God's Dwelling Place

All right, well, good morning again. This sermon is a result of a lot of meditating on eternity that I've been doing of late. It started, I don't know how long ago now that Ross and I read this book, but we read through a book called The Medieval Mind of C .S. Lewis by Jason Baxter.

You see, Lewis loved medieval literature because it was different from modern writings. It had atmosphere and weather, as he described it. Baxter writes, in short, Lewis perceived that for the medieval period, the natural world, like so many stained glass windows, was, as it were, transparent to a light from beyond this world.

What are, for us, merely natural processes, seemed to our ancestors phenomena that pointed beyond themselves. The whole world felt like a cosmic cathedral. What Lewis loved about the medieval period, before the advent of modern science, was that everything had both a physical and spiritual aspect.

To it.

Now, we must guide these things by the word of God, or we can end up in some weird places. But we have lost something in our day because of the modern scientific world in which we live. In our modern day, we have taken all the wonder and beauty out of everything because we can clinically explain how a tree grows, what causes a rainbow, and the variables that go into the weather.

We have lost that ability to connect with and imagine our eternal home, or even what it might be like to dwell in the presence of Almighty God. For Lewis, once he became a Christian, he brought that understanding of the world into Christianity, and through his writings, provided us with a glimpse of what we have lost in our modern day.

This quote is from Surprised by Joy, which is Lewis's autobiography about his conversion. He says, I concluded that if I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.

At present, we are on the outside of that world, the wrong side of the door. We cannot mingle with the splendors we see, but all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumor that it will not always be so.

One day, God willing, we shall get in. Meanwhile, the cross comes before the crown, and tomorrow is Monday morning. A cleft has opened in the pitiless walls of this world, and we are invited to follow our great captain inside.

And following him is, of course, the essential point. Lewis, in his testimony, talks of joy and glory and how we catch little glimmers of it in this life, in a moment of beauty, like a sunset or a flower, in a tender moment with a loved one, and when spending time with the Lord.

It is always momentary, and like holding water in your hand, the more you try to grab hold of it, the more it slips away. Most often in this life, we allow ourselves to become so busy that we run through our days never stopping to consider who we are, whose we are, and what the future holds for us.

Then there's a second book that I'm reading right now, Heaven by Randy Alcorn, with my friend Ernie on Thursdays. I always disregarded Randy Alcorn as just your typical modern evangelical writer, probably lightweight.

But actually, Randy is a reformed guy. You can't go a couple of paragraphs without getting a quote from Calvin or Spurgeon.

Or something. He's pretty solid.

And his desire for writing Heaven and studying it as much as he has is that he thinks we've lost something in our day. And so in the introduction to the book, he quotes a couple of folks from early church history.

First one, in AD 125, a Greek named Aristides wrote to a friend about Christianity, explaining why this new religion was so successful. If any righteous man among the Christians pass from this world, they rejoice and offer thanks to God, and they escort his body with songs and thanksgiving as if he were setting out from one place to another nearby.

And in the third century, the church father Cyprian said, let us greet the day which assigns each of us to his own home, which snatches us from this place and sets us free from the snares of the world and restores us to paradise and the kingdom.

Anyone who has been to foreign lands longs to return to his own native land. We regard paradise as our native land. Let me ask you, is that true for you? Do you really look at eternity that way? Do you really long for it?

So why does this matter?

What's the reason why?

Randy tells a story of Florence Chadwick, who was a swimmer in 1952. And she was attempting to swim from Catalina Island off the coast of California to the mainland. It's a 29-mile swim. Now, she had already swum the English Channel a couple of times, which is about 22 miles.

So this wasn't outside the realm of possible. And she started out on a foggy, dreary, cold day. And she swam for 15 hours. And the whole time, she couldn't see anything. The fog was so thick, she couldn't even see the boats going along with her.

And so finally, she gave up. Even with her mother calling from the boat, keep going.

It's not that much farther.

The next day, during a press conference, she said, all I could see was the fog. I think if I could have seen the shore, I would have made it. She had swum 28 and a half miles.

And she was a half mile from the shore when she gave up.

That story illustrates why it's so important to consider things like eternity and what it would be like to dwell with God. A right view of dwelling with God will produce in us a wonder and a desire for him.

A right view of God's dwelling place gives motivation for trials, for enduring the grind of this life. We must endeavor to stir up in ourselves the desire for God. And we must do it grounded in his word.

Longing for God's Dwelling Place

So let us go to our text, Psalm 84. To the chief musician on an instrument of gath, the psalm of the sons of Korah. How lovely is your tabernacle, O Lord of hosts. My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord.

My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. My soul, I'm sorry, even the sparrow has found a home and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young. Even your altars, O Lord of hosts, my king and my God.

Blessed are those who dwell in your house. They will still be praising you.

Say la.

Blessed is the man whose strength is in you, whose heart is set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the valley of Baca, they make it a spring. The rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength.

Each one appears before God and Zion. O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer. Give ear, O God of Jacob.

Say la.

O God, behold our shield and look upon the face of your anointed. For a day in your courts is better than 1 ,000. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

For the Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man who trusts in you. By way of background, there's a lot of different opinions about the author and time period of this psalm.

Many Reformed folk attribute it to David, citing its similarities to Psalm 63. Some of these are Calvin, Henry, and Poole. Even though the title in our translation is a psalm of the sons of Korah, it has been noted that this can also be translated a psalm for the sons of Korah.

Many feel that it could be a psalm David wrote while away from Jerusalem during the rebellion.

Of Absalom.

It describes David's longing for the tabernacle of God. Some feel this psalm was written by a Levite who lived away from Jerusalem and traveled there on pilgrimage three times a year for the great feasts.

Some believe it was written in the time of Hezekiah or in the time of Jehoshaphat. And I even found one commentator who thought it spoke of a time during the exile of Babylon. And as usual, I think Spurgeon sums it up best.

It matters little when this psalm was written, or by whom. For our part, it exhales to us a Davidic perfume. It smells of the mountain heather and the lone places of the wilderness where King David must have often lodged during his many wars.

This sacred ode is one of the choicest of the collection. It has a mild radiance about it, entitled to be called the pearl of psalms. If the 23rd be the most popular, the 103rd the most joyful, the 119th the most deeply experimental, the 51st the most plaintive, this is one of the most sweet of the psalms of peace.

The title of my sermon is Dwelling with God. And I mean that twofold. First, dwelling with God in this life. And number two, our dwelling with God in the life to come. And we're going to take this part, we're going to look at this in three parts.

The first part, longing for God's dwelling place, we're going to look at verses one through four. Part two, our pilgrimage to God's dwelling place,.

Verses five through nine.

And then finally, the superiority of God's dwelling place, verses 10 through 12. So longing for God's dwelling place, part one. How lovely is your tabernacle, O Lord of hosts. My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord.

My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Even the sparrow has found a home in the swallow and nest for herself, where she may lay her young. Even your altars, O Lord of hosts, my king and my God.

Blessed are those who dwell in your house. They will still be praising you. So the first word that jumps out at you in this psalm is lovely. In Hebrew, yadid, meaning well-beloved, beloved, and amicable.

This speaks of the Lord's tabernacle. And the word for tabernacle, miskan, is not specific to a type of dwelling. In fact, it can mean dwelling place. This can be the tent Moses constructed, the temple Solomon constructed, and it can certainly apply to the church in our day, but the subject is that it is the Lord's dwelling place.

The psalmist loves it not for its inherent beauty, but for the beauty of the one he longs to meet with and worship. Now, we meet in a fairly standard building. I know the town loves it for its history, but when you really consider it,.

It's kind of shabby.

There is really nothing special here, and I can tell you that I've been in many buildings far nicer and more beautiful than this one. Think about where we used to meet, an old gym with clanking pipes and musty smells, and apparently a fire trap.

And yet, it was where we worshiped God, our God, O Jehovah of hosts. Melanie and I were talking with Gus about it after prayer on Thursday, and it held fond memories for us, as this building does, because of who we meet with in this building.

Do you strive to look past the babies crying, the smells of food cooking, the occasional out of tune and tempo singing, although Rachel has helped us a lot in that area, and allow yourself to see with spiritual eyes what we are doing here?

Look at verse two. My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. I would encourage you to meditate on the psalmist experience here. This is homework for us.

Come back to verse two.

I was trying to think of what experience might be similar to what the psalmist describes here, and the only thing I could think of was those videos you can look up online of soldiers coming home after months away and surprising their families.

People having a normal day, one minute, and then just breaking down crying for joy. Girls jumping into their father or husband's arms and just wrapping them with a full body hug. Moms almost fainting and needing to sit down, they are overcome with emotion.

I watched one where this grisly old father was surprised by his son and just breaks down crying, and can't let go of his son because he'd end up falling down. People not caring where they are, who is around, just overcome with joy and emotion for the one their soul longs for, misses, and can't wait to see again.

I had a similar experience to this once in worship. It was listening to Eric Hartland preach at Heritage about how our sin held Jesus on the cross. Now, you guys know that I can cry at the drop of a hat, but that day, what my savior did for me hit me like a freight train, and I was a mess.

I mean, I was bawling. I was like, I only thought something was wrong with me. But it was just the first time in my Christian experience I really understood what God did for me in that. Do we long for God like that?

Do we long for his worship like that? Spurgeon says, the psalmist declared that he could not remain silent in his desires, but began to cry out for God in his house. He wept, he sighed, he pleaded for the privilege.

Some need to be whipped to church, while here is David crying for it. He needed no clatter of bells from the belfry to ring him in. He carried his bell in his own bosom. Holy appetite is a better call to worship than a full chime.

Turning to verse three, the psalmist speaks of birds. Even the sparrow has found a home in a swallow and nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even your altars, O Lord of hosts, my king and my God.

The psalmist here is envious of the little birds who have made their homes near the dwelling place of God. The psalmist, being away from the dwelling place of God, cries out, even your altars, O Lord of hosts,.

My king and my God.

There is no place in all the world he would rather be.

Than in God's house.

Nothing can satisfy his soul except for God. The true Christian cannot go long without communing with God, and it is a torment to him when he cannot. You know, one of the things that keeps me from the greatest sins is that I know concealment of sin is not an option for me, for to conceal sin would break my fellowship with God, and so I must confess it, that I know God will not draw near to me, and that would be like torture.

Some argue that the sense of this verse is actually, as a sparrow finds a house in a swallow and nest where she may place her offspring, so may thy altars be my abode, O Lord of hosts,.

My king and my God.

The psalmist would live at the very altar of God if he could, never leaving his presence, always ready to offer sacrifices to God and to worship him. Other things that commentators pick up on in this verse, which I will use as a point of application, is when the psalmist speaks of the swallow, a nest for herself where she may lay her young.

We as parents must consider how we approach God before our children. Do we do it as a chore, an inconvenience, something you just have to do, or do you labor to both tell and show your children the delight you have in your church and the worship of God?

We do our children a great harm when we don't consider the picture we paint for them of God, his church, and his worship. Jesus said, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and we were thrown into the sea.

And then we conclude this section on longing for God's dwelling place with verse four, where the psalmist states, blessed are those who dwell in your house, they will still be praising you. After hearing three verses of the psalmist crying with anguish for God's house and longing to be where God dwells, he summarizes this by saying, blessed are those who dwell in God's house.

To dive us back to our introduction, do you agree with the psalmist here? Ultimately, we live with God for all eternity. Do you consider that a blessed state? Is Sunday your favorite day of the week? And if it is, for what reason?

We should really ask ourselves these questions. Moving on to section two, our pilgrimage to God's dwelling place. Blessed is the man whose strength is in you, whose heart is set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the valley of Bacchae, they make it a spring.

The rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength. Each one appears before God and Zion. Oh, Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer. Give ear, oh God of Jacob. Oh God, behold our shield and look upon the face of your anointed.

Many commentators spend most of their time talking about the valleys that lead up to Jerusalem and how the Jews had to navigate them three times a year for the feasts. They talk about the lack of water in the region and the difficulty of the journey.

They speak of the valley of Bacchae and talk how it can be translated mulberry trees and talk of the different trees in the region. They talk about how it could refer to when either David or Jehoshaphat led their armies and could hear the enemy in the tops of the trees.

They talk about how often in this arid region they would dig pools along the way that could be filled with rain and provide the precious resource. But in many ways, it misses the main point that the psalmist is trying to make, which is when we set our heart on that great pilgrimage to the ultimate dwelling place of God, we are blessed because God becomes our strength.

In addition to that, by setting our hearts on pilgrimage and having our focus on the promises and future we have with Christ, we can go through the valleys and wilderness of this world and it will be as a spring to us, covered with pools of life-giving water.

For the fact that we are all pilgrims is clear in Scripture. Hebrews 11, 13, these all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were assured of them, embraced them, confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

First Peter 2 says, beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, that they may, by your good works, which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.

Philippians 3, 20, for our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body, that it may be conformed to his glorious body, according to the workings of which he is able even to subdue all things to himself.

And again in Hebrews, for here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. And Jesus says in John 18, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight so that I should not be delivered to the Jews, but now my kingdom is not from here.

Second Corinthians 5, 1, for we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. And finally Acts 14, and when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconum, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, we must through many tribulations.

Enter the kingdom of God.

So now we're gonna turn to Jeremy Walker. In his book, Passing Through, he speaks to what the psalmist here is saying. Jeremy says, therefore the pilgrim subordinates time to eternity, anticipating the cosmic regeneration at Christ's coming, and so living always with an eye to the world to come.

We understand that we cannot always preempt that world, however much we might long to do so. Neither should we turn our backs upon it, as if the best life is now. The prospect of life in heaven should make all the difference.

In our present life on earth.

Jeremy asked the question, how do we so lay hold on things to come that they impress themselves upon our souls and have a lasting impact on our lives? He gives us eight things we can do. The first, believe the truth.

We must believe these things of heaven and eternity. We need faith here, and that faith, as he says, likes to climb the tower of God's truth and gaze into the distance where it can see things that others cannot discern.

Then number two, we must embrace the implications of that truth, which means we must actually live in light of what our faith is in. Do we really believe that we have a glorious future? And does that make any difference in how we live?

Is our faith alive or dead?

Choose the best.

Have you chosen eternity with the Lord God, over time and its passing pleasures? What does this look like for each of us? I might ask, what idols do you have? What are you putting ahead of God in your life?

Endure the worst. This echoes back to our psalm today, that we must pass through the valley of Baca, which can be translated weeping. Walker says most of us are native cowards, and given the choice between afflictions and reliefs, we would choose the reliefs of affliction, rather than reproaches with afflictions.

But looking to the reward will give us strength and courage. The next is ponder the future. We must think on our future, and we must, like the psalmist, stoke up our affections for the Lord, for his dwelling place and for his worship.

This means cutting out lawful things from our lives to make room for heavenly things. We must treasure the promises. This means we must be in the scriptures. We must know their promises, and we must arm ourselves with them, so that when the devil whispers his lies, we can respond as our captain did.

Thus says the Lord.

Pursue the reward. I will quote the verses I preached a couple of sermons ago. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.

And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore, I run thus, not with uncertainty, and thus I fight, not as one who beats the air.

1 Corinthians 9. Do you know that in eternity, there are real rewards to be run by the life we live here? We do not work for our salvation, but we do strive to win our race. And we must strive in order to win our race.

And finally, we await the blessings. Again, Walker says, with this in view, let there be in every one of God's people a composed but eager expectation. Biblical realism says that we cannot make earth to be heaven, but the confidence of the saints grants a heaven on earth until heaven comes to earth.

1 Corinthians 2 .9. I has not seen nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him. When we do these things, we go from strength to strength on our way to appearing before God in Zion.

The psalmist here breaks into a prayer to God using several titles for God. Matthew Henry says of this, he is an eye to God under several of his glorious titles. As the Lord God of hosts, who has all the creatures at his command and therefore has all power both in heaven and in earth.

As the God of Jacob, a God in covenant with his own people, a God who never said to the praying seed of Jacob, seek you me in vain. And as God our shield, who takes his people under his special protection, pursuant to his covenant with Abraham their father.

For in Genesis 15 .1, he says, fear not Abraham, I am thy shield. In regard to the context of the prayer, Spurgeon says, here we have the nation's prayer for David. And the believers prayer for the son of David.

Let but the Lord look upon our Lord Jesus and we shall be shielded from all harm. Let him behold the face of his anointed and we shall be able to behold his face with joy. We also are anointed by the Lord's grace and our desire is that he will look upon us with an eye of love in Christ Jesus.

Our best prayers when we are in the best place are for our glorious king and for the enjoyment of his father's smile. Do we regard our God in prayer and cling to him until he blesses us? The psalmist knows that when distant from the Lord's dwelling we can enter his presence through his prayers in a real way, we can enter his courts.

As we move to our final section, it begins with the word for, which typically looks back to what was just said. In a way, the psalmist is entering the courts of the Lord through his prayer, even though he can't enter them physically.

So section three.

What are we doing on time?

Not bad.

The Superiority of God's Dwelling Place

The superiority of God's dwelling place. For a day in your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God is a sun and shield.

The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man who trusts in you. Here the psalmist moves towards his conclusion by comparing the Lord's dwelling place to that of the wicked.

Spending but a single day in the courts of the Lord would be worth more than a thousand days anywhere else. One commentator points out, by preferring the time of God's worship before all other time, a day spent in my courts in attending on the services of religion, wholly abstracted from all secular affairs, is better than a thousand.

Not than a thousand in my courts, but anywhere else in this world. Though in the midst of all the delights of the children of men, better than a thousand, he does not say days. He may supply it with years, with ages, if it will, and yet David would set his hand to it.

A day in thy courts, a Sabbath day, a holy day, a feast day, though but one day would be very welcome to me. Nigh, as some paraphrase it, though I were to die for it the next day, yet that would be more sweet than years spent in the business and pleasure of this world.

One of these days shall, with its pleasure, chase a thousand, and two put 10 ,000 to flight, to shame, as not worthy to be compared. Do we have this heart? I ask again, what is your favorite day of the week?

Would you truly say it was Sunday? Let's turn up the heat a little bit. Would you say it's Sunday when compared to other great days? It's not hard, it's not that hard to say Sunday when compared to Monday.

I mean, who likes Monday mornings? Back to the grind, back to my job and school and the things I do to survive. What about comparing Sunday to a day at the beach or your favorite vacation spot? What about for those who just returned home?

Are you happier today than when you were seeing the sights of Rome or Vienna or Tuscany or Naples? For the psalmist, there is no comparison. He would take a day in his Lord's courts over all these things the world can offer.

The psalmist then doubles down again by saying he'd rather be a doorkeeper than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. Another commentator, the lowest station in connection with the Lord's house is better than the highest position among the godless.

Only to wait is his threshold and peep within.

So as to see Jesus is bliss.

To bear burdens and open doors for the Lord is more honor than to reign among the wicked. Every man has his choice and this is ours. God's worst is better than the devil's best. God's doorstep is a happier rest than downy couches within the pavilions of royal centers.

Though we might lie there for a lifetime of luxury, note how he calls the tabernacle the house of my God. That's where the sweetness lies. If Jehovah be our house, his house, his altars, his doorstep all become precious to us.

We know by experience that where Jesus is within, the outside of the house is better than the noblest chambers where the son of God.

Is not to be found.

We come to another four. So now the psalmist is going to tell us why he considers the Lord's courts orders of magnitude better than anywhere else. The psalmist gives two metaphors. He speaks of two things that the Lord will give and then he summarizes and amplifies.

For the Lord God is a son. This is the only place in scripture where the Lord is said to be a son. Calvin says, the idea conveyed by the comparison derived from a son is that as a son, by his light vilifies, nourishes, and revives the world,.

Vivifies, sorry, not vilifies,.

So the benign countenance of God fills with joy.

The hearts of his people.

Or rather that they neither live nor breathe except insofar as he shines upon them. In Isaiah 60 verse 19 it says, the sun shall no longer be your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you, but the Lord will be to you an everlasting light in your God, your glory.

It was said of Jesus, in him was life and the life was the light of men. God is our life, our light, our guide, our warmth, our joy, and our energy. For the Lord God is a shield. In scripture, God is said to be a shield to his people 15 times.

Again, Calvin says, by the term shield is meant that our salvation, which would otherwise be periled by countless dangers, is in perfect safety under his protection. The favor of God in communicating life to us would be far from adequate to the extremity of our condition unless at the same time in the midst of so many dangers, he interposes his power as a buckler to defend us.

Not only does God sustain us like the sun, but he defends us from all danger. No danger can ever get near to us except that which God allows for our good. Even in that, there is his perfect moderation and control of it.

We are secure and need never be afraid for the Lord God is our shield. The Lord will give grace. Let's consider the scriptures. Exodus 33, 17, so the Lord says to Moses, I will also do this thing that you have spoken, for you have found grace in my sight and I know you by name.

Acts 4, 33, and with great power, the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all. Acts 15, 11, but we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved.

In the same manner as they.

Romans 5, 21, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 2 Thessalonians 2, 16, now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and our God and Father who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace.

Revelations 22, 21, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, amen. And the Lord will give glory. Deuteronomy 5, 24, and you said surely the Lord our God has shown us his glory and his greatness and we have heard his voice from the midst of the fire.

We have seen this day that God speaks with man, yet he still lives. And then in 1 Samuel, he raises the poor from the dust and lifts the beggar from the ash heap to set them among princes and make them inherit the throne of glory.

For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's and he has set the world upon them. Psalm 3, 3, but you, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory and the one who lifts up my head. God himself is our glory. 2 Corinthians 3, 18, but we all with unfailed faith beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the spirit of the Lord.

And then finally in 2 Thessalonians, to which he called you by our gospel for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew Henry summarizes, grace signifies both the goodwill of God toward us and the good work of God in us.