that Austin read just a few minutes
ago. This psalm is called by many
of the old writers, The Pearl of the Psalms. We're not going
to look at the entire psalm tonight. I'm only going to read the first
four verses, but before I read them, I must go to the last verse,
O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee. I
encouraged myself many times with this verse of Scripture.
Blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee. And I trust in the Lord. And so I am blessed. Sometimes
I may not feel blessed. Sometimes I may not think I'm
blessed. But this is the word of God.
Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord. And just a word
about feelings. Martin Luther, the German reformer,
made a statement something like this one time. He said, feelings
come and feelings go and feelings are deceiving. We do not base
our faith, our assurance upon our feelings. but rather upon
the word of God. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in the Lord. Trusteth in the Lord of hosts.
Now let's read the first four verses. How amiable are thy tabernacles,
O Lord of hosts. My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth
for the courts of the Lord. 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, O Lord of hosts, my King and
my God. Blessed are they that dwell in
thy house, they will be still praising thee. I want us to see
that the writer of this psalm, and we are not given his name,
many believe that it was David, but whoever the human writer
of this psalm was, we recognize that for some reason, at the
particular time that he wrote this psalm, he was kept from
the place of public worship. And it is suggested that it was
David by the fact that he uses this title of the Lord, O Lord
of Hosts. David was a king and he was a
captain of his army, the army of Israel. And maybe it was that
he was out on some campaign for some extended time. of being in the Lord's house.
If you notice down in verse 10, he says, for a day in thy courts
is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper
in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. For some reason, whoever the
author was, he was hindered or kept from attending the worship
of God in the tabernacles of the Lord. And I see a parallel
with you and I tonight. We are not allowed at this time
to gather for public worship. Many have told me or texted me
and have expressed how much they miss our coming together. And
I certainly am one. I miss the times that we have
here together to worship the Lord. We see how very blessed
and how much this author missed being in the courts of the Lord.
His soul, he said, fainted, and his heart and flesh cried out
for the living God. In fact, he even tells us that
he envied the birds, the birds which had free access to the
place of worship, which he didn't at this time. But I would remind
us it wasn't the place itself. It wasn't the place itself he
cried out for, but it was rather for the living God, the living
God who manifested his presence in the tabernacle and in the
courts of the Lord. He recognized He recognized the
blessing, the benefits of public worship, coming together with
God's children, God's people. David, though he was a king,
remember he was not a priest and the tabernacle, he could
not even enter into. He could go into the courtyard,
but into the tabernacle itself, he was not allowed to enter.
Only priests could enter there. But yet he knew that is where
God manifested his presence in that dispensation. The Ark of
the Covenant and the Mercy Seat, that's where the Shekinah manifested
God's presence in the tabernacle among the people of Israel. I like to read, anytime I preach
from a psalm, I like to go to the treasury of David. set of
books it was written by Charles Spurgeon many years ago and I
like to see what he has to say and I'll just give you his comments
on this first verse how amiable or how lovely and I quote He
doesn't tell us how lovely they were because he could not His
expressions show us that his feelings were inexpressible Lovely
to the memory, to the mind, to the heart, to the eye, to the
whole soul are the assemblies of the saints. Earth, this is
what he said now, Earth contains no sight so refreshing to us
as the gatherings of believers for worship. And then he said
this, and I'll conclude my quotes. Those are sorry saints who see
nothing amiable in the services of the Lord's house. Those are
sorry saints who see nothing amiable in the services of the
Lord's house. God's people do. You know, God's
people are called sheep, and we're called sheep for many reasons,
but sheep Sheep is an animal that exists in a flock. They don't live separated. A
rancher, many years ago, a rancher told me this, who had many sheep. He said, when you see a sheep
by itself, it's either lost or sick. God's people come together. We love to come together. We
love. How amiable are thy tabernacles,
O Lord. My soul, he says, my heart, my
flesh crieth out for the living God to come into the courts of
the Lord, into the tabernacle and the place of worship. Now,
with this in mind, this in mind, that this author at this time,
for some reason, was not allowed to attend public worship. He
was somewhere or for some reason not allowed to come. And we see
his desire, his great desire to be with the people of God
and to worship the Lord God Almighty. Now with this in mind, I want
to remind us of two other verses of scripture that we know that
David did write in two other Psalms. And we're looking at
this, this keeping us from coming together as an affliction. In Psalm 34 and verse 19, the
psalmist David said, many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. Now notice that
many, many are the afflictions of the righteous. And then in
Psalm 119 and verse 71, he said this, it is good for me that
I have been afflicted. It is good for me that I have
been afflicted. Well, we will consider tonight
our inability at this time to come together to worship the
Lord publicly as an affliction. and affliction, and consider
how afflictions are good for the righteous." How afflictions
are good for the righteous. David confessed that it was good
for him that he had been afflicted. Now he's speaking of the righteous. We must point this out. We must
recognize that the righteous are those who are like Abraham. who is called the father of believers. The righteous are those who are
like Abraham that worketh not. We're not righteous because of
our works, because of our doings. No, no. The righteous are like
Abraham that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifies
the ungodly His faith is counted for righteousness. Now it's not
his faith per se that's his righteousness, but it is rather the object of
his faith. The object of my faith. I thank
God for faith. Faith is a gift. But faith is
not my savior. The Lord Jesus Christ is my savior. It's the object of our faith.
The righteous are those who are like Abraham, who believe him,
trust in him. And notice he says, believeth
on him that justifieth the ungodly. Many times people are confused.
They think, well, I've got to change my life and I've got to
begin to do this, that and the other. No, when a person looks
to Christ and trust in Christ, We are ungodly. We're children
of wrath even as others as we come into this world. And it
is by faith that we look to Christ, we trust in Him, and His righteousness
becomes our righteousness. His righteousness is imputed
unto us. The righteous are those who the
Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 5 and verse 9, being now justified
by his blood. That's what the word justified
means. It means being declared righteous,
made righteous, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through him. So let me recap that just a moment. We're considering the fact that
we cannot come together for public worship as an affliction which
God has brought upon us, upon his church. This didn't happen
by accident, you know that. When David or the author of this
psalm addresses the Lord God of host, that word host means
armies. And remember in Daniel chapter
four and verse 35, Nebuchadnezzar tells us this, that he has his
will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth. This has come upon us because
of God's sovereign will. Yes, this is an affliction. And yet we know many are the
afflictions of the righteous. And we know it was good for me
that I have been afflicted. Now, afflictions. I have three points. First of
all, afflictions have a way of helping the righteous pray. Let
me say that again. Afflictions have a way of helping
the righteous pray. In Psalm 18 and verse 6, David
said, in my distress, in my distress, in my affliction, I called upon
the name of the Lord. I cried unto my God. You see, it was while he was
in distress, while he was in affliction, that he called upon
the name of the Lord, that he cried unto the Lord, his God. And then he says, he heard my
voice out of his temple and my cry came before him, even under
his ears. When things seem to be rocking
along, smooth sailing, as we like to say, when a child of
God, a believer, a righteous person seems to be just sailing
smoothly along, The best way probably to describe our prayers,
and I'm talking about myself, as I think I am including you
as well, but the best way to describe our prayers when everything's
going smoothly, hunky-dory as we say, is that our words, our
prayers, are probably best described by the words cold, and at the
best, lukewarm. But when afflictions come, when
afflictions, when trouble come, they just seem to promote fervency. A vehement cry, prayer, affliction,
serves to spur us along in prayer. In Psalm 107, this is brought
out so vividly, it's brought out so vividly in Psalm 107 by
the word then. Then, four times, four times
we read, then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble. Then,
not until their trouble, but then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble. The first time we read that,
I'll read the verse before it, because they rebelled against
the words of God and contemned the counsel of the Most High,
Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble. And that last
one tells us when men come to their wits end, and usually that's
when we really get serious about praying. When everything else, the first
thing we do is run here, run there, look at this person, or
go there. Everywhere usually until every
hope Every prop is knocked out from underneath us, and we have
nowhere to go but to God. We should do that first. But
it's sad that most of us, we get serious about prayer when
we are like those in the psalm, at our wit's end. Then, then it is, in our trouble,
that we cry unto the Lord. Too many times, for most of us,
it takes some trouble. It takes some affliction to cause
us to have sincerity in prayer. And prayer demands sincerity. When we recognize that we are
speaking to God Almighty, if there's ever any time in our
lives we need to be sincere, it's when we address the Lord
God Almighty. He knows our heart. He knows
our thoughts. He knows all about us. And we
should be sincere. So if, I say this, if an affliction
helps me to pray, then I know like the psalmist, it is good
for me that I have been afflicted. If affliction, whatever affliction
it may be, if it causes me to really pray in sincerity, fervently,
then I know it's good for me that I have been afflicted. Second,
afflictions have a way of helping the righteous to search the scriptures. You know, our Lord told those
Jews in his day, search the scriptures. In Romans chapter three, Paul
answers this question of the Jews If justification, and that's
what he's dealing with there in that context, if justification
doesn't come by circumcision, and that's what most of the Jews
of that day believed, just because a man was born a natural descendant
of Abraham because he was circumcised, that meant he was saved. He was on his way to glory. But
if justification doesn't come by circumcision and trying to
keep the law that God gave to Israel at Mount Sinai, then here
was their question, what profit? What profit? What advantage then
is it to having been born a Jew? If circumcision doesn't save
you, if trying to keep the law that God had given their nation,
if that doesn't save a person, then what advantage, what advantage
is it to being born a Jew? And Paul answered like this.
He said, chiefly, Chiefly, here's the advantage, unto them were
committed rather the oracles of God. In other words, when
you think they had just the Old Testament part of the scriptures,
that's true, but they were the only nation. You read about all
the various nations in the Old Testament, the neighbors around
Israel, and only the nation of Israel had the scriptures. Well, you and I today, we have
the scriptures. They were given to us. And today, as God's children,
it's like a love letter. It's like a love letter. When
my wife and I were courting, as they say, I was in the service
and we were separated for many miles for many months. You know,
they have mail call when you're in the service. And I couldn't
wait to get a letter. And I didn't just pitch it in
the shelf, put it on a shelf or something. The first thing
I did was sit down and read it. And I didn't read it just once.
I read it more than once. The word of God to God's children
is, A love letter. That's what it is. It's a love
letter. Every page, every page breathes of the Father and the
Son and God the Holy Spirit's affections for His people. We
come to the Word of God and we read the trials and the afflictions
of those who have gone before us and how that through Christ
Each and every one of them, through Christ, more that conquers. And the same is true of you and
I. What encouragement and what hope
do we derive from the word of God, from the scriptures? Here's
a scripture that should encourage all of God's children. The angel
of the Lord. The angel of the Lord encampeth
round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. Isn't that
a word of encouragement? God's angel encamps around about
a wall of fire about every one of his children. Remember in
the case of Job, Satan, he wanted to do much to Job, but he couldn't
touch him without God's permission. He couldn't do it. And so God
has a wall of fire, an angel. of the Lord in Camp of the Roundabout,
all of those, and all of God's children fear the Lord. It's
not a slavish fear, you know that. It's a reverential fear,
a reverential fear that is produced, that is given to us and produced
in us because of the goodness of God, the goodness of God. Let me ask you, what would you
do, just imagine this, if you were locked in a dungeon cell,
and you were given a big key ring, I mean a big key ring,
and it had lots of keys on that key ring, and you were told,
and you know this is so, one of those keys on that key ring
will open that door. One of those keys will open that
door and set you free. What would you do? You would
take that key ring and you'd start trying this key, trying
this key, trying this key. You remember in Pilgrim's Progress
how the pilgrim got over in Doubting Castle. He was in Doubting Castle,
wasn't he? And then it took him about three
days, I believe, to realize that he had the key in his pocket.
He had a promise that just opened the door and let him come out.
And no matter what your affliction is, what affliction we may go
through in our life, there's some scripture, most likely,
there's some scripture that will exactly, exactly answer and fit
your affliction. When the Lord sends affliction,
when He does, and He is the one who sends it, when the Lord sends
affliction, we are more apt to search the scriptures. And there's
probably a promise somewhere in the Word of God that will
exactly fit our circumstance. You know, when a person is born
again of the Spirit of God, he or she is like a newborn baby.
A newborn baby comes into this world seeking the mother's breast,
and a person who's born again of the Spirit of God, the Word
of God is precious. It's precious, and he doesn't
seem at first to be able to get enough, doesn't seem to be able
to spend enough time in the Word of God, reading the Word of God,
and hearing the Word of God proclaimed, and meditating upon the Word
of God. But then, over time, many times
it loses that freshness. But then, affliction comes. Then, God sends affliction. And
once again, the Word of God becomes very precious. You know, Solomon,
the wise man, wrote this, wisdom, wisdom is more precious than
rubies. And all things that thou canst
desire are not to be compared to her. Where's that wisdom going
to come from? I know Christ is a personal wisdom
in Proverbs chapter eight. He is the wisdom of God, but
the word of God, that's where we find wisdom. And so I say, if an affliction helps me to
prize the word more, then I know, then I know like the psalmist,
it is good for me that I have been afflicted. And third, afflictions
have a way of helping the righteous to see the emptiness of the things
of this world. We know that in our head, we
really do, that the things of this world cannot satisfy. Someone reminded me recently
of an illustration I used years ago. You see little children,
they have these bottles You combine and they put that little wire
down in there and pull it out and then they blow into it and
they blow those bubbles, soap bubbles, and sometimes they try
to chase them and try to catch them. And that's the way the
things of this world are. They're just like chasing these
soap bubbles. And once you get it, whatever
it is, it cannot give you the satisfaction that it promised
you. I always think of the words of the Lord Jesus Christ that
he said to that woman of Samaria, whosoever drinketh of the water
of this well, that is that well there in Samaria, the things
of this world, whosoever drinketh of the water of this well shall
thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the
water that I shall give him, It shall be in him a well of
water springing up unto eternal life. Afflictions have a way
of making us more aware. If in this world only we have
hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. What good, let me ask you this,
we know in our head that the things of this world cannot satisfy
But nothing brings this home to us like afflictions. What
good is a large bank account when your loved one lies in the
hospital? What comfort does a large, beautiful
house give when your body is wracked with pain? The Lord Jesus,
he's the one who brings comfort. This world cannot satisfy, and
affliction brings that home to us. Think about this, when Joseph
was the prime minister of Egypt and all the Israelites were down
there and a little time after his life ended in this world,
they were living good, high on the hog, everything was going
well. Do you think if Moses had come down then and said, God
sent me here to deliver you? What would they have done? They'd
laughed him out of town. But I tell you what, after a
few years in their affliction, when Moses came, they were ready
to leave. They were ready to leave Egypt
because of the afflictions they were suffering there. So I say
again, if an affliction helps me to see the emptiness of this
world, then I know, like the psalmist, it is good for me that
I have been afflicted. Now I pray, I pray that this
affliction of not being able to meet together for public worship
will result in our good. That some maybe will be more
faithful, more faithful to attend the worship services. And all
of us that we will come seeking to hear from the Lord. You know,
the psalmist said, I was glad when they said unto me, let us
go into the house of the Lord. One thing is sure for us tonight,
as that Psalm 34 text tells us, though the afflictions of the
righteous be many, the Lord will. No doubt about it. No question. The Lord will deliver him out
of them all. Yes, he will. How amiable are
thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts. My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth
for thy courts. My heart and my flesh crieth
out for the living God. What a blessing. It's going to
be when we are able to meet together again to worship the Lord publicly,
and we too will be able to say with the psalmist, it was good
for me that I have been afflicted. Brother Bill's going to come
and sing a hymn, and he's going to sing Near the Cross. I believe
that's number 351 in our hymn books, Near the Cross. Jesus,
keep me near the cross. You sing along with him in your
living rooms or wherever you may be tonight and worship the
Lord.