Sunday, October 23, 2022 PM

Bibles to Psalm 43. Psalm 43. Let's pray again. Father, speak to each of us tonight from your Word. Show us more of your Son, the Lord Jesus. In His name I pray, Amen. Psalm 43. Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people from the deceitful and unjust man.

Deliver me, for you are the God in whom I take refuge. Why have you rejected me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? Send out your light and your truth. Let them lead me.

Let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling. Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy. And I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God. Why are you cast down, O my soul?

And why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God. I want to concentrate on verses 3 and 4. Send out your light and your truth. Send out your light and your truth.

Now that is loaded, you know, those few words right there at the beginning of verse 3 are loaded with Trinitarian revelation, okay? Who is it that the psalmist is speaking to and giving his praise to?

It is the Lord God. And he asks him, send out your light and your truth. Now the Trinity that we worship, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, it is the Father who does the sending, okay? And it is the Son who does the going.

And it is the Spirit who reveals this to us, okay? And so the spirit of revelation is, you know, filled throughout, you know, these few words in this verse 3 here. Send out your light and your truth. So the Father sends and he sends out light and truth.

Now the remaining two persons of the Trinity, Son and Spirit, are the light and the truth. Now which is which? You can know nothing of God unless you have the Spirit of God. It is the Spirit of God who reveals to us the things of God, the thoughts of God, who God is.

The man that has not the Spirit of God does not know God. It takes a new birth to know God. We have to be born of the Spirit to know God. He enlightens us by his Spirit. And it is the truth, okay, that's in Jesus, right?

As a matter of fact, he said in John 14, I think it's verse 6, okay? Does anybody know that? Remember that? John 14 6, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. That's right, life, okay? I am the way, the truth, and the life.

So the Father does the sending, the Spirit does the enlightening, and Jesus brings us the truth, the Son. Well, we could reverse that. I mean, the Father sends and who is the light of the world? Let me see, you remember John 1, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God. Everything that was made, he made. In him was life, and this life was the light of men. And then a few verses later, it says, the true light was coming into the world.

The true light was coming into the world. He was in the world, but the world didn't know him. He came into his own. His own did not receive him, but to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave what?

The power to become children of God. Okay, but you see, his life, okay, brings light. It is the life of the Son that brings light. If you don't have the Son, you don't have life. If you don't have the Son, you can't read the Bible.

So he is the light, and then if the Son is the light, who is then the truth? Remember when Jesus, you know, he was telling the disciples, listen, I'm going to go away, and I'm going to send somebody else, and he's going to be in you.

Now, who is this somebody else? Who is he going to send? The helper, okay, the comforter, the the Holy Spirit, that's right, and when he comes, he's going to do what? Yes, he will guide you into all the truth.

As a matter of fact, he's called the spirit of truth, okay. There's a few passages in John, let me see, John 15, 26, Jesus says to his disciples, but when the helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

The spirit of truth. So the Father sends out light and truth, and a case can be made, that's the Son and the Spirit, or it's the Spirit and the Son. You see, there's a very close relationship between the Son and the Spirit.

The truth comes through the Spirit, but the truth is Jesus, because the Spirit reveals Jesus. The Spirit reveals the Son, and so in a sense, both of them represent truth, and likewise, light, likewise light.

The Spirit and the Son work together to bring us light, that we might understand the Word of God. Let's see, how does Psalm 119, 105, I bet some of you have memorized that. Psalm 119, 105, Thy Word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.

Yes, through the Spirit, the Son shows us the way, right? He's the way, the truth, and the life, okay? So right there, send out your light and your truth. Again, you know, this reveals the, you know, the Trinity of God.

When the Son does something, God does it. When the Spirit does something, God does it. When the Father does something, God does it. You see, God works through the Father, Son, and Spirit, okay? He is Father, Son, and Spirit.

Send out your light and your truth. Let them lead me. I would encourage you, you know, whenever you're going to make a decision, whenever you're going to go somewhere, you need somebody to lead the way.

You may think you know the way, and sometimes you do, okay? But I would encourage you, every time you go somewhere, ask God to lead you. Ask God to lead you. Send out your light and your truth. Let them lead me.

Let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling. Now this is, again, this is a psalm in the Old Covenant that speaks to us today, okay? But, okay, when it says, let them lead me or bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling, okay, your translation may say, let them bring me to your holy hill and to your tabernacle, and it may even be plural, tabernacles.

But you see, it's speaking of Mount Zion and the temple, okay, or the tabernacle. That's where God dwells, right? Amongst his people in the tabernacle or the temple. Now think about this. In a very real sense, the tabernacle represented, you know, to the nation of Israel who were camped all around it, okay?

This is where God dwelt among them. This was his dwelling place. And the tabernacle had two rooms. The holy place had the table of showbread, the candlestick, and the altar of incense. And then a veil that separated this from the other room, and the other room was the holy of holies.

And nobody went into the holy of holies except the high priest. And he, only once a year, this place was holy holy. And inside the holy of holies, there was what? The what? The ark. The ark, right? The ark.

This was a box, okay? A box. You know, so long, you know, sitting on a table or legs with the carrying poles, one in front, one in back, with the angels over and the mercy seat on top. And what was in the box?

What was in the ark? The Ten Commandments written on clay tablets, right? Inside the box. Okay, now get this, okay? This is the center of God's dwelling place, the tabernacle. This is the core. This is why the tabernacle stands, okay?

Inside the ark is the Word of God. The Word of God. You know, throughout the whole Old Testament, you know, it was made very clear, you will not make any image, you know, you will not make any images to worship me.

The only way you know me is through my Word. And the central part of the tabernacle was the Word of God. So again, I hope you see here, this passage is still pointing us to the Son, the Lord Jesus. He is the living Word of God, right?

John chapter 1, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God. So even in the Old Testament, you see, here is a picture, okay, a shadow, okay, of that which was to come. The Word of God, right?

This is where the, you know, God's dwelling place was. And His presence there was His Word. And His Word was, living Word was yet to come. Let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling. And I hope that day by day in your Christian life, okay, even as you seek, you know, to understand God's Word, you seek the living Word from the written Word.

You know, God sent us His Son to be our Savior, and in Him is life, okay? In Him is life. And so we should seek after Him. You know, send out your light and your truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling.

I want to know you. I want to know where you dwell. And then He says this, verse 4, then I will go to the altar of God. Now see, once He's there, He says, let them lead me to your holy hill, to your dwelling.

Then I will go to the altar. Now out in the, if you'll remember about the tabernacle, there was a courtyard with a big fence all the way around, okay? And in the courtyard there was an altar and a huge basin of water, okay, so that they could wash and be clean, because the altar was for the purpose of offering sacrifices.

And as they offered those sacrifices, there was a lot of bloodshed, okay? When a person brought an animal to be sacrificed, this person, okay, the priest gave this person a knife, and this person had to cut the throat of that animal and drain the blood into a bowl, and then the blood was spread on the altar, okay?

And the animal was chopped up and put on the altar and burnt, okay? That was the basic procedure there for the sacrifice, okay? And it points, okay, points to the blood shed by Christ as the one sacrifice once for all time, okay?

Once for all time. I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, to God my exceeding joy. And what did he think of God? Send out your light, send out your truth. I want to come into your presence, because in your presence there's fullness of joy, fullness of joy.

I will go to the altar of God. I will come here and I will offer up a sacrifice, because it's you are my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God. Now, notice it says, O God, my God.

In Song of Solomon or Song of Songs, the bride says to the bridegroom, in chapter 2, verse 16, she says, My beloved is mine, and I am his. The bride says to the bridegroom, I am my beloved, and he is mine.

I am my beloved, and he is mine. You are my God, and I am yours. Someone asked tonight, I think it was Wylene, about the watch care over us. I am my beloved, and he is mine. I am my beloved, and he is mine.

You see, he watches over us. He cares for us. He gave his life for us. He cares that much for us. My God. And it says here, I will praise you with the lyre. Now, this is, this psalm, I notice it doesn't say this is the psalm of David, okay, but I suspect it is.

And so, and he is, you know, an expert on the lyre, on the harp, okay, knows how to play the lyre. And he says, I will praise you with the lyre. You know, I can do this. You've given me this talent. He says in Exodus 31, as God gives Moses the instructions to build the tabernacle, he says, listen, I want you to get a hold of, let's see, what is that fellow's name?

Bezalel. And he's got a good friend named Beholiab, okay. And they know how to set stones. They know how to make beautiful set stones, okay. And I want you to decorate the tabernacle with those, all right.

They know how to do it. I have put my spirit on them or in them so that they can do that, all right. You see, God has given each of us, by his spirit, okay, gifts, talents, abilities, all right. And I suspect that if not everybody in here, almost everybody in here, does not know how to play the lyre.

If you do, raise your hand. Okay, I was right. But I know you can do something. I know you can do something. Do you remember this morning, I was blessed by that video we watched, okay. That hundred-year-old woman, okay, hundred-year-old woman.

What can I do for God? You know, she was by herself. You know, her husband had died. She lived by herself. She couldn't play the lyre. What could she do? She could sew, I'm telling you. And so that's what she did.

And she made dresses, right. Put them in those Christmas boxes, sent them, you know, and those were then sent to faraway places on the earth. And girls opened those Christmas boxes, and there was a dress that she had made, and they were blessed, okay.

And so, you know, she would come to God, you know, to the altar. I'm coming, and I'm going to give you, I'm going to sacrifice myself, if you will, okay. Present your bodies, remember that, Romans 12, present your bodies a living sacrifice, okay.

And that's what she did. She sewed. What can you do? You know, you can be a friend, you can pray, you have a particular talent that God has given you, you can use it, you can offer it to God, you know.

I will come to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, my exceeding joy. It will give me great joy to sew these dresses. It will give me great joy to come into your presence and, listen you men that are still working, okay.

I know some of you are retired. Sometimes when you go to work, it's dull, boring, and even, you know, oppressive. You know, I hate to get up in the morning and go to work, but listen, who do you work for?

Do you work for that company, that person, or do you work for God? You know, Colossians chapter 3 says, listen, whatever you do, do it unto the Lord. Whatever you do, do it unto the Lord, for he is the one, I'll paraphrase it, okay, for he is the one who gives you your salary.

All right, you think it's this company. I'm sorry. You know, changes your whole outlook, changes your whole attitude, changes your whole life. I don't work for you. I work for God, and because I work for him, I'm going to do the best I can at whatever I'm doing, okay, and God's going to bless me for it.

So send out your light and your truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling. Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with whatever I can do.

Let's close. Father, thank you for your word. Bless your word in our lives, and I pray that we might be a blessing to you, and I pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.