this evening on the subject of
faith. And I want to approach the subject
in this fashion, not dealing with faith as a doctrine, so much as dealing with faith
as an experience. In reality, faith is not a doctrine. In reality, faith is not a doctrine. People talk about what is your
faith, they talk about that meaning what's your denomination, what's
your creed, what is your catechism, what is your confession of faith.
But faith is not a doctrine, it's not a creed, it's not a
profession. And faith, according to the scriptures,
is the gift of God. Faith is not something I produce,
something I work up, and something, a response in me to something
someone says. Faith is literally, actually,
the gift of God. Paul wrote in Ephesians 2, for
by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. Faith is not of yourselves. We call it my faith. My faith
looks up to thee. We are just saying that. I know
what we mean. But faith is the gift of God. By grace are you saved through
faith, that not of yourself. It is the gift of God. It is
not of works, lest any man should boast. We are his workmanship. We are his creation, a new creation. Salvation is not the old man
with faith added. Salvation is a new creation,
and that faith is the gift of God. And secondly, it's the life
of that creation. Faith is the life of God in us. It's not this old man believing,
it's a new man. The old man doesn't believe anything.
The old man doesn't change. The old man is under judgment
and condemnation. and he's going to die and rot.
But this faith is the gift of God and it's life, the life of
God. Turn to Galatians chapter 2 and
see if that's not what Paul is saying here about himself. In Galatians chapter 2 verse
20, am crucified with Christ. I'm
dead, but nevertheless I live. Yet not I, it's Christ who lives
in me. My faith is Christ who lives
in me. And the life which I now live,
you see, when the Lord came, Paul said, I died, the old Paul
died. But the life which I now live
in the flesh, in this body, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself
for me. And that brings me to the third thing about faith.
It's the gift of God. It's the life of God in the new
creation. And it is actually the power
of God. Faith is the power of God in
us, which motivates and produces all that we are. Paul said one time, I labored
more abundantly than all the other preachers and apostles,
yet not I. It was Christ in me. And this
power of God in the new creation, this life of God, which occupies
this body motivates all that we are and all that we do. It's
a living experience and a living fellowship with a living God
that never dies, never ceases, never changes. It only grows. You see, I just read a while
ago, by faith, Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.
Cain couldn't offer anything but what he offered because he
was a natural man. And that's the reasoning of a
natural man. Abel, being a new creature in Christ by faith,
offered the sacrifice you'd expect him to offer. What other sacrifice would a
new man offer when he'd cut his arm off before he'd offer anything
else? Because he's motivated by the
life of God in him. And God's not going to offer
another sacrifice other than Christ. By faith, Noah, being warned
of God, what did you expect him to do? He built an ark. He couldn't
do anything else. Because he was listening to the
voice speaking to the Spirit in him. And I don't expect him to do
anything else but build an ark. Why? God told me to. You think
it's going to rain? Well, he said it. I've never
seen it rain, but he said it was going to rain, so I'm expecting
it. You can get your raincoats out and your umbrellas. It's
going to rain. That's the life of Noah. By faith
Abraham offered Isaac. What would you expect a new creature
in Christ Jesus to do when his God came to him and said, take
your son up on the mountain and offer him? What do you expect
him to do? You expect him to take his son up on the mountain
and offer him, because that's him, that's the new creature.
He obeys God. He hears God, he loves God, he
obeys God, and he doesn't question God. By faith, Moses refused to be
called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. There are a lot of fellows who
would have taken her up on that deal, because think of all the
benefits that went with it. But he couldn't. He couldn't be happy there. He
couldn't live there. He couldn't stay there. He couldn't
watch his people perish under the bondage of Egypt and keep
his mouth shut. He could not do it. And that goes just like this
preacher standing in this pulpit. I can't preach anything but the
Word of God. What would you expect God's preacher to preach? What
would you expect the Spirit of God in a man to say? What God
says. And if he says anything else,
he's not a man of faith. If he does any other thing, he's
not a man of faith. Faith is not a doctrine, it's
not a creed. It's not a catechism, it's not
a confession of faith, it's a life of God in a man or woman. Faith is the gift of God. I live
by the faith of the Son of God. It's not I, it's Christ in me
and you. And it's the power of God which
motivates all that we are and all that we do. And these all died in faith.
What do you expect them to do? So my message is going to be
taken from an unusual place. It's going to be taken from Psalm
27. Because this is the testimony of faith. This is a certain sure
testimony of a man whom I know beyond a shadow of a doubt. had the life of faith, David,
because the Father himself said, He's a man after my own heart. And I'm going to listen here,
and I want you to listen to the voice of faith. This is faith
speaking. This is faith speaking, because
the man who's writing is a man of faith. He says, The Lord is
my light. I can't speak for anyone else,
but he's my light, and he's my salvation, and the Lord is my
strength, and he's my shepherd, he said in another scripture.
The Lord is my light, and he defines the great work of redemption. I was in darkness, and he's my
light. I was under the curse of the
law, and he's my salvation. I was weakness personified. He's
my strength. Notice, he did not say, the Lord
gave me light. He said, the Lord is my light.
The Lord himself is my light. He's the light of my life, he
is my light. Christ in you, that's the hope of glory. When Christ,
who is our life, shall appear, we shall appear in glory. So
David didn't say, he gives me light, he said, he's my light.
He didn't say he provides salvation. He said he himself is my salvation. His righteousness is mine. His
precious blood is my atonement. His acceptance of the Father
is my acceptance and acceptance in the Beloved. He didn't say
the Lord strengthens me. He said the Lord is my strength. He is my life. He is my light,
he is my salvation, he is my strength. And that's what he
said to Martha at the tomb of Lazarus. She said, if you'd been
here, my brother wouldn't have died. He said, Martha, your brother
will rise again. But Lord, I know he'll rise on
the resurrection. He said, Martha, I'm the resurrection,
and I'm the life. that believeth on me, though
his body is dead, he lives. And he that liveth, who never
dieth, and believes on me, will never die, because I am the resurrection
and the life. And the Lord being my light and
my salvation and the strength of my life, whom shall I fear? Who is there to be afraid of?
Well, we fear And that fear of God is a respect,
it's an awe, it's a reference. But we don't fear Satan, he's
defeated. And we don't fear the curse,
it's removed. And we don't fear our sins, past,
present, or future, because they're put away. And we don't fear the
judgment, because there's no judgment to them who are in Christ
Jesus. That's faith speaking. The Lord
is my life. The Lord is my salvation and
he's my strength. Now he says, verse 2 and 3, when
the wicked, my enemies, my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh,
they stumbled and fell. And though a host should encamp
against me, my heart will not fear. Though wars rise against
me, in this will I be confident. In what? the fact that the Lord
is my life. I'm confident in the fact that
he's my life, he's my salvation, and he's my strength. Now, believers
are peaceful people. And the older they get, the more
peaceful they become. And they do not instigate strife
and discord and conflict. They despise it. They avoid it
the best they can. as best they can peaceably with
all men. But believers have enemies. But
these enemies are not of our making. We didn't make these enemies.
These are enemies we inherited when God came into our lives. And they are his enemies. They
are his enemies. Let me show you that turn to
John 15. They are his enemies. His enemies are your enemies. David said, Thy enemies are my
enemies. That's what he said. They're
not of our making. They're ours because of who we
are. Sons of God. Sons of God. Most of you people never met
an Islam or a Muslim over there in these countries. But they
hate you because you're an American. And these enemies of ours hate
us because we are sons of God. You inherited them. Look here
at John 15, verse 18. If the world hate you, you know
it hated me before it hated you. It hates you because it hates
me. Read on. He says, If you were of the world,
the world would love you. They did when you were in the
world. But because you are not of the world, I have chosen you
out of the world. And therefore he chose us, he
made us sons, and therefore the world hates you. Remember now
the word that I said to you, the servant is not greater than
his Lord. If they persecute me, they'll come after you. If they
keep my servants, they'll keep yours. Those that are friends
of God are your friends. Everybody in this town that's
a friend of God is my friend. That's exactly right. Everyone in this town that believes
what God says, believes what I said, because I'm reading what
God says. That's right. And our enemies
are threefold. We inherited them. They're his
enemies. And they're not going to cease
to be his enemies until he conquers them. Satan is one. His enemy will be in his footstool.
The religious people who hate the gospel, they're your enemies
and they're my enemies. Why? that you believe. The Christ you believe. The grace
you love. They hate that. And therefore
they despise you. That's right. And then we've
got an enemy in this old nature. Our flesh is our enemy. We have to put it down all the
time. We have to mortify it, crucify it, put it down, stomp
on it. Don't you? We're told in the
scriptures to do that. Why? It will rise up if you don't
do that. So we have no cause to fear these
enemies, because our Lord will be victorious over them. In this
will I be confident. That's what he said there in
the last part of verse 3. Though the hosts encamp against
me, my heart is not going to fear. The wars rise against me,
in this will I be confident. The light is mine, the Lord is
my light. Darkness will not overwhelm me.
He is my light. And darkness will not overwhelm
me. Darkness can conquer me, but not his life. Isn't that
true? I can succumb, but I'm not going
to because he's my life. It won't be my strength, it'll
be he's my strength. Can I get across what I'm saying?
It's not in you, it's not out of you, it's in him. I'm confident
because the darkness is not going to overwhelm me, no matter how
heavy it is. It will not because he's my light. Romans 8 says he's my salvation,
therefore who can condemn me? It's Christ that died. Who can
lay anything to my charge? It's God that justifies. If God
be Father, who can be against me? Who can separate me from
the love of Christ? Nobody, because he is my salvation. It's not because I got saved.
It's not because I accepted Jesus as my personal Savior. The darkness
will not overwhelm me, and Satan will not conquer me, because
he is my light, he is my salvation, and he is the strength of my
life, and they will have to destroy him to destroy me. Now that's
the bottom line. You're going to have to get to
him before you get to me, because I'm in him. He said, My sheep
are my boys, and I give them life, and they'll never perish,
and nobody's going to pluck them out of my hands. That's where
I am. That's where you are, in his
hands. And nobody's going to pluck them out of my Father's
hands. He's greater than I am. We're in Christ, and Christ is
in God. And that's the reason our enemies are not going to
be victorious. They're not going to be victorious. Faith speaking,
look at verse 4. Here is the experience of faith.
One thing have I desired of the Lord, and that's what I'll seek
after, one thing. Now let me make a comment here.
Blessed is the man or woman, sitting right here or standing
right here, blessed. Blessed is that person. Though we live in a world that
requires our participation and an occupation and a commitment,
we live in a world, that's right, among people whom we love. And
we enjoy many things from the hand of our God. We have homes,
we have farms, we have jobs, we have children, we have neighbors,
we have family, we have friends. And we are faithful to our responsibility, and we are faithful to our duties. A man who is so part of people,
that man can truly say that he has gotten his cheap desire and
the goal of his heart down to one thing. in Philippians 3. Paul is a man
of responsibility, great commitment, great concern for people, a great
ministry all over the world, the known world, and yet he says
this in Philippians 3, verse 7. These things that were gained
of me, I count lost for Christ. Yea, doubtless, I count all things
but loss for the excellence in the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things. I do
count them but dumb, that I may win Christ and be found in him,
not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God by faith, so that I may know him. The power of his resurrection,
the fellowship of his suffering, be made conformable to his If
by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead,
not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect,
but I tell you this, I follow after, if that I may apprehend
that for which I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I
count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do. Forgetting those things which
are behind, I reach forth unto those things which are before
And I press for the mark, for the prize of the high calling
of God in Jesus Christ. I'm a busy man. I've got a lot
of irons in the fire, that's what Paul says. But all of those
things I count but done, that I may win Christ and be found
in him. I press for the mark, for the
prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. And that's
what David says. David's a king. David is the
commander-in-chief of a great nation, a great army. David is
the executive head of a nation. David is the prophet of God.
David, all these things. But one thing, one chief desire
and goal of my heart, and that's what I'm seeking, he said. And it's a threefold, one thing
but threefold. And it can be that way. Our God
is Father, Son, Holy Spirit was one God. And David said, I've
got one cheap desire. It comes under three headings.
Number one, I want to dwell in the house of the Lord all the
days of my life, this life right here, that I may dwell in the
house of the Lord, in his house as a son. In his house here is
his church. His temple, his people, his fellowship. That's where I want to be. I
want to be in the house of the Lord. I'd rather be a doorkeeper
in God's house than dwell in the tents of the wicked. I was
glad when they said to me, let's go to the house of the Lord.
You see, the servant, Christ said, the servant abideth not
in the house, the Father's house, forever, but the Son does. And that's what he said. I want
to be a son of God. I want to be a child in the family
of God. I want to dwell in the house
of God. I want to dwell in the temple
of God as a living stone, put there by God, in his fellowship,
in the door, going in and out to find pleasure. Second, that I may behold the
beauty of the Lord. That's my chief desire, to dwell
among his people, to dwell in his house. in his kingdom, in
his fellowship, as a son, and I want to see the glory of God. That's what Moses prayed. Moses
was a busy man, too. You're busy, stay busy. Nothing
wrong with being busy. God doesn't bless idleness, does
he? Moses was busy, too, but he said,
Lord, show me your glory. That's what I want to say. I
want to say you're glorious. I want to say you're glorious. The beauty
of the Lord, the beauty of his righteousness, the beauty of
his glory. Turn with me to Psalm 90. This
is what we're talking about here in Psalm 90. This is a prayer
of Moses. In Psalm 90, verse 16, listen. The prayer of Moses, the man
of God, verse 16. Lord, let thy work appear unto
thy servants. Let thy work appear to us. Thy
work. Let thy glory appear unto thy
children. Let the beauty of the Lord our
God be upon us. Establish thou the work of our
hands upon us. Yea, the work of our hands establish
it. one cheap desire, that I may
dwell all the days of my life in the house of the Lord, family
of God, and that I might have the blessed privilege of beholding
the beauty of God, the glory of God. Oh, my! And here's the third
part of that one thing, that he'll set me upon a rock. Boy, I know who that is, don't
you? set me on the right. Oh, verse 4, up here, and that
I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life
to behold the beauty and, the Lord says, to inquire in his
temple. To inquire, to learn, to grow
in his grace. That I may inquire and learn
of the Lord, be taught of God. That's my chief desire. And that's
something that we notice throughout the scriptures. Our Lord told
the rich young ruler, one thing you lack, and this is the one thing, one
thing you lack. He was a moral man, he was an
admirable man, so the Lord looked to him and loved him. One thing you lack. He told Martha
when she was complaining about Mary sitting at the feet of Christ,
While she was so busy taking care of other needs, she said,
Lord, don't you care that my sister sits there and listens
to you, and she's not helping me with the things that I have
to do? He said, Martha, you're covered about with much care.
And that has its place. But he said, Mary had chosen
the good thing, one thing that is needed. The one thing that's
needful. Isn't that what he said? One
thing that's needful. Don't miss the one thing. Take care of the
other things, but Paul said, this one thing I do. Forgetting
those things which are behind and looking to that which is
ahead, I pray towards the mark for the prize of the high calling
of Almighty God in Christ Jesus. So verse 5, in the time of trouble,
and there will be plenty of that, won't there? He'll hide me in
his pavilion. This goes back yonder years ago,
back to the days of the deserts and the sands and the armies,
and they were traveling on horses and fighting with swords and
living in tents. And what a huge army! was stationed
and occupied a place. All these tents were all around,
hundreds and hundreds of yards way out there. But right in the
center was the King's Pavilion. That's what it's called, the
King's Pavilion, right in the center, right in the center of
all of these soldiers. And you read about it in one
page over, Psalm 31. Psalm 31, verse 19. Oh, how great is thy goodness,
which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee, which thou hast
wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!
Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride
of men. Thou keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife
of tongue. That's the king's pavilion. I'm
a king's son, and that's where you expect to find the king's
son, protected and cared for and provided for in the king's
tent. That's where you're in time of
trouble, that's where you're hiding. Secondly, he'll hide me in the
secret of his tabernacle, until he hides me. The secret of his
tabernacle. Well, Psalm 90, let me read it. Psalm 91. You know where I believe
that is? I believe that's the Holy of
Holies, the secret of his tabernacle, the secret place, the Holy of
Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant is, where the Mercy
Seat is, where the Shekinah Glory is, where God said, Amitri, Amitri. In Psalm 91, he that dwelleth
in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow
of the Almighty, because I will say of the Lord, he's my refuge.
He's my fortress. He's my God. In Him will I trust. And He'll deliver thee from the
snare of the fowler, from the noise of pestilence. He'll cover
you with His feathers, and under His wings shall you trust. His
truth shall be thy shield and buckler." Yeah, that's right. In time of trouble, the King
will keep me in His own personal pavilion. And the Lord God, in
the secret place of His tabernacle where He is Glow is manifested
where the blood atonement has been applied. That's where you're
hiding. And then you set me upon a rock. That's Christ Jesus. That's my
foundation. And I shall not be moved. And
here's the results. Listen. Now my head shall be
lifted up above my enemies round about me. He'll prepare for me
a meal. of peace in the presence of my
enemies, and my head will be lifted up. Therefore will I offer
in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy." You know, I've thought about
this. It's a good lesson for all of us here. He hides us in
his pavilion, and the secret of his tabernacle sets us on
a rock. prepares for us the table in the presence of our enemies,
and our heads are lifted up above our enemies round about us. And
we offer in his tabernacle unto him sacrifices of joy, sing praises
unto the Lord." This man is taken up with the Lord and not with
his enemies. He is ignoring them. He said, my head is lifted up
above them, I'm looking way beyond them. I'm not even talking about
them, concerned with them, afraid of them. My head is lifted up
above my enemies, I'm offering sacrifices of joy to my Lord,
and I'm singing praises to his name. And not only that, but
I'm praying. Look at verse 7. I'm praying. In verse 7 and 8, Spurgeon said,
here is a good definition of prayer. Real prayer. Let's see what it is. And here's
his outline. Four points. He says, to whom
do we pray? Verse 7. Hear, O Lord, when I
cry with my voice. We pray unto the Lord Jesus Christ,
Jehovah, God my Savior. So when you see that word, capital
L, capital O, capital R, capital V, that's Jehovah, God my Savior. So prayer is to our Savior, our
Lord, our Jehovah. How do we pray? I cry with my
voice. I pray sincerely. I cry unto
the Lord. On what basis do I approach Him?
Have mercy on me. not on the basis of merit or
deserving, but have mercy upon me and answer me." Why do you
pray to him? Because, verse 8, you said, seek
ye my face, and therefore my heart says, that's exactly what
I'm going to do. I'm going to seek the Lord. That's exactly what I'm going
to do. Thy face, Lord, will I seek. prayer, to whom? Oh, Lord. How? Cry with my voice, deep
sincerity. On what basis? Mercy. Why? He said, Seek my face, and therefore
my heart says, I face, Lord, will I see. Now then, verse 9
and 10, I looked at this quite a bit. And I want to give you what I
think the Lord showed me in this thing here. It won't take much
longer. After all of this confidence
and assurance, is he intimating that he's fearful of God forsaking
him? I don't think so. And we'll read
both verses together. Now, let's see what we can see
here. Hide not your face far from me. Put not thy servant
away in anger. Thou hast been my help, don't
leave me, don't forsake me, O God of my salvation." Sounds like
he's careful that God's going to throw him aside, forsake him,
desert him. But listen to the confidence
in verse 10. When my mother and father forsake me, the Lord will
take me up. Now here's what I believe he's
saying. I'll tell you what I think Dave is emphasizing here. Not
the possibility of the Lord putting him away in anger at all. Not
the possibility of God leaving him or forsaking him at all.
But the certainty that the almighty living God will not put him away
and never forsake him. Because even if one closest to
me forsakes me, mother and father, the Lord takes me up. Have you ever, when you were
a child, maybe you have or you haven't, but sitting in your
mom's lap or your dad's lap, you're so happy and so comfortable
and so thankful for them and so protected and loved, and you
look up and say, don't ever leave me. Don't ever leave me. Don't ever
be angry enough to forsake me. Don't ever give me to anybody
else. I want to live with you all the day. Have you ever thought
that? Or said that maybe? Do you really think they would?
Well, some have. It's a rare thing. It's an unusual
thing. But it does happen. Sometimes
mothers and fathers forsake children, but not him. That's what they
say. You can be sure of that. That's what he's saying. I know
that's what he's saying. I know that it never enters David
minded that the Lord would put him away in anger, leave him,
forsake him, the God of his salvation. But what he's pointing out here
is that which seems to be humanly impossible, a mother and father
forsaking the fruit of their bodies. Yeah, they do. But not our God. That's what he's saying. That's
exactly what it's saying. It's like that Hebrew 6 we were
studying this morning. If they should fall away, they
can't be renewed unto repentance. That's a proposition that's not
going to take place. Humanly, but not spiritually. All right, let's deal with this
and then go home. Verse 11, Lord, teach me thy
way, O Lord. Now, this is more than teach
me laws and rules. It's the ways of the Lord I want
to learn. There's that other thing Moses prayed for in Exodus
33. Remember he said, Lord show me
your glory. Show me your way. I want to know your way. Now
let me show you a verse of scripture in Psalm 103. Listen to Psalm
103. Listen to this. 103 verse 7. God made known his ways
to Moses, his acts to the children of Israel. You see that verse?
Psalm 103, verse 7, God made known his ways to Moses, the
way of God, his acts to the children of Israel. And this is what David
is praying here in Psalm 27, Lord, teach me your way. The ways of God, not just his
acts and judgments and laws and doctrines. I want to know the
way of the Lord. I want to walk in the way of
the Lord. And lead me in a plain path. That's a path of simplicity. That's the simplicity of Christ.
Paul said, I'm afraid that Satan, who beguiled our mother Eve,
will tempt you to leave the simplicity of Christ, the plainness of Christ. And that's what David said, he'd
teach me your way and lead me in that plain path, that simple
path. simplicity, the singleness of
Christ, because I've got enemies. Now, deliver me not over into
the will of my enemies. False witnesses are risen against
me, and such as breathe out cruelty. Our Lord taught the disciples
to pray. Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead
us not into temptation. Deliver us from the evil one.
That's what David's praying. Deliver me not over into the
will of my enemy, because they are false witnesses. Now watch
verse 13. I would have fainted unless I
had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the
living. I would have grown discouraged, I would have quit, had I not
believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the
living. One of the elders, one of y'all sometimes take David's
and apply it to this verse here. I'm just going to mention two
or three times. But I see him as a young man
sitting out, not as a little kid now, but a young man sitting
out there under a tree on the hillside watching the family's
flock of sheep. And down there in his house is
the prophet Samuel, the mightiest man in Israel, has come to his
house. and mother and brothers are all
down there. And he's up there sitting under
a tree. He's the sweet promise. And he said, I would have quit
if I had not at that time believed that one of these days old David
is going to see the glory of God. They're all down there and
I'm up here. But I believe God. I tell you
another time, he went out there with good intentions. He heard
that this was later. He heard that there was a giant
called Goliath, nine feet tall, who challenged the armies of
God, the armies of Israel, and had them on the run, had them
all scared to death, nobody challenged them. And David left and went
out there to where the army was camped, where Goliath was, where
all of them were, and he said to all of them, is there not
a cause? Isn't this the cause of God? Are we going to run from
the enemies of God? And they made fun of him. One
of his brothers said, what are you doing here? He said to him,
he said, who's taking care of those few sheep out there in
the wilderness? Humiliating. That's how I am. Oh, that's humiliating. He put
on Saul's arm, and it's too big for him. So he put it aside.
I'd have fainted, unless I'd have seen the goodness of the
Lord. And then I see him out there, this is years later, now
he's already been anointed King of Israel, and he knows it, but
he's fleeing from the King of Israel, he's fleeing from Saul,
fleeing for his life. Hiding in caves, casting himself
on the mercy of enemies, hungry, disowned by all of Israel, and aborted by people like Nadab. He delivered that rascal from
his enemies, but Nadab wouldn't give him anything to eat. That's
all right. I would have paid him. I'd have
quit. I hadn't believed to see the
goodness of the Lord. And then when he had speckles
of white in his hand, already been king for a few years, his son Absalom, whom he raised
and helped and encouraged and taught, turned against him and
won the hearts of the people and ran him out of town. And
he's walking out there with a few people, a few friends. He had
to get out of Jerusalem, away from his castle and go out somewhere
in the wilderness. And he's walking along and some
fellow sitting on the side of the road starts cursing him, Cursing him. Now here he is,
60 years old. Been the most powerful king and
popular king God ever had. And here he is in disgrace, run
out of his kingdom by his son. And here's some fool cursing
him. I would have quit if I hadn't believed to see the goodness
of the Lord. And old Joab, his right-hand
man, said, David, let me take his head off. He pulled that
sword out. Let me take his head off. Leave him alone. Leave him alone. God's letting him curse me. He's
doing what God's letting him do. So just leave him alone.
And that's when he gave us this great word. Verse 13, he said,
I would have fainted now. That's for a whole life period. Unless I had believed to see
the goodness of God in the land of the living. So, wait on the
Lord. Be of good courage, and he'll
strengthen your heart, because he's your light, he's your salvation,
he's your strength. So I repeated, he said, wait
on the Lord. And that can be done when the
one thing I desire is to dwell in the house of the Lord, and
behold the glory of the Lord, and the beauty of the Lord, and
inquire in his temple. Now, how do I get it?