C.H. Spurgeon referred to this psalm as the pearl of psalms. He described its content as most sweet. Indeed it is most sweet. It speaks of God's dwelling place and the believer's desire and delight to meet with God in worship. In verse 1 it speaks of the tabernacles of God, God's dwelling place and it says how amiable, that is they are lovely and therefore beloved by the saints. In verse 2 It speaks of the courts of the Lord where the people of God would gather together at the temple or the tabernacle and with one voice they would praise God. And it expresses the believer's soul. My soul longs, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. There is a holy jealousy for birds. You see the sparrows and the birds, they go to the temple, to the tabernacle, even to the altar, and where there's cracks, where there's ledges, they dwell there. And then in verse 10, the believer compares the experience and the joy of even one day in worship that is better than a thousand days without. And we're in the New Testament. But where we go for God's dwelling place in worship, it's not a tabernacle in the wilderness. We don't have to travel to a temple in Jerusalem, no, no, no. Wherever the people of God gather, God is in the midst of them. When the people of God gather, whether it's 203 or 3000, God meets with His people and His people are delighted to worship Him. And we have this privilege every single week to come to church to gather in the dwelling place of God and praise His glorious name. And tomorrow, we are coming to a particular dwelling place, the Lord's table for the Lord's supper. The Lord Jesus Christ is especially present by His Spirit in the sacrament. And so to prepare our faith for tomorrow, I want to look at why. Why is it the sons of Korah are so desirous for the dwelling place of God? The answer is the very same why we desire to come to the Lord's table tomorrow. And the answer is given in verse 11. Why do the sons of Korah desire to be in the place of God? For, because the Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will he withhold them. Why do they want to be in God's house? Because of who God is, because what God gives, and because what God withholds. First of all, why do we desire to be at the Lord's table tomorrow? Because of who God is. Who is he? The Lord God is a sun. Here the metaphor is speaking of the sun in the sky, the centre of our solar system, the source of life, light, heat, energy. Without the sun there is nothing but death, darkness and misery. Without the sun shining there would be no trees, no fruit, no vegetable, no man, no life on this planet. But with God there is these things. Deuteronomy 33 speaks of the sun giving and producing fruit. The Bible speaks about how the sun gives plant life. The sun gives our physical life. Energy, heat, light, it all comes from the sun. And the sun endures from generation to generation. It is there in the sky and we depend upon it for life. God is a sun to us. He is the source of all physical life, is He not? Psalm 104 speaks about how God gives everything, the grass, the herbs, the animals. The cattle on a thousand hills are His and given to us as food. The Bible says that God creates us, for in Him we live, move, and have our being. Without God, there is no physical life. If he did not create, there would be no creation. Everything comes from God. But we want to focus specifically on our spiritual life, because in our spiritual life, the Lord God is a son. Without him, there is death, darkness, and misery. Without God, we are dead in our trespasses and sins. Without God, our foolish hearts are darkened. Or as Ephesians 4.18 says, the understanding darkened, alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them. And oh, what misery there is without the Son, having no hope and without God in the world. And without God, there is only one place to go. It's not a sunny place, it's not shining. Jude describes it as the blackness of darkness, hell. That's without the Lord God as a son. The confession here is to his people, the Lord God as a son. Because in the gospel, all believers can say, Psalm 27 one, the Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord God is the strength of my life. The Lord God is a son to us. And that's demonstrated by sending Jesus Christ into the world. Who is Christ? The Bible gives many metaphors to help us understand who he is. He's a shepherd. He's a husband. But the Bible also describes him as a son. Malachi chapter four, verse two, unto you that fear my name shall the son of righteousness arise with healing in his wings. You see, without the sun, we are all dark and we're all in need of healing. There are certain people that if they live in a place where there's not much sun, their body deteriorates. It's even known that those who live in nations where there's not much sun, they are more prone to depression. But if they live in lands which have lots of sun, their body can heal, their mental health can improve. Well, that's a picture of our spiritual condition. We are sick. We need healing. And it's the son of righteousness who arises with healing in his wings. And we must look to this son. Because we are darkened in our soul, and when Jesus Christ came into the world, we see the darkness of man. Man says, oh how if Jesus Christ was before me, I would believe him. No, no, no. Natural man would not. What happened when the light of the world entered this world? People hated him. Our darkness was exposed by the light. So much so, they crucified the Lord of glory. But in the darkness of sinful man, the light shines. We see His grace, we see His mercy, we see His compassion, we see His love towards sinners. And as He shines so brightly, He says, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. And we see the light shining so brightly because He must experience darkness for our sin. Do you want to know where God shines so brightly in His glory? It's at Calvary's cross. There at the cross of Calvary, we see all of God's attributes on display. His love. His mercy, His justice, His holiness. And for three hours over the land of Israel, there was no light. There was darkness over the land for three hours. Physically, if you were in Jerusalem, if you were at Calvary, you could see nothing but darkness. But the Christian, with the eye of faith, sees Christ shining ever so brightly. As he is forsaken of the Father, as he is the propitiation for our sin, as he is bearing the wrath of God, by faith we see his light. We see his obedience, we see his sacrifice, we see the atonement and we see our own salvation. And then, the Lord God is a son to us because he changes our experience. Outside of the Lord God as a son, as we've said, our ignorance, our minds, our darkness, and then the Lord God shines in our heart to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And now we love Him. We long for Him. We believe on Him unto salvation. He is absolutely everything to us. And then the Lord God as a Son says, I will give you life. I will give you energy. I will give you vigour. I will give you truth. And He helps us to believe and understand the Word of God, which is a lamp unto us. It is a light unto us. And we love the Word and we grow in the Word. And in this Word we see ourselves grow in understanding, grow in holiness. Yes, sometimes we do not grow as quickly as we ought. Sometimes we're not as vigorous in the things of God as we ought, but nevertheless we do see the Lord God as a sun shining the truth into our souls. But the sun isn't merely light, it's also warm. And that's what Christianity is to the true believer, warm. There's cold Calvinism and then there's warm Calvinism. Cold Calvinism is just intellectual. Correct. All the dots, all the I's are dotted and all the T's are crossed. It's formal. And that's it. It's very cold. Very exact. Very precise. But not true Calvinism. True Calvinism is warm Calvinism. Oh my friends, we do not believe in emotionalism, oh no. We don't seek our assurance in our emotions, oh no, we seek it in faith in Christ. We do not depend upon our emotions to tell us if God is with us or without, absolutely not. We do not believe in emotionalism, but we do believe in emotions. We do believe in religious affections. You see, when the light of God's truth is shining in a believer, the believer's faith believes that truth. And the Spirit of God indwells in us, and by causing us to believe the truth, the Spirit of God gives us religious affections. It says in the Bible that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. You believe the gospel, you believe Christ, and you don't only believe you love him. You believe that all your sins are forgiven. You believe that he's with you. You believe in heaven to come. And the Spirit works the joy of the Holy Ghost in you. This is my friends, the Lord God is a son. See it's Spurgeon, he quotes this and he says how we should be amazed at this. He says, the words of the text are as a voice from heaven, inviting me up thither, and answering all the doubts and fears of such as believe, and follow the joyful sound. Am I in darkness, and fear I shall never find the way? Open thine eyes, O my soul. Look up to the Father of lights, the Lord of the sun, whose steady beams shall direct thy steps. Is there an inward veil to be removed from my mind as well as obscurity from my path? He is sufficient for both. God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness can shine into the heart to give the light of the knowledge of his glory and to lead on He can make the day dawn and the day star to arise in our hearts and by both guide our feet into the way of peace. This is why we desire to dwell in God's house, because the Lord God is a son. But next, who is he? The Lord God is a shield. And even our children know what a shield is. When they play games, they might have a sword in one hand and a shield in another. And they know with a sword you might be fighting, but what if someone attacks? What if someone else has a sword? They have a shield for defence, for protection. And that's exactly the Lord God. He is a shield, a protection, our defence. And we need defence. We have enemies, grievous enemies. We have an enemy within. Though the Christian's born again, the Christian's not perfect. Though the Christian has new desires and new longings and new powers after holiness, the Christian still has corruption in indwelling sin, the flesh. Our chief desire is Christ and holiness in the word, but all of us who are Christians confess our flesh. Our flesh gives us desires that are contrary to God. Our flesh causes us to turn away from God, to take our eyes off of God. We have temptations in this world. left, right and centre. Jesus says, in this world you shall have tribulation. Peter says in 1 Peter 4, do you not think it's strange, weird, concerning the fiery trial? And we have temptations, mental, spiritual, physical, emotional, and we have the world. The world always trying to take us away from God. To dress itself up as something beautiful, promising to fulfill our every desire and need. And then we have the strongest enemy of all, the devil, who walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, desiring to sift you as wheat, to get you to fall, to stumble, to apostatize. Oh, how we need protection. But look what it doesn't say here. It doesn't say the Lord God will provide protection. It doesn't say the Lord God will provide a shield. It says the Lord God is a shield. The Lord God is your defence. The Lord God is your protection. Isn't that amazing? Think of the infinite resources at his possession. He doesn't just have strength. He's not just powerful. He is omnipotent, infinitely, boundless, all-powerful. Remember Abraham. He was prone to doubt in terms of challenges and temptations. He was prone to people around him or trying to figure out God's ways maybe with Hagar rather than waiting. An old man producing a child, God comes and comforts him. In Genesis 15 he says, fear not. Why should he not fear? Because I am thy shield. And the Bible says that God has promised that he will protect and defend his people. Isaiah 31.5, as birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem. And defending he will deliver. I was reading 2 Chronicles 32 the other day. And Hezekiah finds out that Sennacherib and Assyria are heading towards Jerusalem. They are multitudes times bigger, more powerful, more deadly than the Jerusalem army. Humanly speaking, it's going to be an easy battle. But Hezekiah doesn't fear. He doesn't despair. Listen to what Hezekiah says. Be strong and courageous. Be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him. Why not? For there'll be more with us than with him. With him is an army of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles. And how did their people respond to this? And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah. That's what we need to learn. We have the spiritual Sennacherib all around us constantly trying to defeat us. But remember the truth, the Lord God is a shield. He will protect you and therefore you can rest on the promise of God. And this shield is given in the Lord Jesus Christ in verse nine. Uses Hebrew parallelism. It says, God, look upon our shield. God, look upon the face of your anointed one. And your anointed one speaks of the king. What is the role of government? To defend her people. And if someone was to attack the United States of America, what would happen? The government would defend the people. Well, we have the anointed, the Christ, and he will defend his people. He is the angel of the Lord who encamps and surrounds his people. He is the Lord of hosts who will fight for you in the midst of the battle. You are not alone. You have the angels of heaven as your private army defending you against spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places. You may have your enemy, the flesh, But you have your shield in the indwelling Holy Spirit who fights against your flesh, is greater than your flesh, and will conquer your flesh and make you a holy man or woman. He who is in you is greater than him that is without. And you, by the grace of God, will be sober, vigilant, and resist the devil. And here's the promise. He shall flee from you. Oh my friends, the Lord Jesus Christ is your shield, your defense, your protection. And how do you know you will not fall? How do you know that if you are Christ's, you will not apostatize? Because your King will uphold you. He is also your priest. Think of Peter. He denied the Lord Jesus Christ not once, not twice, but thrice. Why is it Peter never fell ultimately? Jesus says, Peter, your faith will not fail because I have prayed for you. And if you are the Lord's, your faith will take a battering every now and again maybe. You may even spiritually deny your Lord like Peter, but if you're a Christ, your faith will not fail. He will restore you and you'll return to the Lord Jesus. And he will preserve you because we're kept by the power of God through faith. Why do the sons of Korah desire to dwell in the house of God? Because of who God is. He is a sun in a shield. Then secondly, the desire to dwell in the house of God because of what God gives. It says he gives grace. What is grace? Now we, and myself included of course, we describe grace as an undeserving free gift. And it is, it is that. But what is that gift? And usually, we speak like it's a thing, like it's substance. And we can be very Roman Catholic in our language. You see, the Roman Catholicism teaches, they would never use this language, but basically, grace is like electricity. It's like this power that's infused into your soul through the sacraments, and then it changes you. Basically, we're like electrical products, kettles, toasters, and without grace, we're dead, we can't do anything. But you just put yourself in the socket, and grace is like this substance, this electricity that goes through your veins. That's not grace. Grace is an attribute of God, which means grace is who God is. Just as God is eternal, God is just, God is love, he is grace. And so grace is not something merely what he possesses and what he has and he gives you, grace is him. The theological language is God is simple. He's not made up of parts, he is. And he reveals himself by who he is and his attributes. So when it says God is grace, it really means this, God is for you. Now you don't deserve to have God for you. You don't deserve to see this freeness, but he is for you despite your unworthiness. You see, it means God himself and his entire being and his perfections and his infinitude, he is for you. And therefore God gives himself for you, but we don't deserve it. That's grace. And he gave himself for you by coming in flesh, in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Grace is he. Grace is Jesus Christ in the flesh doing what we don't deserve. How He lived this life perfectly for you, and how He redeems us. How we can say with Ephesians 1, 7, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. That He came for you in the person of Jesus Christ, who died for you, bought you, forgives you by faith. And then grace is, He comes and dwells in you. He doesn't give you a power. He doesn't give you a thing. But He dwells in you. What a mystery. That Almighty God dwells in you. That's why Paul, in 1 Corinthians 3 and 1 Corinthians 6, said, do you know who you are, Christian? Do you know who you are, people of God? You are the temple of God. What was so special about the temple in the Old Testament? God dwelt in the temple. What happens in the New Testament? It happened in the Old as well, but we'll leave that for another day. What happens in the New Testament? We are the temple. God dwells in us by the Holy Spirit. And what do we need? Justification, sanctification, perseverance, fellowship, glorification. It's not grace as of a thing, it is God in you. God in you by justification through faith alone. You need holiness? God dwells in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. And when God is in you, He will renew you in the image of God. Where you are now unrighteous, without holiness, without true saving knowledge, He works these things in you. Because when you're a Christian, you start to see Him work, you see faith. Then you see love. Then you see kindness. Then you see compassion. Then you see hatred towards sin. Then you see joy, meekness, long-suffering. You see your desires, that you desire the worship of God. You see that you love God's people and the fellowship of the saints. You don't want to lie. You don't want to steal. And when you do things which are wrong, when you do sin, you don't rejoice in it. You don't say, oh, it's only a wee thing. You hate it. You confess it as sin. You repent of it. And you desire to be like Christ. Do you know that, friends? Do you know that God is in you, working you well to do that which is pleasing? That which is pleasing. But you say, oh, I'm a sinner. But he's in you, working in you. but I'm not as holy as I should be. But he's working in making you more holy. Oh, I don't love as I should, oh, I'm not as joyful as I should be. He's working in you to make you more loving and make you more joyful. And this is why Christ is utterly pleased and delighted with your fellowship and presence. You see, we read the song of Solomon. A story about Christ in the church and we read these passages about the glory and beauty of Christ. How beautiful he is. How desirous he is. But in that song, Jesus writes his love letter to you believer. And he says, believer, this is what I think of you. He says in the Song of Solomon, chapter four, verse seven, thou art fair, beautiful, my love. There is no spot in thee where justified. Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse. Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes. I delight to be in your company. When you pray, when you read your Bible, when you think upon me, when you call upon me to be present, I enjoy your presence. And secondly, the Lord gives glory. Glory. Now many commentators, they say grace is now, glory is future. That's not right, I don't think. Consummation, yes. The fulfillment, yes. But I don't think that's right. We have no right to say this because it would be the Lord gives grace and shall or will give glory. It doesn't say that. The Lord gives presently grace and glory. What is glory? And the Bible has the idea of weight. Weight. Because of someone's reputation it comes with weight. There might be people who we really respect, their character stands out. Could be a parent of yours, could be a family member, someone you know personally or a hero of yours. Their reputation stands out and the very mention of them, the presence of them in your home or in your presence, it carries weight. God, what's his reputation? His attributes, his excellencies, his perfections. So when God dwells, it brings weight. And so in the Old Testament, when you hear of God's glory, often it's God's presence. How does it describe God's presence with his people? The glory dwelt with the people. So the glory cloud dwelt with the tabernacle. But what happened when God's presence left his people? Well, do you remember 1 Samuel? Ichabod. The glory has departed, which means the presence of God has departed from Israel. So here, when it says the Lord will give glory, it means I will be present with my people. I will dwell with them in all my excellencies. They will know me. and I will work in them the weight of my lovely presence. That starts at conversion. We don't wait for the consummation of that. The Lord God will give glory. And in 1 Peter 4, verse 14, there's an interesting phrase. Context, people of God are suffering. They've been persecuted, hated, despised, physical violence coming upon them. And Peter wants to comfort them, to know that in their sufferings God has not left them, God is with them. And what phrase does he use to comfort them and assure them of God's presence? 1 Peter 4, verse 14. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye. That's a strange statement. You are happy, full of joy, blessed. Why would you be blessed when you're reproached? For, because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. That's an amazing phrase. You do not need to despair. You can be happy, joyful, blessed, because the spirit of glory rests upon you, which means God is with you. Sometimes that presence is felt, Often it's not felt, but nevertheless it's there. And if you have faith in Christ, if you have faith in the promises of the word of God, you can exercise that faith and say, God has promised to be with me. He will never leave me, neither forsake me. He'll be with me until the end of the world. And as he is with me, I don't have to be in a temple in Jerusalem. I don't need to come to church on the Lord's day. I in my own home, I in the middle of a desert, I in the middle of the wilderness, I in a prison cell can call on the Lord's name and he will be with me. But then that glory will be consummated. We will have the presence of God perfected like nothing we can imagine on earth. Colossians 3 says, when Christ shall return, when he shall appear, we shall appear with him in glory. What is the great blessing of glory, heaven? It's a blessing that we're gonna be raised. It's a blessing we're going to be with our loved ones who are saints. It's a blessed thing that we're going to be away from the curse and sin. It's going to be amazing to think it's a place of joy and love. But here's the great, great blessing of heaven. The glory of God dwells in the fullness of Jesus Christ. whom we will be with literally and physically, and we will behold his glory eye to eye, face to face. And then thirdly, why do the sons of Korah desire to dwell with God? Because what he withholds. It says, no good thing will he withhold. What does it mean, good? That which is upright and beneficial. If I was hungry, starving, it is good to give me food. It's for my benefit. If I was thirsty, it would be good to give me a cup of cold water. That which is for my benefit. Now here's our problem. We mistake what's for our benefit for what we really like. We think it'd be good if I had more money, therefore I can have this, that, and the other. It would be good if I didn't suffer, or if there were no afflictions, or there were no tests and trials in life. It'd be good for me. You see, we think it's for our benefit, but that's not the case. I mean, what is most beneficial for us at the end of the day? Christlikeness. That's what's most beneficial. to increase in faith, to be strong in the Lord, to be assured, to be dependent upon Him, to be more loving, more patient, more kind, to desire the Word more, to desire prayer more, to desire fellowship more, to desire worship more, to be content, to be satisfied in Him. These things are all what are beneficial for us. So that which is beneficial for us, the Lord will by no means withhold. Remember the people of God in the wilderness. They thought many good things were for them. They thought they should have other good things. You know, God provided. He provided manna from heaven and quails and it wasn't enough. They didn't think it was quite good enough for them. They wanted other things. No, things would be good for them. Cucumbers, leeks. But it wasn't good for them, why? Because for them to have more of exactly what they wanted would cause them to be self-dependent or think God's a magical thing to attend to their every needs. And God says, no, I'm not going to give you these petitions. They're not good for you. They're not beneficial for you. You need to trust in me, follow me. but they kept on asking and asking and asking and asking. They didn't realise that which they asked for was not good for them. And then God said, I'm gonna give you what you want, even though it's not good for you. And it damaged them. It says in Psalm 106 verse 15, and he gave them request, but, sent leanness into their souls. What a fearful answer to prayer that is. They were no more vibrant, dependent, trusting, relying on God. Think about Romans 8. All things work for good. What's that goodness? A couple of verses later, to be conformed unto Christ. We can think sufferings and afflictions, and sure, we don't ask for them. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. That's what we should pray. But what happens when we do suffer? What happens when there is a trial? Is it good for us? Oh, yes. The thing itself is not good. What I mean by that is evil is not good. Suffering as a result of the fall is not good. But in God's sovereignty and wisdom, it will work good for us. It will cause us to be more trusting, more patient, to wait on the Lord more, to trust in him and not ourselves. And therefore all things do work for good. And therefore here when it says God will by no means withhold anything that's good, he means it. There was a few of us discussing God's goodness a week ago or so, and they were saying, when we ask God for something according to his will, and he actually answers and gives it to us, we've got a suspicious eye. What's to catch God? He's going to give us something that's good, but we're just waiting for the chastening, like he's some cold, stern God. No, no, no, no, no, no. That's not your God. He will withhold no good thing for you. If you lack anything, let him ask of God, who what? Gives liberally and upbraideth not. He is a father. He says to the fathers in front of him, ye being evil fathers, because we're sinners. If your child asks you for bread, will you say, no, he is a stone son. He asked you for fish. No, he's a scorpion. He's a serpent for you. No, of course not. What do sinful dads do? I love you, my child. You need food. Here's some bread. Here's some fish. How much more your heavenly father, who knows how to give good gifts to his children. So if you desire that which is beneficial for you, what is good, pray, pray, and pray, and pray in faith, because no good thing will he withhold. What is the good thing we're desiring tomorrow? We want the presence of God. We want to be blessed. We want to be like the children here, strength to strength to those who appear in God. How do we receive all this bountiful goodness and blessing? By the working of the Holy Spirit. And what does God say in Luke 11? How much more will your heavenly Father give the Spirit to them that ask him? Ask and it shall be given. So we here tonight, we're gonna pray to our Father in Heaven. Father, give to us that which is good tomorrow morning at the Lord's table. Grant unto us the Holy Spirit, and may the fullness of grace upon grace be given to us. And we're asking according to his will. And he gives liberally and upbraids not. And he will withhold no good thing for us. Why do the sons of Korah desire to be in the house of God? Because of who God is, what he gives, and what he withholds. This is for every one of you who trust in Christ. This is for every one of you who would trust in Christ. Who is God to you? He is your son. He is your shield. What does he give you, brother? What does he give you, sister? He gives you grace. He gives you glory. And what does he withhold from you? What does he keep back? He keeps back no good thing. How wonderful and glorious is our Lord. Let us believe He will be a sun and a shield to us tomorrow morning. Let us ask and expect by faith and humility, independence, glory and grace at the sacrament. And let us hold fast to the promise. He will withhold no good thing. Let us pray.