come this morning to the penultimate
song of degrees. We approach the summit of the
journey that the children of Israel have been taking through
these psalms as they approached up to Jerusalem, up to Zion,
as they approached to the temple as they approach to the offering
of a sacrifice on their behalf here they've come into the city
as one people and here as they come to Psalm 133 they are at
the summit and we see this people gathered from among every part
of the nation every place all come up to the one place one
people together to worship their God in one company. The psalm
reads, Psalm 133, a song of degrees of David. Behold how good and
how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment
upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard
that went down to the skirts of his garments. the dew of Hermon
and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion for
there the Lord commanded the blessing even life forevermore. There the Lord commanded the
blessing even life forevermore. Why did this people make this
journey? Why did they come to Zion? Why did a Lord's people make
the spiritual journey out of this world up towards God by faith in Christ? Why do they come by faith to
Zion? Because there, in Christ, the
Lord has commanded the blessing, even life forevermore. Life forevermore. As one people
in Him, they live and dwell in Him forever. taken out of this
world, out of the darkness of this world, the depths of this
world, the sin of this world, the despair of this world. They're
gathered by God as one company, united in his Son, clothed in
righteousness and blessed with everlasting life, life forevermore. What are you living for? What
are you seeking? What do you think life is here
below? Has God shown you the brevity
of it? When you're young, life seems
to stretch out before you. It seems a long time. But as
the years go by and you soon reach adulthood and middle age
and old age, you realize with tremendous force and inescapable
power that life is fleeting, it flies past. And suddenly all
the things you saw stretching out before you are lying behind
you. Old age beckons and the grave
awaits. What men call life here is but
a vapour, a moment, it's gone in a moment, it's gone like a
blade of grass growing up and cut down. It's nothing. And what there is of it in the
few short years you and I may have upon this earth is full
of misery. Whatever you may tell yourself,
however much you may try to put on a smiling face, however light
you may make of trouble, however much you may joke and laugh and
try to enjoy your journey through this veil of tears, the reality
is that life is full of misery. Death is all around you. Sickness
is all around us. Despair is all around us. Trouble
is all around us. So many experience life as they
call it and all they are doing is enduring trial after trial
and trouble after trouble. They go from sickness to sickness,
bereavement to bereavement, battle to battle. They have enemies. They have encounters. They have
disappointments. Even our friends and our families
can let us down. Those whom we love can turn to
hate us. This world is full of misery
and the misery that exists comes from sin. The sins of others
and the sins of our own. Much of the trouble that comes
upon us is of our own making, our own foolishness, own rebellion, our own seeking after what we
can gain here below without a thought for Almighty God and we find
that all that we try to gain is tarnished and brings sorrow
with it. There is no true life in this
world in the flesh. And what there is is fleeting
and ends in a moment. But David's hope was set upon
Zion. David's hope was set upon his
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. David looked up by faith. to that place from whence the
Lord commanded the blessing even life forevermore. Where are you looking? Where
is your hope? What lies beyond the grave for
you? This people that journeyed step
by step mile by mile from their villages and towns around and
about up towards Jerusalem as they ascended the mount and came
as one company together here, travelled from many places and
many circumstances. They each came from a different
place, a different background, a different family, from different
trials, from different circumstances, but they came to one destination,
Zion, and they came for one cause, to bow down before their Lord,
to bring praise and honor under his name, and to seek his blessing. And what was true in the picture
then, It's true in reality of all God's
people. God has gathered and draws a
people unto himself in Zion that are gathered from every tribe,
kindred and nation in this world. They're gathered from every circumstance
and every company. They are black, they are white.
They are from every nation. every color, of every culture, male and female, young and old. God has sent his gospel into
the four corners of the earth and he gathers together a people
who in themselves have nothing to unite them, nothing whatsoever. There may be some who would get
on with one another because they have a common interest or a common
background, but they have nothing to do with others. There are
so many things in this company of people that, naturally speaking,
would set them against each other. Not only would there be a lack
of unity, but there are so many causes of division. And we see
that in the world all around us. This is a divided world. we see it in our age and generation
increasingly how divided people are there is a common mantra
that we keep hearing particularly in recent days of being kind
to one another of not hating one another Oh how kind we should
be of each other, how accepting we should be of everybody. People
keep saying it because what they keep seeing is the very opposite. The more they speak of being
kind, the more unkindness you see in society. The more they
speak of loving one another, the more they hate one another.
The more they speak of accepting one another, the more they reject
one another. This is a divided world full
of hatred, full of violence, full of warfare. You hear of
it every day and you may experience it firsthand every day. There's
no unity in this world and there's nothing to unite the people of
God naturally speaking. There are so many differences.
We see this even in the churches. We can see this even in the churches
in the New Testament days. What divisions there were at
Galatia, at Corinth. What divisions there were which
we read of in the Acts of the Apostles. How one sought this
thing and one persuaded others of this persuasion and one thought
that they should go this way. How at Corinth one cried out,
I am of Paul, I am of Apollos. I follow this man, I follow that
man. Oh, I follow Christ, says another. They were all divided. Because the unity does not come
from man. in ourselves. There are constant
sources of division even in religion, even in the churches, even amongst
the people who would claim to each follow Christ they divide
over this point and that point and this practice and that practice.
There's always one rising up above another, always one who
thinks he knows better, always one who leads the people this
way and that way. There's no unity apart from Christ
and his gospel. But here David cries out, Behold
how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together
in unity. Why does he cry out with such
joy at this unity? that he sees when brethren dwell
together. Why does he cry out about how
good and how pleasant it is? Because he knew the opposite.
His life was full of those circumstances in which he saw one another,
even in his own household, hating each other. How he saw one another
putting each other to death. How he saw the disagreement,
the disunity, the hatred And what joy he felt when he was
wed with his brethren together in Christ. When God gathered
them and God taught them and God revealed his son unto them
and God united them together as one. all different, traveling from
many places to one place to united together as one in one in Jesus
Christ. Brethren, how rare this is. We don't find
this in the world, we don't find this in this world's religion,
any religion, we only find it those people whom God alone has
gathered and united as one in his Son. Only there, because
there out of Zion, God has commanded the blessing and only through
his Son in Zion will this blessing and this unity come. But behold
how good and how pleasant it is. What brings such unity? What brings such peace between
a divided people? Christ and his gospel. The gospel
and nothing else. Only Christ and the message of
Christ in his gospel can take a people so diverse, so divided,
so sinful, so weak, and gather them and unite them as one people
in him. Only the gospel can unite. And
it can only unite because it blots out that which is of man
and reveals that which is of God. The unity is in Christ and
Christ alone. Whenever there is anything of
us to be seen, there's a cause of division. Whenever we look
to our will, or our works, or our thinking, our wisdom, for
any merit before God, whenever we turn to our will, our works,
or our wisdom, whenever we follow our ways, we will see division
amongst the people of God. But when God takes us and crucifies
us with Christ, and takes all that is of the flesh, and destroys
it, and blocks it out, and takes it out of sight, and shows us
nothing but His Son, then we are one. Because there is only
one to be seen. Only the gospel can unite, not
preachers. This unity will come through
the gospel and the preaching of the gospel. But it's not the
preachers that can bring unity. So often people will gather when
the Lord raises up a powerful ministry, people will gather
under a preacher. But it's not the preacher who's
the source of unity. When it is, they are following
a man. And when that man's taken away,
the people are scattered again. We see this so many times in
history. How many churches have been raised up and different
preachers raised up and a company is gathered under that preaching,
but when that man's taken away, the people are scattered. Because
a number of them united under the man. and his speaking and
his oratory. Or they united because they saw
a company gathered and they wanted to be gathered in with that company. Because they didn't want to be
on their own. But they weren't gathered by God through the gospel
itself. There were those who were and
those are the ones who remain. Because they're the ones who
see Christ revealed in that message. But there are others who come
and gather to follow a man and nothing more. It's not a preacher
who can bring this unity. It's the message he preaches. And it's only when God himself
takes that message and takes the words and preaches by his
spirit through that preacher. It's not the preacher. No preacher
can turn the heart of a dead blind sinner. But God can take
the words he preaches and strike them as a sword into the hardest
of hearts and break down the defenses of the strongest resister
to his truth. God can come with just a word,
one or two words spoken into the soul. He can come unto a
dead sinner that shuts his ears under the sound of the gospel,
who's doing all he can not to listen, not to hear, not to believe. And God can come and say, live! And everything that they try
to do to stop. is broken, and the hard heart
is sliced in two, and the light shines in, and the broken sinner
falls down upon his face and lives. When God comes, he can
take the worst words of a man, the feeblest preaching, and make
them to be the most powerful declaration of Christ. The power's
not in the preacher or in his oratory. but it's in the message
he comes with. When God sends that preacher
and puts his words in his mouth and causes him to preach Christ,
then life flows forth. Unity is not in a church. Many will gather in a certain
place amongst a certain company who have a confession of faith
and they say we believe these things and they will have a certain
manufactured unity but it only goes so far. There were a people
gathered under the preaching of Paul at Corinth but they divided. There were a people gathered
under his preaching at Galatia but they ate one another up. There are churches throughout
the generations, gathered under the gospel initially perhaps,
but which are full of trouble and division because man rises
to the fore. The unity is not in the church,
it's in Christ. his gospel that gathers his people
into his church and unites them alone in him. Unity is not found
in a particular denomination or a particular confession of
faith. Men do what they can when God
comes in his gospel and unites their people, they do what they
can as it were to encapsulate that. To take the blessing they
see, to take the truths they see and to put them into a form
and to put them into words and to put them into something that
they can use to try to keep the blessing in that place and amongst
those people. But God is not bound. by any
form of words that men put together. He's not bound by men. He's not bound by men's buildings
or men's unions. There is no unity in churches. denominations. Nor is there unity
in simply separating from error. We may know what the gospel is,
we may know what the gospel is not, we may turn from this error
and that error, we may turn our backs on our minionism, we may
turn our backs on works, we may turn our backs on frothy vanity
and religion we may turn our backs on the charismatic movement
and on frothy music and emotionalism we may turn our backs on this
error and that error but there's no unity in what we don't believe
there's only unity in the truth and in the gospel as God sends
it by his Spirit The Spirit bloweth where it listeth. It comes and
it goes. Preachers come and go. Churches come and go. And the
Gospel comes and goes. And we're called to follow Christ
and to follow his Gospel wherever it takes us. When God comes in
his truth, he will open the ears to the truth, to the gospel,
and we will know what the truth is. And we will know when one
man speaks the truth and another man speaks against it. And though
one may come into the same place where we've heard the truth,
if another man comes in and preaches error, we'll know this is not
it. And if to hear the truth means
to leave there and go off and follow this man to another place
and follow the truth here, we will go. Because the truth is
not bound by men and their buildings and their confessions and their
churches, it's in the gospel wherever God sends it by his
spirit. How many there are that remain
in dead churches and denominations because once they were blessed
there, once they heard the truth there, or once their parents
heard the truth there, they've always been there, their family's
always been there, but then the gospel's gone. There's no power. There's no truth anymore. And
yet they remain because this is where they once were blessed.
And yet when God comes to them as it were, like he came to Abraham
in Ur of the Chaldees and says, rise up and go to a country that
you know not. Come, follow me wherever so ever
I leadeth you. When God comes unto them and
says, come out, they don't. Because they'd rather follow
man than give up all and follow Christ. Unity is in the gospel. Wherever
that gospel takes us and wherever that gospel goes. Arise, Jesus
says to the sick. Arise and follow me. He came
by the disciples. He came to them where they were.
He came to them where they were fishing. there they were laboring
away and he came by and he said follow me and they dropped down
their nets they dropped what they were doing and where they
were and they gave up all and they followed him even though
it cost them even though it meant leaving everything behind when
he came their way and they heard him in the gospel they dropped
everything and they followed him arise and follow me Follow
me by faith unto Zion. Israel in these Psalms left where
they dwelt. They left spiritually speaking
the world in which they dwelt. They turned from the darkness
where they were and they headed by faith up. They followed the
voice of the Lord in the Gospel. They headed up towards Zion.
They went to the place of sacrifice. They went to behold a lamb offered
in their place. They came as one company to stand
and see the salvation of the Lord. Behold how good and how
pleasant It is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Oh, that God would come in the
gospel and take us and bring us to stand still before him
and behold the Lord Jesus. And when he says unto us, arise
and follow me, oh, that God would give us faith to follow, gazing
upon him, looking under his work upon the cross, his death, his
burial, his resurrection, his shed blood, looking unto Christ
alone. For there, in Zion, the Lord
commanded the blessing, even life forevermore. this unity
that comes in the gospel and only by the gospel David likens
to the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the
beard even Aaron's beard that went down to the skirts of his
garments This unity comes down as ointment
from heaven's height. It comes down upon the head,
it runs down upon the beard, down the body, down to the skirts
of his garments. Aaron here is presented unto
us as the great high priest. He's a picture of Christ, the
head of his church. And here Christ stands with his
feet upon the earth where you and I are. and his head up in
glory and the anointing of his father is poured down upon him
the blessing flows down over him from the head down upon all
his body gathered in him down upon his church down upon that
people who are wed to him united to him as the bride is to the
bridegroom the precious ointment is poured down upon the head
it runs down upon the beard down to the skirts of his garment
here we are at his feet touching the skirts of his garment like
that sick impotent woman who touched the skirt of Jesus' garment
as he went by and virtue flowed out of him unto her. She saw
him come her way and she knew blessing and life was in him
and she touched the skirt of his garment and through that
touch, that touch of faith, that glance, that look of faith upon
Christ her Saviour, the blessing came down. And so this blessing,
so this unity, comes down from on high, from the head of the
church, Jesus Christ, the anointing oil pours down from Him, down
His beard, down His garments, to the skirts of His garments,
to His people gathered in Him, gathered up under His garment,
wrapped up in His garments of salvation, wrapped up in His
righteousness. Here is their unity, here is
their salvation, poured down from on high, from their head,
from their Lord and Saviour. From the Father who poured out
the anointing oil upon His Son, He pours it out and it flows
down from Him to every one of them who are gathered and united
in Him. The priest Aaron was anointed,
anointed with precious oil. His garments were covered by
it, his beard was covered by it, it flowed down from head
to toe. And so Christ's garments are
covered by this anointing oil from head to toe. This anointed being seen. by his blood which he shed for
sinners. God anointed him with his spirit
and he was led to go to a cross, a place of execution on the part
of his people and they in him were crucified as one with him. His blood was shed, his blood
poured forth and his blood covered them, covered their every sin,
covered their every transgression, washed them clean. Their priest
went before them. He offered himself as their sacrifice. He was slain in their stead because
of what they were and what they had done. Because believer of
what you are and what you have done, He died that in him we
might live. His people, all one, covered
by his blood, covered in righteousness, covered by his garment of righteousness,
are united as one in him. And through him, through that
righteousness, through that garment, through that anointing, through
the blood, they are one, united, precious in God's sight. At one point this people looked
from a distance and they beheld Zion up on a mountain in the
distance. They began their journey turning
from their sin, turning from the darkness of this world. They
began to walk up towards the city. As they reached the city's
height and came into the temple, they saw the priest offering
a sacrifice for them. And they looked and beheld what
he did. their behalf they looked and
saw the Lord work wondrously in the sacrifice but here as
they come in as one people into the city united as one in Christ
in Zion they're no longer at a distance they're no longer
looking on they're one with Him and not only do they see their
Savior crucified and His blood shed But now they see themselves
crucified in Him. They see why He was crucified,
because of their sins. And that being crucified with
Him, He bore their sins. He was made to be what they are,
in order to take it away that they might be made to be what
He is, the righteousness of God. Paul saw this. He declared this
truth unto those at Galatia who were divided, who were eating
each other up. He pointed them to their one
hope. He declared, I am crucified with
Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not
I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in
the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. Why did Paul live? How did he
live? Because God in Zion commanded
the blessing life forevermore and that life is in Christ who
lives in Paul. The life which I now live in
the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. That's why he lives. because
united in Christ, chosen from before the foundation of the
world, Paul was always in Christ in God's mind. But when Christ
went to the cross, Paul as he was in Adam, a sinner, a wretched
sinner, became one with his Saviour. God took Paul's sins He took
Paul's sin, he took Paul's wretched nature and he laid those sins
upon his own son and he united Paul with Christ such that Christ
was made to be what Paul is and God judged and slew his son. Because the sinner, the soul
that sins must die. And because Paul now was united
unto Christ and Christ bore his sins, God slew his own son. And he slew in Christ, Paul himself. Saul was slain, that Paul in
Christ might live. The old man, Saul, was crucified,
but the new man, Paul, rose again with Christ his Saviour. He was
one with him, he was one with him in his death, he was one
with him in the grave, and he rose again, one with him in resurrection. And what is true of Paul, of
Saul, is true of every child of God that God gathers through
this Gospel, united as one in his Son. We all died with Christ. We were all crucified with him
because he bore our sins. Every one, past, present and
future. He was made sin. He was judged. He was cast out. He endured the
darkness. He brought in everlasting life
and righteousness. We were buried with him, laid
in the grave. the old man put away forever
never to be seen again the flesh done away with the scapegoat
chased out of the city out into the wilderness and done away
with never to return the flesh was destroyed when Christ laid
down his life destroyed not improved not cleansed but destroyed but
the spirit brought life forevermore. We were buried with him, we rose
with him. When Christ rose, having cried
out, it is finished upon the cross, when he was laid in the
grave and then rose again the third day, we rose with him. Paul rose with life everlasting. God commanded the blessing because
God took saw sins and laid them upon his Son, he bore them, he
was made sin, he was one with him, he was one with him in death
and he is one with him in life. That sin having been taken away
through the faith of Jesus Christ, when he was plunged into the
darkness, when he was cast out from God's presence, when he
suffered in eternity for the sins of his own, when he looked
up unto his God and cried out, my God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Those sins were taken away. Why was he forsaken? Because
of Saul's sins, because believer of your sins. Was he forsaken, sinner, because
of your sins? Did Christ endure the darkness
by faith, looking under his Father to bring him through the abyss,
to bring him the other side for you? Did he die because you are
a dead sinner who needs to live? Did he die because you pierced
him through with your sins and your rebellion and your hatred?
Did he die for you? Paul says, the life which I now
live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved
me and gave himself for me. Did Christ go into the darkness
loving you and giving himself for you? Did Christ go into the
darkness loving you and giving himself for you? Did he take
the righteousness of God in judgment against your sin that he might
make you to be the righteousness of God in life forevermore? Did
he bring in everlasting life Did he cause you to live forevermore
because of righteousness? Did he endure the righteousness
of God in your place as he did in Saul's place? This is what brings the unity. Every sinner chosen of God were
brought to this place as one in Christ. And every sinner chosen
of God will one day be brought to hear this message, to hear
this gospel, and to have their ears opened and their eyes opened
to hear the voice of the Son of God and to see Him, as their
Saviour, as their Priest, as their Sacrifice, as their Salvation,
as their Righteousness, as their Life, they will be brought as
one to know that He loved them and gave Himself for them. They'll
be brought as one to say, God has revealed His Son in me. I heard of him with the outward
ear, I heard of him in the messages, I heard of him, I read of him,
but now I see him, now I know him, now he's revealed, now I
behold him, now he's my saviour, I know he loved me. I know he
gave himself for me. And they will feel the blessing
of God as it were come down upon them as the dew of Hermon and
as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion. They will
feel the anointing oil, they'll know the application of the blood
and they'll know the commandment of the blessing life forevermore
because it must come, it must come to everyone for whom Christ
suffered. If Christ died for Saul, Saul
had to live. And if Christ died for you sinner,
you will live. One day you will hear, one day
you will see, one day you will believe and you will live, it
must come because God's Word cannot fail and God's Son cannot
fail and Christ's death will not fail, it will bring about
all that he purposed, it will accomplish all that he purposed,
it has done. When he died, when he cried out
it is finished, everyone for whom he suffered, everyone since
whom he bore, everyone for whom he died, was brought into eternal
life. and it's just a matter of time
until he comes unto them in the gospel and finds them wherever
they may be, whatever village, whatever town they're dwelling
in, whatever corner of this world they're sitting in in the darkness,
the gospel will come their way and Jesus will come by and touch
them and say, follow me. and they'll rise and walk and
follow Him and come into this one place Zion as one company
united in Him they will hear, they will live because the Lord
commanded the blessing. Oh have you heard these past
weeks we've come and we've met you where you are in the darkness
wherever you may be We've heard of our sin and our depravity
and the troubles and trials in this world. We've heard of the
people being gathered by the Gospel and led forth on their
journey to Zion. We've heard of the sacrifice
and the offering upon the altar, the priest and the sacrifice,
the blood that was shed. We've been brought here to this
place of unity. But have you heard? Has God come
unto you? and said unto you, dead sinner,
live. Oh, that God might come unto
you and cause you to know as Saul knew, who became poor, that
the life which he now has, he has by the faith of the Son of
God, who loved him and gave himself for him. Oh may you be able to
say, once I was in darkness but Christ came my way, revealed
himself unto me, he commanded life forevermore because my savior
loved me and gave himself for me. because my Saviour loved
me and gave himself for me. Amen.