Praise for God's Presence

Well, good morning.

How are we?

That's good.

Hey, I'm gonna need more response than Pastor Justin.

I'm uh I'm a l I play off people a little bit more, more emotions driven.

But uh my name's Jordan.

Um you probably see me up here behind the piano a little bit more.

They let me come out in front of here every every once in a while.

So today is your lucky day, or maybe my lucky day, or maybe nobody's lucky day.

But uh I'm I'm super excited to open up God's word.

Um, it's been a while, and I'm just really thankful for the opportunity uh to continue us as we look through um uh the emotions in the Psalms.

So we're gonna be in Psalms 84.

I have a ton of stuff that I want to get through today that I feel God is um uh leading me through, and uh so we don't have a whole lot of time to chat beforehand, but I did want to bring up a few points of reminder before we get into the text.

The Psalms, the book of Psalms is a song book.

It's a collection of poems and songs that are meant to be driven to move our emotions, to engage our hearts, maybe more so than our heads.

And so as you're reading this song today, my prayer is that your heart would be engaged, that your affections would be stirred up, that you'd be able to be moved from head knowledge to heart knowledge, which pours itself out into praise and action.

Okay?

So Psalm 84, verses 1 through 12, reads like this: How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts.

Psalms 84 · chapter mention

My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord.

My heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.

Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.

Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise.

Saila.

Blessed are those whose strength is in you, and whose heart are the highways to Zion.

As they go through the valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs.

The early rain also covers it with pools.

They go from strength to strength.

Each one appears before God in Zion.

O Lord, God of hosts, hear my prayer.

Give ear, O God of Jacob.

Behold our shield, O God, look on the face of your anointed.

For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.

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 son and shield.

The Lord bestows favor and honor.

No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.

O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

So we have this great song, this great uh song of praise, and it's kind of broken up in three different stanzas.

You see that Selah is in there twice.

So uh we have verses one through four, Selah, then verses five through eight, Selah, and then nine through twelve.

And that word Selah is simply a pause.

It's been understood by much more articulate and uh smart men than I am to be on two different spectrums on what it means.

Uh, I think it's something to have to do with a pause for reflection, maybe a pause for a musical interlude of sorts.

But today we're gonna kind of use that as our structure for as we work through this text.

So I have it broken into three sections.

The first section is one through four.

And so the kind of the seam of the theme of this first stanza is the praise for God's presence.

The praise for God's presence.

So the psalmist begins with this statement that's almost a rhetorical question.

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts?

The psalmist is longing for this place.

He's not longing for the courts, he's not longing for the temple, but he's longing for somewhere where his Lord dwells.

He's longing after the very presence of God Himself.

How lovely is your dwelling place.

He continues, my soul longs.

Yes, it faints for the courts of the Lord.

That word faints is actually better understood as cries out.

His soul is crying out for the courts of the Lord because the Lord dwells there.

And he goes on, My heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.

He continues in verse 3, almost with a sense of jealousy for the sparrow.

Even the sparrow finds a home and a swallow, a nest for herself, where she may lay her young at your altars, O Lord of hosts.

Blessed are those who dwell in your presence.

Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise.

Selah.

Let us pause and work through these first four verses.

Can you guys feel the psalmist deep sense of longing?

How lovely is your dwelling place.

My soul longs for it.

It cries out for your courts.

Blessed are those who dwell in your courts.

The emotion that we're going to be looking at today is an emotion of longing.

An emotion of a deep sense of searching after the very presence of God, for savoring it, for treasuring it, for cherishing it.

And this longing, this treasuring overflows into praise.

We see this three times in this verse.

How lovely is your dwelling place.

My soul, my long, my soul longs, it faints, it cries out.

My heart and flesh, they sing for joy.

Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise.

The response of this longing, this response of seeking after this deep satisfaction and presence of very God Himself turns the psalmist into praise.

That's the response of this searching and this longing is praise.

The deep treasuring and savoring of the very presence of God.

For those of you who've been in the church for a while, these lyrics of this song might sound familiar to you.

Maybe a guy named Matt Redman.

I probably sang this song in the 90s like maybe 30 times on repeat in a row.

Better is One Day in your courts.

Better is One Day.

You guys ever heard that song?

If you haven't been there, you're missing out.

It's like Amy Grant's Christmas albums.

There.

You just play them on repeat.

But actually, Humphreys, if you can throw that in the response, that'd be great.

Thank you.

For those of you who know me, that would be not abnormal, just to do that.

C.S.

Lewis, he wrote the Chronicles of Narnia.

He has a phrase that says, All enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise.

All enjoyment.

Whatever it is, whether it's right or wrong, whatever we long for, whatever we savor, whatever we cherish, it turns into praise.

Another way of saying it might be what we praise is what we prize.

So for me, if you're around me long enough, the conversation is going to turn to sports at some point.

I mean, last night I was up way too late watching Stipe defend his belt, right?

Anybody else in here?

A couple guys I know.

I love sports.

And I'm going to eventually, in a conversation, usually within the first hour, uh half hour, we'll say, depending on the topic, I'm going to turn to sports.

That's something that I love.

I just get amped up about it.

It's going to be something, but the key is, is I'm going to start talking about it because I cherish it.

I love it.

It's something that fuels me.

It gets me amped up.

And so we we tend to be a people that praise what we prize.

And so I don't want to assume that by just throwing out this churchy word of praise that we all are speaking of the same thing, because Jesus even tells us that there will be a day when the true worshipers worship me in spirit and truth, implying that there is false worship.

There is false praise.

And so, specifically speaking in the Psalms, we're going to look at two principles that we see of this praise.

So the first principle is praise has a voice.

Praise has a voice.

Praise is something that we proclaim out of our mouths.

Verse 2, my soul cries out, my heart and flesh, they sing for joy.

Blessed are those who dwell ever singing your praises.

Praise is something that comes out of our mouths.

Hebrews 13, 15, it says, Through him, then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God.

That is the fruit of lips that acknowledges his name.

Psalm 34, one of the songs that we love to sing in this church, says, I will bless the Lord at all times.

His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Psalm 19, the heavens declare the glory of God, and the skies proclaim his handiwork.

Day to day it pours out speech, and night to night it reveals knowledge.

Their voice goes out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world.

Praise has a voice.

Number two, praise is an overflow of the heart.

Praise overflows from the heart.

Praise originates in the heart.

My heart sings for joy, verse two, my heart.

James tells us that out of the overflow of the heart, our mouth speaks.

So if you want to know what you treasure, you want to know what you cherish, one good practical tool would be just to simply write down or journal what you find yourself talking about with other people.

What's constantly the thing that keeps coming up in conversations for you?

It's probably something that you cherish, that you savor.

If you want to be more holy, ask your spouse what is it that you talk about?

I'm sure my wife could journal a whole lot about what I love to talk about.

Maybe she doesn't like to talk about it, but I do.

And she's here for me and I'm here for her.

Hey.

So, how is it that the psalmist here, his praise, we notice it's directed to God.

It's not to other lesser glories, it's not to other things, but it says, My soul sings to the living God.

I'm dwelling for the presence of God.

How is it the psalmist has this deep longing and certain and uh satisfaction and savoring the very presence of God?

Here, um, as I was preparing, this is kind of where I geeked out a little bit on my studies.

Um, and it's really with the story of the author.

This this psalm is attributed to the sons of Korah.

You see that in the very beginning, a psalm of the sons of Korah.

And so a brief backstory of who the sons of Korah are might give us a lot better understanding of this deep satisfaction and savoring and cherishing that the psalmist here shows us in Psalm 84.

Korah was of the Levitical tribe.

God had placed him way back in the day with Moses and Aaron in his service in the temple.

And he kind of had a job in his family, his tribe had a job that was less than beautiful.

Moses and Aaron were priests, they got to proclaim things to God's people, they got to sacrifice things on behalf of God's people.

But Korah and his men, they had the grunt work.

So anytime the tent of meeting moved or the tabernacle moved, they had to pick it up and carry it.

They had to move it around and they had to do the physical labor of church life for the Old Testament.

And so they got jealous.

They went to Moses and they went to Aaron.

They said, Hey, who told you that you're a priest?

Who told you?

Who put you in this position?

Who gave you this job?

Who made you this mouthpiece?

Why do we have to do all of this hard work?

Then Moses says, I'll tell you what, let's make a sacrifice to the Lord tomorrow morning.

And whoever sacrifice he accepts or rejects, we know that we have been, that person has been placed and is working and flowing in God's plans and God's ways.

So that's what happens.

The next day they wake up, sons of Korah comes out with his men and they present this sacrifice to the Lord.

250 men.

Moses and Aaron come out and they go to present the sacrifice, and God literally, uh, Numbers tells us, God literally calls him aside and he says, Moses, Aaron, come here.

Separate yourself from them, because I'm going to utterly destroy them.

And that's what happens.

This sacrifice goes up by Korah, and literally 250 men perish and die.

But Numbers, Numbers 26, verse 11, simply reads, But the sons of Korah did not die.

Numbers 26:11

The sons of Korah did not die.

Did you catch that?

Korah was given a purpose.

He was given a job, and he felt like God was holding out on him.

And so he rebelled against God.

And he and his people were destroyed because they rejected God's righteous ways.

They thought that God was holding out on them.

They thought that their ways would be better than God, and God destroyed them.

But he preserved a remnant few by grace.

Numbers 11, 26, 26, 11.

And this is our author today.

It's one of these few that remain.

We don't know why they were saved, we don't know how they were spared, but it says that some remained.

And then David, King David, goes on, and he takes these men, the sons of Korah, and he places them in the temple in his service as the lead choral directors.

So the sons of Korah become these lead worshipers of God's people.

Is that amazing?

They were saved by grace, and their hearts so cherished and longed for the grace that they had seen and tasted.

And God turns what was broken and he uses it for his glory, namely the proclamation of his praise amongst his people.

The psalmist treasured the presence of God because he had tasted it and it was good.

Interesting enough, Sons of Korah wrote eleven psalms.

All eleven songs, psalms, kind of had the same theme of treasuring God's presence.

These men went from watching their mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters potentially being destroyed by God to singing his praises.

Psalms like Psalm 42, as the deer pants for the flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.

Where Psalm 46, the Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our fortress.

A song that we love to sing here.

A mighty fortress is our God.

In that song, it talks about the earth swallowing up men.

And this is who wrote this.

He witnessed this.

And we can relate to this, right?

We can relate to this.

Ever since being removed from God's blessed presence and purpose, our souls are found longing to be satisfied.

Our souls long to be satisfied.

And this is our story.

Sin has separated us from God's blessed presence.

Sin separated us from God's blessed presence.

God created Adam and Eve, and he placed them into this garden that was good and there was no sin.

And God dwelt fully amongst Adam and Eve.

And what happens?

The evil one, a murderer, the one who rejected God's worship in heaven, came and he turned the worship in Adam.

And he and he, the first lie he gives is, did God really say to not eat of that tree?

Is God did God really say that?

Is he really gonna hold out on you like that?

He's withholding this good fruit of this tree, and so he tempts Adam and Eve, and they eat of the fruit of the tree, and they deserve death.

And so God curses them.

They deserve death.

And he promises that one day he will raise up a second Adam to come and destroy the serpent.

But by grace they were saved.

They were naked and ashamed, and he fashioned cloth, loincloth, to cover them in their nakedness.

He killed an innocent animal to clothe them, to bring them protection in his holy presence.

And he kicks them out of his presence.

And as a result, you and I are left in this battle for our joy.

We're left in a battle for satisfaction.

Our hearts so deeply long for satisfaction.

We turn to money, to position, to power, to women, to cars, to self, to praise of ourself for this satisfaction.

The psalm that's been kind of just really wrestling in my soul this whole time as I've been preparing has been so beautiful.

It's Psalm 16, 11.

It says, In your presence there is fullness of joy.

At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Fullness of joy.

Pleasures forevermore.

You can't get much fuller than full.

And you can't get much longer than forever.

God's presence has fullness of joy forevermore.

Church, if we treasure anything outside of Christ, we're selling, we're settling for something that's less.

We will never be satisfied in anything apart from God.

St.

Augustine has this quote: You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in you.

Our gaze is wandering from high to high, to object to object, iPhone to iPhone, house to house, diet to diet, and we are a constant battle for our affections.

So let me ask you, what is it that you treasure?

What is it that your heart longs for?

What is it that your lips are continually praising?

Where do you spend most of your time?

Where do you spend most of your skill, your talents?

Where do you spend your money, your treasure?

These things are good indicators of what we treasure.

We are a restless people.

We do not dwell well.

We are on the go, we are on the run.

We are on for the next thing, the next thing, the next thing.

And the Bible tells us that in his presence we can trust to savor it, that there's fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore.

We need not look any further.

Maybe that's a verse that you can commit to memory this week.

It's one that I have.

Um and uh it's been really encouraging to my soul.

Psalm 16, 11.

The psalmist tells us, Blessed are those who dwell in the Lord's house, ever singing his praise.

The key to praising God's presence is prizing God's presence.

The key to praising God's presence is prizing God's presence.

God, let us be a people that praise and treasure your presence.

Number two, the pursuit of God's presence.

So that was section one.

I think it took me 30 minutes.

I got, I think, another 120 minutes left.

Left if I time this outright.

So hang in there.

16 lots doesn't open till noon.

You wouldn't get your pizza to four, anyways.

So we're set.

We're ready to rock.

I got my coffee.

Verses 5 through 8.

Blessed are those whose strength is in you, and whose heart are the highways to Zion.

As they go through the valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs.

The early rain also covers it with pools.

They go from strength to strength.

Each one appears before God in Zion.

Oh Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer.

What is going on here?

As a whole, I think we see the corporate pursuit of God's presence.

The pursuit of God's presence.

Notice the shift of singular pronouns in the first stanza to the shift of plural pronouns in the second stanza.

It went from my and she to those and they.

Blessed are those who strengthen you.

As they go, they make.

And so it says they are they're on this journey, this pilgrimage of sorts to Zion, to the presence of the Lord.

And so this is kind of an old testament concept or practice that yearly people would go for festivals to the temple and they would have to journey.

They would have to sojourn to the temple to be with their God.

And apparently it wasn't a very pleasant or easy journey.

Because they need God's strength, right?

Blessed are those whose strength is in you and whose heart are the highways to Zion as they go through the valley of Baca.

So some of us might be able to relate to this corporate pursuit of God's praise, like coming here this morning.

Sometimes it uh is difficult getting your kids out of bed on time to church, and it turns into a screaming match on the way here, and you really don't feel like ready to worship God.

You're ready to kill somebody, right?

I can I I'll be honest, my wife is a saint.

I can relate to that very, very, very, very, maybe one time a year.

But she gets all the kids here on herself, and I know that it's chaos.

It is, and I know that it's she's not alone.

But some things that are most valuable are worth some of the more harder times.

Amen.

So we see this corporate pursuit in this word valley of Baca, it's it means thirsty valley, a place where nothing lives, this arid desert, but they God's people, as they stick together, they go from strength to strength.

Their strength increases through their journey, and they make it a place of blessing, where these pools or blessing come up.

And the early rain also covers it.

God's strength, God's provision in their pursuit.

So I have a couple principles of this corporate pursuit.

Number one, what we see in this is that God never promises the Christian life to be easy.

In fact, it's potentially more of the opposite.

James 1, 2, consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you experience trials of various types.

Jesus words in John 16, 33, I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace.

In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world.

Can anyone relate to this?

In your pursuit of God, have you ever felt that he doesn't hear you?

Have you ever had times of opening his word and you don't feel that he's speaking to you?

I'm reading words on this page and nothing, it means nothing to me.

I'm not feeling like God's very word is speaking life into me.

I'm just reading and it's not making sense.

I don't understand what's going on.

Have you ever questioned if God is actually for you?

Have you ever came to church and left feeling less energetic, more drained than when you came in?

Trials are not God is abandoning me, but that God is working with me, in me, and for me.

2 Corinthians 4, 16.

So we do not lose heart.

Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.

For this light momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

So as we look not to the things that are seen, but to things that are unseen.

For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

In the midst of struggle, we should look to the unseen.

We should look to the work of God in that moment, the work of his Holy Spirit in our lives.

God, what are you trying to do in this moment of time?

I don't feel you.

I don't hear you.

Your word isn't speaking to me.

What are you trying to accomplish through this trial?

My kids aren't listening.

What are you doing?

Are you even for me?

What are you trying to accomplish?

Only those who treasure God's presence and trust his ways can endure hardship and not lose hope.

Only those who treasure God's presence and trust his ways can endure hardship and not lose hope.

So how do we respond in these times of trials?

How should we respond?

Verse 8.

We cry out to God.

Oh Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer.

God, hear me.

Hear me.

I trust that you're for me.

I trust that you're with me.

I trust that you won't leave me.

I don't feel you.

I don't hear you.

Hear my prayer.

Come and be with me, dwell with me, teach me your ways.

Principle number two.

Our pursuit produces endurance.

Verse 7, it says they go from strength to strength.

I love this.

So as God's people are traveling through this desert land, normally you would probably get tired.

You would probably get cranky and hungry and thirsty and get weaker and less energized.

But this text says that they grow in strength.

They go in strength to strength.

Romans 5, 3 through 5.

We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance.

And endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame.

Because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Why do they grow in strength?

Because their aim, their goal, their eyes are fixed on the very presence and person of God.

Verse 7, it says, In whose heart are the highways to Zion.

Their end goal is that he becomes their strength, not only for their journey, but for their destination.

Presence.

Hebrews 12, 1 through 2, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Some of the most stale times of communion and seasons of feeling disconnected from God's presence for me come when my gaze is off.

When I am in God's word for the sake of head knowledge, maybe I have an argument that I'm trying to win with another brother and sister in Christ, and I'm trying to put this presentation together to slam dunk it.

I feel like I actually get dumber in those seasons a lot of times.

Not all the time.

Sometimes I get smarter.

Not always.

I'm not looking to engage with him in my heart, but rather in my head.

So instead of crying out to God to help me in those times, instead of crying out for his strength, I lean on my own understanding and I try to seek out strength for the journey of myself.

A third principle: God equips our pursuit with his people.

Now, this is specifically addressing the regular corporate gathering of God's people.

So the Sabbath has from the beginning been a part of the Christian life.

It was given to man in the garden.

It was to be observed as a part of the Ten Commandments.

Jesus Christ Himself worshiped God on the Sabbath.

And can I first say what a blessing it is to be a part of this family, to be a part of this group of believers who together pursue Jesus and His praise and remind each other of His excellencies, of the one who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Praise be to God that He does not save us in isolation.

But He calls us to live out this Christian life in community as His people, His bride, His family.

First Peter 2 9, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light.

Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people.

Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

What a joy it is to be a part of God's people.

To carry one another's burdens, to walk out one anothering, to enter his gates together, to praise him corporately.

Have you ever come to church and felt like you just didn't want to praise God?

You didn't want to sing, you just had no motivation.

Maybe you had like that Valley of Baca mourning where you're just kicking your kids to get into the car and pinching them as they get in the seats.

I mean, sometimes it's part of discipline.

I don't know.

It only happens on accident.

Man, I love this aspect of corporate worship.

That when I come in and my heart doesn't feel like praising God.

I can stand and I can sit and I can hear the brother and sister on my right lift up God's praises that says, My sin, not in part, but the whole is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul.

Even when we don't want to sing, gathering with God's people reminds us of that truth, reminds us of his presence, of his goodness, of his fullness of blessings.

So why is prioritizing the Sabbath so important in our lives?

Why is this pursuit of his presence as a corporate body so important?

This is huge.

For the believer, the regular gathering of God's people is a dress rehearsal for eternity.

The Sunday gathering is a dress rehearsal for eternity.

We gather to make much of the name of King Jesus.

And one day we will gather and we will sing at the feast of the Lamb.

I'm tired.

I get emotional.

I'm tired.

I watched a lot of MMA fights last night.

That's what happened.

You know, praise is the one thing of our worship that will never end.

Praise is something that continually will go on.

Isaiah 6, 3 tells us day and night Seraphim flew before God in the heavens, singing, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts.

The whole earth is full of his glory.

Oh God, let us be a people that praise and pursue your blessed presence.

Number three, the last three verses.

Powerful provision in God's presence.

The powerful provision in God's presence.

O Lord, behold, our shield.

O God, look on the face of your anointed, for a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.

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 son and shield.

The Lord bestows favor and honor.

No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.

O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trust in you.

Man, I had a hard time picking down one thing to preach about this morning.

I mean, this last four verses could be a whole sermon series.

Behold, our shield, the provision of God's protection, his strength.

Verse 9.

I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, the purposes, the purpose, the significance that we find in God's presence.

The Lord God is a son.

He brings enlightenment.

He brings light to the dark places of our life.

He opens our eyes to be able to see the darkness that we have through sin.

He's a shield.

He protects us.

He bestows favor.

He bestows honor.

He bestows grace.

And no good thing does he withhold.

No good thing does he withhold.

I want to spend the remaining few minutes unpacking that.

No good thing does he withhold.

This is not a prosperity gospel that he's going to give us a Lamborghini, that he's going to give us a body that is just trim and fit and the talk of the town.

This is not a prosperity gospel that we are going to have position and wealth and this status.

Rather, as a loving father, he gives us exactly what we need.

We went to King's Island the other day, and Caleb, my six-year-old, I mean, we we were amped up to go to King's Island, and at like seven in the morning, he's already trying to eat nerd's rope.

Like he's he's ready to roll.

Let me get this nerd's rope in me.

I need some fuel for the journey.

I'm like, no, man, like you can't have that nerd's rope.

It's seven in the morning.

He haven't even eaten breakfast yet.

And it's like I was holding out on him.

Like, dude, you haven't eaten breakfast.

And we see this with God.

We don't trust that he's actually for us, that he's all-knowing.

And we trust that he doesn't give us what we actually need.

But in this text, he says, no good thing does he withhold.

Maybe God is the perfect Father who knows exactly what we need.

And by giving us that junk that we pursue will satisfy us less, that will draw us away from his presence, from savoring it, from cherishing it, for longing after it.

And it might, maybe it's something that is going to lead to our destruction.

So we need to trust his ways.

No good thing does he withhold.

Rather, he gives his beloved children exactly what they need.

In Jesus, God gave us of his very best, his precious son.

John 3.16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

He did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

God gave of his very best.

What greater good is there in the universe than the one who created it himself?

God.

I love this beautiful exposition that we find in Ephesians of how God's richest blessings reach their heights and depths in the person and work of the Godhead.

Ephesians 1.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight.

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

In him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory.

No good thing does he withhold.

And this has been Satan's lie since the beginning.

God is holding out on you.

Did he really say you couldn't have that?

Here, take this.

What does he do to Jesus?

Jesus is hungry, he's thirsty, and he comes and he tempts him.

He says, I have it for you.

I have food, I have water, I have position for you.

Our God is a God who holds nothing back, not even himself.

We need to stop believing this lie and turning to lesser glories that will never satisfy us.

In your presence, there's fullness of joy.

Pleasures forevermore are at your righteous right hand.

And the good news of the gospel, the good news of the gospel that is, is that God is not disinclined to give us what will make us happiest.

The very thing that makes us happiest is his very self.

Amen.

Our gospel conviction this morning.

As God incarnate, Christ took on flesh and restored what was lost in Eden, the blessed presence of God with his people.

As God incarnate, God with us, Christ took on flesh, he dwelt among us and restored what was lost in Eden, the blessed presence of the Creator God with his people.

And he did this by taking our shame, taking the weight of our sin debt, and paying it in full to the Father as his blood was poured out on the cross.

And he died and was buried, but the grave could not hold him any longer.

And he rose on the third day, conquering sin, hell, and death itself, and he rose.

He rose again.

Interesting, this the psalmist here is longing for the courts of the Lord.

To not get too geeked out, there were different sections of the temple and the tabernacle, but the courts are like here, and the Holy of Holies, where God's presence is, is like here.

And the psalmist is learnt yearning for the courts because it's the closest he can get to God's presence.

Even the priest could only enter the Holy of Holies one day a year.

And they tied a rope to him in case he died, they could pull him back out because God is that holy.

And we as sinful people can have no relationship with him because of our sin, because he is perfectly holy.

His very being can't exist with sin.

And the psalmist is yearning to be even in the courts of the Lord.

In the gospel, as Jesus cried out, the veil in the temple was torn.

It was split.

This veil that was 60 feet wide and 30 feet tall and one inch thick that separated the priest and God's people from the Holy of Holies as a protection, as a barrier.

When God, when Jesus cried out on the cross, the veil was torn.

Signifying that this hostility, this separation between Creator God and His people are now broken in Christ.

True communion was rebirthed by Jesus.

And as he ascended to the right hand of the Father, he sent us his Holy Spirit to live inside of our beings, to live inside of our bodies.

Revelations 21, 3 says, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.

What rich communion, what closer presence can you have than God inside of you?

You can't wrap your mind your brains around it.

What blessed presence.

What blessed provision.

What gift of grace.

So how do we respond to this?

How do we respond to this gospel message?

Number one, we pursue his presence.

We pursue his presence.

Blessed are those that dwell in your presence.

Isaiah 55, 6 says, Seek the Lord while he may be found.

Call upon him while he is near.

There will be a time when we cannot call out for the presence of God and he will listen.

Seek him while he is near.

Seek him while he can be found.

Others of us need to turn from lesser glories and run after the fullness of joy in Christ.

Ask God to make him your greatest treasure.

Ask God to make him your greatest delight, to rip away these lesser glories because you trust in your heart of hearts that in his presence there is fullness of joy.

Then at his right hand there are pleasures forevermore.

Pursue his presence.

Number two, press into God's people.

We need to pursue his people.

If you're not submitting yourself to God's people, you're neglecting a majority of the gospel.

He does not save us in isolation.

We should be a people who pursue each other.

A people marked by confession and repentance.

This is how to walk uprightly.

Submitting yourself to God's word and the loving rebuke of your brothers and sisters in Christ.

One of the most dangerous places you can find yourself on this earth is alone.

Satan is a roaming murderer looking to destroy, to kill, to divide, to tear down.

And he seeks to do that when we're in isolation, when we're at our weakest.

Pursue his people.

Practically, are you committed to a body of believers?

Whether that be Missio Day Church, whether that be another church, are you committed to a body of believers?

Are you pursuing the corporate praise and belonging that we are called to in God's word?

Are you part of a missial community?

Maybe you're coming on Sundays and you still haven't gotten to a miso community.

This is where the fullness of God's riches, blesses, can be expressed and praised corporately, and you can be held accountable.

You can have a sense of belonging, a sense of one-anothering and carrying each other's burdens.

Doing life in isolation is dangerous.

Seek out community.

Number three, trust his ways.

Blessed is the one who trusts in you.

Some of us need to learn how to embrace the ordinary.

Verse 10 says, I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my Lord than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

I'd rather open up the door to church.

I'd rather have the lowliest position.

I'd rather clean the toilets.

If that means I'm with God and his people.

Maybe a practical exercise for you is just simply stepping into where God has placed you.

The position might not be that glamorous.

It might not be the most amazing thing, and you might think it's not worth your time or energy or talent.

The church needs you.

Our city needs you.

The world needs you.

Trust his ways.

Embrace where God has you.

So where does God currently have you?

Are you trusting in his ways?

Are you submitting yourself to his plan for your life?

A good way to know this is when trials come, what do you turn to?

What's your MO?

When hardship hits, how do you respond?

Do you ask God, what are you trying to do in this time?

What are you trying to work in me in this season of life?

Or do you try to fix it and you try to withdraw from community and you try to do things on your own in your own understanding?

He's both the author and the perfecter of your faith.

He's with you.

Lastly, praise him like crazy.

This is my own language.

You can quote it.

Praise him like crazy.

Live lives like that pour out the fame and glory of this great treasure that we have.

The gospel is good news.

It has to come out.

It has to be something that is praised, something that is spoken, something that overflows out of our hearts.

Live lives like it.

1 Peter 2.9 says that you may proclaim the excellencies.

There's a purpose to this proclamation, so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your God on visitation.

There is a missional, there is a worldly bringing of outsiders into God's family by the way that we conduct ourselves, namely by how we praise our God.

Do our lives live?

Do they look like we cherish and savor this God that we sing to, this God that we worship?

Our praise has a purpose.

Not only our joy, but God's glory and the advancement of God's mission to unite all things in Him.

He is the greatest treasure, church.

In His presence there is fullness of joy, and at His right hand there are pleasures forevermore.

I pray that this has stirred your heart, that it has drawn you closer to a deeper savoring of His very being and presence.

In a moment we're gonna sing and we're gonna give you a few ways to respond.

And I pray that as we have looked in God's word today, that your heart would respond in praise, that it would sing for joy to the God of your salvation.

Let me pray.

God, we praise you that in Christ you gave us of your very best.

God, that you held nothing back, but you gave of your one and only Son.

This gift of grace we could never repay.

God, so we praise you for it.

We trust that you are for us.

We trust that you are good.

God, we pray that we would be a people that make much of your name, that make much of your fame, your glory in this city, in our church, in our homes.

And God, that you would make us the greatest treasure of our hearts.

I pray that we would grow in our strength of pursuing after you.

God, that we would lean not on our own ways, but God, we would open your word and seek out your spirit to speak to us, to move in our hearts, to exchange them from hearts of stone to hearts of flesh, God, that we would make much of you.

God, we trust that it is for the heights of your glory and the deepest riches of our joy.

It's in your name we pray.

Amen.