, he was
talking about leaving all that ungodly company and people that
he worked with and all those things, and now he has peace. And he said, one of the ways
he described those people, he said, I'm for peace. But he said,
they're for war. They want to argue. They want
to debate. They want to lash out. He said,
I'm for peace. I'm at peace with God. Well, how does he find it? Verse
4. He hears the testimony of Israel and gives thanks unto
the name of the Lord. Only one name under heaven given
whereby we must be saved. The name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God's name is who He is. And the glory of that name is
the goodness, mercy, and grace of God in Christ. Moses said,
show me your glory. What's the first thing God told
him? He said, I'm going to put you up here in the cleft of this
rock. That's Christ. And he said, I'm going to pass
by. And he said, I'm going to let you see all my goodness,
all my soul. Moses saw God's justice, but
he saw the goodness in him. Do you know that law secures
you as much as His grace? He satisfied divine justice. He fulfilled that law and every
jot and kill. That law can never accuse you
again. You fulfilled it. That's what
righteousness is. Satisfying the justice of God. He was raised again for our justification. I have a perfect righteousness
in Christ. And that law secures me as much
as any, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It's God that justify it. Well, he didn't justify a transgression,
a man who's full of transgressions. No, he didn't. No, he didn't. All them transgressions were
paid for and they were charged to another. They were never charged
to you. Always charged to the son. All God's character in its perfections,
all in perfect harmony, being just and justifier, righteous
in His remission of sins, uncompromised in all things, especially our
salvation. And I've been told all my life
about the goodness and love of God. Jesus loves me, this I know,
for the Bible tells me so. Until one day, by the grace of
God, I was enabled to hear what the Bible says about His love.
Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. Yeah, but Esau did not
know it was said before Esau or Jacob, either one was born.
Read it on Romans, that's exactly what it tells you. And here's
why he said it. That the purpose of God according
to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth.
For it's written, the elder shall serve the younger. And again,
it's written, Jacob have I loved, He saw it by him. This God said in Romans 9, 11-13
that the purpose of God according to election might stand not of
works, but according to His love for His people. It's like a husband's
love for his wife. It's particular. I was talking
about this one day to our folks, and I said, if you want, you're
sitting there saying, well, God loves everybody. God loves everybody.
I said, go home and tell your wife, honey, I love you just
like I do all the other women. See how that goes over. How do you think God looks at
that? He's expressed, not just expressed, He's given us His
love, particular love. Oh, my soul. He commended His love toward
us while we were yet sinners. Christ died for us. When we were
enemies of God, He reconciled us. And our kinsman, Redeemer,
will redeem bankrupt bride and join with her for His bride forever. You think about that. And while you think the world
has some affection for you, it does not compare to the one who
loves you, who gave himself for you. There's no comparison. When
God set his love on his elect, he did so with a full engagement
of his whole person. His justice, his righteousness,
his love, his mercy, his kindness and goodness. You sit right here
in the cleft of this rock. You sit right here in Christ
and I'm going to show you my glory. You want to see His glory? You'll see it in Christ or you
won't see it at all. And here's what you're going
to see. God's goodness. Oh my soul. God's holy justice
secures me as much as His unchangeable love. And God's perfect righteousness
qualifies me as much as His mercy and goodness. Being justified
by faith, that is understanding the free justification of His
grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Being
justified by faith, we have peace with God. We heard the testimony
of Israel, and now I have peace. I have peace. We have access, Paul said, into
this grace wherein we stand. And then verse 9 of our text,
he says, because of the house of the Lord our God, seek your good. Because of the house of the God. Where did you hear the gospel?
From the house of the Lord. His church is the pillar and
ground of the truth. You're not going to get it anywhere
else. And oh, what a promise to his people. God's house is
His people and you and I are actively being incorporated into
that house. Listen to this, you also as lively
stones are built up a spiritual house. Being laid this very night,
being laid in that place that He made for you. Built on the
precious foundation stone of Christ and built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the
chief cornerstone. And this house is built to show
forth the praises of Him that called you out of darkness into
His marvelous light. So like that castaway baby in
Ezekiel 16, 14, our beauty is made perfect with His comeliness. Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake. by forgiving
you. And so we now know that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
called according to His purpose. And not only will God seek the
good for us, but we will all seek the good of one another.
If we know about that goodness, that goodness is going to become
active in your heart. You're going to be good to others.
And you can put all the law in the world up to a man and it
won't cause him to do that. All the law in the world can't
make you love anything. But boy, that love shed abroad
in your heart can. It can. And it will. May the Lord teach us something
about his house and that worship that's conducted there and those
means that are exercised there. and all the special gifts of
God. And I thought this song was so
appropriate for this little group. And that's exactly what you're
seeking to do, isn't it? You're seeking to be His church,
His local church in this world. Just a scaled-down model of that
real body that's up in glory. Just a scaled-down model. And
that's what we want to be. That's what I want for you so
bad, so bad. And I pray that God will give
it to you. All right. Thank you.