So turn to Psalm 122. I just
want to read that with you now. 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 builded as a city
that is compact together. Whither the tribes go up, the
tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give
thanks unto the name of the Lord. For there 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 companion's sakes, I will now say, Peace
be within thee, because of the house of the Lord our God, I
will seek thy good." I was wondering the other night, because Peter
had asked me to do the introduction to this on Friday evening, I
was thinking, what should I say? What should I bring? Well, Christine,
my wife and I, we're in Wellingarden City Choral Society and we go
doing this classical choral singing. And one of the pieces that we're
practicing for the summer concert is Hubert Parry's, I was glad
when they said unto me, let us go unto the house of the Lord,
Psalm 122. So that was what prompted my thoughts in that direction.
Let us go. Why have we gathered together?
Let us go unto the house of the Lord. Let us go unto the house
of the Lord. Our feet shall stand within thy
gates, O Jerusalem. What's the New Focus conference
about? It's about us gathering together. But the house of the
Lord? Wasn't the house of the Lord
the temple in Jerusalem? What was the temple in Jerusalem
all about? It was about the presence of
God. It was specifically, in those days, the place where God
said his presence would be. It had the symbols of the covenant,
the symbols of the gospel covenant. The ark of the covenant was there. The mercy seat over the ark of
the covenant was there. The tablets of the law were inside
that Ark of the Covenant. The showbread was there. The
candlestick was there. The altar of incense. The altar
of sacrifice and burnt offering. They were there. There was the
shedding of blood in the animal sacrifices. There was the Passover. was held there. It fell into
disuse, but that was where it was meant to be, a yearly thing.
The Passover was there. The Day of Atonement, when the
high priest went into the Holy of Holies with an acceptable
sacrifice. A sacrifice, an animal sacrifice
that symbolized an acceptable sacrifice. The scapegoat was
there. where the sins of the people
were laid, and it was taken away by the hand of a fit man into
the wilderness to take it away, symbolizing the taking away of
the sins of God's people. The priesthood was there, the
Levitical priesthood, the high priest was there, and all of
it was picturing the gospel. All of it was picturing the gospel
fulfilled in all that Christ did when he came for his people. All of it. In accomplishing the
salvation of his people, of his elect people, in redeeming his
people specifically from the curse of the law. His people
he came to redeem from the curse of the law by being made a curse
for his people in his death on Calvary. You say, we can't go
to that Old Testament temple in Jerusalem. It's nearly 2,000
years since it was destroyed. It's no longer there. There are
no animal sacrifices there anymore. But we can meet around everything
it symbolized. We can meet around the gospel
of our God. Look at verse 4. wither the tribes."
This place, this house of the Lord, this Jerusalem, it's where
the tribes go up. The tribes of the Lord, unto
the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord.
It's where they go up. The people of His choice, the
tribes of the Lord, the people of His choice, the objects of
His grace. As Revelation 5 verse 9 puts
it, the people redeemed to God by Christ's blood out of every
kindred and tongue and people and nation. And they go to the
testimony of Israel. What's this Israel? We're not
talking about a state in the Middle East in 2015. That's not
the Israel we're talking about. We're talking about what Galatians
6.16 calls the Israel of God, the redeemed people of God. We
go up to the testimony of those people. And what is the testimony
of those people? It's Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was determined, says Paul,
to know nothing else amongst you except Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. Paul told the Ephesian elders
on the beach at Ephesus, he said, I've not shunned to preach unto
you the whole counsel of God. What's the whole counsel of God?
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's it. Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. The gospel that saves, the gospel that accomplishes
its objective. How does it accomplish its objective?
It gives an answer. It gives an answer that is effectual
in response to these questions. As Job asked the question, Job
14 verse 14, If a man die, shall he yet live? Isn't that an important
question? For a people who all their lifetime,
through fear of death, are subject to bondage. Isn't that a good
question? If a man die, shall he yet live?
It answers this question. When our appointment with death,
which we surely all have, appointed to man to die once and then the
judgment, when that appointment with death comes round and then
the judgment, how shall we be declared just with God? How shall
we be declared acceptable in the sight of a holy God? When
we all stand before that judgment seat of Christ, on that last
day? What will cause the judge to
say to us, come you blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world? What will answer
all of those questions? It's the gospel of our God. That's
the testimony of Israel. That's the testimony that we
come up to. It's the gospel that saves. It's the testimony of
the Israel of God. Let's go to the House of the
Lord. I was glad when they said let's go to the House of the
Lord. Datchworth Village Hall? The House of the Lord? Datchworth
Village Hall? Is it the house of the Lord? When we turn up
here on a Sunday morning for our meeting, we meet in the room
to the side there where the bookstall's going to be, the roller skaters
are still going round here while we're setting up the chairs next
door. It's used for sports clubs. It's used for all sorts of Datchworth
village social occasions. It's used for rowdy parties,
I'm sure. The house of the Lord? Surely not. The religious world
would say surely not. Ah. But when there are those
gathered, who through, as the scripture describes it, the sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth of the gospel of grace,
when by those things they evidence, as Paul said to the Thessalonians,
that they are beloved of the Lord, that they are chosen from
the beginning unto salvation when they are gathered there,
And what's the only evidence? Their belief of the truth, sanctification
of the spirit, belief of the truth. When they are gathered
here, these are the tribes of the Lord gathered together. They're
gathered to hear the testimony of the Lord, the testimony of
Israel. They're brought together to hear the sound of the gospel
of grace, brought by men who are burdened with that message
by God the Holy Spirit, and that's what we've come together for.
The tribes of Israel have come up to the house of the Lord to
hear that gospel proclaimed. If that's the case, this is the
house of the Lord that we go up to. This is the house of the
Lord, where the tribes of the Lord go up to the testimony of
Israel. And what is it that makes us
glad? I was glad when they said unto me, let's go to the house
of the Lord. Do we say to one another as we hear the preaching
and as we think and meditate on this preaching, do we say
as the Shulamite did in the Song of Solomon, saw ye him whom my
soul loveth? Have you seen Him? Have you seen
Him? We want to see Him, don't we? Have you seen Him whom my
soul loveth? We hope and we expect, as He
is held up, as He is lifted up, as His gospel is proclaimed,
we expect to see the King. in His beauty. We're watching,
as Proverbs 8, 34 and 35 says, we're watching and waiting in
the gates of Jerusalem. We're waiting at the doors of
the temple for that blessing and favor and life that the Lord
promises His people when they gather together in Christ's name.
We're expecting, we're glad, we're expecting our hearts to
burn within us while he talks with us in the way. That's what
makes us glad. What unites us. What is it that
unites us? It's the gospel. It's that gospel,
pure and simple. The gospel from which so much
religion that sounds so much like the truth, it doesn't want
anything to do with it. It doesn't want to come here.
It doesn't want to tell its people about it. It's that gospel, pure
and simple, that unites us. That Israel, the Israel of God,
shall be saved in the Lord. That's how Israel is saved. Israel
shall be saved in the Lord. Not in ourselves. What saves
you? Oh, my faith. No, not your faith. No, by grace
are you saved, through the means of your faith, and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God. No, not in ourselves, not
in our faith, but in the faith of Jesus Christ, who satisfied
the just demands of divine law when he paid his people's penalty
to the full, so that the law cried out, enough, satisfied,
he's done it, he's done all that's necessary. Do we all that are
gathered here from different situations, from different local
situations, do we agree on everything? No, I'm sure we don't. I'm sure
there are secondary matters on which we might differ. There
are matters of practice, there are matters of local tradition,
but we agree on the gospel of his grace. This gathering, it's
non-denominational. There's no denomination. New
Focus is not a para-church organization. It's an online magazine to promote
the truths that we hold dear and preach, but it's not a para-church
organization. There is no hierarchy of authority. You know, the world and its organizations
expect there to be a hierarchy of authority. Who's the leader?
Who's the boss man? Take me to your leader. No. No
hierarchy of authority other than the preached word. That's
it. The word preached. When the sheep of Christ hear
the good shepherd's voice, when his under-shepherds speak with
his voice in the gospel of his grace. That's the only authority
that we recognize. I've told our people many, many
times. If ever you reckon you're not
hearing the Good Shepherd's voice through the things I say, then
start listening to somebody else. Go somewhere else. Don't listen
anymore. That's the only authority that we claim, is the Good Shepherd
speaking through his under-shepherds. So then, verse 8, Verse eight,
for my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now say, peace
be within thee. For my brethren and companions'
sakes, peace be within thee. The peace of God channeled through
the truth of saving grace proclaimed. I was glad when they said, let
us go to the house of the Lord. I trust that's what we've done.
I trust that's what we'll be blessed with as these meetings
proceed over the next two days. Thank you. We're now going to