[0:00] Let us resume our public worship of God by singing to his praise from Psalm 84.
[0:12] Psalm 84. And we're going to sing from the beginning to verse 6. How lovely is thy dwelling place, O Lord of hosts, to me.
[0:25] The tabernacles of thy grace, how pleasant, Lord, they be. My thirsty soul longs vehemently, yea, faints thy courts to see.
[0:37] My very heart and flesh cry out, O living God, for thee. Behold, the sparrow findeth out an house wherein to rest. The swallow also for herself hath purchased a nest.
[0:51] Even thine on altars where she's safe her young ones forth may bring. O thou, almighty Lord of hosts, who art my God and King. Blessed are they in thy house that dwell.
[1:05] They ever give thee praise. Blessed is the man whose strength the word, in whose heart are thy ways. Who, passing thorough becas vale, therein do dig up wells.
[1:19] Also the rain that falleth down, the pools with water fills. You can sing these verses, Psalm 84, from the beginning.
[1:30] How lovely is thy dwelling place, O Lord of hosts, to me. How lovely is thy dwelling place, O Lord of hosts, to me.
[1:53] How lovely is thy dwelling place, O Lord of hosts, to me.
[2:23] How lovely is thy dwelling place, O Lord of hosts, to me. My very heart and flesh cry out, O living God, for thee.
[2:44] Behold the sorrow of high death, and as we enter us, as one of all so far as sin, a virgin in thy hands.
[3:19] If thine own on earth well she's saved, I have once more given me.
[3:36] O thou Almighty, Lord of hosts, who art my whole nighting, lest I in thy heart's blood, give me grace.
[4:12] Lest is the one who strength the Lord, and whose heart are not a wish.
[4:30] O thou Almighty, Lord of hosts, who art my whole nighting, O thou Almighty, Lord of hosts, who art my whole nighting, and all in the night, and hold him on earth.
[5:08] Let us join together in prayer. Let's pray. Gracious God, as we come before you in worship, grant to us that spirit of praise and thanksgiving that ought to fill our hearts and minds always.
[5:32] Whatever we can come with or come for, we ought to realise that we do not deserve the least of your measures, and yet they exceed our asking, and each day we are confronted by them.
[5:54] Your servant of old acknowledged us such that your measures are new each morning. Yea, great is your faithfulness, and we acknowledge that even now.
[6:07] that every which way we look, we find evidence of your goodness to us, as individuals, as families, as communities, and as a nation, even such a nation as our own, that has gone away from the God who is God over all.
[6:31] We know that the exchange mechanism that is in operation in the lives of men is one where the God who is God of all is taken from the seat of government, of government, of the overall authority that is yours as the creator God, as the almighty sovereign who possesses power to bring from nothing, as you indeed have, all that there is to see.
[7:27] And yet, that position that is rightfully yours is usurped, and something is always put in its place.
[7:37] We either seek to occupy that throne ourselves and say that it is my will that should be done, or we pale observance to false gods, idols of our own creation, as idols always are.
[7:59] For there is but one living and true God. All other gods are idols done. They have eyes, and they see not.
[8:09] They have ears, and they hear not. They have a mouth, and they do not speak. But you can speak to us clearly, corgently, with purpose and direction.
[8:26] Indeed, you do. You have given us your word, the lips of the Old and the New Testament to speak to us so perfectly, reminding us of what we are, where we are, and the need that we have.
[8:46] You see us in a way that no other sees us. You discern the man who is to be seen outwardly, but also you see man inwardly.
[9:01] The thoughts and the intents of the heart are before your all-seeing eye. We give thanks that you are also a God whose heart is open to the pleas and the plight of all the children of men in this sin-ridden world.
[9:22] we bring before you the affairs of the world at this time. We speak of the world as something that is brought very much to our attention through the medium that speaks of the needs of the world through our broadcasting channels, be it television or radio or the internet.
[9:51] All of these things that have been created over a generation and developed and instead of being a blessing, it is a bain.
[10:05] Instead of being the means by which good is done so often what we see evil come instead.
[10:16] but we are through these things reminded of what is going on in our world even far more so than former generations who may have taken months and maybe even decades before they could actually understand what was happening in this world of ours.
[10:40] We acknowledge that such events that are currently taking place throughout the world fill us with sorrow and sadness and we bring before you the concerns that are highlighted there where there is war where there is bloodshed where there is the unnecessary taking of life and that because of the wickedness that lies in the heart of man which once exposed truly reveals the truth that you have declared that the heart of man is desperately wicked who can know it.
[11:25] So we pray for the nations of the earth that are currently embroiled in war we think of especially the parts of the Middle East where Israel and those resident in the Gaza Strip are involved in terrible terrible events that fill our heart with sorrow.
[11:55] We especially think of those who have lost lives and those who are grieving because of that. Remember again the Ukraine and its enemy the Russian armies that are in conflict with them the rights and the wrongs of all that is before us may be beyond us and many things go on and be known to us and we depend on social commentators and interpreters of these events and yet Lord you know all things nothing is hidden from you.
[12:45] Think of other nations that are at war constantly almost without anyone being aware offered in African states and perhaps there are tribal conflicts going on there and have been for so many years and we do not hear of them.
[13:13] Similarly we know that there are rivalries within Asia and the continents there and we think Lord of the persecution of your people that takes place in such places and the loss of life that is countless we cannot begin to estimate how many have perished because of their love for the Lord Jesus and we pray Lord that you would remember all who have been made to suffer and we cannot but believe the truth that has been proved repeatedly over the centuries that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church we might think that it is only in times of peace that prosperity will be assured and that spiritually as well but it is clearly not the case that even when we would imagine that with the suppression of the witness of
[14:22] Christ that that would mean that there would be no prospect of growth and yet what has been seen and is seen again and again is that those who are the victims of persecution are often the most lively of believers and they are committed to their belief and committed to their Lord and in the mystery of what you do you have shown that that the church of Jesus Christ will always remain even though in our peculiar circumstances as a nation when we comparatively enjoy peace that the gospel is on the back foot and we pray Lord that you would turn that and allow those who would proclaim
[15:29] Jesus Christ and him crucified to do so without fear of retribution or without those who claim to be liberators to do that even in the face of your people suppressing their testimony we pray Lord that you would surround your people with a sense of your own greatness and the power and the potential you have for good in the lives of all who have hitherto experienced it so bless us in the context of a world that is so full of grief and sorrow and sadness remember us in our own particular circumstances as a congregation and as a community we bring before you the sorrows and the sadnesses of those families who have recently been bereft of loved ones and we commit and commend them to you and ask that your voice would be sanctified to one and all and that you would speak to us loudly and clearly because you remind us that we are to put our house in order as individuals and collectively so bless us we pray bless our our communities our island community the congregations that represent you in our midst we pray that you would bless the preaching of the gospel the proclamation of the truth may it be free and without favour and may
[17:19] Christ be magnified we pray for your blessing upon those amongst us who are incapable of attending God's house because of their own illnesses are responsible for caring for those who are unwell we pray for those in hospital those presently in the hospice those who are frail elderly confined to care homes thankful that there are those who have a willing capacity to deal with the needs of those who are entrusted to their care remember each and every one according to need so pour out your spirit upon us for in order for anything that is of worth to be done in your name you must and only you can come and bless all that is done we ask all this with the forgiveness of sin in Christ
[18:24] Amen I'm going to sing again to God's praise from Psalm 54 Psalm 34 from the beginning to verse 10 God will I bless all times his praise my mouth shall still express my soul shall boast in God the meek shall hear with joyfulness extol the Lord with me let us exalt his name together I sought the Lord he heard and did me from all fear deliver they looked to him and light and were not shamed were their faces this poor man cried God heard and saved him from all his distresses the angel of the Lord encamps and round encompasses all those about that do him fear and them deliver it oh taste and see that
[19:26] God is good who trusts in him is blessed fear God his saints none that in fear shall be with want oppressed the lions young may hungry be and they may lack their food but they that truly seek the Lord shall not lack any good these verses Psalm 34 God will I bless all times as praise my mouth shall still express God will I bless all times his praise my mouth shall save rest my soul shall boil in all love come here with your holiness and show the
[20:31] Lord with me let us and follow his hymn together I saw the Lord hear the death me from all pure river they looked to him and I have not yet where there their faces this who not kind of her runs if him from all his dresses me in sure of the
[21:40] Lord him comes I am proud and her mother all those of us that you hear and them deliver rest hear what is in heaven hear what is in heaven and hear what is in the man the heart in him shall be with wonder rest the light ocean may hungry be and they may not their hurt but they love and in and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and going to hear
[23:16] God's word as we find it in the Old Testament scriptures and we're going to read from the book of Psalms and Psalm 73 we'll read the whole psalm truly God is good to Israel even to such as that of a clean heart but as for me my feet were almost gone my steps had well nigh slipped for I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked for there are no bands in their death but their strength is full they are not in trouble as other men neither are they plagued like other men therefore pride compasses them about as a chain violence covereth them as a garment their eyes stand out with fatness they have more than heart could wish they are corrupt and speak wickedly concerning oppression they speak loftily they set their mouth against the heavens and their tongue walketh through the earth therefore his people return hither and waters of a full camp are run out to them and they say how doth God know and haste acknowledge in the most high behold these are the ungodly who prosper in the world they increase in riches verily I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocency for all the day long have I been plagued and chastened every morning if I say I will speak thus behold I should offend against the generation of my children of thy children when I thought to know this it was too painful for me until I went into the sanctuary of God then understood I their end surely thou did set them in slippery places thou castest them down into destruction how are they brought into desolation as in a moment they are utterly consumed with terror as a dream when one awaketh so O Lord when thou awakest thou shalt despise their image thus my heart was grieved and I was pricked in my reins so foolish was I and ignorant
[26:12] I was as a beast before thee nevertheless I am continually with thee thou hast holden me by my right hand thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee my flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever for lo they that are far from thee shall perish thou hast destroyed all them that go a-huring from thee but it is good for me to draw near to God I have put my trust in the Lord God that I may declare all thy works amen and may the Lord add his blessing to this reading of his word to his name be the praise
[27:14] I am going to sing now from Psalm 42 Psalm 42 we will sing from the beginning of the psalm like as the heart for water brooks in thirst doth pant and pray so pants my longing soul O God that come to thee I may my soul for God the living God doth thirst when shall I near unto thy countenance approach and in God's sight appear my tears have unto me been meet both in the night and day while unto me continually where is thy God they say my soul is poured out in me when this I think upon because that with the multitude I here to for had gone with them into God's house I went with voice of joy and praise yea with the multitude that kept the solemn holy days
[28:23] O why art thou cast down my soul why in me so dismayed trust God for I shall praise him yet his countenance is mine aid let us sing these verses Psalm 42 verses 1 to 5 like as the heart for water brooks in thirst doth pant pray like as the heart for water brooks in thirst doth pant so heart's my longing soul so heart's my longing soul and come to thee I may my soul for God the living God doth pant my soul for God the living God doth thou thirst and shall thine year my dear my dear my dear how unto me my dear my dear my dear how unto me may are way what hide armor
[30:36] God is it. My soul is poured out in me, and the sight in the heart, it was that with the money too, I hear too for how long.
[31:16] With the men too, for those I went with my soul on yon bridge, yet with the mocking good night the solemn holy days.
[31:53] O why are thou kind of my soul?
[32:04] Why am I so red? Transparency, I shall praise him, his hand and his wife.
[32:34] Shall we turn to the book of Psalms and Psalm 73? And we can read again at verse 23. Nevertheless, I am continually with thee.
[32:49] Thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but thee?
[33:02] And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. my flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
[33:16] The words of this passage, particularly the words that we have just read, seem to suggest to us that whoever this is, that they have a fixed state of mind, that they have a firm persuasion that regardless of what is going on around them, they have an unshakable conviction that everything will remain in, will remain the same, will remain for them as if nothing can intrude into their experience and disturb their peace.
[34:19] And, uh, I suppose we could say that from our own experience of speaking to men and women who are not believers, that they can and do confidently assert that the Christian is somebody like that.
[34:47] somebody who is unassailably placed in a position of strength that they will not be disturbed, that they will not yield to the disturbing thoughts thoughts, that life can sometimes bring our way.
[35:20] And that's the way they think of Christians. Now, I know that there are people who think like that. I know that they think like that because they like to think like that.
[35:34] They like to think that the Christian faith is something that has brought the Christian into a place of of confident a confident relationship with God.
[35:58] And because they have this confidence and because they have this relationship with God that they're going to remain firm and steadfast and immovable and nothing is going to disturb them.
[36:21] And because of that, perhaps there are those who have such a thought they are themselves incapable of believing that they have a faith in God that is of a quality sufficient to enable them to believe that it is a God-given faith.
[36:54] They think that they themselves cannot be of the faith because they cannot see themselves to be like these Christians that they perceive to be so settled and fixed in a way that they are unshaken by any of life's events.
[37:24] Now, I would say to such a person that the person you imagine the Christian to be is a figment.
[37:38] There is no such Christian because the Christian is more like someone who may from time to time be able to confidently assert that a relationship with God is of such a nature that nothing but nothing will intrude into their peace or cause them to feel threatened in any way.
[38:10] But that the same person will given the right or the wrong experience be somebody who may fear that they have never actually come to faith at all.
[38:27] that when they are assaulted or assailed by circumstances that they did not expect or events that have undermined their confidence in God that they have lost sight of who Christ is and the significance of what he ought to be to them.
[38:52] Now I think if what I'm trying to say is this that if we believe that Christians are always on the same level at all moments we don't really understand what Christianity is all about.
[39:15] And the reason I begin like that is because when you read this psalm we're not in any way disputing the truth that the believer comes to assert and to declare as his own and the truth that they with conviction possess rightly so but that there was a time in their life when they had lost sight of that the truth of God is fixed you have to remember that God's word is God's word it doesn't deviate in any sense of what the word deviate means it doesn't change according to circumstance the word remains the same but our experience of what the word means to us may alter our perspective even temporarily and you may be familiar with this psalm and the first verses of the psalm in fact the bulk of the psalm is of somebody who has real difficulty looking at those who are in the world with them but are not of the same faith as them and who seem to be despite not having faith in
[40:56] God despite not relying on God or depending upon God or praying to God or waiting upon God and all of the things that you would expect a believer to do they seem to thrive they seem to prosper they seem to enjoy the blessings that God they imagine is supposed to bestow upon believers alone and there they are and they have all these things and the believer is somebody at times who doesn't experience that and doesn't enjoy them and we have to remind ourselves that sometimes experience creates in us something that displaces the truth and brings error into a reckoning in a way that disturbs our appreciation of what
[42:11] God is doing I was reading about a preacher maybe a preacher well known to yourselves he was a preacher of a past generation and his name is John Brown of Haddington and this statement was made about John Brown of Haddington and about his preaching and it was said of him that he preached as if Christ was standing at his elbow in the pulpit he was he preached as if Christ was standing at his elbow in the pulpit and I was reading that and I was thinking to myself was that the way it was was that the way it was always for him maybe this was just somebody looking at this man and saying because of his prowess as a preacher or because of the way that he was presented to their minds and to their eyes that there was this aura about him that made them believe that that he had
[43:43] Christ at his elbow now the thing is was it was it the case for him always to preach with that confidence with that instinct with that thought in his heart now I doubt it I doubt it I've read too many biographies preachers of preachers who despite being renowned for their abilities as preachers who frequently had to go into the pulpit after wrestling in prayer so that they could actually climb into the pulpit and having come out of the pulpit have to pray because having preached that they feared that what they preached would condemn their soul to hell not because of what they said that they believed to be in any way heretical but because they feared that their own state of mind and their own state of soul as they preached the gospel of
[44:53] Jesus Christ their coldness their aloofness their distance as they felt it from God was something that would condemn them now what's that got to do with what we have here what I'm wanting to press press home to you is that the believer in Jesus Christ can suffer from experiences that have brought them down into almost an atheist perspective perspective of God a failure at that moment however long it lasts in comprehending that God has not changed even though their circumstances are that what they see around about them whatever it implies and the interpretation that they put upon it they need to rely upon the truth of
[45:56] God remaining and the God whose truth it is to be constant and the problem as far as the psalmist was concerned was clearly that he did not grasp he swallowed up by what he saw Martin Luther just to give you a commentator's view on it he wrote the following the psalmist he says believes that the wicked flourish in the world they enjoy prosperity and increase in abundance while at the same time the godly suffer cold and hunger and are afflicted and spit upon and despised and condemned and that God seems to be against his friends and to neglect them and to regard support and give success to his enemies people that is not unique to the psalmist nor do I believe it to be unique to the
[47:43] Old Testament church nor do I believe it to be unique to the early experience of the New Testament church I believe it to be something that can color the judgment of every one of us who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour because we foolishly reckon that things should be different to what they are that God should not allow this to go on that God should not allow this person or this people or that nation to get on and do what they like without any action on his part the opening section of the psalmist is clearly a section that that is so so strongly describing the heartache of the man of God as he interprets he went wrongly
[48:53] I believe but God puts it right as God always will put things right in his own time in his own way and here what we read of in the psalm is that the time came for the psalmist to realize that his reckoning was all wrong in verse 18 we read surely thou did set them in slippery places thou castest them down into destruction how are they brought into desolation as in a moment they are utterly consumed with terror how did he come to discover this well we don't know all we know is that in verse 18 it says in verse 17 rather until I went into the sanctuary of God then understood
[49:56] I the end it's not explained to us I don't think there's no clarity given to us what the eureka moment was for the for the believer in God who was in this trajectory of gloom that he was turned and turned by God to understand what really was going to happen some suggest that he had a insight by reason of the spirit some suggest it was just by going to God's house and being in company with God's people and experiencing through the fellowship that God has encouraged us to engage in that that was sufficient for him to remember that not all things were as they seemed his eyes were opened by God nevertheless and he saw things differently and God enabled him to appreciate that it wasn't as bright a picture for the unbeliever as it would seem we'll then see the affirmation of the believer's faith and it's quite intriguing how how different that same person is as a consequence of having his eyes opened the same person in the twinkling of an eye sees things different because
[51:52] God enables him to see things different and the truth that he clings on to is that truth that was always there you know that's that's something I would like you to remember God's truth is a permanent fixture we may move around it our position with regard to it may change by reason of circumstance but the world is ever the same and what he sees is a God who is the same God that he knows that he knew and that he came to know and that is the same God that he worships even though for a time
[52:53] God became hidden from sight now you think about that have you ever had that experience as a believer that the God you believe in and trust in and whose word you turn to constantly has for a time been hidden from sight you're looking for him and you can't find him whatever it is that hides him from view you know sometimes it can be something that that is a physical thing it can be a mental thing it can be an emotional thing it can be a spiritual thing and God cannot be found at that moment because whatever it is comes between you and him and all God has to do is take that obstruction away and point you once again in the direction that he has ever been in he's not moved he's not moved from where he was he is still the same
[54:09] God I want us to look at what he says because what he says is what I want you to take home with you nevertheless I am continually with thee thou hast holden me by my right hand now if you read these words if you read them the way I read them you might think that they're not written as they should be written nevertheless I am continually with thee I would have written that like this nevertheless you are continually with me because that's what's important for us is it not that God is a constant that God remains the same and yet that's not what the psalmist says we know that the word of God tells us
[55:21] I'll give you just one example of it in the book of the prophet Isaiah chapter 41 fear not for I am with thee be not dismayed for I am thy God I will strengthen thee yea I will help thee yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness it's a very similar verse is it not to this one apart from one thing the prophet tells us that God is saying this fear not I am with thee and yet the psalmist is saying I am continually with thee and what that means is this that the psalmist I think is realising that nothing has changed between him and God because the relationship that exists between the psalmist and God is the same relationship that existed and you have to realise that even though it may be the case that there was an apparent change that had taken place
[56:54] God hadn't changed God doesn't change God can't change and we may think that we have changed when our appreciation of who God is has changed or our relationship to him appears to have suffered something because of the events that have hidden him from sight but it isn't the case that the believer who comes to God and trusts in God remains in that same relationship to God as he ever was even though his experience within that relationship has changed for a season so foolish was I and ignorant I was as a beast before thee I was as a beast before thee now that's incredible is it not that the believer is saying
[57:57] I was as a beast before thee the very person who was the believer was as a beast before God it didn't mean that he was a beast it didn't mean that the faith that he had had gone or had dissipated or been destroyed no that could not possibly be once a believer always a believer once in Christ always in Christ once in the grip of God always in the grip of God and I think this is part of it I am continually with you it can't be otherwise for the believer now I'm not saying that in that place that they do not suffer as if they had lost their faith that they had lost all that was there by reason of the relationship with
[59:06] God that's the way it may appear that's the way we may think it to be you can't read these words and think that these words are coming from the mouth of a believer they're not they're coming from the mouth of a believer who has thought these thoughts and felt these fears and interpreted the events in the way that they did because they were getting things wrong it didn't make them unbelievers it didn't make them those who had no knowledge of God but God took them back to where they should be where they ought to be where they had the clarity and the vision of God that allowed them to say nevertheless though I was a proof beast though I was as the beasts thou hast holden me by my right hand and the divines tell us that the original
[60:13] Hebrew there is looking at the past this is what God has done this is what God continues to do it's not when he lays hold of a person that he lets go his hold when he feels like it or if he feels like it it never ever does you think of a child and you take the child out for a walk an infant and they're walking hand in hand with you and you the carer wants to hold their hand because you want to make sure that they're safe as they walk with you but they have the spirit of independence and they want freedom and they want to shake themselves loose from the hand that is holding them restricting them but when danger comes what do they do they seek the hand of the carer god is saying even in this imagery you have hold on me by my right hand this is what is true you have this hold of me and you will not let your hold go that's the privileged position of the believer even though it appears to be different to what we think just like children god minds his people he cares for them the mystery of christian experience seemingly unforgettable experiences experiences that you would say i will never forget what god did for me at that moment in time it is it is carved into my flesh it is burnt into my soul and what do we do we forget so easily the power of almighty god at work in our lives taking us from where we were to where we are and nothing but his power could do so and yet we seem to think that we got where we are with our own resources look at his confidence in verse 24 thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterward receive me to thy glory god will guide in life i always like comparing different translations and the same psalms translation of these words to your glory you will bring me with your counsel as my guide it runs very sweetly to your glory you will bring me with your counsel as my guide and that's god's way of bringing his people to their ultimate end which is to be in his presence through the medium of his truth he teaches them and always teaches them in the light of his own word whatever your providence is it is not your providence that determines where you will end up because the god of providence
[64:14] is also the god who has given you his word and his word is what makes sense of his providence his word is what gives light to you in the darkness that providence sometimes brings into your experience god guides us by way of his word and his word is what we have this is the map this is the way that we are to follow rabbi duncan presents an opinion regarding the passage which supposes it's worth noting because of who he says and we mentioned in the morning if you remember we mentioned enoch standing out in the list of people all the saints of god all the people who were descendants of of adam they said of them they all died but enoch did not and just coincidentally rabbi duncan points to the
[65:25] Hebrew lettering here thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory he says I cannot think but that Asaph was someone who was familiar with the Pentateuch and that he understood in this word take that he had a reference to to enoch of whom we read that he was not that he was not for god took him it is the same word in Hebrew receive and took and afterward took me to glory as thou tookest enoch so he he is there as if he's not saying that the believer is somebody who is translated as enoch was translated from this world but that the taking of god was every bit as as instrumental god's doing as it was in the taking of enoch to glory so he takes his people to his own glory and that is something we need to remind ourselves of from time to time
[66:54] I will guide you I will be your guide my word will be your guide and I will take you to my glory and we forget that is it not the case that we we are so taken up with our individual circumstances and the time that these circumstances whatever they may be they're all important they're present things that are burning in upon us that are pressing in upon us and we can't see beyond the present but no god has undertaken to take us to be with himself and that's the ultimate end of all that he does whatever we go through whatever we endure whatever we encounter whatever trials we have with regard to temptation even believing the error that the enemies that surround us are going to triumph over us god says i will guide you and i will take you to my glory and that's what he says and when god says that who would dare say otherwise and then we have these words of such confidence that they cannot be misunderstood notice where the emphasis lies most people do not believe there is a real place called heaven but there is a heaven and a hell those who speak of heaven don't always speak of it with true light of what heaven is like they speak of it as if it's a little better than a club and what they will enjoy in that club has really no warrant in scripture their thoughts are entirely earthbound world worldly and they think this is what heaven is like their pleasures are rooted in this world but that's wrong whom have I in heaven but thee god is not in the unbelievers heaven god is not in the unbelievers heaven he wouldn't he wouldn't be he wouldn't want him in any circumstances to be in their heaven they don't want him in this world and they certainly don't want him in the next they couldn't tolerate him but the believer but the believer his heaven her heaven is a place where god is and god must be if you read the sermons of jonathan edwards and i remember someone i believe that person to be in glory and he was reading a particular writing of jonathan edwards and it disturbed him mightily it disturbed him mightily because of the graphic way jonathan edwards depicted hell and what it meant but jonathan edwards also wrote about heaven and as far as these words are concerned nothing compares to the heaven of the believer and he says this
[70:55] and i'll just quote his own words that which was infused into his heart at his conversion is more precious to him than anything the world can give the knowledge and acquaintance which he has with god although it be little he would not part with it for anything this world can give it's a difference you see between the heaven of the believer and the heaven of the unbeliever if you can call it that whom have i in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that i desire besides me nothing that we can have in this world compares to what god means to the believer compares to what he will mean to us in glory god himself is the believer lord he says he said everything to the believer some of you will know the hymn i don't know who the hymn writer is but he makes this statement concerning the love of the believer and the appreciation a believer has for jesus christ none but christ can satisfy none other name for me there's love and life and lasting joy lord jesus found in thee nobody else nothing else god the father god the son god the holy spirit in whatever way their their their persona is going to be revealed in glory imagine that if you're going to heaven what a great time you're going to have delving into the truth concerning god in all his vastness god the son in all the beauty of his role as redeemer of the lost god the holy spirit in every facet of his being as he ministered to you in this world and he continues to minister to you in the next that will delight your soul far more than anything this world has to offer there is none upon earth that
[73:47] I desire beside thee my flesh my heart fails but god is the strength of my heart god is my portion forever is that not an awesome thing to say is that not something that the believer rejoices in when they can actually say it when they can actually say it with meaning with the conscious awareness whatever else you have in this world I don't have anything like this I don't have anything like this well may God encourage you to remember that the world in which you live will contradict the words of the psalmist in the sense that these words of the psalmist speak to us of a relationship that is ongoing that is permanent that is fixed that the benefits of it the bounties of it are always the same the world will tell you you be with me and you'll enjoy the same benefits as the believer same privileges as the believer better you'll have delight in it and that is a lie and the psalmist discovered that lie with
[75:34] God's help with God's light God's truth and may God encourage us to look to his word to discover more of himself let us pray oh Lord God we give thanks that your word is the place to which we turn and as you speak to us in it and through it we learn so much of our own ignorance and of our own foolishness we pray for your guiding hand to be upon us each one forgiving sin in Jesus name amen we shall sing from this psalm psalm 73 verse 25 whom have I in the heavens high but thee oh Lord alone and in the earth whom I desire beside thee there is none my flesh and heart are faint and fail but God that fail me never for of my heart
[76:35] God is the strength and portion forever sing to the end of the psalm whom have I in the heavens high but thee oh Lord alone hum hum the in their heart is th destroying He shines me there My flesh and heart Are filled with And on the hill nearer
[77:40] For all my heart God is blessed And poor, Lord, forever Harlow they lie And on heart break For ever000 S ald rebuild And on the hill nearer O thou hast been all and all.
[78:34] But surely it is good for me that I grow dear to God and all I am proud and all I work.
[79:02] I believe in the Lord. May grace, mercy and peace from God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit rest and abide with you all never and always. Amen.