I'm going to continue to use this mic this evening due to some difficulties with the earpiece on the other. But this evening's sermon text is found in the 84th Psalm, verses 8 through 12. We're picking up where I left off two months ago, and I figured this would be a natural dovetail because this chapter really ministers to us continually in the times in which we find ourselves now, both the first half and the second half. 8 through 12. God's Word says, O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer. Give ear, O God of Jacob. Behold our shield, O God. Look on the face of your anointed. for a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God is a sun and a shield. The Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you. And thus far from the reading of God's holy word, let's pray, brothers and sisters, together. Lord God, we are happy, O Lord, that we can dwell in your house ever singing your praises. Lord, we are happy, O Lord, that we can find your great attributes being our sun and shield, being our exceeding great reward, and, O Lord, being your chosen possession and nation. Lord, may we count this the greatest privilege of all as we study your word tonight. as we hear it preached. Lord, guide me, open the ears and hearts of the hearers, that we may all grow by what is proclaimed. And Lord, if there be any here who do not know you, may you use your word as it is preached to convert their hearts as the Holy Spirit applies the word of salvation. Lord, we do rejoice in you. Abide with us now as we declare your praises and foretell your goodness. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. You may have noticed in the times in which we live right now, in this time of the coronavirus, how apart from the recent divisions that are going on due to the protest, in the months preceding that, many people banded together to encourage one another in many ways, in many walks of life, whether it was through enhanced charitable capacities or even if it's through the arts and entertainment when people were locked in. One of the things that I noticed is that there was a plethora of music, musical offerings made by stars through people's homes to encourage people, to give them something new to which to listen. One of my favorite actors in particular, some of you know Sir Patrick Stewart, would read a Shakespeare sonnet a day to sort of give people something beautiful upon which to gaze, something to refresh the artistic heart. But that all being said, in the midst of turmoil, in the midst of difficulties, and indeed in very life itself, if you're a person who studies economics, you may know the law of diminishing marginal utility, that you get less and less satisfaction out of the earthly goods, even though they may be good gifts of God, because they are finite. These things can refresh us in a sense, But there is a deeper goodness to be found in knowing the Lord God and being in His house that can refresh us more than any other earthly means of encouragement or of equipping on our journey. And of course, coming from the Lord Himself and also being in His courts, being in His house for gathered worship. as we are all the temple of the Holy Spirit as believers, being in His means of grace gathered for corporate worship. That's where we meet our God, and this psalm testifies to that, and this psalm also, coming with its main theme, teaches us this this very evening. And that is this, that the Lord's worshiper prefers an audience in God's courts to any other place because he trusts the Lord's provision and goodness there. The Lord's worshiper prefers an audience in God's courts to any other place because he trusts the Lord's provision and goodness there. And then we're going to see this in some subpoints. Number one, verses eight through nine, the Lord's worshiper prays for an audience with God. The second one is, the Lord's worshiper prefers an audience in God's courts to any other place, verse 10, and then verses 11 and 12, our third made some point, the Lord's worshiper prefers, or the Lord's worshiper trusts the provision and the goodness of God. He trusts the provision and the goodness of God. So let's now go back to verses eight and nine, our first two verses this evening, and it says, O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer. Give ear, O God of Jacob. Behold our shield, O God. Look on the face of your anointed." And so having opened the first part of this psalm in praise that we looked at a couple of weeks ago, the Lord's worshiper now prays for an audience with God that God would hearken to his petitions. And that's the way that all of our prayers should be. We begin by praising God and then we ask for His audience. That's why in the call to worship we ask for God to abide with us, to listen to us, to hear our prayers. That's why we begin that way. And the reason that we do this is because we are in the courts of the King. The sermon this morning addressed the fact that this is a dress rehearsal for the Judgment Day. That is true. It is also an audience for the Lord to meet with His people, to dwell with them. that we might listen to him as his word is preached and that we might ask him to be with us. And we come with respect because of his kingship that he's exalted from on high in his great and almighty throne room, but greater than any earthly king because he is perfect, harmonious, whole, no variation of shadow due to change. And of course he reigns supremely, omniscient, omnipotent. knowing all things, ordaining all things. And so he's to be praised for his attributes, to be asked respectfully, to have a sense of gravity and weightiness as we come before God. Yes, he is also God or Abba Father, but we also have to keep in mind the other measure of that, God's sovereignty and the respect to which a king is owed. To that extent, he's called the Lord of Hosts. at the beginning of this. Give ear, O Lord of hosts, hear my prayer. Give ear, O God of Jacob, the Lord of heavenly armies, Lord Sabaoth, the Lord who commands those angels that come down to do his bidding. That much is said, and as the king of that army, he equips not only his angels, but those of us who are saints who are part of that kingdom, a kingdom of priests serving God our Father forever, we're part of God's spiritual army in a sense as well, His body, and so He comes to give us blessing, admonition, to give us many other things through His Word as we abide with Him. And as we looked at in my sermon last time, as He gives us all things in Christ, as in Christ we have all things, He satisfies our longing, our home, satisfies us with the sense that our longing's being fulfilled, a place of home and a place of strength. That's what he does for us, particularly in view of this psalm, as his courts are better than any other place. And so that's why we hail him with respect, because of all that he is, all that he does for us, but also he is called here the God of Jacob. You think of God of Jacob, If the Lord is our greatest place of provision, as we hail Him with respect, as we meet Him in His courts, I think of how He provided for Jacob in the wilderness. He promised that He would bless him and make of him a great nation on his way to meet up with Laban to work for him. And then also, as he even wrestled with God. Later on in the wilderness, God condescended in, many scholars say, the form of an angel to wrestle with Jacob, to meet with him. the God who is eminent with us, transcendent, yes, on the throne, but that the Holy Spirit who dwells within us and renews the face of the ground, transcendent and eminent, a God so great that He's on high and also dwells among us, a God so great who also dwells among us as we'll later see through Jesus Christ. And also, too, we also see the covenant blessing here in view of the God of Jacob, how God made a covenant with Jacob to bless him, but also we who are a spiritual people through Abraham. God has that same covenant blessing through us in the New Covenant, in the fulfillment there, so we've got to bear that in mind, too. We see God's kingship, His mightiness, His holiness, His great attributes, but His great presence with us is why we ask for an audience. Because we've seen, not only through His attributes to come with respect, but those who have asked for an audience with Him in the past, like Jacob. He's come down and He's granted that. And therefore, in light of that, we ask with that measure of respect. And we ask Him to hear, to give ear. Also, You think of Julius Caesar, friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. Well, this is a king who asked us to lend him his ears, and in turn, our ears, and in turn, we ask him to lend his ears to us. And we do so bowing down in adoration. You know, the Old Testament people like Nathan, even though he was a prophet, he bowed down before David as a gesture of respect. It says in the Psalms, let us bow down and kneel before God, our maker. That's what we are to do, in our hearts or literally, in our prayer closets, to come before God also in that way. So all of this, we look at God's attributes, but coming before Him, the psalmist gives a reason that God listens to us. Behold our shield, O God, look on the face of your anointed. Of course, this is a multivalent thing, beholding our shield, look on the face of your anointed. It's once messianic, but it refers also to the king of the nation. So I'll start with the king of the nation here. So appealing to the king of Israel because the king of Israel was like an extension of God's arm on earth. He dispensed the justice of God through the laws in the Old Testament that applied to that of the king. And yet also, he was seen as a representative of God on earth as well. He depicted the kingship of God. And that being said, you hear certain terms. You hear shield and anointed. Well, shield refers to the king's military might because unless we pray for the king, unless they prayed for the king back then, the one who restrained and conquered the earthly enemies of Israel, God's favor in some sense. Of course, God can work as He will. He doesn't need the agency of the king, but the idea is that you pray for the king so that God could protect Israel through him. And then also we have the anointed aspect here. We have, behold our Sheol, look on the face of your anointed. So the anointed king refers to the pouring of oil on the king's head. And it's a symbol of his being established with justice to rule and embody and exercise the power of God. So we see that. But yet this is also a prayer for the king in aspects of worship. The one is the king who protected the Lord's temple, protected by his armies. the place where God was met with. We see that. And so considering all of this, we ask you now by application, do you bow with respect before God, before praising Him, or are your prayers just merely perfunctory? Do you come with a reverent attitude, preparing your hearts for worship as we are called to do, before you gather here with this means of grace where the Word is preached? Do you strive to tune your heart, as one of the old hymns says? Because you are meeting in a place of formality. This is the court of the king. Never forget that. And then also, this prayer for the king, this prayer for King David. As many scholars say, this psalm was written in his time. This is actually a a foretelling of the Lord Jesus Christ. When it says, look on the face of your anointed, behold our shield, of course we know that King David pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ. So this psalm points to him. And so when we go before God with prayer, one of the things that I said, the reason that God hears us is because of the Lord Jesus Christ, because he's been anointed to be our Messiah, our Savior, And so we come to Him in His name and pray in the name of Jesus that He might listen and incline His ear to us as we know that He will. And, of course, He is the shield, the protector of our souls, and so we come to Him with respect. Do you trust that He will protect you, that as you're in His courts that you're in His grace and favor? And so now this takes us to our second main sub-point, and that is the Lord's worshiper prefers the courts of God to any other place. So verse 10, for a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. As I said earlier, we can have many earthly refreshments. We can go to the beach, we can go to ball games, we can do any number of things, but ultimately their quality diminishes, ultimately they cannot refresh us. They cannot be that stream of water welling up within us into eternal life. Only the Lord God can be that. And so we see here in this place, the place where the psalmist recognizes that as he's gone through this pilgrimage to the valley of Beqa previously, the place of sorrow, through difficulty, through trial, he sees that no matter what he goes through, all is a parched wilderness, and of course symbolizing journeying from perhaps Galilee into Jerusalem, passing through that valley, we see these things It's the anticipation of going to the one who can slake our thirst and knowing that only He has the words of eternal life. I think that was very timely in our sermon this morning. Lord, where else shall we go? Only you have the words of eternal life. And so knowing that, he says, a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. No other place he's rather be. And then he said, I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. It's interesting here, not only does he see that only the Lord God can slake his thirst in this psalm to give him water where he'll never thirst again, but he also sees the great degree that having had the difficulties of sin and trial in his life, perhaps he's reflecting on a season of sin. Perhaps the sons of Korah they're saying here were maybe giving heed to what David went through. Perhaps when he felt emptiness, dwelling in a place of wickedness when he had backslidden. He knew that only God could give him fulfillment, only God could renew his soul. And he knew how futile and empty the ways of sin were, because perhaps he had been there. We know he had been there if this refers, in fact, to David. And having gone through a season of backsliding, having gone through a season of difficulty, He knows that he would rather dwell on the threshold of God's house. That's what's in view here. I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God. It entails not even going into the inner courts, but just standing outside and looking in. He knows that's much better than feasting on emptiness, on being filled with yourself rather than being filled with God. I'm being filled with idols that are dumb and mute that cannot speak, and those who make those idols are like them. wooden is what we become in sin. And it's a sense of humility that if we are poor in spirit, ours is the kingdom of heaven, that to exercise that lowly place, content to occupy a little space, if thou be glorified, as the hymn by Anna Waring said. That's what's in mind here. And my question for you is, does that characterize you? Are you content to be in a little space if God be glorified? Do you love God so much that to sin in the least way, to depart in any kind of course of wickedness grieves you to the point where all is empty? Or are you feasting upon dregs and living like a waterless spring, like those that do not know Jesus Christ? Are you satisfied with filth and awful? I pray that's not the case for you. I pray that you are satisfied, not with the filth of sin, but you know the goodness of Jesus Christ that transcends any wicked way. and that you've asked him to lead you in the way everlasting, and if not, you can ask that tonight, because this psalm points to the Lord Jesus Christ. You look at Psalm 16.2, I have no good apart from you. That's what's said of God, and Jesus says, come unto me, all you who labor, who are weary and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. That's what he says. To know that no place is better than God's courts for the Christian is to know that no place is better than to be at the feet of Jesus Christ, like Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus. There's a place for service, but there's also a place to bask and to sit in God's courts, and that is what is in view here. There's a place to bask and sit at the Lord's feet, to serve, but also to recognize not to puff yourself up, but to come and humble yourself that the Lord may exalt you in due time as you feed on Him, and then He uses us to serve. And so my question also for you is, not only do you prefer the Lord Himself in His presence, but do you long for Sunday worship to the point where you look at it as a place to find refreshment, a feasting on God's word or rejoicing as David went to that temple dancing before God. I know not every Sunday can be like that. I know we're often tired. Some Sundays you get out of bed. But even if you're tired, do you find some refreshment? We go through different energies at different days. But does that characterize your heart? And if so, if not, the Lord can refresh you. If maybe that was you of yesteryear, He can bring that renewal that you say no day is better than in His courts. And now we go to our third made some point, and that is the Lord's worshiper trusts the provision and goodness of God in verses 11 and 12. And so the bottom line is that since we've seen that only God satisfies and that He is a dispenser of power and of great goodness, that since only God satisfies, we know that the Lord's worshiper can trust His provision for that satisfaction. Since we know all these great attributes of Him and our experience with God, we can trust His provision for that satisfaction. And the first reason is that it says in verse 11, the Lord God is a sun and a shield. He's a sun. He's called the psalmist light in Psalm 27. In other words, He dispenses in His radiance, not only His goodness, justice, and truth, but light for our paths. Light in terms of excellence and character, but also light in terms of directing us to the Scriptures. In that way, He is a sun. He also enlivens us and gives us spiritual nourishment, like a sun shines from above and enables the plants to have photosynthesis. That's what God does for us. He enables us to have spiritual photosynthesis. And he's also a shield. That's a reference to God's kingly protection. I've already touched on that chiefly earlier when I was referring to the messianic looking forward to Jesus as the king was prayed for, but it's worthy to be said again. If something's reiterated in the Psalms, that's because they want us to take note that we are protected in God's courts. Nothing in God's Word, if it's repetitive, it's only because we think it that way. for purpose and holy, perfect, inspired intent. And so let's just mention that again. And as a shield, one of the things I could have treated earlier, and I will say now, He protects our going in and coming out. He is the shade at our right hand. And also as a shield, as the King, you notice right there in Acts in verse 11, He's a shield. It says He bestows favor and honor. Those in the Lord's army who carried the shields given by the king, that was not only a favor to hold that shield, but it was a sense of honor, and so He gives us the armor of God through His Word. We hold that shield, and that's an honor and a privilege to have. If you think of it that way, if you think of it with the depths of those metaphors, And in bestowing favor and honor, let's take a little bit more about that as the king who is a sun and a shield, what he bestows by virtue of that. So that word favor is tied to grace. It's tied to that undeserved favor. We're here with dead and sins and trespasses. Has God justified us by faith through Christ? That's what we see here. Ezekiel, the child wallowing in its blood that God raised down and cleaned up and decorated with a robe and radiance and a ring on her finger, but also God's treasured possession as we are, a royal priesthood. We trust His provision to be good. And that being said, bestowing honor and favor, we also see in verse 11, no good thing does God withhold from those who walk uprightly. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. And so in his provision, we know that we can trust him in his protection. He's our shepherd that we will not want. But it does have a condition here. Those who walk uprightly, what does that mean? Well, it means just what it says. Those who walk in moral excellence, who strive after the Lord's ways, or perhaps a word better than moral, in faithfulness, in love to God. Of course, we also know that any true believer knows that we cannot walk perfectly. We can strive by the Lord's grace as He enables us, only as He enables us, only as He enables us, but also that our hearts are made right with God, uprightness in the sense that we trust the Lord's grace and favor with a soft heart renewed by His Holy Spirit, a heart that delights in the Lord. We walk uprightly because He is our righteousness. and from that righteousness we honor Him and love Him and obey His commandments. And that being said, no good thing does He withhold from those uprightly. It has the connotation of delight yourself in the Lord and He will grant you the desires of your heart. That He will do. Honor Him in all your ways and He will make your path straight, withholding no good thing from us, not that He's not going to give us, as Jesus said, a scorpion or a snake if we ask for a cup of water. But also, too, there's another aspect of this. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. There is a sense in which even the believer were made upright by God through Jesus Christ, by grace through faith. There is a sense, and we can watch, walking backsliding and disobedience. And as James chapter four says, we might not receive the things that we ask for because we ask wrongly that we may spend it on our lust and our pleasures and we feud and war. Of course, God does treat us better than we deserve. There's not always an inverse relationship, but sometimes He may withhold things from us in His fatherly discipline due to our sins as He gives us grace to seek Him for repentance, that we might seek His face anew and seek Him and not have the things that we desire as idols. Yes, in some cases He does withhold. Sometimes his answer is yes and right away. Sometimes it's wait for it. Sometimes it is no because that thing will be harmful for us. So if you hear no good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly, we keep in mind that the beginning, that the God is the king, that he is a sovereign. We have to keep that in mind, that he withholds no good thing. From his perspective, he is the center of the universe. He gets the glory. We're his children. We are but his servants. He is the father. We are the children, but he provides. for that which is good for us. And ultimately, we see here that Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you. Blessed, it refers like to the Sermon on the Mount, the state of joy, spiritual joy, benevolence, peace, shalom, well-being. We're blessed if we trust in him because we're not tossed to and fro like a ship on a sea. We keep the course steady as we trust in Him through many waverings, through many ups and downs. Maybe like Peter, we sink a bit for a season, but we're blessed as we know we have His hand, His kingly hand to reach out from on high and take hold of us and sustain us. That we know. And we can have confidence and reliance upon God to empty ourselves of our trust in ourselves For when we are weak, then we are strong. We go from strength to strength, as this psalm says. We advance still because we know that God is our joy and sorrow, our strength and weakness. That's what's in view here. And ultimately, this goes to the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, because all of this goodness, all of this blessing and favor ultimately points to Him. The Son of God, but also a Son. In Revelation, we see light emanating from His being as He walks among the golden lampstands. Even lampstands are light. We see Him riding forward in victory, whose name is faithful and true. And also one in whose, as John reclined on his bosom, in whose heart we can recline, with whose Holy Spirit we can recline and find goodness. and protection and a place of well-being, a place of quietness and trust as our strength. And so do you hearken to Christ? Do you go to him in a trusting, restful spirit, knowing that he provides? Or are you just frenetic and dashing to and fro, not trusting him, driving yourself up a wall, anxious? And in this time of coronavirus, when things are so up and crazy, Seemingly crazy, of course, God's in control. This has special meaning for us. And I think that the Lord God being our rest and our Sabbath, because that's the king provided for the benevolence of the land, that's what the Lord Jesus does for us. And ultimately, he protects us from the wrath of God. He satisfies the justice of God and makes us right with God. He protects us in that way, in the ultimate way, the gift of salvation. And so we see here in this psalm that the trust that God gives us in His provision prompts us to seek an audience with Him and to prefer God's courts above any other place. And so that being said, looking to Christ, if you do not know Him, today is your day. It says that those who trust in Him will never be put to shame. Also, those who trust will not panic. They know the provision of His shed blood, and asking Him to forgive you of your sins, trusting Him by faith, by His shed blood to wash your sins away. You know that provision, and you inherit a great inheritance as you repent of your sins, turn from your mistrust, turn from your satisfaction in things that are but awful. compared to the goodness of the Lord, turning from those things and turning to Him to find your great fulfillment, to find peace of soul, to find the greatest place, my friends, of provision and goodness. And so perhaps you've turned to the Lord Jesus Christ and asked Him to forgive you and trusted Him by faith for your salvation, but maybe you're in a place tonight of where you're just not feeling like you have a place of home. maybe with the isolation and the distance, maybe just through the extra challenges and trials that beset you, maybe you've doubted God's goodness and provision, which many have. It's been a place, I know the trials that some in this church have faced, whether it's marital trials or any others, you just feel like that God's goodness and provision is a distant memory. Well, my friends, I want you to remember this particular evening that it is not a distant memory, that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and that's said about the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want you to know and take some comfort this evening that he can and will refresh you as you repent that times of refreshment may come from him and that he will be your provider of goodness whether you feel that victory right now or not. He's still there with you just as faithful and his courts are just the same place of nourishment as they always have been, but more so with the fullness of the Holy Spirit that we have through salvation in Jesus Christ. And I want to leave you with that hopeful note this evening. not to give up, but to know that your King still cares and provides and sustains you. Let's give all praise to King Jesus this evening as we close in prayer. Lord God, thank you so much.