Gazing on the Beauty of the Lord (Psalm 27)

Welcome. We're continuing our series on the book of Psalms. We're in the 27th chapter of this book. You're going to be inspired today because this chapter has a directional call for our lives. It gives us that one thing purpose. It can give us an ambition to wake up in the morning and say, life can be wonderful. Life can be joyful. Life can be amazing because I have this passion stirring in my heart. That's what King David had. That's what he writes about in this chapter. I want to read it. I want to pray for us. And I want to talk to you today about gazing on the beauty of the Lord. This one thing passion that can make our life totally different from the way it is now. Father, I pray in the name of Jesus, you would speak through me and let those who would hear be transformed today. I pray that they'd be awakened in their spirit. I pray that they would be renewed in their heart and mind and realize the high call of this one thing passion that makes everything else fall in line. Give us that grace today. Allow me to preach it with faithfulness in Jesus name. Amen. Psalm chapter 27, as I speak to you about gazing on the beauty of the Lord, it's the one thing desire, one thing passion that Jesus wants to give to us today. Psalm 27, starting in verse one of David, the Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is my stronghold. Other translations say the Lord is my refuge, the refuge of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and my foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. You see this third time he's talking about the inner unction of the Holy Spirit to give him power not to fear in difficult situations. The war rise against me, yet I will be confident. Praise God. One thing I've asked of the Lord that I will seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple for he will hide me in the shelter in the day of his trouble. He will conceal me under the cover of his tent and he will lift me high upon a rock and now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy. I will sing and make melody to the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud. Be gracious to me and answer me. You have said, seek my face. My heart says to you, your face, Lord, do I seek. Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger. O you who have been my help, cast me not off. Forsake me not, O God of my salvation. For my mother and father have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in. Teach me your way, O Lord. Leave me on a level path because of my enemies. Give me not up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me and they breathe out violence. I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. The last verse, wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord. Many commentaries suggest that David wrote the 27th Psalm based on what was taking place in 1 Samuel chapter 22 verses 9 through 23. King Saul out of his jealousy because David had over him the songs of the women in his land saying Saul has killed his thousands, but David is ten thousands. In other words, David is our hero. David's our great warrior. And Saul gets jealous and he's fearful of losing his kingdom. And so he comes after David with vengeance, first throwing a spear at him and then chasing him out of his kingdom and then sending, taking with him his army to chase him into the caves and to the woods of the surrounding areas. And David runs to get help and he goes to the high priest and there he gets bread and Goliath's sword. And Saul finds out that David had been there and he goes to to the priest where the priest had their meeting place. And there's a man with him, an Edomite named Doeg, and Saul isn't seemingly getting answers. And Doeg says, I'll take care of this. And he actually slays 50 of the priests. And he's just swearing not only allegiance to Saul and his vengeance and his hatred, but swearing hatred for David as well. Many enemies came against David his whole life. And we see in this chapter, as we've been reading this, that Doeg was lying about David and chasing David and raising up an army to try to slay him and take his destiny and his life away from him. And so here in Psalm 27, if the commentaries are accurate, he's crying out to the Lord. He's looking for refuge, for a stronghold, because evildoers are coming against him. And we read this chapter, and I thank God that we can read this chapter in such a personal way. We can read it, Lord, I'm troubled. I have enemies in my life. I have difficulties. I have marriage problems. I have financial problems. I have physical problems, ailments in my body. I have these enemies that come against me. I have doubt and discouragement. I have fear. And we emotionalize these things or spiritualize these things. But for David, interestingly enough, these things weren't just metaphors of enemies, of enemies that he might have in his emotions or his mind. They were actual enemies who were trying to take his life. They were enemies. They were warriors. They were armies coming against him. They were, look at this, they eat up my flesh. They're actually, in David's time period, they were actually cannibalistic soldiers, warriors that would eat the flesh of their enemies. Horrible, disgusting things that we'd rather not even think about nearly nor talk about. But David is talking about these things. These are realities. He remembered hearing the voice of Goliath saying to him, I'm going to feed your flesh to the birds and to the dogs. Just the eating away of life. And even after death, still the enemy coming after you with something even more foul or as foul, if not worse. And so David is facing the realities of our life. And it's not to diminish the problems that you and I have, nor to say that the Holy Spirit doesn't care about the things that we suffer and that we face. The Lord loves you. He cares for you. He doesn't see your problems as insignificant, but does give me some encouragement to know that my problems aren't quite like they were of David's, that his were literal and mine are more often emotional or relational or situational. And I thank God that he cares for me in this. But I would say to you that if he could care for David when he had literal enemies coming to try to kill him to take his life, how much more could he care for us in our problems that may not be quite as life and death, even though some of you might be facing some of those things. And yet, even though we don't have that physical enemy, that warfare coming against us, and maybe what you're hearing me say today seems to be almost diminishing your problems and your situations. But now I'm going to reverse that and say, but maybe there's something about our problems that might even be more difficult than an enemy, a physical enemy, than an arrow, than a weapon, than an army. And it is Satan himself that has come against you and I. The very powers of darkness are assailing you and I, trying to, what the Bible says in John, kill, kill, steal, and destroy. That's a kill emotional. That's a kill relational. That's a kill on your family. That's a steal of your joy and of your heart and of your life and of your faith and of your connection, your eternal connection with God and heaven forever. To kill, steal, and destroy. You see, Jesus said, don't fear those who can kill the body, but fear those who can destroy the soul in hell. There's something worse than a physical enemy. It's the spiritual battle that we are in. And we have three enemies that are always aligned against us. David had seasons of peace and he had seasons of warfare. But you and I as Christians, we have constantly, and we'll constantly be in spiritual battle and warfare. We have Satan who comes to kill, steal, and destroy. We have the world that is contrary to the things of God. We see that rampantly in society today. We see it just broadly across all cultural means and sources that the world is aligned against the things of God, contrary to the truth of God, to the word of God. And then even within us, we have battles, the inner battle of the flesh. So you have Satan, you have the world, and you have the flesh. And the flesh is the thing within us that tries to keep us from fulfilling the purposes of God in our life, that tries to align us to the things of the world rather than the things of God. And so Psalm 27 for us today is a strong remedy. It's an antidote to the battle of Satan and the world and the flesh. And it gives us a direction, a course, a level path, as the verse says, to a way ahead to not only overcome your enemies, but to live a joy in life and a song of joy and life in your heart. And so verse one says of David, the Lord is mine. And then he says three things here. He's my light, he's my salvation, and he is my stronghold. I believe these things are a progression. The first thing he has to do is turn the light. The Bible says that the God of this age, Satan who has come to kill, steal, and destroy, has put a veil over our minds. It's in 1 Corinthians. And he's blinded the eyes of the unbeliever. But Jesus comes to remove that veil and bring us into light. Glorious power of God is spoken of here in the fact that the first thing he does is turn our darkness into light. Nothing can change in our life if we remain in darkness. And that is a salvation transformation from the kingdom of darkness to the light. But it's also a situational when things seem dark in our life and things seem troubled in our life. We see the power of the Holy Spirit illuminating that darkness and showing us the way ahead in the glory of God. It progresses from the light turning on to that light bringing us salvation. The word here could be transcribed also, can be translated also as deliverance. It's salvation in the sense of saving us from sin and from hell and from death. But it's also a salvation in the sense of delivering us from our enemies, these ones that we've just been talking about. And so the light turns on, we see the reality of the spiritual battle we're in, and he brings us deliverance out of those problems. Third progression is that he brings us into a stronghold or a refuge. Here now we see the protection. With the light is turned on, we're delivered from our enemies, and now a wall, a hedge of protection, a shield is put up between us and our enemies. And therefore David's cry here is, Lord, be these things, be my light, be my stronghold, be my salvation. And then the result of that is why would I be afraid? Of whom shall I fear? It's not David asking for a list of things to fear. And oftentimes we get in that trap. I fear my finances. I fear my health. I fear my children that are prodigal will never come back to the Lord. I feel my church ministry is going to be in declension. I fear hearing a doctor's report that is negative. And it's almost as if we list and rehearse and renumerate over and over again in our minds, sometimes waking up in the middle of the night early in the morning and have all these troubles of heart. David is not asking for a list of things to be afraid of. He's saying, give the list. Which of these on this list would I be afraid of? Whom or what or what circumstances should I be afraid of? I fear nothing because the Lord is these three things in my life, my light, my salvation, and my refuge, my stronghold. And the good news about this is that these things are not just elements. They are who Jesus is. It's not just that David had a light turned on, but that Jesus is his light. It's not just that he had a way of salvation to deliver him, but that God is the deliverer. And it's not just that he found a stronghold in the midst of trouble, but that he found Jesus, that God himself is the stronghold. It's not a thing. It's not a circumstance. It's not a place. It is God himself. God is your help. God is your refuge. God is your source. God is your power. God is your deliverer. And David personalized this. He says, it doesn't just say God is a light, but he says he's my light. He doesn't just say he's a salvation, but he says he's my salvation. He doesn't just say he's a refuge or a stronghold. He says he's my stronghold. He's my refuge. I want you today to take heart with this, to take this to heart and say, God is my light. He's my salvation. He's my rescue. He's my deliverer. He's my friend. He's the lover of my soul. He's there for you. No matter what fearful things seem to come up and rise against you, you have no need to fear because you can say, he's mine. He's mine. He's mine. I am his, and he will protect. He will watch over me. He will deliver me. He remembers and records these three benefits because he's seen them work in his life so often. He's seeing the light. He's seeing the salvation. He's seeing the stronghold. To me, this reminds me of the Proverbs that talks about a threefold cord is not easily broken. And these three things are gifts of God to you in your life, and they work together. They're not easily broken. They're something that tethers you to the protection and the fearlessness of the servant and the child of God. Whom shall I fear? Whom shall I be afraid? He could be afraid of darkness instead of light. He could have been afraid of damnation instead of salvation. He could have been afraid of destruction instead of having a refuge. But he says, I don't fear any of these things. The first thing he says in verse one is, it says, whom shall I fear? The Hebrew word there is literally to be afraid. The second time he says, whom shall I be afraid? And that is a stronger word. It means to dread or to be in dread or in awe over difficult circumstances. And it's interesting to me that he mentions both of these, because sometimes we have elements that are fearful, but other times things seem dreadful. And oftentimes things that haven't happened yet, it's the dread of what the future could be like, or even it could be a psychological dread. You just dread life. You're just in a place where life has no joy, no element. And David is saying, I'm not going to fear any of these things, not even dread the existential dread, the existence of dread of life. I'm not going to be afraid of any of that because God has lit up my life. He's saved me from the powers of darkness, and he's now put me in a safe place. And that is a promise he gives to you and to I as well. When he asks, whom shall I be afraid? He's not saying that I have lots of fear. Which one shall I be afraid? He's saying, no, I no longer live in fear. I have become a conqueror more than a conqueror through Christ who strengthens me. Verse two, when evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, the NIV says, when the wicked advance against me. And so we see here in the Hebrew word assail can mean what it does, obviously assail, but it also can mean to advance. That's where the NIV gets it from, but it also can mean approach. And as I was studying this, I put these three words together because I see this trajectory sometimes in my life. And as I need to be aware of spiritual warfare, I need to be wise as a serpent and gentle as a dove. I need to understand my enemies. And I see these three things take place. And I would assume you see them in your life as well. Number one, the enemy approaches you. Can he find a place in you? Can he find a fearful place? Can he find a place of temptation? So he approaches you and then he advances. He takes advantage of the approach when there's no battle against him. He finds access and he advances. And thirdly, then what the ESV says, then he assails me. It's the word assaults me there. Can you see that? It's like somebody who's walking down a dark street at night alone and you see somebody behind you and they approach you and then they're advancing on you. They're getting closer and fear starts rising up in your heart and then they assault you. That's what David is talking about. And then he says, it's not just an assault, but it's to devour me. It's to take my life and literally to devour everything I have, every hope I have, every dream I have, all the destiny that I have, all the relationships that I have, all the purpose that I have. The enemy wants to take all those things from me. But he says, I will not fear in verse one. Why? Because in verse two, even though he sees people approach, he sees enemies advance, he sees the assault coming. He knows this, this is his history with God. This is his history with the lion, with the bear, with Goliath, with other enemies that he's fought and become victorious over, even over the internal things in his own life that he won victory. He says, my adversary and my foes, it is they who stumble and fall. My goodness, that's good news. Because you see the assault coming, the advance coming, the approach of the enemy coming against you, but you can know your adversary and your foes, they will be the ones who stumble and fall. God will cause them to fall. David is remembering every enemy that has approached him and now how they have fallen. And yet, even though he's now once again being chased down by evil enemies, Doag and Saul and armies against him, and they're approaching him and they're advancing on him, they're assaulting him, and he's having to hide in caves, and he knows they're trying to devour him to try to eat up his flesh. But he knows, he knows that he knows that he knows that he, God has been faithful, that God will be faithful and is always faithful. It is they who stumble. It is those who fall. No enemy approaching you today. No enemy advancing on you. No assault aligned against you can overcome the power of God. No darkness can quench God's light. No darkness can overcome the glory of God. Darkness flees when the light of Christ comes into your life. No demon power can stop God's delivering power. God can set you in a place of refuge that no assault can conquer you. As a matter of fact, when they come against you, it's like this mighty fortress where arrows fling down upon them, and they fall rather than you. The advancement approaching of the assaultment will cease and then, and they will stumble and they will fall. Praise God. The word fall there, I love it in the Hebrew, it means to be cast down or to lie toppled or to be killed. This happened in Judges chapter five, verse 27. If you remember this very bizarre story of a man who came against Israel named Sisera, and this woman named Jeal comes to him and finds him sleeping, and he wakes up and asks her for some milk. And she goes out of the tent, comes back in with a peg, and she kills him. She wins the victory. The enemies fall at her feet. And here's what it said about her. Between her feet, he sank. He fell. He lay still. Where he sank, there he fell dead. That's exactly what David is saying about his enemies. And that's the promise we have from God over the assaults on our own life, that we will look down and see them lying still. We will win the victory. They will sink and where they will fall, they will be dead. End of story, finished, complete. Jesus having the victory in your and my life over the powers of darkness, over all that assaults us. Verse three continues this powerful movement over coming fear and winning victory in the Lord. And it says, though an army encamp against me. Now, we've just talked about the approach, the advance, and the assault. And we see them not able to conquer us. But David is saying, but you know what? Even though I believe that, sometimes it seems that doubt wants to get into my heart or fear wants to try to creep back in. Because why? The army encamps against me. That's verse three. Even though they encamp against me, the third time now he says, but my heart won't fear. What he's saying here is, I believe in the victory. I believe it's coming. But right now, what I see with my eyes is they encamp all around against me. An army against me. But my heart won't fear. The war arise against me. And so it's not just they're encamping, waiting, but they're actually about ready to wage war. Though they do that. Look at this. I love this next phrase that David uses, yet, or the Hebrew can be translated, in this, I will be confident. In this, I will be confident. Being approached, assailed, even advanced against is one thing. But now an army is encamping and war is rising against them. And it's incredible that he's saying this, in this, yet. Now, for me, I want to look at the text here and say, when he says, in this, or yet, is he saying in this fact that there's an army against me? In this, that there's evildoers around me? Or does he go back to verse one? In this, that he's my light. He's my stronghold. Is he looking back to what he's just said and saying, in this, I'm confident that I know my enemies will fall. Or, and I believe the second thing I'm about to say to you is probably more accurate for what he's trying to say. In this thing that I'm about to say to you is what gives me confidence. I truly believe this with my whole heart. And this is where you can get such confidence in the Lord today. No matter what's happening in your life, in this, in this thing that I'm about to tell you, in what I'm about to reveal to you, you can be confident. Here's how you get the power to overcome fear. Here's where no assault against you is going to have any benefit. Here's where you're going to get your light, your salvation, your refuge. It's in this thing I'm about to tell you. And what does he tell us next? One thing. In this, it's in one thing. It's in this one thing, the solution to our crisis is found. One thing I have asked of the Lord that I will seek after. Now, let me stop there. He has enemies come against him, an army encamped about him, war rising up against him, Doag throwing spears at him, Saul and a whole army cast against him. And you might think he's saying, one thing I will seek after is peace. One thing I'll seek after is deliverance. One thing I'll seek after is a defeat of my enemies. One thing I'll seek after is an end to this horrific, constant onslaught, this battle that I faced day and night. I want the battles to end. I want to be finished with all the troubles in my life. That's the one thing I really want. The opposite of what David's saying. I'm not thinking about that now, he's saying. I'm not concerning myself with those problems. Those problems are going to be with me probably the rest of my life. And I can't focus on them. I can't center on them. I can't make that the one thing of my life. I can't be passionate about just victory over problems in my life. There's more to my life than that. There's greater passion in my life than that. There's a greater zeal. There's a greater desire in my life than just not having troubles in my life. There's got to be more to life than just getting rid of the negative. There has to be something so positive, something so grand, so glorious that it stirs my heart. And he says, here's the one thing that I ask, one thing that I desire, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. In this, I will be confident. The word Hebrew there is Zoth, Z-O-T-H. And what it means there is in this one thing, here's where I win. It's in seeing God. I will be confident because my confidence isn't in circumstances. Though battles rage against me, though enemies encamp around me, the one thing I want is not just victory over those things. And although I do want them deeply, but I want something more. I want to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. Coming into his presence is really the victory over our battles, over our enemies. It's where we find peace. You know, there are people who overcome difficulties in their life. They may have a prognosis of cancer and they go through surgery and the cancer's gone. The victory's won, so to speak, physically, and the battle's no longer there. But they don't have joy. They don't have peace. They don't have life. They don't have wonder. They don't have grand, glorious vision of life, and they have no knowledge and wisdom of God. So they have their problems gone, but they don't really have fullness, abundance, life. David is yes, thank you God that you help rid my life of problems, but I want something more than that. I want you. I want to dwell with you. I want to know you. I want to love you. I want to walk with you. I want to talk with you. I want to be intimate with you. I want to hear your voice speak to me. I want to sing songs of praise. I want to delight in your presence. I want you to reveal yourself to me. I want to see you in greater glory. I want to seek your face. I want to have I love relationship with you. I want to be near to you and dear to you. And you to me all the days of my life." He goes on and says, why? Cause I want to gaze on the beauty of the Lord. I want to gaze on the beauty. Wow. Right in the midst of this horrific assault on his life, hiding in caves and his desire is not, get me out of this cave. Get me out of this problem. Get me back to my kingdom. Let me sit on my throne in my comfortable bed. He's not looking for comfort. He's looking for Christ to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, to look into the eyes of God and say, Lord, this is where my life is found. And it's to gaze. It's not just a glance. It's a gaze. It's a deep look. It's a, it's, it's, it's to linger in God's presence. It's to have a longing to see more of him and, and his, and it's not just gazing upon theology or doctrine or policies of the church or direction for life. It's to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. How marvelous, how wonderful, how beautiful is our Lord Jesus Christ. He is worthy of our full gaze. He's worthy of our full attention. He's worthy to be sought after more than the solution to our problems. That is where our beauty comes from. Interestingly, David understands and he's revealing to us, we can understand this as well, that we can have beauty in our life. No matter what storms rage against us, we can have the beauty of the gaze of the Lord. That's where our light, our salvation, our refuges, that's where our peace and our joy and our freedom comes from. That's where the delight of life comes from to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. And he adds to that as if you could add to seeking the beauty of the Lord. And he does, he says, and to inquire or to meditate, to look, to go deeper, to say, there's more to this. There's, Corinthians says, to seek the things of God, yea, even the deep things of God. David's saying, I'm gazing on your beauty, but now I want to inquire. Tell me more about this beauty. Show me more of this beauty. Show me more of your glory. Let me be more, a man after God's own heart to inquire in his temple and in God's house, in that place of refuge. Verse five, for he will hide me in the shelter in the day of trouble. He's going to hide us. And the one thing passion is this dwelling and that's to be hidden in that place, to be reserved in that place, to be called in that place, to be lingering in that place. In other words, he doesn't want to just have one day in the house of the Lord, but all days of his life to be hidden in that place. And in the day of trouble, he'll conceal me in the cover of his tent and he will lift me up on high. In verse five, we see three things that God does for us as we, as we don't concentrate on our problems, but we concentrate on him. He begins to hide us. It's a shelter where he just, there's the sense of these things are assaulting me, but, but, but I know I'm protected and hidden from them. And then he says, he conceals us. It's, it's, it's like the enemies can't find us. They're, they're approaching, they're, they're coming after us, but can't even seem to find us. We are concealed. And then not only are we just concealed, it's almost like not just protecting us from the things coming against us, but lifting us up. The third thing he does is lift us high upon a rock. That that's so beautiful that he would conceal and protect us. But not only that, he's going to lift us up, humble yourself in the sight of the Lord. And in due time, the Bible says, he will exalt us. Our heads will be lifted up. Verse six continues this theme. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies around about me. And I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy. I will sing and make melody in my heart. He uses the word tent in verse six, just as he did in verse five. Verse five, I will be hid under the cover, concealed under the cover of his tent. And now that David's saying my head shall be, verse six, my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me. And I will offer in his tent. So he's bringing me into his tent. Now that I'm in his tent with enemies all around me, I'm in a safe place. And in this place, I will sacrifice with shouts of joy. I will sing and make melody to the Lord in my heart. I've mentioned to you before that one of my father, father David Wilkerson's favorite sermons was a song called, uh, write song wrong side. It's about the children of Israel that sang a song. Once they got across the red sea and the enemies were destroyed, then they began to sing. And my father was saying, they should have sang the song knowing what God was going to do, knowing who's faithful, sing the song. Even when the midst of the enemies, when you're on the same side as the enemies, David here, interestingly enough, fulfills that call by singing songs of shouts of joy, even when his enemies are all around about my enemies all around me. And he doesn't say, I'm going to cry. I'm going to doubt. I'm going to worry. I'm going to be anxious. No, he says, I'm going to sing with shouts of joy. He knows even in the midst of his darkest hour that he's going to see victory, that the Lord is with him. He can sing songs. I want to encourage you if you are in a place of trouble, of difficulty, that you begin to sing songs to the Lord. You know, as we are studying the book of Psalms, each of these, the Psalms means songs. These are songs. These were meant to be sung. And David is singing a song about singing, about singing when your enemies and darkness and troubles are all around you to sing songs of praise, sing to the Lord, make melody in your heart. When evil encompasses itself around you, sing those songs of praise. Psalm 22 verse 15 through 22, it talks about dogs and evildoers. They pierce my hands and my feet. They cast lots from my garments. This is the prophecy of Christ. And it goes on to say, but in the midst of the church, the ecclesia, the congregation, I speaking of Jesus will sing your praise. That's repeated in Hebrews chapter two. This is a prophecy of what Jesus would do that in the midst of the dark hour of the cross, he would sing his father's praise. What an example to us is David in the Psalm and as Jesus in Hebrews chapter two, that we sing songs of praise. It is a place of saying in this, in this one thing, like verse three says, yeah, I will be confident. The song is showing your heart. It's your mouth speaking out words. It's the melody in your heart saying to yourself, I, yet, no matter what's going on, I will be confident in these things. Continue with me. Look at verse seven. This is a wonderful chapter. I hope you're delighting in verse seven says, hear O Lord. When I cry aloud, be gracious to me and answer me. Be gracious to me. There's, there's, there's, there's a glory in our song. There's a power in making melody when we're in trouble. But you know what? There's no shame in the midst of the song of yet having in our heart a cry, a loud cry. Lord, I'm, I'm going to sing your praise, but I'm singing it on top of something underneath, a groaning cry to the Lord. That what this is saying to me is God does not require a happy peppy, always walking around with a big grin on your face. It's a, it's a reality of life. It's a reality that life hurts, that there are heartaches, that there are disappointments, that, that there are things in your life. God does not require you to go around confessing positive things and denouncing and saying, I don't receive that negative thing in my life. David received the fact that he had enemies. And if not so, that he would not have been able to turn to the Lord. He would have not seen the one thing direction of his life. Be, be aware of the reality of the darkness around you and be aware you can sing a song in the midst of the darkest night in your soul, but don't be afraid to come to the Lord and say, Lord, I'm going to sing a song of praise, but yet my heart is still troubled. There are two songs that are offered to the Lord very closely in the same time. One is a song of joy while even at the same time there underneath it might be a difficulty and it's not schizophrenia. It's not bipolar. It's not, it's not lunacy of being up and down. It's, it's facing the reality of life and it's letting your heart sing songs that are really within you. There's, there's this, there's this tension in our heart. Lord, I'm singing songs of praise, but I'm also crying out aloud. And I know this firsthand when our children struggled with addictions and they were far from God. And we, we cried ourself to sleep at night, but yet we would sing songs of praise. We know the Lord delivers. We know. And once our first son was delivered from drugs, our second son who got involved in addiction as well, we had a different kind of confidence. We knew we can sing the song of sorrow. We can cry out loud to the Lord on behalf of our second son. But we saw what he did to our first son and now we have a different kind of confidence. So it's two songs can simultaneously be sung, be gracious to me and answer me. The cry is not just anger or frustration or disappointment in the Lord. It's no, it's, it's keep coming to him. We, we sing songs of praise and yet our hearts are troubled. Enemies still seem to be around us. And God is not pulling back from us when we come once again and say, be gracious to me and answer me. Verse eight says, you have said, interesting now the Lord, now the Lord speaks to David. David said, here, Lord, I'm crying to you. And now David responds saying, you, I heard what you just said. I heard something that I'm going to grasp on in the midst of my struggles. I've heard you say, seek my face. And my heart says to you, your face, Oh Lord, do I seek the Lord's answer to a cry in the midst of being surrounded by war and enemies and troubles and trials and tribulations seems to, it seems to be the direction, the strategy, uh, to, to find encouragement and fight. But, but rather than that, it's a call to intimacy. You see, God is not just giving him direction how to win battles. He's not just telling him, don't be afraid of difficulties. What he's saying in the midst of no matter what's going on around you, my greatest call is a call to intimacy, a call to come to me. We can learn much from this for often in crisis and in the battles we turn to worry, we turn to anger, we turn to despair, we turn to fear, we turn to our own power to try to overcome it. And God is saying in the midst of these things, what I want you to do is turn to me, seek my face. And I love David's heart. He says, Oh, this is the one thing. Thank you for saying that. Cause that's the one thing I most truly desire. Your face, Oh Lord, do I seek. I want to encourage you no matter what you're going through. Let this be your one thing passion to seek the face of the Lord, not just his hand, arranging things, fixing things, changing things, protecting things, no, his face, your glory, your beauty. That's what I want to do is, and I have found in my life, those who seek the face of the Lord oftentimes get the most power of God's hand working on them. Where oftentimes those who only seek his hand, do this, fix this, arrange this for me, oftentimes miss the beauty of his face. And then don't find that one thing life, that one thing passion that God has for us. There's an invitation here to seek his face and interesting in the Hebrew, the invitation seek my face is plural, not seek my faces, but many of you come to seek my face. He's telling David, you come seek my face, but you be a man who invites others to seek God's face. That's I pray what my whole ministry would be about bringing people to seek the beauty and gaze upon and inquire in the house of the Lord to not be a Christian who lives to try to just overcome problems, but to be a Christian who lives to seek the face of God, to put him first and foremost, that God is your highest priority and passion. Verse nine, he goes on, you see this up and down. And I want to encourage you don't be afraid of that, that you have emotions that go up and you might sing a song of praise and you have emotions that go down and you might begin to cry out to the Lord. And now David is crying again, hide not your face from me. He just said, God, you've called me to seek your face. And so my prayer is don't hide your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger. You, oh you who have been a help, cast me not off, forsake me not. Here's what David's afraid of, hiding of the Lord's face, turning away of the Lord, casting him off, forsake, being forsaken by God. Those are some of the things that maybe he would say differently from his enemies that he does fear these things. The only thing I'm afraid of is seeking the Lord and being turned away. But he has something greater than his fear. He knows the character and attributes of God, that God won't hide his face, that God won't turn from us, that God won't cast us off, that God won't forsake a hungry heart. Why? Because he is, as he says here, Oh God of my salvation, hide not your face. This word not is used four times and it's this sense of fear or uncertainty. But these four things aren't the end of the story. And I picture this, David is hearing God say, seek my face and he's saying, your face I seek. There's one thing passion, I want to come into your house and dwell there all the days of my life. But my deepest concern is when I come in there, will I be worthy? Will you look at my sin? Will you look at my heart? Will you look at my brokenness? Will you look at my trepidation? Will you look at my doubt? Will you look at my past and my history and say, I can't come into your presence? Well, that's the glory of having that heart after God. Because in our dispensation, we get to see the heart of Jesus. We get to see as we come into the presence of God, we don't come in because we're worthy, because we're holy ourselves. We've done enough good works. We've corrected bad behaviors. And now we can finally come in as clean vessels into the holiness of the Lord. No, we believe that we come as sinners, broken, unholy, unfaithful, unworthy. And it's nothing but the blood of Jesus that cleanses us from all that unrighteousness, that makes us white as snow, that gives us access into the presence of a holy God without our own merit, without our own works-based faith bringing us into that presence of God. No, it's by Christ and Christ alone. It is the finished work of Jesus that when God says to us now, come into my temple, come into my holy of holies, come and seek my face, that we don't have to believe that God would hide or turn or cast off or forsake us in a grievous heart, in a sense of anger towards us. No, he accepts us because of what his son Christ Jesus has done for us. Verse 10 then illustrates what 9 is like. It illustrates this in reality on earth, what it would be like to be cast off or forsaken. David says, for my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in. He has this confidence. He goes back to this one thing I keep talking about, yet I will be confident in this thing. I'll be confident that there might be some trepidation in my heart about God hiding his self from me or turning because of my sinfulness. But in our understanding now of the New Testament covenant, the cross of Jesus, we can come in and even though our mother and father forsake us, even though our closest relationships, even those dear to us, even those that raised us, our mother who raised us from her womb, even though she would turn and forsake us, that she would cast us off, that he would forsake us, that the Lord will take us in. He will take us into that place where we can see his face. He will give us that one thing, desire and passion. He will let us dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of our lives. We'll get to see face to face and gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and inquire their friends, coworkers, families, even father and mother might forsake you, but Jesus will never forsake you. He will never leave you or forsake you. In a world where this word of forsaken in Hebrew means loosening. And in a world we have so many loosening relationships. When people are offended by us, they loosen the connection to us. Where the acceptance may be rejected, where cliques that we might've been in and social circles where we might've dwelt in, and now we're being left out. This is that idea of being forsaken of this loosening. That's the Hebrew word there and saying to us, the Lord will not loosen us. He will not let us go. He will draw us in. He's saying, seek my face. But then he comes with the Holy Spirit's power to give us the welcoming, the wooing, the coming in. It's not only inviting us in, but he's drawing us in. He will take us in. The very opposite of forsaken and of loosening is to tighten, to strengthen the cords between us and God. He will take me in. He'll take care of me. He'll gather me. He'll attach me to him. Though the, the, the, the, the, one of the commentators says that this about this text, though he is friendless and forsaken as a deserted child, Jehovah will adopt him and care for him. His love is stronger than the closest human relationship. That's why David says, this is the one thing I want. It's closer than any relationship. I turn to the Lord in my trouble, not to mother and father, not to friend, not to coworkers, not to other soldiers. I turn to the Lord and David cries out. Then in verse 11, teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me in a level path because of my enemies. He sees these enemies are going to be around him, but there's a level path. New Testament says, Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. And David is foreshadowing here, the cry that we can have in our heart that Jesus, you are the way, you are the path and you establish this ability to come and seek God's face in the midst of the trouble around me. Then in verse 12, as we come to the last few verses here today, verse 12, he says, give me not up to the will of my adversaries for false witnesses have risen against me. They breathe out threats of violence. And again, just to repeat myself, what does David do when these threats come around him? What does he do when Doag and Saul are attacking him? He goes back to that temple, goes back to that one thing place. This is where I dwell. This is the great desire seeking God's face. And then 13, he says, I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. David isn't just saying, you know, the world is a messed up place and troubles abound, heartaches, approach me day and night. And this is not going to cease. I'm going to have from the day I'm born to the day I'm laid in the grave. Life is troublesome. We live in a fallen, broken world. And there's realities to that. But David doesn't stop there. He says, I believe I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord. And I find this very interesting. He's not saying, it's all going to be over when I get to heaven. And that's a reality. In heaven, there'll be no evil. There'll be no wickedness. There'll be no enemies, no sorrow. There'll only be life and abundant joy. All darkness will cease and will be nothing but light. Oh, what a glorious day. What a delightful hope we have. What a precious promise we have for the future. But David says, I'll see this goodness, but not just in heaven. I'll see it in the land of the living. This is important for you and I, because although we live in a fallen world and enemies will come against us the rest of our life, we're going to see goodness on this side of earth. We're going to see goodness while we're alive in the land of the living. We're going to see the goodness of God. What is the goodness of God? It's the attributes of God, his love, his power, his patience, his kindness, his goodness, his mercy, his tenderness, his forgiveness, his long suffering. All of these precious promises of God are not just promises. They are realities of his character and his nature of who he is. And we're going to experience that not just in heaven, but right now, it's a promise. You have it right now, right now. Hear me, my friends. Right now there's goodness. Right now there's overcoming. Right now there's the glory of the Lord. Right now we seek his face. Right now, we are welcome. Right now he's better than a mother and father. Right now he sets you free. Right now he lifts you above your enemies. This is the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Can we have that kind of joy in life now? God says, absolutely. Yes. He closes it off by saying this in the last verse here, verse 14, wait for the Lord, wait for the Lord. Just wait on this. Everything I've just spoken of in Psalm 27 here, David is saying to us, everything I've just said to you that you can come into the beauty of the Lord, no matter what's going on around you, wait for it. Cause it's going to happen. And while you're waiting, be strong and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord. Scholars tell us that Paul in first Corinthians chapter 16 and verse 13 quotes from this passage, be strong and let your heart take courage. But he, in the new Testament Greek, he says it in a different text. It's, it's, it's, but it's, but it's a quote, but he's saying it differently. He's saying, be strong. This is first Corinthians 16, 13, be strong and act like men. And here men, it doesn't mean just for men exclusively, but, but have that soberness in you, that courage within you, that strength within you. And yes, there's a word to men as well. Men be strong in the Lord. Don't live in fear. Don't live under the bondage of, of trepidation and being scattered by your enemies. No, wait on the Lord, be strong and take courage. Wait for the Lord. Waiting on God is, is the one thing passion. It is the seeking of, of his face. It is the path. It is the level path to strength and courage, strength and courage. And the song of joy comes from waiting on the Lord in that place that David's talking about in the temple, in, in that holy of holies. And in conclusion, I would say to you in the midst of every battle, the one thing seeking heart after the beauty of the Lord is our refuge and our greatest hope. Battles will come and go. Some cease and some increase, but one thing is most important and it's not escaping the battles, but it is in the midst of these battles, purposing in our heart to remain steadfast, passionately engaged in seeking the Lord's face and the Lord's beauty. Getting off the battlefield often seems the most crucial and pressing need, the fear, the torment, the danger, the uncertainty of the outcome, the wickedness of our enemies, all of these things consume our hearts and our minds, but getting off the battlefield is not our greatest need. It is not our most pressing, but the most important answer to our prayer is this, that we might gaze on the beauty of the Lord. Does it seem unlikely or even impossible to imagine that we might gaze a joy-filled song singing, Christ exalting, God seeking life when your battles are raging, when they're coming against you in an unceasing means and methods? It's nice to see answered prayers. It's nice to see the battle cease. It's nice to see victories won, but there's one thing that's even better. It's one thing that's even a higher priority that I might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. Greater than victories on the battlefield is gazing on the beauty of the Lord. Better than understanding what's going on around us and having wisdom to overcome our enemies is to inquire of the Lord. What is he like? What is his face like to seek him in the midst of his temple? The external difficulties are little in comparison to the wonderful experience of God's presence. Let me say that again. The external difficulties are little in comparison to the wonder, the glory experienced in the presence of God. If he could have only one thing, it would not be escape from problems, but it would be enter into his presence. That's my prayer for you. That's the desire of my heart. I pray that today we have learned this great glorious lesson of one thing passion of coming into his presence. Father, I now pray that our eyes would be turned to something new. That we would, as Hebrews, uh, uh, tells us, Hebrews 10 tells us looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. Paul says that, that opened the eyes of my heart. Lord, we want to see Jesus. We want to see you, Jesus. And so we confess to you, we have battles raging against us and around us. We have conflicts and warfare's externally and internally. We have, we have troubles. We live in a troubled world and sometimes it overwhelms us and we thank you that you allow us to cry out. Come Lord Jesus, help us, help us in our battles. But I thank you that you give us something even more profound and powerful. You give us your presence. And we say to you, we proclaim and declare to you, we profess to you today. That's the one thing we want. We want you Jesus more than our problem solved. We thank you for every problem that you solve and that you bring down every enemy and that you lift us up upon the rock. But Lord, we don't want to be lifted up upon a rock and not see you upon that rock. Let us be closer to you that we might gaze upon your beauty. Help us to have that one thing passion in our heart. Lord, and the things of this world will grow strangely dim as we have this, as we seek first the kingdom of God, all these other things will be added unto us. Give us this seeking heart. Give us this passion. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. And amen. God bless you. Thanks for joining us today.