Outstanding. Thank you. Let's
begin tonight in Psalm 84. Psalm 84. What a privilege it is to gather
with you in this place with the anticipation of hearing from God of seeing our Savior, of having
our hearts exposed, of having our faith encouraged and increased,
of worshiping our God, being compelled to confess our sin
and compelled to confess our Savior as Christ our Lord and
our Redeemer. What a privilege. What a high
honor God has given us to gather a people together in one place
to sustain his witness in that place and to allow us to worship
and serve him together. This 84th Psalm expresses that
which ought to be every believer's attitude toward the house of
God and the great privilege of worshiping God with his people
in the public assembly of his saints. The titles to these psalms
were added by our translators, but added with great thought
and often give us some insight to the psalm. To the chief musician
upon Gitteth, the word Gitteth appears in the title of many
of the psalms. It means an instrument, a stringed instrument. But it
comes from a word that means wine presses. And here in the
church of God, in the house of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the
true vine, causes his people to drink the sweet wine of his
grace to the joy of their hearts. A psalm for the sons of Korah.
That is to say, a psalm for singers in the house of God. A psalm
to be sung in God's house. How amiable are thy tabernacles,
O Lord of hosts. How desirable, how pleasant to
consider. My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth
for the courts of the Lord. During his exile, David was banished
from the worship of God, and that caused him great grief.
My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. Yea,
the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself.
where she may lay her young even thine altars. David, a man, a
man God set aside to be king of Israel, says, I'm envious
of the sparrows and swallows who are allowed to lay their
young in their nest at the altars of God. Blessed are they that dwell in
thy house. they will be still praising thee. Blessed are they that dwell in
God's house. They that build their lives with
God's people in his house around God's worship. Blessed are they. You young people, I say this
to men and women, All over the world, I say it to you, I've
been saying it to you, you who've been listening to me all your
lives, all your lives. You go to college, Cody, you
get your degree, you find number one thing, find a place to worship
God, number one thing. If it means you have to settle
for pushing carts at Walmart rather than being president of
Shell Oil Company, push carts at Walmart. I'm as serious as
I can be about that. Nothing so important as the worship
of God. Build your life around the worship
of God. See to it that you build your
families around the worship of God so that your sons and your
daughters, your wife, your husband understands this is where our
life is planted in the house of God. They will be still praising
thee. when others are not, when others
who have abandoned the privilege, when others who have forsaken
God's house, when others who have chosen things they thought
were necessary, have long since ceased to praise Him, you shall
still be found praising God. Now, turn to Psalm 120. Hold
your hands at Psalm 120. to these Psalms in a moment.
Psalm 120 through Psalm 134 form a section of the Psalms called
Psalms of Degrees or called Ascension Psalms. These Psalms were commonly
chanted by the children of Israel as they were making their pilgrimages
from their homes scattered in the various parts of the country
up to Jerusalem on their annual feast days. They would come out
of their tents or out of their dwelling places, a few dozen
here and a few dozen from this tribe, a few dozen from that
tribe, and gather together. And they would come together
as they made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem to worship God on the
annual feast days three times a year. And as they did, they
would chant these 15 Psalms. It's reported, though I don't
really know for certain that this is the case, that the priest
would meet the people as they came to the temple after the
temple was built. And the priest would lead them
in the worship of God. They'd come up now to the house
of God, and they'd see at the opening of the house the altar
of God and the laver. And the priest would meet them
on the first step. They had 15 steps going up to
the house of God. And at each of the steps, the
priest would lead the congregation in chanting these 15 psalms,
one after the other. These psalms were written. and
are recorded by divine inspiration to show us three things distinctly. These 15 Psalms are intended
to show us the attitude that our Lord Jesus had while he made
his pilgrimage through this world as he made his way through this
world with his eye fixed upon heaven and heaven's glory. Our
Savior's heart was set upon the glory of God the will of God
and the house of God above. These songs were written, secondly,
to show us the attitude God's saints ought to have as we make
our pilgrimage through this world to our Father's house above.
God, teach us. God, teach me, teach me and teach
you to set our affection on things above, not on things on the earth. I read an article by Brother
Darwin Pruitt yesterday, or the day before yesterday, in the
Zebulon Baptist Church Bulletin. Brother Tom Harding put it out
in his bulletin, something Darwin had written some time ago about
a man's foes being those of his own household. And Darwin expressed,
it's not necessarily that your sons and daughters, your husband
or wife, will be mean or cruel to you. Not necessarily that
they would persecute you and give you difficulty because of
your faith, but those are the things dearest to your heart. If there's anything that's likely,
Mark, to turn you away from the worship of God, it's the care
of your family. Anything. Beware. Set your affection not on things
that are seen, but things that are unseen. not on things on
the earth, but on things in heaven. Set your affection upon Christ,
the glory of God in Christ Jesus, the will of God and eternity.
And these Psalms are recorded here to give us the attitude
we ought to cultivate as we come to the house of God to worship
Him. As we look at these 15 Psalms
again this evening, I want to specifically apply them in this
way. I want to encourage you and to
encourage myself as we come to the house of God, as we come
to this place to worship God, that we come with the attitude
reflected in these Psalms. Whenever we have the privilege
of coming up out of this distressing world of darkness, to come up
out of this world of woe, of strife, of constant warfare,
gathering with God's saints, worshiping in his house at his
footstool before his throne with his people. We ought to be filled
with joy and anticipation. All the joy would come to God's
house. The anticipation. We're about
to hear God speak from his word. Oh, may God speak. If God speaks
from his word, you will hear his voice. As he speaks, ask
him to cause you to hear his voice. As he does, we will have
our eyes fixed upon God's sacrifice, the Lord Jesus Christ. We come
here. gathered in his name, gathered
by his spirit, seeking the will and glory of God, our savior,
trusting Christ, our Lord and our Redeemer as our only righteousness,
our only salvation, our only atonement for sin, our only acceptance
with God. And as we do, we come into the
house of God. We come together as the temple
of God. We send the gospel out around
the world in every way possible at our means. We print literature. We send out CDs, DVDs. We air the messages wherever
we have opportunity here locally through television and various
means that God gives us, the internet, all those things, all
those things. But understand something. Understand something. Somebody said, well, I'll I'll
get the tape and listen to it. That's good. That's good. But
it won't substitute for what you have right now, this hour.
You see, our Lord promises where two or three are gathered together
in my name, there am I in the midst of them. I just caught
your eye, David. I remember when you'd order 100,
200 tapes at a time and listen to them all the time. Ain't nothing
like sitting there, though, is it? Oh, no, you're not going to put
the Spirit of God on the tape. You're not going to put the Spirit
of God on the CD disc. No, he says, where two or three
are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Always,
as we are gathered by the Spirit of God, believing on this son
of God, he says, there am I in the midst of God. The apostle
tells us in first Corinthians three, you are the temple of
the living God. The Spirit of God dwells with
you as we are brought together, not just as we come together,
as we are gathered in this place, as God, the Holy Spirit, brings
us heart as well as body into his house. The Spirit of God,
James, comes with us into this place. This is his temple. This is where God meets with
his people and makes himself known and speaks by his word.
In fact, the apostle in Hebrews chapter 12 describes our coming
to the house of God. And he said, you've not come
like the children of Israel did to Mount Sinai, to darkness and
pillar and clouds and smoke and thunder and lightning. You come
to Jerusalem, which is above. You come to the throne of God. to the General Assembly and Church
of the Firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You've
come to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, whose blood
speaks better things than that of Abel. So that as we come together,
each of God's people coming together in God's house, in the place
where God has established his witness. Right now, over in Lexington,
our friends are meeting over there. Friends down at Ashton,
meeting there. Friends at Kingsport, meeting
there. But we've all come together at God's throne to worship Christ
the mediator whose blood speaks better things than that of evil
at his throne. We've come and the angels of
God peer into the assemblies desiring to learn from us the
wonders of redemption and grace experienced by God's hand and
by God's goodness upon us and in our souls. We've come to Jesus,
the mediator of the new covenant, who speaks better things than
the blood of Abel, whose blood speaks better things than the
blood of Abel. Now, he says, be sure you hear him that speaks. Be sure you hear him that speaks. Now, let's look at these Psalms
of degrees, these Ascension Psalms. They begin with Psalm 120, with
the pilgrim of Zion, Leaving his home and leaving behind him
a world of distress and woe Because he dwells among deceitful Self-serving
men who are in constant strife with one another it dwells in
a world of woe and distress in Psalm 134 as These Psalms are
concluded the pilgrim returns from the house of God He's going
back home now going back to face the world that hates God and
and hates his redeemer. Tomorrow, you'll get up and that's
where you're going to be. You'll go back to the factory,
go back to the shop, go back to the classroom, go back to
your family, and spend the week with a world that hates God,
a world in constant turmoil, a world of strife and woe. But
I pray that you will go back as it's expressed in this 134th
Psalm, refreshed in your soul, leaping and dancing in your soul,
giving praise to God for his goodness. Oh, may that be the
case with each of you. As I prepare to preach to you,
whether it's Sunday morning, Sunday night, Tuesday night,
I try to bear in mind that I've come to this place to preach
to eternity bound sinners. Men and women who live in a distressing
world of woe, I have, for almost all of my adult life, been sheltered
from the things you deal with every day. I spend my life back
here in this office, surrounded with things that ought to give
me great advantage, surrounded with good literature, surrounded
with the study of the Word of God, surrounded with laboring
in the Word, communicating with folks who believe God all the
time. And you spend your life surrounded
with reprobate, ungodly, idol-worshipping, filthy corruption all the time. It's my desire to send you away
from this place every time God brings you here, leaping and
rejoicing in your soul. Give praise to God for his goodness. That which relieves and comforts
and rejoices the hearts of God's saints is the same in all ages. This is what these saints experienced
as they came to God's house in the Old Testament. This is what
God's saints experience as they gather day by day, breaking bread
in the New Testament. This is what God's saints experience
today. As we come together in God's house, we hear his word. He makes himself known, showing
forth his glory in the face of Jesus Christ, our crucified redeemer. He fills our souls with hope.
in the prospect of the blessings of God awaiting us and with joy
in the experience of the blessings that are ours. So that as you
come to this house, that's my prayer, that God will bless you
and keep you, that he will make his face to shine upon you and
that he will be gracious to you, that he will lift up his countenance
upon you and speak peace to your soul. that you will have in the
experience of your soul now the blessing of God upon you. So
that when you are done with the day, you can go your way and
say, whatever comes tomorrow, whatever comes as I walk out
those doors and face this frowning world again, whatever it is,
I am blessed of God. I am blessed of God. I live with
God's blessing upon me, and I shall live until I die with God's blessing
upon me. And then, oh, the blessing of
God that awaits me. All right, let's look at these
Psalms. I want to look at them very briefly, and I'm going to
give you just the highlights of them. But I hope God, the
Holy Spirit, will speak by his word. Psalm 120 begins with an
expression of distress. The pilgrim leaves his home,
going up to God's house in great distress, calling upon the Lord
to deliver his soul from the trouble and heartache he experiences
from slandering tongues in a world of strife. And to that, God's
pilgrim was constantly aware that he dwelt in Meshech, Meshach
was a son of Japheth. His descendants were in the upper
northern part of Israel. They were commonly associated
with Magog, the enemies of God and his people. Meshach, then,
represents all false, antichrist, freewill works religion. He said,
dwell in Meshach. Look at this, Psalm 120. In my
distress, I cried unto the Lord, And he heard me. Verse five.
Woe is me. I sojourn in Meshach. I dwell in the tents of Keter. Where I live, men hate God. Where
I live, idolatry is rampant. Where I live, men worship and
serve themselves, the creature more than the creator. Where
I live, wickedness abounds on every side. Where I live, there's
nothing but ungodliness. And he comes in distress. But
immediately turns his heart from his distress to his help in Psalm
121. Turning his eyes, his heart,
and his mind away from all that troubled him, Zion's pilgrim
looks away to God on his throne. He's our help. He's our keeper. He will preserve us from all
evil. He will preserve our souls. I will lift up mine eyes unto
the hills. From whence cometh my help? My
help cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth. He who
is my help, he's God my creator. He who is my help, he rules the
universe. He who is my help, he owns everything. He will not suffer thy foot to
be moved. He that keepeth thee will not
slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper. The Lord
is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee
by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee
from all evil. Isn't that wonderful? The Lord
shall preserve thee from all evil. The evil that's around
you and the evil that's in you. The evil that hell plots against
you and the evil that the world plots against you. The Lord shall
preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth
and even forevermore. Next in Psalm 122. Zion's weary pilgrim turns his
mind toward God's house. They're coming out now on their
way up to Jerusalem, on their way up to the temple of God.
And their minds now are focused on the place where they're going,
the assembly of God's saints around his throne. That is the
assembly of God's saints around the mercy seat. The assembly
of God's saints around the place of sacrifice. The assembly of
God's saints around that one place in the universe where God
said, I'll meet you. He said, I'll meet you on the
mercy seat. I'll meet you on that lid covering the ark where
the cherubs face constantly looking on the blood. I'll meet you in
Christ the propitiation. I'll meet you in the blood atonement
of my son. This is where I'll meet you.
They're coming up now to God's throne, his mercy seat. It's
a throne of grace because it's a mercy seat. They come to God's
throne anticipating the prospect of blessedness. Psalm 122. I
was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house
of the Lord. I was glad there was a place
to go, and I was glad somebody asked me to go, and I was glad
God made me willing to go. Oh, I was glad when they said
to me, let's go to the house of God. Our feet shall stand
within thy gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem is builted as a city
that is compact together. A city is a mighty fortress.
Whether the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, that is all
God's elect, the 144,000 described in Revelation 7, all God's elect,
all the multitude of God's redeemed, the tribes go up under the testimonies
of Israel to the Ark of the Covenant, the mercy seat, to give thanks
under the name of the Lord. That's about all we can do, isn't
it? That's about all we can do. Give thanks. You haven't got
a debt to pay. That's been paid. You don't have
a work to perform. That's been done. You don't have
a righteousness to bring in. That's been brought in. Christ
has done it all. We come here to give thanks.
And what's more delightful than thanks? To give thanks unto the
Lord, for there are set the thrones of judgment. The thrones of the
house of David, the thrones of the house of David's son, the
Lord Jesus. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Pray for the peace of this house. Satan would destroy it. Don't
participate. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
They shall prosper that love thee, that love God's house,
God's people. Peace be within thy walls and
prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions'
sake, I will now say, peace be within thee. For your sake, the
sake of you, my brethren, you who are my companions in the
kingdom of God, peace be within your walls. Because of the house
of the Lord our God, I will seek thy good. Oh, what an ambition for your
life. Bobby, it can't be better spent than seeking the good of
God's house and God's kingdom for God's glory. Because of the
Lord God, I will seek your good. Psalm 123. Here, the pilgrim
sings about our faith. The faith of all those who worship
the Lord God in spirit and in truth. The faith that expresses
itself in worship. The faith that's encouraged and
strengthened in the house of God by the preaching of the gospel,
by the worship of God, by the songs of Zion. She just said,
had you ever sung that song before? I'd never heard it before. Oh,
that ladder of mercy God's raised up for me. If that doesn't encourage
faith, what will? Accomplished redemption, if that
doesn't encourage faith, what will? The worship of God, if
that doesn't encourage faith, what will? We observe the ordinances
of our God. We who believe are about to observe
the Lord's Supper as we do every Sunday evening. This is for God's
people. You who are not believers, watch
now. We'll show you how God accomplished our redemption by the sacrifice
of His Son represented in the bread and wine. But as we remember
our Redeemer eating the bread and drinking the wine, we remember
what he accomplished for us by the sacrifice of himself. As
we baptize newborn babes in God's kingdom, we remember how he fulfilled
all righteousness by his death, burial, and resurrection for
us. And our faith is encouraged and strengthened as we worship
our God in his house. Look at this, Psalm 123, unto
thee Lift I up mine eyes, O thou that
dwellest in the heavens. Verse three, have mercy upon
us, O Lord, have mercy upon us. For we're exceedingly filled
with contempt, filled with contempt heaped upon us. We're looked
upon by neighbors and friends, looked upon by close family and
by distant people. We're looked upon with contempt
because of our worship of our God. Have mercy upon us. Psalm 124. The psalmist makes
an acknowledgement. The pilgrim makes this tried,
slandered pilgrim. He acknowledges God. My savior
is God. My king. Essentially says the
same thing Paul does in 1st Corinthians 12 or 1st Corinthians 15 by the
grace of God I am what I am What's this if it had not been the Lord? Who was on our side now may Israel
say? If it had not been the Lord who
was on our side when men rose up against us then they had swallowed
us up quick and when their wrath was kindled against us, then
the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our
soul, the proud waters had gone over our soul. Blessed be the
Lord who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth. And notice, there seems to be
a constant rising of thought as we go through these Psalms.
First, the psalmist speaks of our distress and then of our
help, of our anticipation as we come to God's house, of our
faith in Christ Jesus and our acknowledgement that all things
good depend entirely upon our God and his mercy for us. Then
in Psalm 125, the pilgrim describes our confidence in our God. I want to walk before God Allen
with the kind of confidence God deserves. Utter, complete confidence, confidence,
never a doubt, never, never a question concerning his goodness, his
faithfulness and his truth. Here's the confidence he describes
in our God and his goodness. They that trust in the Lord shall
be as Mount Zion which cannot be moved or removed but abideth
forever. I trust God. Frank, I trust Christ, my Redeemer. That means nobody's going to
move me. Nobody. All hell shall not remove me. I shall abide forever. As the
mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his
people from henceforth even forever. You can't get at me. The Lord's round about me. You
can't get at us. The Lord's round about us. Peace
shall be upon Israel is how the psalm concludes. Now look at
Psalm 126. Here the psalm moves up another
scale and speaks of joy. When the Lord turned again the
captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. I have now for 45 years looked
for ways to describe the experience of grace in my soul. How can
I describe it? Well, it's like a dream. It's it's it's like a dream. I never imagined. Oh, I never
imagined life could be so good. I never imagined a man could
have such joy. I never imagined it's possible
to have such peace. I never imagined it's possible
to know such a God. Then was our mouth filled with
laughter and our tongue was singing. Then said they among the heathen,
the Lord hath done great things for them. The Lord hath done
great things for us. whereof we are glad. All his providence, all his grace,
all his redemption, all his goodness, all his mercies, he's done for
us. Why shouldn't we be glad? Why
shouldn't we laugh and sing continually? Now, look at Psalm 127. Here
the pilgrim of Zion meditates upon the security of God's house.
That is of each believer and of all believers. of each member
of the church family and of the whole church family. Here is
our security. The building of God's house is
God's work. The security of God's house is
God's work. The children he gives us are
his children. What's all that mean? That means if Grace Baptist Church Continues. Continues in the worship of God.
Continues in the gospel of God's grace. God builds it. God secures it. That means if
God is pleased to save, God will save. Won't depend on you. Won't
depend on me. This is God's work. God's house. We make plans. Pastors do. I know I am one. As they get
older and health begins to fail and memory begins to slip, I
start thinking more and more all the time about how to leave
you when I leave this world. How to provide for you when I
leave this world. If God gives me wisdom, I hope
to do nothing more than I had been doing and shall be doing
at my last breath in this pulpit. Just preach the gospel to you
and wait on God. That's all. I can't imagine my wife marrying
another man, but she might. She might. It'd be rather foolish
of me to try to pick him out for her. If she should be so
foolish as to accept my counsel, it would be a mistake. The same
is true of you. Merle, where am I going to leave
you? I spent my life laboring for you, for your sons and daughters.
Where am I going to leave you? Right where I found you, in God's
hands. In God's hands. That's exactly
right. Read this. Except the Lord build
the house, they labor in vain that build it. Not talking about
This house back here behind me. Not talking about my physical
house. Talking about his house, David. Except the Lord build
the house. They labor in vain that build
it. All they do is pile up wood, hay, and stubble. Except the
Lord keep the city. The watchman waketh but in vain.
I labor. I don't sleep real good at night
most of the time. Wake up early in the morning. Have the care
of the churches, the care of your souls constantly on my mind. Not a burden I wish to be relieved
of, but it's a real burden, but it's all in vain. All in vain. I don't, I don't ever, I don't
ever step in the pulpit unprepared. I just don't do it. I labor in
the word, but all my labor's in vain unless God keeps the
city. It's vain for you to rise up
early or to set up late, to eat the bread of sorrows, for so
he giveth his beloved sleep. That is, it is God and God alone
who gives sleep to his people, rest his people, because it is
God who performs his work. The house and the city spoken
of here are God's house, God's city. He gives us peace. The children are his children,
his gifts. Low children are heritage of
the Lord. The fruit of the womb is his
reward. As arrows in the hand of a mighty
man, so are the children of the youth. Does that mean that a
man who has a large family is more blessed of God than men
like me who just had one child? No, no, no. It's not what we're
talking about, not at all. Talk about God's family. Christ's
quiver is always full. The mighty man of war, the captain
of our salvation, happy is that man who hath his quiver full
of them. They shall not be ashamed. Who? His children. They're his quiver. They shall speak with the enemies
in the gates. They'll never be confounded,
never confused, never put to haste. Now look at Psalm 128. Here the psalmist speaks of our
way, the way in which we walk, the way of faith in Christ, the
ways of divine providence, as our steps are ordered of the
Lord, his ways, the blessed way. Blessed is everyone that feareth
the Lord, that walketh in his ways. For thou shalt eat the labor
of thine hand, Happy shalt thou be and it shall be well with
thee. Trust in the Lord with all your
heart. In all your ways acknowledge
Him and lean not to your own understanding and He will direct
your paths. Walk in His ways. Believe God. Trust Him in every circumstance
for everything. And it shall be well with you.
Psalm 129, the pilgrim faces the fact of his foes, many and
relentless, the slanderer's tongue, the sharp arrow that will never
cease to pierce and hurt. But here he moves up to the house
of God and Zion's happy pilgrim bids farewell to his foes and
commits them to God. That's the thing to do. Look
at verse 2 of Psalm 129. Many times have they afflicted
me from my youth, yet they've not prevailed against me. I'm sure this will come as a
shock to most of you. Not everybody loves your pastor
like you do. There are a few folks who find
the message I preach offensive and they They shoot lots of arrows. Do you know how many of them's
ever injured me? Do you know how many of them have ever hit
the mark? Do you know how many of them
have ever caused even a pause in the work? Not one. Not one. The Lord's righteous. He hath
cut asunder the cords of the wicked. Let them all be confounded
and turn back that hate Zion. God, you overturned them. Let
them be as the grass mown upon the housetops, which withereth
afore it groweth up. Let them be as worthless as grass
that withers as quickly as it sprouts. Psalm 130 describes
our hope. The hope of grace and forgiveness
through redemption. Let me just read this psalm.
Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear
my voice. Let thine ears be attentive to
the voice of my supplications. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark
iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness
with thee that thou mayest be feared. This has been at least
35 years ago. Brother Mahan preached for me
one Saturday at a fellowship meeting. We had just a few preachers,
folks who were interested in coming. And he preached from
this psalm. He said, there is forgiveness
with thee that thou mayest be feared. I think I can remember
his outline. He said, he said, I know there's forgiveness with
God because his name's forgiveness. I know there's forgiveness with
God because his son obtained forgiveness by his blood. I know
there's forgiveness with God because His gospel proclaims
forgiveness. And I know there's forgiveness
with God because I experience it every day. Oh, there is forgiveness
with thee that thou mayest be feared. That doesn't seem right,
does it? It looks like it ought to say
God might not forgive you, so you ought to be afraid of Him.
But it says there's forgiveness with you that you may be feared. Those who reverence and worship
God aren't folks who are afraid of Him. They're folks who believe
Him. They're not folks who are afraid
that God's going to punish their sins. They're folks who know
God already punished their sins until justice is satisfied and
they're forgiven. I wait for the Lord. My soul
doth wait and in His Word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the
Lord more than they that watch for the morning. I say more than
they that watch for the morning. When trouble comes, run to this book. Run fast as
you can to this book. This is where you'll find hope.
Watch for him as you read his word. Let Israel hope in the
Lord, for with the Lord there's mercy. With him is plenteous
redemption. And he shall redeem, he shall
deliver by blood and by power Israel, his elect, his chosen,
his covenant people from all his iniquities. Psalm 131. Here's our contentment. The pilgrim
sings as he moves toward God's house of humility and contentment,
humility and contentment. arising from the knowledge of
God, the knowledge of forgiveness, the blessed assurance of complete
redemption. Lord, my heart is not haughty,
nor mine eyes lofty, neither do I exercise myself in great
matters or in things too high for me. Now watch this, down
at the end of verse two. My soul is even as a weaned child. Some of your mothers used to
breastfeed your children. You remember how they behaved
when they were weaning? And they acted like they were
about to die. I can hear Faith squalling right now. You'd think
she's about to die. I'm just about to die. Because
she had been dependent on her mother's breast all the time.
And now it's taken away. Now it's taken away. And it's
good for her. It's good for her. She needs
to learn it. It's good for her. Now, she's
41 years old. And if I were to catch her squalling
for her mother's breast, I'd check her into the funny farm.
Something's gone wrong. She's lost her mind. How we act like folks who've
lost their mind. David says, my soul is as a weaned
child. I don't need all that I needed
in my infancy. I don't need everything that
I needed in my infancy. Give me give me signs and feelings
and this, that and the other. No, no. I walk before God by
faith, believing God's word when I feel it and when I don't, when
I experience it, when I don't. My soul is as a weaned child.
I walk confident before God. Let Israel hope in the Lord from
this time forth and even forevermore. Psalm 132. Now here's our prayer. We come
to God's house. We come here to worship God.
We come here seeking God's blessings. Lord, remember David in all his
afflictions. Maybe David is saying, Lord,
remember me and all my trouble. That's good. That's good. But
remember, this is written by inspiration. Lord, remember Christ. In all his sufferings, remember
him. We will go into his tabernacle,
we'll worship at his footstool. Verse 8, Arise, O Lord, unto
thy rest, thou and the ark of thy strength. Let thy priests
be clothed with righteousness and thy saints shout for joy. Let's move on. Psalm 133. Here's our delight. Behold, how
good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in
unity. Behold, what a rare sight, what
a good sight, what a blessed word, brethren. For brethren
to dwell together in unity, what strength, how refreshing it is
like. 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 this blessed unity of the
spirit this bond of peace is like the Ointment the anointing
of God upon our Savior our mighty Aaron that runs down over his
head over his beard down over his skirts That is the anointing
that comes to us in union with Christ the Lord Said it's like
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. Lord, remember Christ, pour out
your spirit upon us, command your blessing. And then in Psalm
134, the pilgrim speaks praise to God. Zion's pilgrims are coming
near the house of God. Now they have it in sight and
they encourage one another to give praise to God. 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 Zion. And so we come to God's house. We come to bless him, to seek
his mercy and ask that he command his blessing. And I send you
home with his blessing. I don't practice reciting benedictions. After services, as though I were
a priest. I'm often in services and preachers
will hold out their hands like they're going to pronounce a
blessing on you. Bill did not anything in my empty hand. I
can't do that. But I can pronounce in the name of God, my savior,
his blessing upon Don Lanaria. This is what he says. The Lord
bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face to shine
upon thee. and be gracious unto thee. The
Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace. And you know what? That's just
what he'll do. That's just what he'll do. Amen.