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Dear congregation belonging to
our Lord Jesus Christ, on this first day of a new year 2025,
many people greet each other with the words happy or blessed
new year. And that's what we hope for,
isn't it? Both for ourselves and for those around us. We hope
for a happy and especially a blessed 2025. But how can that happen? We can
have our hopes. But how can we truly experience
blessing in this coming year? People can have all kinds of
ideas about that, can't they? It's true of us too. We might
make plans for a special trip or vacation. We might resolve
to exercise more or to look at our phones less. Or things like
that, we might hope to buy a new vehicle or a new house perhaps
or a new toy. And these are things that we
can think of or be tempted to think of as the way, the way
to experiencing blessing this year. And certainly those things
can be a means of blessing, they can be something we enjoy as
a gift from God. But what about seeking and trusting
God? How easily so many people dismiss
that. And that can happen even in the
church. Perhaps it's true of you. You
have zero interest maybe in seeking and trusting God. You don't think
that's the way to blessings, so you dismiss it. Or maybe at
least you minimize it. It's not that important to you.
Or perhaps it is, hopefully, hopefully it is. But you struggle
at times. You struggle to believe that
seeking and trusting God is the way to real blessing. Maybe you're
just tired. You're worn out. You're discouraged
from difficulties and trials that you've experienced, and
the battle against sin and evil, and perhaps from other things
too, as you've tried to seek God and trust Him. And now at
the beginning of this new year, maybe you're tempted to think,
maybe it's not worth it. Is it really the way to blessing? Perhaps, you wonder. Well, our passage this morning,
Psalm 84, verses 9 through 12, makes clear that it is. What
are these verses about? They're about seeking and trusting
God. In a sense, that's what the whole
psalm is about. Already at the beginning, in
verses 1 through 4, the psalmist expresses his great intense longing
to be with God, to be in his house, to be in his temple courts
where the people come to worship and praise him. Blessed are they,
he says in verse 4, that dwell in thy house. They will be still
praising thee. And then in verses five through
eight, he reflects on the blessing of those who are not yet there
in God's house, but are heading that way, maybe not to the literal
physical temple, but they're headed for the heavenly city,
that heavenly temple. They're trusting and following
the Lord as pilgrims through all the difficulties and challenges
of life. And he reflects on the blessing
of that. And so with that encouragement in mind, in verse 9, really beginning
in verse 8, the psalmist turns to the Lord in prayer. And in
verse 9, the psalmist prays and asks the Lord to look upon the
face of his anointed, referring there particularly to the King,
ultimately to Christ, Jesus. Why does he do that? Well, because
that's the only way he and we can come to the Lord, through
his anointed, through Christ. And so the psalmist prays for
the Lord to look upon this anointed one, to look upon ultimately
Christ with his favor. Why? Because he wants God. He wants him more than anything. Nothing can compare to seeking
and trusting God, living in communion with Him. That's what he's really
saying in verse 10. Even just one day in God's courts
is better than a thousand, meaning a thousand anywhere else. It's
better than any earthly blessing. Yes, even, he says, even just
being a doorkeeper, just standing at the door, just standing at
the threshold, at the entrance of God's house is glorious. It's incomparably better than
dwelling in the tents of wickedness. You see what he's saying? He's
saying seeking and trusting God, that's the way of incomparable
blessing. The last verse of the psalm emphasizes
that when he says, O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that
trusts in Thee. And so these verses are all about
seeking and trusting God and what an incomparable blessing
that is. But why? What is it that makes
seeking and trusting God such a blessing? Well, that's what
verse 11 is all about. For the Lord God is a sun and
shield. The Lord will give grace and
glory. No good thing will he withhold
from them that walk uprightly. That verse is especially what
we want to focus on this morning to encourage us all to seek and
trust God every day this year. Yes, even every moment. And so our theme then with God's
help is the incomparable blessing of seeking and trusting God also
in 2025. What makes it so? Well, verse 11 tells us three
things. First, the Lord God is a sun and shield. Second, he
will give grace and glory. And third, he will not withhold
any good. So the first thing then that
makes seeking and trusting God an incomparable blessing is that
he is a sun and shield. For the Lord God is a sun and
shield." What is that saying? It's not saying, of course, that
He's a literal sun or shield. They're metaphors. We understand
that, right? It's saying the Lord God is like
a son. He's like a shield in His character,
in His being. In other words, He's an all-glorious
helper and sustainer and protector. That's who He is. What an encouragement
that is to seek and trust Him. Just think for one thing of how
all-glorious He is. That's part of what His being
called or compared to as Son here is saying, right? The Son,
what's the Son, children? It's glorious, isn't it? It's
bright. It's so glorious, it's so bright
that you can't even look at it on a clear day. You can't look
at it directly, you instinctively have to look away. In fact, if
you don't, if you try looking right at the sun, you could damage
your eyes. That's why your parents and your
teachers and others, they tell you, don't look directly at the
sun. Because it's so glorious. See, that's what God is like.
He's glorious. Yes, he's all glorious in his
majesty, in his holiness, in his righteousness, in all of
his attributes. He's so glorious that when Moses
asked the Lord to show him his glory in Exodus 33, The Lord
said to him, thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man
see me. live and so the Lord he told
Moses to stand on a rock by him and he would he would pass by
but while he Passed by he would hide Moses in an opening in the
rock And and not only that he would cover Moses with his hands
and only after he had passed by Would he take away his hand
and let Moses see the back parts his back parts as it were But
he did not let him see his face because Moses couldn't have survived
that See, that's how glorious God is. 1 Timothy 6 verse 16, I made reference
to it last night. It tells us that this God dwells
in unapproachable light. That's why we must come to Him
by Christ. Because only in Christ, that
one mediator between God and man, can we behold the glory
of God and live. He's all glorious. That's part of what His being
compared to a son means. And you see, when you see Him
that way, when you understand How glorious He is, and He's
all glorious. When that comes home to you by
the Spirit of God, then you can't help but have a holy fear and humble awe. of Him in your heart. But you also can't help but seek
and trust Him, because there's no one like Him. There is nothing
lacking in Him. And His being compared to the
Son means not just that He's all-glorious, but that He's the
all-glorious Helper and Sustainer of those who seek and trust Him.
That's what the Son is for us, isn't it? It's our helper and
sustainer in our physical lives. It gives light. Without the sun,
we would be in almost total darkness, and there's not a whole lot we
would be able to do. In fact, we eventually wouldn't
be able to live. The sun doesn't just give light, you see, it
gives life. If the sun were to suddenly disappear and nothing
would replace it, almost every living thing on this earth would
soon die, including us. The point is the sun in all of
its glory is our helper and sustainer. And so is the all glorious Lord
for us spiritually. When we live seeking and trusting
in him, he's our helper. He gives light in our darkness.
And don't we need that also in 2025? How great our darkness
is by nature. And how great the darkness of
this world. in which we live. But by God's word and spirit
together, he enlightens our understanding so that we learn more and more
to know ourselves and our sins and our sinfulness and more and
more to know him and his son Jesus Christ and the salvation
he gives. And he guides us as the sun gives
light to guide us in our way, he guides us in our ways. He shows us really in His ways,
really. He shows us the way we should
go, enabling us to serve Him. Yes, He encourages and re-energizes
and motivates us. Don't you find the sun does that
for you? When the sun shines, you tend to be more joyful, more
energetic. And when it's dark and gray and
cloudy, you tend to be more discouraged and more down. I think I notice that here more
than any other place, and probably because southern Alberta is normally
so sunny. It's apparently one of the sunniest
places in Canada, and so whenever there's a dark, cloudy day, I
notice it. I feel it. I feel the gloom. I tend to feel more down, more
discouraged, less motivated. But when the sun shines again
and gives its light, it helps me simply by making me feel more
encouraged and re-energized and motivated. And so the Lord does
spiritually. As our son, he gives fresh hope,
new joy, strength, and encouragement, and motivation in our life of
faith. What a comfort that can be, dear
believer. As you look ahead into this year
and you see, maybe on the horizon, you see the dark trials that
may be coming your way, He will be your Son. He will be your
light in the darkness. Isn't there a reason to seek
and to trust Him? He's our all-glorious helper,
but not only that, He's our all-glorious sustainer. In other words, He
gives us life. The Son gives and sustains physical
life, but the Lord God gives in and through Christ. He gives
and sustains real life, true life. spiritual and eternal life. That's why Christ came. He came
to give life and that more abundantly. We need that because we don't
have this life. We don't have this spiritual
and eternal life of ourselves. The Bible describes us as spiritually
dead by nature, left to ourselves. We need God to make us spiritually
alive. And when he's done that, We need
God to keep us spiritually alive. Haven't you ever felt that, dear
child of God? Haven't you ever had times maybe
when you've been tempted and perhaps even given in to temptation
and you realized, you came to realize I have no spiritual life?
I have no spiritual strength, remember Samson? Nothing, nothing,
nothing in me. times when you realize that you
need God, not just to become a Christian, but to remain a
Christian. John Calvin said this about God
being a son, that it means this, God's people neither live nor
breathe except insofar as he shines upon them. Have you ever
felt that? The Lord God is a son, yes, in
Christ. He is the son of righteousness. Malachi 4 verse 2 speaks about,
risen with healing in his wings to those who fear his name. Oh, what a call and encouragement
that is to seek him and to trust him also in this coming year.
He's the all-glorious helper and sustainer. And not only that,
He's the all-glorious Protector. The Lord God is a Son and Shield. Maybe some of you children, You
have a toy shield. Maybe you've made one yourself.
Well, what does a shield do? It protects you, doesn't it?
It protects you from the attacks of the enemy. It protects you
from the attacks of those who wish to harm you and destroy
you. And that's what the Lord does for His people, for those
who seek and trust Him. He is their shield. When you
seek and trust Him in and through Christ, He not only saves you
initially from your enemies, from sin and Satan and the ungodly
world, but He also protects you from their constant attacks.
You see, He not only gives life, but He defends your life. He's
the all-glorious Protector. Well then, should we not seek
Him and trust Him also in 2025? We're in the same world we were
last year. And as long as we remain in that
world, in this world, God's people are, as Matthew Henry wrote,
here in danger. But God, he goes on, will be
to us a shield to secure us from the fiery darts that fly thickly
about us. What a comfort that can be as
we begin this year, this new year. Perhaps you can identify
with Spurgeon's words in his sermon on this text. He says
this, are you in great danger? Do perils surround you? Temptations
from the world, assaults of Satan, uprisings of your own corruption?
Do you feel as if you moved in the center of a fierce fight?
Is it as much as you can do even to hope that you will escape
the fiery dart? Come you to the text, he says
then, and behold how he that keeps Israel has provided for
your safety. Read the blessed words. The Lord
God is a shield. He is a broad shield that shall
cover you from head to foot and quench all the fiery darts of
the wicked one. Here is perfect safety for all
who take Jehovah to be their helper. Isn't that a comfort? The Lord God is a son and shield,
the all-glorious helper and sustainer and protector. Doesn't that already
make seeking him an incomparable blessing? No wonder the psalmist said,
even just one day, just one day, just one in God's courts is far
better than a thousand elsewhere. Because God was there. But that's not all. He will also
give grace and glory. And that's our second point.
That's what verse 11 says. He, the Lord God, will give grace
and glory. He will give grace. When we are
seeking and trusting the Lord in and through Christ, then He
will give us grace. He will show us His favor freely. It doesn't say He will sell grace. It says He will give grace. What a blessing that is! You
see, that's exactly what we don't have by nature. We don't have
God's favor. We have His frown. We're under
His wrath. Why? Because of our sins and
sinfulness. We have forfeited God's favor
and there's no way for us to get it back ourselves. There's
no way we can restore ourselves to God's favor. Because God is
just. And His justice must be satisfied. But we can't satisfy it. None
of us can. I can't. You can't. Because God's
justice, you see, demands perfect satisfaction. And none of us
are perfect. All of us are sinners. And so
we cannot restore ourselves to God's favor. You can try, but
it won't work. Everything you might try to do
to earn God's favor, to get Him to be pleased with you, is stained
with sin. It only makes things worse. There
is nothing we can do that will restore us to God's favor. And if that was all there was
to say this morning, how terrible that would be. How terrible it
would be to have to face a new year without the favor of God. But this is the good news. We
don't have to. We don't have to. We don't have
to go through this year without God's smile. Because the Lord God will give
grace. He will show favor. To whom? To all those who seek and trust
Him in and through His anointed Son. in reliance upon Jesus Christ. You see, that's how he gives
grace. It's through Jesus, it's through Christ, because of what
he did when he was here on earth, because of his life and death
on the cross as that perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice that
satisfies for all sin. And that's why Paul can write
in Romans 3 verse 24, that though we all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God, we may be justified. We may be declared
righteous before God, and that's what matters. That's what matters. We may be justified before God
freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. And what's more, as Romans 5 verse 1 says, being justified
by faith, we have peace with God through Christ, by whom we
have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand. This is why seeking and trusting
God and reliance on Jesus Christ also in 2025 is such an incomparable
blessing. Because then God will give you
grace. And that means He will not only show you His favor,
but He will also help you in your needs. And we all have those.
We all have needs. And we all go through times of
particular need. We will go through such times
in this year ahead. Maybe you're already anticipating
some of those times, some of those needs. Maybe there are
health concerns you have or there's other things that you know are
scheduled to happen that are going to happen, that are going
to be difficult. And perhaps it makes you feel
anxious and fearful. Oh, then seek and trust the Lord,
looking to Christ in repentance and faith, because then God will
give you grace. Yes, he will give you the grace
you need, not only to bear, but also to profit from whatever
trials he calls you to go through. so that your faith does not fail. He gives grace to the humble. He resists the proud, but he
gives grace to the humble. He giveth more grace when the
burdens grow greater. He sendeth more strength when
the labors increase. So seek him, trust him. Remember
the words of Heru 4, verses 14 through 16. Seeing then that
we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession, for
we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings
of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we
are yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. The Lord will. He will help you
in your needs. He will give grace. He will also give glory. Oh,
what another undeserved blessing that is. Think of it. When we
seek and trust Him in reliance upon Christ, He will give us
not just grace but glory. Glory, to quote Spurgeon again,
the Lord will give us nothing less than glory. We deserve shame,
he will give us glory. We deserve misery, but he will
give us glory. We deserve condemnation, but
he will give us glory. We deserve death and hell, but
he will give us glory. That's what this verse says he
will do. And he begins that already now
in this life, by giving us eternal life and by sanctifying us, making
us more and more like Christ. Paul speaks of that in 2 Corinthians
3, verse 18. Listen to what he says of Christians
there, of those who by grace, who have turned to the Lord in
faith. He says this, but, or now we
all, With open face beholding us in a glass, the glory of the
Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory. as even as by the Spirit of the
Lord. In other words, God, by His Holy
Spirit, He gradually transforms His people in this life already. He begins to transform them into
the image of His glorious Son, Jesus Christ. Isn't that glory? That's what He'll do when we
seek and trust Him. He will give us glory in this
life by renewing us after the image of Christ. And He will
give us glory in full in the life to come when we will be
with Christ at last to behold His glory. And then we'll finally
bear His image perfectly, completely, body and soul. What greater glory
and honor Could we have that and the glory
of eternal life with Christ in perfection? Why would we not
seek and trust Him in and through Christ? Why would we trade that for dwelling in the tents of
wickedness? That will only bring misery, that will only bring
shame, that will only bring death, that will only bring hell. You
won't do that, will you? Won't you seek and trust God?
Also in 2025, beginning today, and you who have been, who have
come into this year already seeking and trusting Him, won't you keep
doing that? He will give grace and glory also this year. How
incomparable is the blessing of seeking and trusting Him,
but that's still not all. The Lord God is not only a sun
and shield who will give grace and glory when we seek and trust
Him. He also will not withhold any good. That's our third point,
very briefly. Look at how verse 11 ends. No
good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly. What's that saying? It's saying
that God will not withhold any good, any good from those who
truly, sincerely seek and trust Him. What a promise that is! It's not a promise of outward
peace and prosperity. It's not a promise of health
and wealth and that kind of thing. Many people who have sought and
trusted God have not been given those things. And that's not
what this promise is. The reality is that we must,
through many tribulations, enter into the kingdom of God. So this
is not a promise of outward peace and prosperity, but it is a promise
of God's perfect loving care. That's what He will give us when
we seek Him. He will care perfectly for all our needs. And we see
this promise many times in Scripture, don't we? You can think of Psalm
34, we sang from it earlier. In Psalter 88, Psalm 34, verses
9 and 10. Or think of Christ's words to his disciples in Matthew 6, verse
33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God. and His righteousness, and all
these things, all the things that we need shall be added unto
you. Or in Matthew 7, verse 11, if
you then, Jesus said, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto
your children, how much more shall your Father which is in
heaven give good things to them that ask Him? It's all throughout
the Bible. God will perfectly and lovingly
care for all who seek and trust Him in reliance upon Christ. In the midst of all the trials,
in the midst of all the troubles, we can be sure. We can be even
more sure than the psalmist was. You know why? Because we have
a guarantee. What is that guarantee? It's
the gift of His Son. Paul tells us in Romans 8 verse
32, He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for
us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Of course He will. That's what
Paul is saying. If God freely gave up His own
beloved and precious Son, then He will freely give us all the
things that we need. No good thing will he withhold
from them that walk uprightly, from them that walk in the way
of truly seeking and trusting God in and through Jesus Christ. What a comfort to have at the
beginning of this year. See, then when you are living
that way, living, seeking, and trusting God, walking uprightly,
then you can know that all that may happen to you is ultimately,
ultimately good. We confessed it, didn't we? Lord's
Day 9. Whatever evils He sends upon me in this valley of tears,
He will turn to my advantage. On the other hand, if you don't
seek and trust God, if you don't walk uprightly, if you choose
to live in unrepentant sin, whether openly or secretly, then you
can't have that assurance. You can't have that comfort.
You can't have any real comfort at all. All you can be assured
of is judgment. You don't want that, do you? I don't want that. So then let's
seek the Lord while he may be found and trust him. What an
encouragement our text gives to do that very thing. For the
Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord will give grace and
glory. No good thing will he withhold
from them that walk uprightly. You think of it this way. These
are God's New Year's resolutions, as it were. What amazing resolutions they
are. You know, we don't have to fear that He won't keep them.
He will, because He is faithful. How incomparable is the blessing
of seeking and trusting God. Do you see that with me from
this text? Well then, let us truly and earnestly
seek and trust Him, also in 2025. Let us thirst after Him like
the psalmist does here. Let us not grow weary of that. Oh, then surely we won't dwell
in the tents of wickedness, will we? Surely we will love His Word
and His worship and will seek to be there also on the Lord's
Day, if at all possible, won't we? Surely we will seek to live
in daily communion with God, won't we? Seeking and trusting
God in reliance upon Christ really is the way to truly experience
His blessing this coming year. It's the way to incomparable
blessing now and forever. Oh, may all of us then seek and
trust God. Then we will have a blessed 2025,
whatever else may happen. Amen. Let us pray.
The Incomparable Blessing of Seeking and Trusting in God - Also in 2025
1, He is the Sun and Shield
2, He Will Give Grace and Glory
3, He Will Not Withhold Any Good
| Sermon ID | 1125170287182 |
| Duration | 34:37 |
| Date | |
| Category | Midweek Service |
| Bible Text | Psalm 84 |
| Language | English |
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