Certainly a blessing to be in the stillness of the Lord, to be able to sit quiet before our Shepherd who leads us day by day, who leads us beside the still waters, leads us by the green pastures, who even leads us through the valley of the shadow of death. Life is not always easy. but God is always with us. And I'm thankful that not only do we have the Lord with us, but we have a church body to be able to walk life out together with. That is so important in every one of our lives, that we're faithful to the Lord and faithful to His church. This morning I want to speak about the cross-centered life. The cross-centered life. And I want us to look at the Scripture of Psalm 133 to get an understanding of the cross-centered life. Because the cross-centered life is really a life about love, and it's a life about unity. We sang about that just a minute ago, about how good it is when brothers dwell together in unity. And as we contemplate and think about this thought, the cross-centered life, what I mean by that is that There's no way to have true peace this morning except by way of the cross. And it's through the cross that we can be in union with God. That's what's so wonderful about being here this morning is that we can be in union with God, the creator of the universe, and I can call the God of the universe my Daddy. He's my Dad. Oh, how sweet that is! How touching that is to be able to, even though I thought about my dad a lot over the last few days, but I miss him, but I have a father. As I mentioned the other day, Brother Tom from Kenya, he lost his dad when he was ten, and maybe that's the reason I've been, he told me about that on Friday, and that's the reason it started up in me, but to think that we both have a heavenly father today, and I'm at union with him, and I am at peace with God. That's part of the cross-centered life. But that doesn't stop there because the cross-centered life also, not only does it go vertical, but it also extends horizontal. that I've got brothers and sisters that I am in union with that have been born again of the same Spirit that I have been born again of, and we can come in here and we can sing praises to the great Lamb of God, and we can gather together, and we can weep with those who weep, and we can rejoice with those who rejoice, share life together, this cross-centered life that, brothers and sisters, is not always easy. That's the reason Jesus said you've got to take up your cross and follow after Me. But isn't it a joy to be at union with God and union with one another and be lining up with what God says is righteousness? And what God says is peace? When things are just right. It's wonderful. It's glorious, whether it's in the house of the Lord or whether it's in the home. It's glorious when we can be there gathered together, worshiping God together in unity and harmony and love. As we turn to the psalm this morning, Psalm 133, David was a man after God's own heart. It tells us that in Scripture, and many may look at that and say, well, how could he be a man after God's own heart when you realize that this man committed some grave sins? He was guilty. He was guilty of adultery. That's a big one to get over. Not only was he guilty of adultery, but he was guilty also of murder. because he tried to cover up the adulterous relationship, but they had a child, and the child ended up dying in the first year. And so, there's a lot of things that David had to work through, and a lot of people say, well, if David was a man after God's own heart, I thought that you had to be perfect in order to be a man after God's own heart. No. And David was even sinful even after he committed those relationships. sexual relationship with Bathsheba and tried to cover it up. He tried to hide it for another almost a year after that, but we see him crying out in Psalm 32 and in Psalm 51 that he realized that, I can't live with sin in my life like that. I've got to confess sin. I've got to get things right with God. And when he did, he realized that in the cross, oh the cross of Jesus, He could find forgiveness for his sins. And so, a child of God is not a perfect person. There's only one perfect one, and that was Jesus. But the cross-centered life is one that is based on forgiveness of sins. This week, as I was ministering to a man that I'm working with on my job, he and I had a disagreement. He told me something about two months ago about something that he wanted to do. And this past week, I told him that, you're not going to be able to do this. And he said, well, don't you remember that I told you two months ago? And I said, well, honestly, I forgot. And he was angry at me. He was fired up at me. You ever been in the middle of one of those? And he didn't communicate it last week. He didn't communicate it this week. He had those very high expectations that you should be omniscient and you should remember all these things. And I honestly told him, I have forgotten. And my boss said he couldn't do it anyway. So whether I'd forgotten or not, he still was going to hear the word no. But he was angry with me. There was a distance in that relationship. And I told him, I asked him, will you please forgive me? I forgot that you told me this two months ago. I said, will you please forgive me? And I told him that how he acted toward me offended me. And at the end of the day, we both offered forgiveness. We both asked for forgiveness and we both extended forgiveness. You know what? You can't have ongoing relationships without genuine forgiveness. And that's what the cross-centered life is all about. David is writing here in Psalm 133, and I want you to notice it says in the title that this is a psalm of ascent, or the psalm of degrees. This is a psalm that the children of Israel, as they traveled up to Mount Zion, And Mount Zion in the Bible is the city of Jerusalem. It's the city of the Great King. And from Psalm 120 to Psalm 134, they're known as the Psalms of Ascent. And in a sense, it was a hitchhiker's songbook. Or a hiker's songbook. As they traveled up, all the way up into Jerusalem, they would be singing these songs. meditating on these great truths of worshipping there in the city of the great King with all the other children of Israel. Because in the Jewish life, they would travel to Jerusalem three times a year. All the Jewish males 12 years old and up, I believe, would travel. And they would go for the Passover or Unleavened Bread. They would go for the Feast of Pentecost. And then they would also go for the Feast of Tabernacles. Three times a year, they were ascending up into Mount Zion. And they were there worshiping God at the temple because there was no other place on the planet that God said, I will manifest My presence. Now think about that. God said, in this city of Jerusalem, I will manifest Myself in the Holy of Holies. And so, how delightful it would have been as they talked about going into the house of the Lord. And this is what is on David's mind as he's writing. He's thinking about those pilgrims traveling up to worship God together in spirit and in truth there on Mount Zion. And here's what he writes for us. He says, Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! Exclamation point. It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, that went down to the skirts of his garments. As the dew of Hermon and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore. In a contemporary reading you may be wondering, what in the world does that have to do with a cross-centered life? I'm going to tell you if you'll hang in there with me. But first I want us to see here the pleasantness of unity. The psalmist says how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. And then He gives us two pictures of what this looks like. And I want us to see in this passage this morning, in verse 2, I want us to see the preciousness of unity. This true unity. You remember what I said, there's no way you can have true unity except through righteousness and truth. And so unless you're following after righteousness and truth, no matter how hard you try to make peace and find peace, you'll never find it unless you come through way of a mediator. And the Bible says there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. And we're going to look at that in verse 2, of what David is saying. And then we're going to drop down in verse 3, and I want us to see the pricelessness. of unity. Do you know that there are blessings that God can give us that money can't touch? This morning, if you have a desire to be saved by God's grace, there is no amount of money that can purchase your place in heaven. There's not a single dime that you can contribute to the cause. Because Jesus has purchased it by His own blood. Not by silver and gold, but by the precious blood of the Lamb of God that came to take away our sin. The only way that there can be true unity is if sin is dealt with. And sin is continually dealt with in our lives. So let's think about this. This first verse. How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. The pleasantness of unity. As I think about this, it reminds me of a vivid picture in my mind. From the day, from the 1851 until today, over in the country where I grew up, there's a church that gathered up out in the middle of nowhere. But for the last 165 years, there have been men and women who have traveled up those, it used to be a dirt road and now it's somewhat of a gravel slash paved road, but they've been traveling up that hill and they have been gathering there for the last 165 years to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. And although many people don't know where it's at, God's pleasure has been known in that place. He has manifested His presence among them as they gathered. But as we think about this first word in this psalm, He says, I want us to see as we think about the pleasantness of unity that He's calling our attention. He's saying there's a beacon to look forward to. That in the midst of our world today, we see a world that is in absolute chaos. There is trouble on every side. Men and women are looking for peace, and they're looking for peace through the United Nations, and they're looking for peace through mediators of law and different things like that. But I'll tell you, there's only one place that we can find true peace. And the psalmist is saying, he said, behold, I want you to look to something, because even in David's life, Do you know that his life, even within his own family, he had different sets of sons that were going at it. I believe Amnon was going against Absalom at one time, and Adonijah was going against Solomon at one time, and there was chaos even in his home. But he recalled those blessed times of worship as he thought about being in the house of the Lord with his brothers. As we look out at the landscape of our society, there are so many things in chaos. In the midst of chaos, we see a shining example of where unity can be found, where peace can be found, and it should be in the house of the living God. In the midst of despair, The house of the Lord should be a symbol of hope that we're living a cross-centered life. Now, I realize that so many people make an excuse about the church and they say, well, that must not work because the church is filled with many hypocrites. And I want you to look at it this way, instead of just looking at all of those people as hypocrites, see them as those that are struggling against sin. But even though they're struggling against sin, they know the remedy if they'll just get their hearts right and examine themselves. That doesn't negate the truth of God's Word, even though we can look at many churches, and we can see there's division in churches, there's division in homes through divorce, there's division all around us, but I'm pointing to you as we look at this Word. Behold, that God has it set out for us, if we would listen and heed His voice, that you and I can live in peace, and in unity, and in harmony, and in love. And it's a beautiful thing. As we think about in the midst of the chaos, there's a shining example. In the midst of the despair, we have a symbol of hope. In the midst of the darkness, we have a guiding light that God has given us. And as a church, we are called to be like the moon that reflects the glory of the sun. In and of ourselves, we don't have life without Him, but we need to be like the moon that reflects the glory of the sun as we live and strive for this cross-centered life, as we see the pleasantness of unity. Isn't it so good to be able to have unity in the home, unity in your marriage, unity in the home among your children, in the house of the Lord. Oh, how good that is. And it only comes through the Lord. So we have a beacon to look for. We also see the beauty of living together in unity. It tells us here how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Do you know there's still some good things in this world? You know that no matter what you and I have gone through, God is good. And He is good part of the time. He's good all the time. No matter what you and I are facing, He is good. Do you know that His Word is good? It's sweet, isn't it? This is the revelation from God right here before us that tells us what life should be about and what it should be like because so often we see the opposite as we look into the world. And we need to have that beacon of hope. And so He says, behold, I want you to look at a place where you can find that hope and that peace. But there are some things that are good. You know that the gospel is good. to know that in the midst of my brokenness, in the midst of the weight of my sin, in the midst of the conviction of my sin, the gospel gives me a remedy, a way out, that I don't have to live in the darkness. And the Bible says that those that are separated from Him live in the darkness. They live in a walking death. But oh, how good the gospel is to say that Jesus has come to deliver me. out of the darkness into the glorious light. To bring us out of the chaos, I remember when I was lost and undone before the Lord, how that I was just searching and groping about in life, trying to find a way to get to peace, and I was trying to find it in my own way, but oh how good it was when that Preacher kept preaching the Word to me, and I kept wanting to ignore it and run from it. But oh, how good it was when I said, Lord, I can't save myself, but if You will save me. I'll tell you, when I got down on my knees and I called out to the Lord, and I came to the cross, because you can't live a cross-centered life without going by through the cross and being brought into union with Him. But how good it is when God, the God of all creation, looked down. and said, Brian, your sin had to be punished, but my Son paid for it, and I forgive you. That's why there was peace. That's why there was peace. Because righteousness and truth met together. They kissed one another. And there has that happened in my soul. Oh, how good it is. It's good when one sinner comes to repentance. It's good when we look out on the creation and we're able to get a glimpse of the goodness of God in His glory and His majesty. It's good to be able to see that. Redemption is good. And unity among God's people is good when we dwell together in unity. You know, sometimes people say, well, we get along, and I say, well, how often do you see them? About once a year? You know, that's not true unity. That's just you saying, I can tolerate them for about an hour or two at a social gathering, at a family gathering. But true unity comes when we can live with one another. And we can love one another. And not only just tolerate one another, but have a delight in our hearts to be with one another, to love each other, to care for one another. to forbear one another, to exhort one another, to weep with one another, to rejoice with one another. That's what God wants us to do and how good and how pleasant that is. Because that requires work. You know, so many times we want to cut off our relationships. I see this a lot in the line of work that I do, that when you're wrong one time, Maybe twice, I'm cutting them off. I'm cutting these people out of my life. Because if that's the way they're going to treat me, because I don't like feeling hurt, I'm going to cut them off. But you know what? The cross-centered life teaches us to forgive. It teaches us to work through the conflict, not work around it and not ignore it and step back from it. It says, work through the conflict. Let's deal with it head on. Let's handle it because in the cross-centered life, there's no room for bitterness. There's no room for resentment. There's no room for grudges because those things are like cancers and are like termites that eat away at the foundation of our joy and our peace and our unity. And so, we see that we need to call the exterminator And we need to deal with the sin that's in our lives because how good it is when we can dwell together in unity. We've seen the pleasantness of unity. Now let's turn just for a minute and see what he means by this second verse. Do you notice as he closed that first verse, he used the exclamation point? He's using a force. He's using an excitement. He's saying, oh, how good it is when brethren dwell together in unity, when they can come together before the cross of Calvary and be able to rejoice in the finished work of Jesus and to be able to work through their problems and love one another with a godly love. He says, how good that is. And then the psalmist Davis turns to this first picture. And we have to go back in the Old Testament and read a little bit to find out what does this mean. He gives us a picture of this moment. He says, It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard that went down to the skirts of his garments. For those that haven't read the Old Testament very much, you're probably looking at what in the world is he talking about? That's the reason I have the joy of being here today. He's talking about... Do you remember when Moses went up to Mount Sinai and God gave Moses the pattern for a sacrificial system? He gave them a pattern for the tabernacle, and He gave them a pattern for the priesthood, and He gave them all the sacrifices that were needed in order to be able to bridge the gap between man and God. Because you see, our sin had caused a gap or a separation between God and humanity. And in God's goodness and His grace, He gave them a sacrificial system, a way to get back to God. And what he's painting a picture here is that you and I needed a mediator. We needed a way because in that tabernacle there were compartments There was an outer fence that guarded the tabernacle. There was a holy place. And then on the other side of the veil, there was the Holy of Holies. And what that was to do was to show us that there was a distance between us and God. Have you felt that distance before? When things were not right between you and the Lord, and you knew that there was no peace there, you felt that distance. But in the goodness of God, He allowed man to have this place where God said, you need a mediator. You can't just go into the presence of God by yourself. You would die. You would be cast out because God is a holy God, and He must deal with sin. And so what He's saying here, I want us to hear the sights and the sounds of this. As the tabernacle has been constructed for the first time, The inner place, the Holy of Holies, has the Ark of the Covenant. The veil has been hung. And as they back on out, they put the altar of incense, they put the table of showbread on this side, and the candle on that side. this side, as they back on up outside of that curtain and they come out, there's a laver that's filled with water showing that we've got to wash up in order to go in the presence of God. And on the outside of that, there's an altar that is going to be a place where sacrifices are offered. But on the outside of that, we get a picture of what the second verse is telling us. Because in Leviticus 8, it tells us this. If you want to turn back just for a minute and make sure I don't misquote it. And keep up with the preacher and make sure he's not telling you something that's not in the book. Don't just take my word for it. Make sure it's lining up right here. But notice what it says in Leviticus chapter 8. He says, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and a bullock for the sin offering, and two rams, and a basket of unleavened bread, and gather there all the congregation together unto the door of the tabernacle the congregation. And Moses did as the Lord commanded him, and the assembly was gathered together unto the door of the tabernacle of congregation. And Moses said unto the congregation, This is the thing which the Lord commanded to be done. And Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water, and he put upon him the coat, and girded him with a girdle, and clothed him with a robe, and put the ephod under him, girded him with the curious girdle of the ephod, and bound it unto him therewith. And he put the breastplate upon him, and he put in the breastplate the Urim and the Thummim. And he goes on down, he says, and he put the mitre upon his head, also upon the mitre, even upon the forefront did he put the golden plate, the holy crown, as the Lord commanded Moses. And Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle, and all that was therein, and sanctified them. And he sprinkled thereof upon the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all his vessels, both the laver and his foot, to sanctify them. And he poured the anointing oil upon Aaron's head, and anointed him to sanctify him. As we think about the preciousness of unity, do you know what they were doing as they gathered the whole congregation? Had gathered at the tent in front of the tabernacle, at the entrance of it. All the congregation were gathered together under the authority of God. Do you know that if we try to live our lives outside the Word of God and His ways, We're rebelling against what He says is true. Only true peace comes when we live submissive lives under the authority of God. Under the cross, in line with the church, in line with the Word. That's the only place true peace can be found. Anytime you find yourself going astray from those things, you are walking in rebellion toward God and there will be no peace. And if there is a peace, it will be a false sense of peace because you fool yourself. But they are there under the authority of God. Everything that God had told Moses to do, He said, I carried it out. Imagine Moses as he has represented God to the people as the prophet. Imagine as he's there pouring the anointing oil under the theocracy that God is the King, and he's got a priest right there before that tabernacle, and he is pouring that anointing oil, and everybody is looking on that, because not only must we come under the authority of God, we must come under the Anointed One. And I know, I want you to think about this, that the Anointed One, and when we think about Jesus the Christ, the word the Christ means the Anointed One. And so Aaron is giving us a picture of coming under the authority of the Anointed One of God, the Chosen One of God, the One that has the power and the ability to take lost humanity and bring us into the very presence of God. That's what Aaron's job was as the high priest, but as we move forward and we think about Jesus, he lived under the authority of God. He was the anointed one of God, that the Holy Spirit came down upon him and anointed him without measure as he was there in his baptism and the Father spoke, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well Please. And oh, the fragrance of the aroma of Christ as they gathered that anointing oil. And this is what the psalmist saying was, how good it is when the church of the people of Zion would gather together at the door of that tabernacle, at the door of the house of the Lord to install that first high priest. It was the first service at the tabernacle. And that oil that they put on Him, Do you know that when we come under the authority of God, we come under the anointed One? Oh, the aroma of the glory of God. In that anointing oil, they put 500 shekels of pure myrrh. Not only did they put myrrh in it, they put 250 shekels of cinnamon and 250 shekels worth of calamus and 500 shekels worth of cashew. And this was an anointing oil that was mixed together. As you think about that cinnamon and that myrrh and that cashew, as it's all brought together and they're pouring it down, they mix it in about a gallon of olive oil and they pour all of that over on top of Aaron's head, and it comes down his beard under the authority of God, under the anointing of God, and it drips down on his beard, and it says it goes all the way down to those garments that were prepared for that great high priest, and it drips off the fringes of that, and we see the fragrance of the glory of God. We see the preciousness of the unity as they gather together because this one was anointed. to be the mediator, to carry us into the presence of God. Fast forward that to the days of Jesus. There was a woman that had an issue of blood for 12 years and said, if I can just touch the hem of his garment, I'll be made whole. Said, virtue went out from Him. I'm telling you, He was filled with the anointing of God, the holiness of God, the pleasure of God was in Jesus' hands. Not only was Jesus the prophet who came, but He was also the great high priest who came. Not only was He the great high priest, Aaron and his sons would have to offer up sacrifices for their own sin. But Jesus didn't need to do that. He was the prophet, He was the priest, and He was the King. And under His own authority, He offered up Himself as a sacrifice. Oh, how good it is to know the love of God, the sacrificial love of God, that the Anointed One of God would die in the place of my suffering, that I could have forgiveness of sins and peace. We've seen the pleasantness of unity and the preciousness of unity. Let's turn to the pricelessness of unity. He says in verse 3, as the dew of Hermon and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore." As we think about dew, dew often comes in the night, doesn't it? You wake up the next morning and you see the dew that's sprinkled across the grass and maybe across your car. It's because the air has been filled with so much moisture through the night, through the dark night, it condensates and it falls. And throughout the Bible, as we think about this dew, and think about the dew of Hermon, Hermon was the highest peak in Israel. It's 9,100 feet. And the dew, it would cause the dew to spread out in the valleys all the way down up into Jerusalem. And that dew would fall. And David is saying that where that dew had fallen, there was fruitfulness, there was vegetation, there was life in that place. And David is giving us a picture here that When we walk in unity with the Lord, as we walk in unity with our brothers and sisters, not only do we have the fragrance of the aroma of Christ, but we also have the fruitfulness of Christ in our life. Do you know where dew comes from? It comes down from on high. There are blessings that money can't buy. Your salvation as that sweet dew of heaven fell upon you the night you were calling out to the Lord, and you got a refreshing drink from that living water. There was blessings from on high. But it hasn't always been easy, and oftentimes you think about those dark nights of your soul. You know, we don't even recognize the dew in the darkness, but when the lights turned on in the morning, we see that the dew was always there. It had fallen overnight. So many times we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. We walk through the darkness. We walk through the troubles and the sorrows and the difficulties. And we look back and we wonder, Lord, how did we ever get through that? And He shines a light on there and says, I was with you right there. You didn't think I was there, but I was right there with you. I sustained you and I refreshed you and I cleansed you day after day. This dew was also, as it came at night, symbol of the favor and blessing of God. Do you know that when we live a cross-centered life, we know the peace of God and the love of God and the harmony that there can be between us and the Lord and us and His people? David said that in that place is life forevermore. Do you know that what we experience here at the church as we live cross-centered lives, as we realize that, Lord, the only way... We're gathered here this morning. We've got a symbol of a cross back here. We're living a cross-centered life because we realize there's no other way to get to God except through Jesus. He's our mediator. Isn't it wonderful to have a mediator this morning? An intercessor that stands, sits at the right hand of the majesty on high. One that is there to hear our cries and hear our pleas. A great high priest who represents us before the Lord. Isn't that wonderful? To be able to gather together with our brothers and sisters. Do you know that what we begin here in this life is going to carry forward in the next? I believe we're going to know each other. He says this is life forevermore. Isn't it refreshing to come into the house of the Lord? To sing songs of Zion. To pray for one another. To lift one another up. To encourage someone who's astray. Someone who's not united to God. To say, hey, you can have peace. You can be refreshed. You can know the Lord. And you can walk with joy with His people. Behold how good and how pleasant it is when brethren dwell together in unity. I pray that we will work toward that and maintain that and do what Paul says in Ephesians 4 and 1. And I'll close. I therefore, the prison of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you were called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering for bearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. As we think about the cross-centered life, do you have peace this morning with the Lord? Is there peace, true peace, in your home? Is there true peace in this church? In a few hours, this afternoon, we'll be partaking in the Lord's Supper. We need to examine ourselves. to be able to say all things are well, all things are right, between me and the Lord and me and my brother and sister, so that as we come together this afternoon and we remember the unity that Jesus has purchased. Oh, brothers and sisters, do you realize how sweet it is to be close to God and to be close to each other? I pray that God will unite us to fear His name. I pray that He will enrich our relationships more and more as we continue moving forward, that there may be more and more love in this place. And that as you're out there in the community, you think about that word, behold, that hey, you've got some relatives, you've got some friends that are lost and separated from God and their lives are a mess and everything's in chaos, you say, let me tell you where you can go. House of the Lord. As we get a song and sing this morning, I appreciate you hearing me. I pray it's been a blessing to you.