20260830 Psalm 27.4-6 Sunday Sermon Mike Dickmann

Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we're thankful

for your help thus far, and we come now to ask

again for your help and aid in this time to follow,

that you would own your word for your glory and

our good, that your spirit would go out among

us and apply that word to each one, that we would

be in full cooperation with the spirit, enabling

him to accomplish all that you would in our lives.

Pray for the loss that they might be found of

you today. Ask for myself that you would govern

my thought and speech, that your word and your

word alone would go forth. And we pray it in

Christ's name. Amen. This isn't working, is it?

in Psalm 27 again this morning, dealing with

verses 4 through 6. Last Sunday, you'll remember

if you were here that David is expressing his

total confidence in the Lord. The Lord has done

it all. He is his Savior, he is his strength.

He saw him through difficult places. And he has

complete confidence that he will continue to

bring him through anything that comes in the

future. So today we're going to read verses 4

through 6. One thing have I desired of the Lord,

that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the

house of the Lord all the days of my life, to

behold the beauty of the Lord. and to inquire

in his temple. For in the time of trouble he

shall hide me in his pavilion. In the secret

of his tabernacle shall he hide me. He shall

set me up upon a rock. And now shall my head

be lifted up above mine enemies, round about

me. Therefore will I offer in his tabernacle

sacrifices of joy. I will sing, yea, I will sing

praises. Unto the Lord. So you notice as we read

that there was a lot of references to tabernacles,

temples, houses. And that would be appropriate

for the old covenant because that's where God

was found. If you wanted to meet with God you

headed to the temple. If you weren't around Jerusalem

you'd head to your local tabernacle. And that's

where you would expect to find God. So that's

why there's a lot of references there to worshiping

or communing with God. And that's what these

three verses are all about. Because of David's

confidence in God, he desired communion with

God. So this is his attempt here to explain.

How we commune with our God. It's a very informative

passage. So I'll say this right off the bat.

Is there some place in our day, in the New Covenant

era, the era of the Spirit, that God can be said

to dwell? Well, we know that he's dwelled in

each of us, right? We have the Spirit. Is there

a physical place, though? Is there a physical

building in this day and age where we can say

for a certainty God dwells? Well, if there's

nobody in this building, then God's not in this

building. He has no special, this building, the

building of itself has no special significance.

But when the people of God gather together as

one people before him, he guarantees himself

to be there. So in that sense, there is a place

that when we come, we know that God will be there

because he's promised to do so. Wherever two

or three are gathered together in my name, I'll

be there. So hopefully you can appreciate the

certainty of God's being here amongst his people,

owning his word, enabling us, and so forth, when

we do gather together with one common goal, that

being to worship. and to fellowship with our

God, and to hear from Him. So we have that much

in common. We know that God does meet with His

people when we come together on the Lord's Day

or any other day for worship. So there's seven

clauses, perhaps, or there's seven words in this

one verse that we need to consider this morning,

verse 4. And we need to take seriously if we're

serious about our walk with the Lord. We should

view this as an extreme privilege to have communion

with God. I mean, can you just say that in a

sentence and just like it just rolls off of our

lips? Or when you say that, does it register?

This is incredible. A mere man such as me can

have communion with God. Hopefully we can receive

it in that way this morning. But this isn't just

a humdrum privilege or advantage. It's really

an exciting prospect to have fellowship, communion

with God. So what is David telling us? So we're

going to look at these seven clauses or words

in this verse 4. And hopefully we will then know

of communion with God when we follow this pattern.

So the first thing is one thing. That's how he

starts off. One thing. Not many things. One thing.

How many times have you heard about multitasking?

How many times, oh, I can do this and that and

this and that all at the same time. I can keep

juggling all these plates. Well, maybe so. It's

your job. Maybe it's a good thing to be multitasking.

If you're at home trying to take care of the

house and some kids, it may be a good thing to

multitask. But if you're... Looking to have communion

with God, that's the one thing that you have

to concentrate your entire being upon. I mean

real communion with God. When you're driving

down the road, you can pray. That's fine. I do

that occasionally myself. Not very often. But

you can do it. But that's multitasking. That's

not applying our whole self after God in communion

with him. So it's important that we come to realize

that. God doesn't, he wants our whole selves.

He doesn't want to share us. He's bought us.

He's brought us to God. We're his. He owns us.

We're his slaves, if you will, or his servants.

Yes, we're also his brothers and his friends.

But he wants all our attention. One thing. So

by and large, that is the posture that we must

take if we're going to be successful in our communion

with God. We have one thing on our minds. And

he goes on. One thing have I desired. There's

that word desired. What does that word mean?

This one thing that he's desired. We still don't

know what it is, but he's desiring it. The biggest

contrast, perhaps, is I wish. One thing I have

wished. It doesn't say that, does it? He says

the one thing that he's desired. In other words,

he's got a goal. He knows that it's realistic.

He's not in la -la land or in the dream world.

He's not wishing for something. He has an honest

expectation of success. How's that? He desires

this. This is the one thing that he desires in

his life. Now again, We have multiple desires.

I understand that. But what's the most important

thing in your life? That's the question that

we have to ask ourselves. What are we going after

in this life? Fame? Fortune? Power? What's our

number one desire? The one thing that you must

have above all else. Now this next phrase, this

next word here is what separates wishing from

desiring. And it says, oh, I got ahead of myself.

I've desired of the Lord. I left that little

important phrase out of there. The one thing

that I have desired of the Lord. So he's going

to the right place. He's knocking on the right

door. He's seeking for his desire to be met at

the right source. So again, there can be no doubt.

We have full confidence in the Lord. We exercise

our faith in the Lord. The Lord is who we're

going to. That's where our desires will be met.

And that's where this number one. Most important

desire of all. Desires will be met. In the Lord.

So that was three. This is the fourth. And this

is what separates. Wishes from desires. That

will I seek after. Seeking. Seeking after the

one desire that we have in the Lord. We're seeking

it. We're pursuing Him. We're going after Him.

We're not just wishing upon a star. In other

words, we're invested. We're invested in this.

I'm going to spend time on this. I'm going to

give this my undivided attention. It's the one

thing. I have to have this. I'm not going to

be satisfied with anything else but this. I'm

going to be like Jacob. We're going to hang on

to the Lord until he blesses us. He's going to

seek after this one desire that he has. Of the

Lord. So. Many people. Have asked. Why can't

I make any progress. In my walk with the Lord.

What am I doing wrong. Can you help me. Tell

me what I need to do. Well it's all right here.

It's what we need to do. We need to be real.

We need to earnestly seek the Lord. You can't

do it when you're doing something else. You've

got to get away from everything else. You've

got to be concentrating on the Lord. To have

communion with the Lord. You have communion with

your kids, you know how it is. You can be talking

to your kid, your mind's a million miles away.

That's not it. God knows that. You're not fooling

God. Think of the privilege that you have to

fellowship, to have communion with God. Why would

this be a problem? Why would this be something

that you would have difficulty with? It doesn't

make any sense if you think about it and you

think through it. We have time for everything

else, but we don't have time for communion with

our Lord. What's wrong with us? What's wrong

with this generation of Christians? They don't

realize the blessed position that they're in?

Is that possible? Certainly not. We hear about

it every Sunday, Wednesday. Surely we've read

the word. We know how blessed we are. Don't we

want more? Don't we want to become better acquainted

with God? What is your one desire? What is one

thing you're unwilling to let go of? The one

thing you will not make a compromise over. The

one thing that you will allow nothing to come

between you and your Lord. This is it. This is

it. This is the seriousness of it. And that's

what makes it so strange. That we would allow

anything to take precedence over our communion

with God. You know, we heard on Wednesday that

there's nothing in the Bible that commands us

to have a personal quiet time. Well, there was

plenty in the Old Testament that commanded them

in their worship of the Lord, in their pursuit

of God. They had to go to Jerusalem three times

a year. They had to. That was part of the law.

They had to abstain from all work on the Sabbath.

And there's others. But in this day and age,

and in the age of the New Testament, it's just

laid before us in the manner that I'm doing.

You have the privilege of knowing God. Why would

you not pursue Him? Why would you not want to

grow? Why would you not want to make progress?

Why would you not want to behold the beauty of

the Lord? What's wrong with us? That shall I

seek after. And here it is, that I may dwell

in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

David doesn't want to be separated from this

great privilege. He wants to be alive and well

in the house of the Lord. We would talk about

being in the family of God, being his children,

being of his household, all the days of our life.

So if we're a member of God's household, we should

start taking on the resemblance of our father.

And our older brother, for that matter. If we're

having fellowship there, that's who we should

resemble. And do we really want that? And if

we don't really want that, how are we going to

spend eternity in heaven? It's a total contradiction.

You can't spend a half an hour a day with your

God here on earth, but you're going to spend

eternity with him in heaven? That doesn't make

sense. Again, you're missing the blessing if

you don't commune with God. You're way short.

Your growth is stunted. I may dwell in the house

of the Lord. All the days of my life. And what's

he going to do there? The next clause. To behold

the beauty of the Lord. I mean. That's a limitless

endeavor. That's a limitless objective. The Lord

in all of his beauty. The beauty of holiness.

His great love. His mercy. His omnipotence. His

unchangeableness. All the beauty of nature. Why

is there a hundred thousand different kinds of

flowers? All kinds of different colored flowers.

Why are there so many different birds? Why do

we have pollinators? I mean, the beauty of the

Lord is obvious. It's all over. Contemplate that

beauty. Contemplate that beauty that was willing

to die for you. For our sins he died. And if

you think about it rightly, you would be able

to think about it. If I was the only Christian

in the world or the elect person in the world,

Christ would have died. That's how personal this

is. He died for individual peoples. He died for

me and my pathetic, sinful self. And all of us

here who know Christ can say the same. We want

communion with our God. We want to grow in our

love for Him. We want to grow in our appreciation

of Him. Communion with God. The second thing

then, and the last in the verse, is that we want

to inquire in His temple. Again, I've got to

say it again. There's nothing better than questions.

Inquiring. God wants it. He wants us to inquire

of Him. He wants us to learn. He wants us to

grow in our faith, in our knowledge of Him. Is

that a prayer request? Do we pray that way? Lord,

enable me to grow in my faith and knowledge of

You. Enable me to love You more. Do we pray that

for ourselves in our communion with God? I mean,

when we read the Word, I don't think there's

a passage in the Bible that you could read that

you couldn't learn something from. That doesn't

tell you more about God. That doesn't tell you

more about yourself. That doesn't reveal a promise.

That doesn't give a warning. One of those things,

one of those questions are going to be answered.

Maybe multiple questions are going to be answered

in the same verse. Do you ask questions of the

Bible when you're reading it? That's how you

inquire. That's how we learn when we inquire

after God. He delights to answer those inquiries.

He delights to reveal himself more and more to

his people. To draw closer to us. To have us

to grow closer to him in our love and admiration

and appreciation, our gratitude. Grow in your

faith and knowledge of God. The one thing that

we should desire above all else. So then he goes

on in verse 5. For in the time of trouble he

shall hide me in his pavilion. In the secret

of his tabernacle shall he hide me. He shall

set me up upon a rock. So this is all physical.

Things, physical structures. We obviously know

that now it's all a spiritual reality. It was

a picture of things to come and it is now a spiritual

reality as we go through this life. We are totally

safe in God's presence. We are totally in God's

presence all the time because he lives within

us. Remember practicing the presence of God.

You all realize you are in the presence of God

every second of every day. That's amazing. It's

too much for me. But we are. He's going to do

all those things. He's going to deliver us. He's

going to protect us. He's going to set us up

on the rock of Christ. He already has. And we're

not going to be moved. Regardless of what comes

our way. We will not be moved. We will remain

on Christ. Or in Christ. Forever. And so. In

verse 6 he says. And now. Shall mine head be

lifted up. Above mine enemies round about me.

In other words. I'm going to have victory over

all of my sins. There's no sin that can hold

me captive. Remember, that's our enemy. I have

power over sin. That resurrection power that

raised Christ from the dead enables me to resist

and conquer sin. We're without any excuses when

we sin. God makes a way of escape. And we don't

have to sin. And that's what he's declaring here.

He's going to have the victory. So again, it's

not a wish. Do you pray for it? Do you pray in

that manner? God, give me victory over this sin.

I hate this sin. Give me the victory. Rid it

from me. The answer will be yes. The victory

will be yours. But then he says, as a result

of all these things, that I will offer in his

tabernacle sacrifices of joy. So the New Testament

talks about spiritual sacrifices. We're no longer

in the business of offering physical sacrifices.

Christ has been offered. We make no... Physical

sacrifices for our atonement. What we do make

is spiritual sacrifices in love and gratitude

for our God. That could be anything. As long

as we're doing it to the glory of God. As long

as it's something sacrificial. I'll not offer

my God something that cost me nothing. Is that

our attitude? How can it be a sacrifice if it

doesn't cost us anything? The proper rearing

up of your children is a spiritual sacrifice,

if done properly. Because you're denying yourself

something to do something that God has entrusted

into your hands to do. Do you realize that? God

expects you to sacrifice. for your children for

his glory he expects you to represent him to

your children it could be anything the care of

an agent parent like i said it could be anything

the cleaning of this building you're giving of

yourself you're giving of your time your energy

it's costing you something it's costing each

one of us something to keep this place looking

as it should to honor and glorify God. We could

go on and on, right? It's curious and it's interesting

that the word here, and I don't know what you

have in your translation, the sacrifices of joy,

but the alternative reading in my Bible is shouting.

Sacrifices of shouting. In other words, This

is an exciting thing. This isn't some drudgery.

Joy, obviously, in itself is not drudgery. But

it's really exciting. It's really a privilege

to know God this way, to commune with Him, and

to be willing to offer sacrifices of joy, of

shouting, unto the God that has done everything

for us. That's wisdom. trying to be conveyed

here it should be exciting grandma always whenever

she asks one of her grandkids to do something

do you want the blessing that's what she says

you want the blessing today that's what it is

that's the way we should look at it not as some

drudgery something that you have to do But it's

a wonderful privilege to serve the Lord, to know

Him, to know His love, to know that He's there

with us, that He desires our company. I mean,

that's incredible, isn't it? All because of Christ.

We have no merit in ourselves. We have nothing

to recommend ourselves to God other than Christ.

But with Christ, we have everything. We have

that total freedom to come into the very presence

and commune and fellowship and serve and love

and represent him to the rest of mankind. And

then he says here, lastly, this morning, I will

sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.

I mean, that seems pretty simple, right? Didn't

that seem simple? Well, God must really like

it, right? Because God said it. He likes to hear

His people praising. And He likes to hear them

sing praises to Him. So again, I've got to say

it again. I know I've said it, and so have all

the rest of the elders. Let's have some joyous

singing. Right? Let those voices be heard. You're

not singing under your breath, are you? That

doesn't count as joyful singing. It's better

than nothing, I'll grant you that. But it's not

meeting the expectations of God when we have

any reluctance to sing praises loudly in His

presence. It's a privilege. And it's such an

encouragement to the rest of us to hear everybody

else sing. It's a real encouragement. So I encourage

you in this area, once again, sing. I might as

well throw pray in there. We're doing better

in all of these things. I grant you. Let's keep

going. Let's keep making progress. Let's keep

getting closer and closer. Let's give of ourselves,

for he alone is worthy of all of our praises.

Amen.