A Trinity of Psalms (05/19/2002)

if you would, this morning, to Psalm 52. Last Sunday morning, we spoke on the fact that the goodness of God stands in opposition to evil.

I want to read you a verse in Romans 15. We discussed the concept in Sunday school, but this verse in Romans 15, verse 4, says, for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope.

There's another verse in 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 11 that says primarily the same thing, although it uses the word in samples.

It says the things that were written of old were as in samples or examples for us.

Physical things were acted out in the Old Testament that teach the spiritual truths for the day.

And you'll see that so much in these passages that we look at today, where we continue on the thought that the goodness of God stands in opposition to evil.

I pray that each of you will think about your own lives and God working in your life as we study these scriptures today.

Think about the times when the enemy has attacked you. Think about the way that the

Lord was there. Think about how he took you through those times. And think about how he always will.

Psalm 52 .1, follow along with me. To the chief musician,

Mosheel. Now, this shows that this psalm is a song, as they all are.

But notice it that he wrote this. He wrote this and went to the musician with it, probably excited about the fact that he had a new song for God.

And I'm sure the musician sat down, the chief musician sat down with David and came up with a melody in a hurry.

Didn't take him long. And began to play this out, probably on a stringed instrument of some kind.

A psalm of David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul and said unto him,

David is come to the house of Ahimelech. Why boastest thou thyself in mischief,

O mighty man? The goodness of God endureth continually. Now, I want you to think as we read through this particular psalm.

That phrase, the goodness of God endureth continually. You know, that means that it endures even when we're in the midst of an attack.

We're being attacked by the enemy. The goodness of God does not change.

And we need to remember that his very goodness stands against evil. Notice, as David begins to describe the enemy, in verse 2, he says, thy tongue diviseth mischiefs.

You might make a list as we go. Thy tongue diviseth mischiefs like a sharp razor working deceitfully.

Thou lovest evil more than good. In lying, rather than to speak righteousness, say lie.

Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue. What are words that devour?

Think about that for a moment. Do you ever say words to one another in the home or in the church or different places that devour the other person?

We ought not, because that doesn't come from the spirit of the Lord. It comes from this spirit we're reading about today.

The tongue diviseth mischiefs like a sharp razor working deceitfully. Devouring words,

O thou deceitful tongue. Verse 5 says, God shall likewise destroy thee forever.

He shall take thee away and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place and root thee out of the land of the living, say lie.

The one who is behind every evil work, Satan, who is the fallen one, the one who is really our enemy, for we battle not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness in high places, that one,

God himself says he will destroy. Now notice what kind of destruction this is. This is a forever destruction.

So many things we think of are different than the way that they are in the eternal realm. We think of destruction as the thing that's done and then it's over, don't we?

We might think of those two towers in New York City when they were destroyed and then they fell in upon themselves.

And we all just were in wonder at that. How could that happen so quickly? And then they were destroyed.

That was the end of it. That's how we view destruction. That's not the kind of destruction that God has for Satan and for his seed.

Because this is a destruction that is a forever destruction. They go on being destroyed forever and ever.

They are taken away. Taken away from where? God's cosmos. God's place of divine order.

And they're placed out into someplace called hell that is a place of divine disorder that God created for Satan, the one who perverts all order.

He will take him away. He will pluck thee out of his dwelling place, which he is the little g god of this world.

He will pluck him out of this world, out of this land, and out of the land of the living.

And he shall go to the place for the dead. Remember that when you're having a bad day.

Remember that when evil strikes. The Bible says in Ephesians 6, we ought to have on the whole armor of God that we may be able to stand in the evil day.

That tells us one's coming. In each of our lives, it's a different day, usually.

Doesn't usually happen to all of us at once. You wake up that day, and it's the evil day.

If you have on the whole armor of God when that day strikes. And by the way, that's why it's so important to put it on every day.

Because you don't know when it's going to strike. Job didn't know. It was a normal day for Job, the day he woke up. And the tornado hit.

Killed all of his children. It went on from there. But when the evil day strikes, we best have the armor already on.

It's a bit too late to go putting it on. But we have to remember when that evil day strikes that God is good.

And the goodness of God endures continually. And not only that, but these passages imply, if they don't teach explicitly, that God's goodness stands in opposition to the very evil that is at hand.

He says very clearly, I have a place for the one that's causing this in your life someday. Not today, perhaps.

But someday there is a place for him. I will take him away. I will pluck him up. And I will take him out of the land of the living and chain him in this place.

The righteous also shall see and fear and shall laugh at him, the Bible says. It's a little bit of information you may not have thought of before.

But the day Satan is cast into hell, you'll see it. You'll be watching it. You'll be laughing at him in joy.

I don't know if we'll be laughing because of what's happening to him so much as because God's in control and he's being removed from us.

Shows the goodness of God that he will not allow Satan and his seed to dwell in the presence of his children forever.

He will strike out against them in wrath. And the righteous also shall see it and fear

God and shall laugh at him. Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength. We know many men other than Satan that are that way because many men seem to have the spirit of Satan.

There are many men in our midst that don't make God their strength. They have their own arm of strength and they rely on that arm.

But that arm will fail. The Lord even told Peter there'd come a day when they'd lead him about by his hands and they wouldn't take him where he wanted to go.

There is a man that makes not God his strength but trusted in the abundance of his riches and strengthened himself in his own wickedness.

But the psalmist says, I, on the other hand, am like a green olive tree in the house of God even as this evil man attacks me.

I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. Isn't that picture of the little greenhouse we talked about Thursday night?

We talked about we keep our children in a greenhouse in a Christian school. People criticize, oh, you can't keep them in a greenhouse.

They won't know anything about bad when they grow up. Whoa. As if that's bad.

Oh, you be careful now because they won't know anything about evil when they grow up. You've heard it.

Next time they say that, just stop and laugh and say, did you listen to what you just said?

You said they won't know anything about evil when they grow up. And you want us to make it where they can know more about evil.

Is that what you're saying? But this says even we, as the adults, by the way, are kept in this place by the

Lord so long as we walk in Jesus Christ. Green olive tree in the house of God, I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.

I will praise thee forever because thou hast done it. And I will wait on thy name for it is good before the saints.

Do you see how the goodness of God is there even in the presence of evil? And it is

God who stands against it on our behalves. Isn't it beautiful how it says it is thou that has done it?

David said, I don't have to make that stand. It's not up to me. It's God's battle.

All I have to do is allow him to fight in me, to live in me, and allow

Jesus Christ to live in me. And it's his battle. Now turn to Psalm 68.

While you're turning there, let me just review that. This evil one is one who has a deceitful tongue.

He loves evil. He loves lying. He's bound for hell, and he trusted himself.

On the other hand, the psalmist was fruitful. He trusted in God's mercy. He praised

God, and he waited on God. Do you see the contrast? Now look at Psalm 68.

We'll look at another situation. Isn't it interesting that this one is to the chief musician as well?

A psalm or a song of David, let God arise. Let his enemies be scattered.

Have you heard that one? We sing that one sometimes, don't we? Let them also that hate him flee before him.

As smoke is driven away, so drive them away. Do you see how the goodness of God stands in opposition to the evil?

As wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish in the presence of God.

That's exactly what would happen. If wickedness attempted to come into the presence of God, it melts away like wax.

It disintegrates. So you know what? If you walk in Christ, and you're filled with the

Holy Spirit, and you have on the whole armor of God, and the evil one comes and tries to bring the evil day to you, the presence of God in you will cause him to melt away like wax.

You can count this to be so, and to the extent that you reckon these things true, then they will happen in your experience.

This is a bit about spiritual warfare, spiritual battle, how it takes place, how it is accomplished.

Verse 3, but let the righteous be glad. Let them rejoice before God. Yea, let them exceedingly rejoice, even in the day when the enemy is attacking, because we know he'll melt away in the presence of God in us.

Look at verse 4. Sing unto God. Sing praises to his name.

Extol him that writheth upon the heavens by his name, Yah, and rejoice before him.

Now I want to stop on that one just a moment, because there's something significant in this verse.

When we finish some of the character of God studies we're doing, we're going to go into as a, I shouldn't say finish it, but as an adjunct to it, we're going to study the names of God.

All through the Bible, the different names of God, because every name of God reveals a different attribute of God to us.

This one, Yah, is the first part of the word Yahweh, which is his name, as we know it, as the

Jews used it most often. But here in the midst of the presence of the enemies, he's singing, let the enemies be scattered.

You see, they don't go away yet. They don't go away yet, because that time is not yet here.

They are coming towards you and your family and your little ones, your children.

Gentlemen, they're coming after your wife. And they don't go away, but the prayer of the psalmist was, yes, they don't, but may they be scattered.

May they be scattered. Look at this. In the midst of this battle,

David stops, goes to the chief musician and says, write a melody for me, I've got to sing to God.

Singing to God, sing praises to his name, extol him that writeth upon the heavens by his name,

Yah, and rejoice before him. The name Yah means self -existent.

Extol him that writeth upon the heavens by his name, the self -existent one, and rejoice before him.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, when you get down in the valley where the enemy has formed against you and you find yourself in that place and there's no place for you to flee because you're face front with the enemy and he is confronting you and the

Bible never says to turn your rear end and run from Satan. It says stand and he will flee from you.

You don't go looking for that battle, though. You don't want to go looking for him everywhere you go.

But I'm saying if you find yourself in the valley and he's there and he's face front and you have no rock to hide behind, you're looking for the wrong kind of rock.

Because as long as the self -existent one, Jesus Christ, is there, you have the rock.

You might ought to stop and ask yourself this question, how did he do that? The appropriate question is not where did

God come from. The appropriate question is how did he do that? Because the Bible answers where did he come from.

It says he didn't come from anywhere. He's always been. He is the self -existent one.

He has always been. That's why his name is I Am. And you stop and you ask yourself the question, from our vantage point, these things are very difficult for us because everything that we've ever seen was made by something else, including us.

Everything we see in our realm had a cause greater than it or it wouldn't be here.

And when we are faced by the enemy, we have to remember that that enemy did not make himself.

That enemy is not self -existent. In fact, there will be a day when he is cast into hell and destroyed forever.

He does not have life within himself. The one who is within your heart does.

And so when the enemy attacks, you should sing this little song and say, praise be to Yah.

Praise be to the one who was already there before anything was and who always has been and who has self -existence.

And we don't know how that works. In fact, to us, it's impossible. But the fact that we're here proves it is not impossible.

It has happened. Not only would you not be here, but there would be no nothing if it didn't happen because God created the concept of nothingness.

It's bad grammar, but it sure says the truth. There'd be no nothing. If you think about that long enough, you'll get goosebumps and freak out.

You'll have to stop and think about something else because where would you be if that were true? Where would you be if he hadn't been?

Where would you be if God were not self -existent? There'd be no nothing. But he is.

I don't know how he did it. You don't know how he did it. We may never know that one.

We may seek that for all eternity. That may be the question on our hearts and minds for all eternity. He may just hold off forever to tell us that just to keep us excited, to keep us curious.

But I hope he doesn't. I hope he'll tell us. But maybe we won't care when we get there.

The point is we're here. We're not there yet. We're only there spiritually in the heavenlies.

And when that enemy comes to you in flesh and brings an enemy of flesh and blood against you or a circumstance against you or a disease, and that enemy looks at you with the meanest face you've ever seen and tries to put fear down to your very bones, all you have to do is extol the one whose name is

Yah, the one who has always been, the one who is life, the one who is in you and greater than he who is in the world.

Hallelujah. Verse 5 says, we go back now, we look at the goodness of God even in the presence of the enemy.

He is a father to the fatherless. You lose your parents, young people, listen to me. It can happen in a car wreck, in a flash.

You lose both parents, you know what? If you have on the armor of God, and you have

Jesus Christ in your heart, did you know that you can extol him that writeth upon the heavens by his name,

Yah, the self -existent one and rejoice before him and say, yes, but you are my father and I can still live and I can still be successful in Jesus Christ.

Yes, because he is a father to the fatherless. He is a judge to the widows.

Ladies, your husband dies and you're left alone and the man down at the garage tries to charge you $5 ,000 to fix a $200 part.

God's the judge of that. That man's business won't go well forever, you watch. It is true that the

Old Testament was physical things and now it's spiritual, but God does some physical things still. He just does it slower than we like.

He's on a different schedule than we are, but you watch. The Bible rule that says you reap what you sow is still in place.

He is a judge of the widows. Father of the fatherless and a judge of the widows is

God in his holy habitation. God setteth the solitary in families.

Are you ever lonely? What if you're a single adult with us this morning?

Did you ever get lonely? Did you know that the Bible says God is the one who sets the solitary in families?

You're sitting in one today. You have a bigger family than lost people have.

You got the whole church. Brothers and sisters galore. He is the one who sets the solitary one in families.

He bringeth out those that are bound with chains. Do you have sin in your life, sin habits still?

Do you have a habit that's been bothering you for a while? Did you know that he is the

God that will bring you out of that and set you free? But while the goodness of God is accomplishing this in your life, at the same time, that same goodness says the rebellious dwell in a dry land.

The same goodness of God that brings the goodness of God to your life brings evil to the evil.

He brings punishment to the wicked. And that is good. O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness, you know they were never there alone.

Sometimes they felt that they were and they griped and complained and said, we don't have food, we don't have water.

And God was in the midst of them. And you know if you study what it means truly to tempt God, where the Bible says, tempt not thy

God, tempting God is playing like he's not there when he is. That is the highest form of tempting

God. Not the only way you can do it. But if you study carefully, you'll find out that the first place it was really taught what it meant to tempt

God, it was when these people were out there griping and complaining as if God wasn't there, when

God was there right in them and beside them and in the midst of them the whole time. Don't tempt God.

Don't act like God's not there. Especially when the enemy attacks. Verse 8, the earth shook.

The heavens also dropped at the presence of God. Even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the

God of Israel. Thou, O God, didst send the plentiful rain, whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance when it was weary.

Goodness of God. Thy congregation hath dwelt therein. Thou, O God, hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor.

The Lord gave the word. What better goodness of God could we talk about this morning than the fact that he's given the word, the word of God, and great was the company of those that published it.

Be thankful for your history, Christian history, the last 2 ,000 years, of everyone that God moved in their heart.

The Moody's, the Torrey's, the Finney's, the Wesley's. Be thankful for the ones in your own life who teach you the word.

Be thankful that the Holy Spirit teaches you when you're all by yourself. He gave the word, and great was the company that published it.

Be thankful for that. What if we had never heard of the Bible or ever heard the word? The chariots of God are 20 ,000.

When the enemy comes after you, remember that. The chariots of God, though invisible to you they may be, they are not invisible.

You can even be made to see them, if God so chooses. The chariots of God are 20 ,000, even thousands of angels.

The Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place. Dropping down to verse 21, but God shall wound.

Now here we are in the midst of his goodness. God shall wound the head of his enemies, and see if this is in the description of the devil, and the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on still in his trespass.

That's frightening language. God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on still in his trespasses.

Ascribe ye strength unto God. His excellency is over Israel and over you, his own, and his strength is in the clouds.

Oh, always look up to the heavenlies when you need that strength. Always look to that throne where you are seated in Christ Jesus, in the heavenlies for this strength.

Oh God, thou art terrible, awesome, out of thy holy places. The God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people.

Blessed be God. The goodness of God in the presence of the enemy. He stands against the evil.

Now we have one other, and we have a few more minutes. Let's go on to Psalm 73. This is a trinity of psalms.

Three great psalms that will help you when the enemy is attacking. Now this is a great warning to us in this psalm, because this cuts right down to humanity, even saved humanity.

And that is the tendency for us to look around and see how well it's going for the evil people. For the wicked.

We look at their houses, we look at their cars, we look at their crops. We look at their businesses.

They're successful. And the evil one comes to us in our heart just like he did

Satan and says, Oh God, God would want you to not be successful. Learn from them and do some things they do and maybe you can be successful.

Forget God because he's not helping you. If he were really with you, why are they successful and you're not?

Look how this is handled. Psalm of Asaph. Truly, God is good.

It starts out now. He's already learned this before he wrote this psalm, but you're going to see him live through some of this in his life when he didn't know it.

But he says, It is a fact, it is true, that God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.

Now with that in mind though, let's read where he went. In the valley. But as for me, my feet were almost gone.

My steps were well nigh slipped. He had almost lost his footing in life.

You ever been there? I even got to the place, he says, in verse 3, where I was envious at the foolish.

Who are the foolish? Those that don't believe in God. When I saw the prosperity of the wicked,

I was envious. Therefore, pride compasseth them about as a chain.

Violence covereth them as a garment. Starts to list their qualities here. And he's thinking now, if they're this way, why are they blessed seemingly?

Their eyes stand out with fatness. They're covetous. They have more than heart could wish.

Their eyes are fat. They see things and they have the ability to go get those things. Anything they want. They are corrupt and speak wickedly concerning oppression.

They speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens and their tongue walking through the earth.

Whatever they speak, it seems they can make happen. And they say, how doth

God know what I'm doing? And is there knowledge in the

Most High? Why does all this stuff keep going on? It couldn't go on if there were really a

God. How could I get away with this wickedness myself, he says, if there were really a

God? And he begins to taunt the man of God, the woman of God and say, where is he?

How does God know? Behold, these are the ungodly who prosper in the world.

They increase in riches. Notice that they prospered.

They had pride. They were full of violence. They were covetous. They were full of corruption and oppression.

They sent out propaganda against God and blasphemy. Same as Life Magazine did once in the 60s.

They put on the front of it, God is dead. That's the cry of this evil person. But verse 13 says,

Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in iniquity. This man of God is saying, all the things that I've done, the religious things

I've done to try to be a good person, they're all in vain because these evil ones are being blessed, seemingly, and I'm not.

You see, he's still having a problem in his heart. He is envying the wicked. He's forgotten that the goodness of God stands against evil.

He's forgotten the goodness of God. Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain.

I don't know why I did all this stuff for God. Where's it getting me? For all the day long have

I been plagued and chastened. Every morning.

It's not fair. It doesn't seem right. If I say,

I will speak thus, behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children. You know what the psalmist is saying?

He's saying, I'm feeling this in my heart, but I will not say it. Because I don't want any of the children to hear me.

Because then they would doubt God. This is how I'm feeling, he says. But if I say this out loud,

I'll offend against the generation, the next generation. Because they'll think I'm doubting God.

You know what? He was doubting God. That's why he really didn't want to say it. It wasn't that they would doubt

God. They would doubt him. When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me.

Now he's going to start coming out of this. And so we can see how to come out of this when we get to this place. And don't think for a moment you won't or haven't.

If you haven't already, you will. When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me.

Until, now here's the answer. Until I went into the sanctuary of God.

Then understood I therein. Where's the sanctuary of God now?

In our hearts. You go into that heart of yours, to that place where God is.

The Holy Spirit is dwelling in there right alongside your spirit. And you look to him for these answers.

And you say, how can this be? It doesn't seem fair. You know, you can be honest with the Holy Spirit, can't you? You might as well be.

He knows what you're thinking anyway. He knows what you're going to think next anyway. You might as well be honest. And so the psalmist was honest.

And he goes into the sanctuary with God and instantly. The Holy Spirit brings understanding into his heart.

And he points him to the end of the wicked. It's as if the Holy Spirit says, this is their heaven.

Yours is far greater. This is not your heaven. This is not your country.

You're passing through. You're a pilgrim here. Remember that, he says. Don't start crying that it's not unfair.

You're in enemy territory. This is not the Garden of Eden. You were cast out. Remember all that.

But God has redeemed you and brought you back to himself and in your heart. And in this sanctuary you can be just as much in the

Garden of Eden as they once were. But you've got to stay in the sanctuary. Because out there in the world it's not that way.

It's cursed and there are thorns and thistles. And everything you put your hand to will go much slower. And much worse than you thought it would.

And you look around at the evil and it goes perfectly. It goes perfectly. And they often become very, very wealthy.

But then I understood their end. Surely thou did set them in slippery places.

Thou cast them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation?

As in a moment. They are utterly consumed with terrors. Yes, they may have the biggest house in town.

But when they lay down at night and it's dark. And they're on their bed and there's no one around. They live in fear.

They fear they're going to lose that money. They can't even sleep.

Because it's their money. They earned it. You know what?

You better pray if you ever get money that you don't count it as yours. It's the Lord's. And you're just a steward.

And if he gave it to you, he's going to teach you what to do with it. And if he takes it away, he's still going to feed your family if you're his.

And he's good through it all. As a dream, when one awaketh, so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.

Woo, that won't preach today too good. Will it? Outside these walls anyway. You mean a good

God can despise the very image of certain people? The very face, the visage of their face he despises?

And will not even look at it because he hates it so much? Yes, that is true. The same

God of goodness can hate. He hates everyone that's not his.

Now, don't get me wrong. I know there's some lost sheep out there that from their viewpoint they're not his yet.

But you know what? He knew them before the foundation of the world. They're really his. All he's got to do is call and they'll go,

Bah! And say, What, Lord? Because they know which shepherd to follow. But if they're not a lost sheep, if they happen to be a goat running around,

God hates them. He not only hates them, he hates the very image. And they may be a very prosperous old goat.

And you may sit there one day and envy everything they have and think, Why have I put my hands to be cleansed and walked for the

Lord? And here I'm down in the dumps and this guy's got it all. God hates his image.

And you know what? He loves yours. He loves to look at you. He loves just to gaze into your face.

If you've ever had a baby, gentlemen, I guess this leaves us out. But I mean in the way, not you literally had it, but you had a baby in the family.

And you dads looked down at that little baby girl or that little baby boy. Couldn't you just spend hours looking at that face?

And you know what? God does that to you. You don't understand how he can do it. I know that.

We don't understand how he loves us so much. But just as much as he hates and despises the image of the evil, he loves yours.

And he loves to look at you. He loves to see you look back. And we're so busy, we don't look back very often. We look down most of the time.

We don't look up and be with the Lord very often. But he loves that. Thus my heart was grieved and I was pricked in my reins.

Why? Because I saw the truth. God showed me the truth and I had been griping. I had been complaining.

I had been envying the very ones he hates, wishing I could be like them. And he loves me.

And so all of a sudden I'm pricked in my heart because I stand guilty before God in the sense that I have not understood the importance of his love for me.

To me it's more important than cars. It's more important than houses, than money, than things, even toys.

God's love is more important than any of that. And it hurts my heart when

I think of times when I wasn't thinking right about those things. And that's what the psalmist says. So foolish was

I. Okay, I'll admit it. I was even ignorant. Matter of fact,

I was a beast. I was as a beast before God when I was thinking this way. I was as a beast.

Hunter, my dog, is smarter than me when I think this way. That's what he's saying.

Man, I was so foolish. I was ignorant. I was as a beast before thee. Nevertheless, I am continually with thee.

Even when I'm acting as a beast, even when I'm not walking in faith, I'm continually with you.

I'm in your presence. I'm just not realizing it. And I'm wasting my time. And I won't get that time back.

Nevertheless, I'm continually with thee. Thou hast holden me up by your right hand.

Even when I thought the enemy was prospering more than me, you were holding me up. Things didn't go nearly as badly as they would have.

I just can't see that. So I complain about what's happening. All the time, you're with me.

You're holding me up with your hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel. And afterward, you know what?

I get to go to heaven. You will receive me up to glory, he says, afterward.

After what? After the battle. Not till it's finished. We're going to have some more evil wicked people we're going to look at in envy, perhaps.

Unless we learn the lesson today. We'll have some more things we won't think are fair.

We'll have some more things that happen in time. That to us, from our vantage point, are horrible things.

And yet the truth is, God will guide us with his counsel. And afterward, when it is finished, he will receive me to glory.

What have I got to glory? Whom have

I in heaven but God? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.

In reality, even though I just went through a valley and wasn't thinking right, the truth is, there's nothing here

I desire more than God. My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart.

My portion forever. God is my portion is what that means.

Doesn't mean he's the strength of my portion. It means he is my portion. I don't need things.

I don't need houses, cars, and all these things. I don't need to covet. Because God is my stuff.

He's my portion. Forever. Not just now. Not just through the troubled times.

But for all eternity. For lo, they that are far from thee shall perish.

The goodness of God stands against the evil. Thou hast destroyed all them that go a -whoring from thee.

But it is good for me to draw near to God. The same

God that destroys the evil is good for me to be near to. You might just fall on your face and thank him for that one.

Because where would we be today? We could be out washing our cars right now. We could be out fishing.

We could be out doing a lot of things. God brought us here just by your hearts.

He just brought you here. It is good for us to be near to God. I have put my trust in the

Lord God that I may declare all of his works. You'll end up even being witnesses to the goodness of God.

Psalm 84 .10 says, For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand.

One day in the presence of God is better than a thousand houses and cars and mansions and all these things.

I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the mansions of wickedness.

I paraphrased that a little bit because we don't think about tents too well. Fancy tents.

For the Lord God is a sun, s -u -n, light and warmth and a shield.

The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

O Lord of hosts, that means the Lord of battle. Blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.

Let's stand. Father, we thank you for your goodness.

We thank you that when we're in the midst of the battle, your goodness unleashes unbelievable evil upon the evil.

Unbelievable wickedness upon the wicked. Unbelievable corruption upon the corrupt.

Lord, those who set traps for us fall into their own traps because you see to it.

May we be content for you to be our portion. And content is a measly word to use.

May we be overjoyed and rejoicing that you are our portion.

Bring these three psalms to our hearts when we need them in this walk of life.

And Father, we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ who is the one who brought the joy to the psalmist's heart.

We ask you to go with us in our time of fellowship. Bless our meal and our remainder of our services today.