Psalm 84

0:00 Good morning. Good morning. It is so good to see everyone this morning. It is a privilege and honor for me to bring the Word of God to us at 3rd Avenue this morning. I want to express my gratitude to the elders for extending this invitation to preach. Would you go to the Lord with me one more time in prayer before we begin? Lord, we pray that you would open our eyes. that we would see wonderful things in Psalm 84.

0:34 We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. A few years ago, my best friend, Brian Green, made a trip to Alabama. He was going to meet his family in Fort Morgan for a short vacation. And he did what most of us do. He followed Apple Maps. Now, when he was almost there to the destination, he was a little puzzled why Siri would take him near the beach. He followed the direction anyway, and finally Siri spoke up and said, get out of the car and proceed to a boat.

1:11 And Brian said, I don't have a boat. So Brian was completely unaware that Siri was taking him to Dauphin Island, which is on the opposite side of Fort Morgan, And what's between Dauphin Island and Fort Morgan? Water, H2O. He was only four miles, four miles from the final destination if he has a boat. But he didn't. And so what ended up happening is that he had to drive around, make a complete detour around the Mobile Bay.

1:44 And so a journey of four miles turned out to be a journey of 108 miles. All because Siri thought he was ready to cross the water. All because Thierry thought he was, see, he had a boat. Now as Christians, all of us are also on a journey. We are on a trip, a pilgrimage to the new Jerusalem, the new heaven and new earth. That is our ultimate and final destination.

2:15 It is a journey by faith that will become site when the Lord Jesus returns or when we die. But until that great day, God has given us glimpses of that great city in the church, especially on Sunday mornings. So each Sunday that we arrive at the church is one Sunday closer to that ultimate destination. Of course, we don't need a boat to get to church or to the New Jerusalem. I hope not. I hope I don't have a boat.

2:46 But what do we need? Have you thought about that? What do we need to do to be prepared for the journey? Well, in Psalm 84, we'll find great help for our journey. So if you have a Bible, turn with me to Psalm 84. If you use a red pill Bible, it is on page 493. Now, with the book of Psalms, if you just can't open it to the middle, you will land on Psalms. If you do that and you end up on 1 Corinthians or something, then it means you have a New Testament-only Bible.

3:19 And so you need to get yourself a real Bible there. So when you get there, turn your Bible to page 493. When you get there, you're going to see a big number on the left column. Let's say 84. Everyone see that? 84. And next to that number, you will see three lines, all in capital letters. It said, to the choir master, according to the Gittith, a psalm of the sons of Korah.

3:50 So this is what we call a superscription. Superscription, it comes from the Latin meaning written above. Above what? Above Psalm 84. It's written above Psalm 84. And there are three pieces of information that we can learn from this superscription. So look with me again at the superscription. First, the first thing we learn is that the psalm was intended to be sung. It is given to, it is handed to the choir master. Secondly, we also learn about the tune of the psalm.

4:21 It said, according to the gittis. Now, we are not sure what the tune sounds like. We don't even know what the word means. And people need to write their dissertation on something. So, maybe you can write your dissertation on the meaning of gittis in the Old Testament. How about that? Well, I do have a theory. I want to share my theory with you. I think Gittes is an old spelling for the Gettys. So this foreshadows the Gettys. Well, my major is New Testament, sorry. Well, third thing, the third thing that we learn is that we learn something about the composers.

4:56 Look at their superscription again. It said, a psalm of the sons of Korah. And they were the worship leaders in the Old Testament. They were the songwriters in the Old Testament. And you can read more about them in the book of Numbers. So, now for simplicity, for the rest of the time, I'm just going to refer to the author as the psalmist. So that's all there is for the superscription. Now let's read the psalm. Psalm 84, beginning on page 493. How lovely is your traveling place, O Lord of hosts!

5:32 My soul longs yet faints for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh sing for joy. to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise, say that. Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.

6:06 As they go through the valley of Baca, They make it a place of springs. The early rain also covers it with pools. They go from strain to strain. Each one appears before God in Zion. O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer. Give ear, O God of Jacob. Sailor, behold our shield, O God. Look on the face of your anointed for a day in your courts. It's better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

6:43 For the Lord God is a son and shield. The Lord bestows favor and honor. No good things that he withholds from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you. We look at this psalm in three parts. In verses 1 to 4, we see the preparation for the journey. In verses 5 through 9, we see the beginning of the journey. And then in verses 10 to 12, we see the destination for the journey.

7:14 So preparation for the journey in verses 1 through 4. Verses 5 through 9, the beginning of the journey. And then lastly, verses 10 to 12, the destination of the journey. Preparation, beginning, and destination. So join me in the journey into Psalm 84. First, let's talk about the preparation for the journey. In verses 1 through 4, let me read the first four verses again. Look again with me at the first four verses. How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts.

7:45 My soul longs yet faints for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home and a swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young. At your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God, Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise, sailor. So in the first four verses, we see the preparation for the journey. And the journey begins with a desire, a desire.

8:17 And it is an intensive and explosive desire. Look at all the verbs that describe the desire in verse 2. Look again in verse 2. My soul longs, and then keep reading, yes, faints. My heart and my flesh sing for joy. But for what? What is it that the psalmist is longing, fainting, and crying out for? Look again with me through the first four verses. In verse 1, he mentions God's dwelling place. Everyone see that? And then in verse 2, in the second line, he mentions the courts of the Lord.

8:51 And then in verse 3, look at the fourth line. He mentions the altars. And then in verse 4, the first line, he mentioned God's house. So what does he have in mind here? What do you think? What place has a court, an altar, and a house? Well, it's the temple. It's the temple. It's God's house and dwelling place in Jerusalem. That's what the psalmist is longing, fainting, and crying out for. Now in verse 3, he gives us an illustration for his intense desire and journey.

9:23 Look at that. Look at verse 3 again. Even the sparrow finds her home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. I think the psalmist must have been a bird watcher, because in verse 2, we see two kinds of birds, swallows and sparrows. Swallows and sparrows, both are just ordinary birds. They're just everywhere. There's nothing special about them. You won't find them in PetSmart or Petco.

9:55 There's nothing valuable. They're not that valuable. But guess where they get to live? Guess where they get to live? They both found a home and a nest. Where? Look at verse 3. Look at verse 3. The fourth line. At your altars. At your altars. Now the preposition at could be better translated near. So the birds find a nest and a home near the altars. Not at the altars. Well, think about that. What do you do at the altars? You burn sacrifices. You burn incense.

10:27 So if the birds make a nest at the altar, they'll get smoked, right? They'll get burned. They'll get barbecued. So I think, right? So I think common sense here, but near is better. The birds make a home and a nest near the altar. And the point here is that these birds get to live in close proximity to the temple. Or to put it in our language, they live near church. They get to go to church every day.

10:58 How about that? So the psalmist envies the birds. He longs to be in the house of God. In fact, he considers those who dwell there blessed. Look at the beginning of verse 4. Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise. And that same word, blessed, also occurs two other times in the rest of the psalm. We see it in verse 5 and in verse 12. You see, the psalmist loves God's dwelling place. He considered a lovely place.

11:31 Listen again to his testimony in verse 1. Look at verse 1. How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts. But you know why? Why does he feel that way? What makes God's dwelling place lovely to him? Because God is there. Because God is there. He longs for the house of God because the God of the house is actually in the house. Of course, God is everywhere. He is omnipresent, but he manifests his presence in special ways and in special places like the temple in Jerusalem back then.

12:06 So the psalmist is really longing for God. Look at verse 2. Look at the last two lines in verse 2. My heart and my flesh sing for joy. To whom? To the living God. God wants to worship God there. He loves God's traveling place. It's lovely for him. So let me pause and ask us this. What are your lovely places? What are your lovely places? What comes to your mind? Take a few minutes and actually a few seconds. I don't have that much time.

12:36 Take a few seconds and think about that. Take a few seconds. Make a mental list of all the places you want to go. It shouldn't be too hard, right? So what are they? What are they? Is it the KFC Yum Center? Is it the Kroger's Field, Rupp Arena, Churchill's Down, Lynn Family Stadium, Chuck E. Cheese, Kentucky Kingdom, King Island, Youth Camps in two weeks. And apparently from my research, the Holland House in Nace Holland is a favorite destination for the youth.

13:11 How about that? Very interesting and fascinating. Well, for my wife Kelsey, it's TJ Maxx. For me, it's Christian book note. I love going to that place. So what are your lovely places? By the way, does 1726 South 3rd Street make it on your list? Does it ring any bell? Some of you are like, what's that? Or some of you try to put in the address right now. You're here. You're here already. It's the church's address. You are there already. So does 3rd Avenue Baptist Church make it on your list?

13:44 It should. It should. it should brothers and sisters as members of this congregation we should be able to say this is the lovely place on Sunday morning this is the loveliest place on Sunday mornings I mean where else do you want to be on the lost day but to be in the lost house worshiping the Lord singing, praising the Lord and hearing from the Lord how lovely is 3 ABC how lovely is 3rd Avenue brothers and sisters worshiping the Lord should be our thought priority, it should be our best thought and our forethought, not afterthought or second thought. Now, I know in the summer, many of us will travel, will be out of town, so sometimes we will miss church, but there's one question that we all can ask to see whether we prioritize worship and to see whether we desire the Lord. Ask yourself this question, when I miss church on Sunday, do I miss church? When I miss church on Sunday, do I miss church? If we miss

14:52 church and don't really miss church, then we really need to invite the Lord, the great physician, to do some serious spiritual surgeries in our hearts. Because when we miss church, we should miss church. When we miss church, we should miss the church. Now some of us may wonder, well, I'm not really going anywhere. And this summer I'll be here. I'll stay in Louisville. But sometimes I don't feel like going to church. Sometimes I don't feel like going. So what should I do? I think that's a great question. And the best advice given to me by one of my professors is, by the way, I do reference my professors a lot when I teach and preach because I learn a great deal from them.

15:33 So if you're interested in this kind of education, go to sbts.edu or boyscollege.com. So that's it for the commercial. But what is the advice? The advice given to me was go anyways. Yeah, talk to me, John. Go anyways. That's right. Go anyways. When you don't feel like going to church, that's the time you need the church the most.

16:05 So go anyway, pick up the phone, call someone, text someone, FaceTime someone, tell them, come pick me up, come get me, come get me. When you don't feel like going to church, that's the time that you are most vulnerable and you need the church the most. And you know, we need to make this type of decision in advance, right now. So that when you don't feel like going to church, maybe next Sunday you wake up and you don't feel like it, you don't have to decide in the moment. Make this decision right now, right here, because Sunday worship shouldn't be a Sunday morning decision.

16:38 We need to make the decision in advance, right now, beforehand, that we will come to worship the Lord on Sundays, no matter what. Of course, if the Lord returns, then we're all going to have an excuse absence. But until then, we need to prioritize and desire worship. And the reality is only a regenerate and redeemed heart would desire to worship God. Because the scripture reminds us that the natural man does not accept or desire the things of God.

17:13 Why? Because it is folly to him. The unnatural, the unredeemed, the unsafe, the unregenerated person, they don't like the things of God. In fact, the world would look at what we are doing right now and say, what a wasted Sunday. What a wasted Sunday morning. And then when we come back for the evening service, they would look at it and say, what a wasted Sunday evening. What a wasted weekend. Oh, we need the Holy Spirit to awaken and strengthen our love for God, our love for Christ, and our love for his church. So, so far in verses 1 to 4, we see how the psalmist longs to come to the temple to worship God.

17:50 That's the proper preparation for the journey. It begins from within. It begins in the heart. It comes from within. It begins with a desire. Long before it gets to the feet, it begins in the heart first. Now, take a quick peek at verse 5. Look at the second half of verse 5. In whose heart, you see, that's where it starts. In whose heart are the highways to Zion. So now that his heart is prepared, it won't take him long to get going.

18:22 And in fact, in verses 5 through 9, we're going to see the beginning of the journey. And that's our second point, the beginning of the journey in verses 5 through 9. Read it again with me, verses 5 through 9. Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. As they go to the valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs. The early rain also covers it with pools. They go from stream to stream. Each one appears before God in Zion.

18:54 O Lord, God of hosts, hear my prayer. Give ear, O God of Jacob, say that. Behold, I'll see you, O Lord. Look on the face of your anointed. So where are they going? To Zion, which is another name for Jerusalem back then. You see, Zion is mentioned in verse 5 and then in verse 7. And we learned that the journey to Zion is not easy. In fact, there are two things that I want to highlight about this journey.

19:29 First, it is a difficult journey. We see it in verses 5 through 7. It is a difficult journey. It is not a straight path. It is not a smooth path. The way to Zion is going to be through a valley. Look at verse 6. As they go through the valley of Baca. Now, if I can have it my way, like Burger King say, which is not the best theology, but if I can have it my way, you know what I would do? I would book a non-stop, one-way ticket, fly over the valley, and forget about it.

20:01 That would have been my preference. But our itinerary requires passing through a valley. And according to verse 6, look at the first line, it is the valley of Baca, valley of Baca. And the precise meaning of the word Baca is unknown. It probably means weeping. So this is the Weeping Valley or the Valley of Weeping. And in all likelihood, it's not a physical place as it is a spiritual place. In fact, no one has ever discovered the Valley of Baca.

20:33 It is totally unknown to archaeologists. So if you ever find Baca, let me know, email me, and I'll forward it to Greg or Max Stiles so that they can add it to their Middle East tour next year or something like that. so this is the valley of weeping the weeping valley and guess what all of us will go through baka all of us will go through the valley some of us are in there right now some of us are dealing with leukemia some of us are suffering with chronic pains lamb diseases mono Parkinson. Some of us are going through multiple surgeries. Some of us just have miscarriages, failed adoptions. Some of us have lost jobs, houses, apartments, and loved ones. I mean,

21:35 we just lost our sister Melody Abel last week after her two years battle with cancer. The journey to Sunday morning and ultimately to the new creation is going to be filled with tears and full of tears. We all will go through Baca. But the good news is we don't have to go through Baca alone. We don't have to do it by ourselves. We don't need to build ourselves up by our own bootstraps.

22:07 The good news is God gives strength. God gives strength. Look at verse 5. Blessed are those whose strength is in you. In you. Not in themselves. They won't make it. They need God's strength. Look again at verse 7. They go from strength to strength. Did you catch how many times the word strength appears in verses 5 through 7? Count it with me. Look at verse 5. Blessed are those whose strength is in you. And then now look at verse 7. They go from strength to strength.

22:39 So strength, strength, strength. Three times. Well, I think he's making a strong point, don't you think? Some of you will get it later. This is not ordinary strength. Just pause a moment and think about how odd that phrase is. They go from what? Strength to strength. Now, there are several people in our home groups who participated in the marathons before the derbies. And I can guarantee, if you look at them before they start the race and when they finish, I guarantee they did not go from strength to strength.

23:15 They go from strength to weakness, strength to exhaustion, strength to weariness. Let me see how odd that phrase is, from strength to strength. What kind of strength are we talking about here? But the fact that God's people can go from strength to strength tells us this is supernatural, supernatural strength that we are talking about here. Yes, supernatural strength in the valley. And Paul says something similar in 2 Corinthians 3, verse 18, that he said, as we gaze into the glory of Christ and look into his wonderful face, we will be transformed from one degree of glory to another.

23:57 So they go from strength to strength, from glory to glory. Do you feel weak, exhausted, discouraged? No matter where you are on this journey through Baca, whether you're in the beginning of it, the middle of it, or at the end of it, brothers and sisters, turn to God in your weakness. Turn to Jesus in your weakness. Did you know that our God talks in the valley? He answers prayers in the valley. So call out to him, ask him for his supernatural strength, and he will give it to you.

24:33 He said he will. In fact, look at what God's strength can do for you. Look at verse 6. Look at the second line at verse 6. Verse 6 said, As they go through the valley of Baca, hear this, they make it a place of springs. The early rain also covers it with pools. What a beautiful image that we have here. The negative image of tears now gives way to the positive image of springs and rains. So the salty tears are now transformed into fresh spring waters. So what do we know about the valley so far?

25:11 Yes, it is a place of weeping but it is also a place of transformation. There's no transformation without the valley. You know in college sports these days there's a phenomenon called the transfer portal and the transfer portal has really changed the nature of college sport because before this, it was hard for players to transfer from school to school. But now, if they do that, they may lose a year of eligibility or things like that. It was difficult for them to transfer.

25:43 But now with the transfer portal, they go anywhere they want. Pretty much no restriction, no penalty. So if things are going hard with his team, you know what they do? They'll put their name in the transfer portal. If things are not going the way they like, they'll enter the transfer portal, they quit. But that's not how it works in the economy and purpose of God. That's not God's game plan. He doesn't want us to quit the journey through the valley. We don't need, as Christians, we don't need to enter the transfer portal because what the Lord has for us is so much better.

26:16 He has a transformed portal for each one of us. And guess where it is? Right here, right now, in the valley. in Baca. If we stay there, when we go through the valley by the grace of God, we will make it a place of springs. So as we embark on this difficult journey, don't be discouraged. Stay in God's transformed portal. Stay close to him. He will work together all tears for our good. So, so far we see that the journey is difficult. But not only that, the journey is also very dangerous. We get hints of it throughout the psalm, including verses 8 and 9. The journey is dangerous. Now, in these two verses, 8 and 9, we see the psalmist's prayer on behalf of the king.

27:06 Why? Well, because if the king is in trouble, the nation will be in turmoil, and that would disrupt worship. Now, think about how difficult it is and dangerous it is to worship during wartime. Listen to his prayer. 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. Now by the ways that the psalmist invokes and calls on the name of God, we can tell that the king and the nation is probably in some kind of danger.

27:42 Let me draw your attention to four ways that the psalmist refers to God in these verses and throughout the psalm. four ways that he refers to God. First, he calls God Lord of hosts. You see it four times. You see it in verse 1, verse 3, verse 8, and verse 12. Now you say, okay, I've heard of Lord of the Flies. I've heard of Lord of the Rings. What is Lord of hosts? Does he mean he's over the internet or something like that? Well, that would be true, but that would be right doctrine from the wrong text.

28:16 Lord of hosts basically means Lord of armies. Lord of armies. In other words, he got back up from heaven. And why would you call on heaven's help if there's nothing wrong on earth? So clearly they are in some kind of danger here. The people and the king are in some kind of danger. So secondly, he calls God king. We see it in verse 3. And in the Old Testament and in the ancient times, a king wages war. He is the commander-in-chief. And third, God is referred to as sun and shield.

28:51 So I just combine them together. Look at verse 11. He is sun and shield. Again, this image conveys the idea of direction and protection. And why would you need direction and protection if there's no danger? You see, they are in some kind of danger here. Fourth and lastly, God is called the God of Jacob. Now, why would he bring back Jake here? I mean, I've been reading the Bible for a while, so I feel like I know Jacob. so I call him Jake. So why would he bring back Jake here? Well, Jacob is the founder of the people.

29:22 He's the founder of Israel. So the psalmist is calling God to remember his promises, to protect his own people, to protect his own nation, to protect his own king. So Lord of armies, king, son and shield, and God of Jacob, these four descriptions or titles tell us that the king, the nation, and the people are probably in some kind of danger. So they call on the Lord to protect them. So far we see the preparation for the journey which begins in the heart in verses 1 to 4.

29:56 Then we look at the beginning of the journey in verses 5 through 9 and we learn that the journey is both difficult and dangerous. Well, how would it turn out? How would it end? Let's find out in verses 10 and 12 and that leads us to our last point, the third point, the destination of the journey. in verses 10 to 12. Read with me in verses 10 to 12. For a day in your court 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.

30:32 For the Lord God is a son and shield. The Lord bestowed favor and honor. No good things does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, Blessed is the one who trusts in you. So finally, the psalmist reaches his destination. It is as if we can hear his GPS saying, Arrive at your destination. And look at where they are. Look at verse 10. Look at the first half of verse 10. Your courts. Look at verse 10 again.

31:02 But in the third line, he mentioned the house of my God. So where's he at? He's at the temple. He's at the temple. So the strength that the Lord gives him, enable him to complete the journey. Now the big question is, was it worth it? Was it worth it to go through Baca? And the answer is C, Spanish for yes. So the same answer is yes. In fact, at the end of verse 12, look at what he does. He pronounced a blessing on people who take the journey.

31:33 He said, blessed is the one who trusts in you. And if they trust in the Lord, they will undertake that journey. So for the rest of our time, I want us to focus on verses 10 and 11, verses 10 and 11. And here we find out two reasons why the journey is worth taking. And you can see verse 1, I mean verse 10 and verse 11, each of them begins with the word for, because, so he unpacking the reason why the journey is worth taking. Look first in verse 10, the first reason the journey is worth taking is because God's place is superior. God's place is better.

32:12 Look at verse 10 again. For a day in your court 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. Now this is probably one of the most well-known verse in the psalm. It was put into music in the late 90s and you know how the song goes. I know you've been dying to sing it. You know how it goes. Better is one day in your court. Better is one day in your house. Better is one day in your court than There we go. There we go.

32:47 Terry, why don't we sing this after the service? Now there are four contrasts that I want us to highlight for us in verse 10. Four contrasts that highlight the superiority of God's place in verse 10. So put on your detective glasses and look with me. First contrast, notice the contrast between tents and house. Tents and house. Tents are not permanent. People who live in tents are constantly on the move.

33:21 So in a sense, it's unstable. There's no place to anchor. And that's how the world operates. It keeps moving from one thing to another, from one thing to another, without a moral compass. A house is different, it's permanent, it's stable, it's anchored. So, tents and house. Secondly, look at the ownership of these two places. Look at the ownerships. The tents here are called the tents of wickedness.

33:53 In other words, it is possessed by the wicked. The wicked holds the key to the tents. And it is also a fitting description of the lifestyle of people who live in the tents. In contrast, the house here is called the house of my God. By putting the personal possessive pronoun my there, the psalmist is making it clear where he stands, where he identifies. He identifies with God, not the wicked. Thirdly, pay attention to the singular and the plural contrast here.

34:27 It is house, singular, versus tense, plural. House and tense. The psalmist finds his satisfaction and joy in the one house as opposed to the many tense. Now mathematically speaking, between the one and the many, which one is larger? Many, right? Many. But in this equation, he's saying the one is actually better than the many. Well, how so? How could it be? We'll get to the answer in a little bit.

34:59 But look at me at the final and the fourth contrast. This is another contrast between the singular and the plural. Look again in verse 10. We have one day and a thousand, presumably, days. So one day and a thousand days. Again, mathematically speaking, between one and a thousand, which one is bigger? A thousand, a thousand. But here is the reverse. You see, in his own calculation, one day is better than a thousand days.

35:31 How so? How come? One day is better than a thousand days because God is in the one and not in the thousands. For the psalmist, quality time with God is better than quantity time with the wicked. Similarly, one house is better than many tens because God is in the one house and not in the many tens. One day with God is better, it is superior, is it greater than a thousand days chasing the things of the world.

36:03 So which place is better? Which place is superior to you? Maybe you're here and you're not a Christian. Maybe you find the tense of this world more appealing than the house of God. And to be frank, the world does have a lot to offer. But it will never deliver. It will leave you broken, exhausted, and empty. So come to Jesus. Put your faith and trust in Him. Repent of your sin. Only He can save you.

36:34 Only He can satisfy you. And only He can set your feet on the most exciting journey in life. The journey to abundant, everlasting, and eternal life with Him. So put your faith in Jesus and have life. The psalmist is very content with God. He feels at home in the temple. Why? Because God is there. And that's where home is. Home is where God is. Home is where God is. Listen again to his testimony in verse 10.

37:07 Look at the third line. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. Think about that for a moment. What does a doorkeeper do in the temple? Well, he's basically like a janitor. a janitor. You know, he cleaned the temples. There's nothing special about this job. And I cannot help when I read this verse, but the thing about our sister Melody Abel, she was the janitor and she always cleaned the church with big joy, with the biggest smile on her face. And so I just keep thinking about her as I read this verse. But notice that this is an ordinary job, nothing special about it, but the psalmist would rather choose this job than any other jobs. That's what he said. Why? Because it brings him into close proximity to God. Now, I suspect that many of us will not be in the same room for the next three years, six years, or nine years. We'll move.

38:10 We'll get married and move. Some of you will head off to school somewhere else. Some of you will take a job or a promotion and move, and that is just part of life. But here's one way that we can apply the wisdom of Psalm 84 verse 10. When you move, ask yourself, will this place bring me into proximity to God? Will this job, will this promotion, will this offer, will this education, will this ministry bring me into close proximity to God? Will it help or will it hinder my worship of God. Ask yourself those questions.

38:49 And I want to suggest one more thing. Maybe before we move or decide on moving, we should find a good church first. We should find a good church. And let's get this straight. A good church is better than a good job. A good church is better than a good school. A good church is superior. Why? Because I can handle a bad job if I have a good church. I can have a, yeah. So prioritize God and worship God. Put Him first.

39:21 So the first reason why the journey is worth taking is because God's place is superior. It is greater. It is better. Now let's look at the second reason why the journey is worth taking. It is because God's grace is sufficient. God's grace is sufficient. He gives us grace for the journey. look at verse 11 for the Lord God is a son and shield the Lord bestows favor and honor no good things does he withhold from those who walk uprightly that God is a son and shield means he directs and he protects us now much of the verse is pretty much self-explanatory but I want to briefly try your attention to the last two lies in verse 11 look at it no good things does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.

40:15 Now in Hebrew, this is one way to show emphasis. Instead of stating everything in a positive way, you state it in the negative. And so instead of saying the Lord gives us everything, He said the Lord withholds no good things. And the point is to highlight God's generosity that He gives without reproach, that He gives without hesitation, that He gives freely, that He gives without fighting fault. If we ask in faith, He will give us everything we need for the journey ahead.

40:47 But what's the condition? An upright walk. No good things that he withholds from those who walk uprightly. Not a crooked walk because that would lead us to the tents of the wicked. This morning we've looked at Psalm 84 and it is really a pilgrim psalm. It talks about the pilgrimage to the temple in Jerusalem. We look at the psalm in three parts. We look at the preparation for the journey in verses 1 to 4. We look at the beginning of the journey in verses 5 through 9.

41:20 And we look at the destination of the journey in verses 10 to 12. Like the psalmist, we Christians, those who repented of our sin and put our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, we all are also on a journey to the new heavenly Jerusalem. And every week, we make a weekly stop at a local church, which prepares us for life in the new Jerusalem. And at the church, we get glimpses of that great city on each Sunday.

41:52 So let's remember this. If the church is not sweet to us now, the new Jerusalem will not be sweet to us. But if the church is sweet to us now, the new heaven and new earth will be even sweeter. it will be even sweeter when we've been there 10,000 years bright shining at the sun with no less day to sing God's praise than when we first begun our sister Melody Abel has been there for more than 7 days and one day we'll be there too and guess what we'll be there for more than 7 days We'll be there for even more than a thousand years.

42:41 We'll be there for all eternity. But that journey that ends up in eternity starts right now. So may God, may his spirit give us the grace to complete this journey. You know, there are different highways in Louisville. And that's one thing that I had to learn when I learned how to drive. It just drives me crazy when I had to figure out which highways I'm on. And one of the highways is called the Gene Snyder, the Gene Snyder Freeway. And if you don't use that highway on Sunday, you probably use it at some points during the week.

43:16 Did you know that it is also called I-265 or Kentucky 84-1, KY 84-1? And that's the number I want us to remember, 84-1. That reminds us of the first verse in this psalm, how lovely it is, your dwelling place. O Lord of hosts so here's what I want us to do whenever we get on the highway or get on any highway just remember KY 84.1 or better Psalm 84.1 84.1 how lovely is your traveling place and just remind yourself that yes it is worth the journey there it is worth the journey because God is worth the journey there he is worthy of our worship let's pray with me Father, thank you for your word.

44:07 Father, give us grace for the journey ahead. Turn our tears, transform our tears into spring of waters as we go through this weeping valley. And Lord, we pray that you would increase our love for you, for Christ, for your people, and for your church. May we all say in our heart each day and each Sunday how lovely is your dwelling place. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.