A Study in Psalms - Psalm 84

Psalm 84 begins with the superscription to the choir master, according to the Gitteth, a psalm of the sons of Korah. How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints, for the courts of the Lord. My heart and 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 all those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise. Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.

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 strength to strength. Each one appears before God in Zion. 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. Let's pray. Father in heaven, I ask that you'd open our eyes that we could see wonderful things in your law. May we leave here tonight knowing more of you and as your disciples what it is we are to do. In Jesus' name, amen. Charles Spurgeon said, if the 23rd Psalm is the most popular psalm, if the 103rd is the most joyful, the 119th the most deeply experimental, the 51 psalm the most plaintive, this Psalm 184 is the sweetest of the psalms of peace.

This psalm is, some commentators call it a song of Zion. You notice it mentions Zion twice. Talks about the highway to Zion. Talks about dwelling in God's house. And the psalms of Zion or psalms of Jerusalem are Psalm 46, 47, 76, this 84, 87, and 122. But other commentators, and I would tend to agree with them, would call this a pilgrimage psalm. That's why in the back of your song sheet you have an outline that deals with the pilgrims. And the pilgrim psalms are Psalms 42, Psalms 43, this 84, and then the song of ascent psalms.

If you ever go to Psalm 120, 15 of them, Psalm 120 to Psalms 134, are called the song of ascent psalms. And those are the ones that, like 84 and 42 and 43, three times a year the pilgrims would go to Jerusalem for the feasts and they would sing these as they're going to Jerusalem, as they get to the temple. So these pilgrim psalms establish a mood for worship. These psalms express joy, anticipation by the pilgrims as they journey to Jerusalem. Alan Campbell has said, this psalm is a celebration of the house of God in all its glory and in all its beauty.

It arises out of a heart that has come to love God's dwelling place and that delights to be where God is honored in the sanctuary. We read the superscription. It says to the choir master according to Gidduth. We mentioned that in about three of our psalms that Gidduth is a musical instrument, kind of like a guitar-shaped harp that apparently was associated with the Philistines in Gath. And then it says a psalm of the sons of Korah. I don't know if you realized, if you've been with us, anybody here been here all eight weeks, but we just did eight straight psalms by David.

That was not my intention. I was doing different types of psalms, lament, praise, messianic, imprecatory. But I didn't realize that we had done all those first eight psalms the last eight weeks were all by David.

Well, tonight we finally get to a psalm by someone else, the sons of Korah. And who are the sons of Korah? Well, you probably remember the bad sons of Korah, right? Or the bad Korah in number 16. Okay, they're Levites and Korah did not like his responsibility. I kind of ironic. It says in psalm, it says, I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God. I'd rather be in a lowly position in the temple. This psalm says, but Korah wasn't satisfied with that, was he? So he led a rebellion in number 16.

You remember what happened? The earth opened up and swallowed them up. But it says that in numbers 26, but the sons of Korah did not die. God did not kill the children who were innocent. But in first Chronicles six, David assigns the Korahites to be singers, to be the musicians in the temple or in the tabernacle.

And then in second Chronicles 26, it says some of the Korahites were assigned to be gatekeepers. So the sons of Korah are gatekeepers. They're musicians, they're singers. They apparently composed some of these psalms to music. So one commentator said, it is a psalm of the people who were appointed by David to serve in the temple as gatekeepers and musicians. They are expressing here how intensely their souls yearn and even fainted for God. You notice we sang Psalm 42 today, right?

As the deer pants for the water. They wrote that one also. They ended up writing about 10 psalms. So they wrote Psalms 42 as the deer pants for flowing streams, my soul pants for you, oh God. It says that verse four, these things I remember how as I pour out my soul, how we would go to the throng and lead them in possession of the house of God. So that was about the house of God. And then of course, they wrote this Psalm 84 verse 10, the song we sing a lot, one day in your courts is a better than a thousand elsewhere.

The sons of Korah wrote Psalm 42 and then 45, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 44 to 49. Then they wrote four straight psalms here after 84, they wrote 85, 87. So they wrote 10 of them. And then if you count Psalm 88, they wrote 11. But Psalm 88 was also done by Heman. But Heman is a son of Korah. So they wrote 10 psalms if you count 11, if you count the one that Heman wrote. Your outline today has four points, the pilgrim's partiality versus one to four, the pilgrim's path versus five to seven, the pilgrim's prayer versus eight, 11 and nine, and the pilgrim's preference.

Let's start with the pilgrim's partiality. This is a pilgrim's psalm. And the pilgrim here, we'll talk about him a little bit. He has a passion for the house of God. He has a longing and a love for God's house and everything in it. For the life of... I mentioned last week, the life of an Israelite was centered around the temple, around the festivals, around the worship, around the sacrifices. And the earthly sanctuary reflects the heavenly sanctuary where Jesus is today sitting at the right hand of God.

Three points here, a love for God's house, a love for God, and a love for the workers in God's house. So let's look at verse one.

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts. The King James says it very beautiful. How amiable are they tabernacles, O Lord of hosts. The sons of Korah here are speaking about the temple, the place where the presence of God dwelt among the people. Then there are many psalms like this that show the passion that people have for the temple and for the place of worship. You know, there's good passion, there's bad passion. Jesus had a passion and threw the money changers and thieves out. And then when Paul went to bring the sacrifice, you remember he got arrested because they falsely accused him of bringing a Gentile into the temple.

So they were passionate about not having Gentiles in the temple. That was a bad thing. But there's a lot of verses. Psalms 27.4, we quote a lot at our church. That says, one thing I have 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. Psalms 43, verses three and four says, send out your light and your truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling.

Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God. Psalm 63, another one about passion for God's house. O God, you are my God. Earnestly, I seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh faints for you in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. And of course, Psalm 122.1, I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord. The house of the Lord is where the presence of God was.

And they love that dwelling place. Do you have a partiality for the house of God? Do you have a partiality for God's people, for the work of God, for the word of God, for Bible study, for Christian fellowship permissions? I would probably guess if you're here on a Wednesday night, you're pretty much the choir of the church that you do. Let's move on to number two, the love for God, the love for God.

He says, my soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. This psalmist has a longing for God's house, but the house is not important. What's important is that God is there. So he has a longing for the living God. A religious Jew is required to go to Jerusalem three times a year to celebrate Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. This verse seems to imply that the psalmist could not make it this time. Maybe he's in exile. Maybe he's sick.

Maybe he's hurt. So many commentators believe that he's writing somewhere in Israel, he can't make it, and he's just yearning to be there. So he wants to go back to Jerusalem. Maybe he's been there before. He recalls a previous religious journey. He uses words like my soul, my heart, my flesh. It means his entire body, his entire soul. So first it was for the house of God.

Now he's fainting because that's where he wants to meet God. That's where the presence of God is. That's where he would feel God, worship God, sacrifice to God. It says the courts of the Lord, that's the area around the temple or the tabernacle where public worship was conducted. Then verse three is a very beautiful verse. It says that the sparrows find a home to swallow a nest for herself where she may lay her young. So at the temple, there would be nests of birds. And the birds would make their nests there.

And apparently this poet here, this psalmist, he's jealous of the birds that are in the temple. He would gladly exchange his place with them if he could. The birds were secure. They're not afraid. And so if he were there, he would feel more safe because God is his home and finds security in him. So there's a love for God's house. There's a love for God. And then there's a love for God's workers. He says in verse four, blessed are those who dwell in your house ever singing your praise. This would refer to the sons of Korah, the temple priests, the gatekeepers, and singers.

They would rotate in shifts of 24. So they would live outside Jerusalem, but they would rotate your shift. If your shift number one, remember in I think Matthew, Zacharias, he's on the 24th shift.

They would come and they would have to stay there for two weeks, three weeks, whatever, and serve, then they would go home and then wait for their next shift. So they would stay at God's house and they would be singing continually, singing the Psalms and praises to God, serving in the tabernacle. Notice the word blessed.

I hope you were here with us when we studied Psalm 32. We talked about the beatitudes in the Psalm. Do you remember that? There were 25 beatitudes in the Psalms. There are beatitudes in the New Testament, but there's also beatitudes in the Old Testament and Psalms, there were 25 of them. So we went through them in our message on Psalms 32. Here in this Psalm 84, there's three beatitudes. The only Psalm that has three of them. So this is the first one.

Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise. So it's speaking of the sons of Korah who were singers in a temple, their blessing leads to being the praises being sung. So the Psalmist here has a passion for the temple, passion for God, a passion for God's workers there. What about you? Do you have a passion to come to CCC? Is CCC a place where the house and the things of God and the people of God that you love? You know, when I'm thinking of this, I just think of David and Jessica Lovash.

They don't just come to serve the children here, do they? They come with a passion. They come prepared. They spend hours making things and doing things for the crafts and getting ready. They utilize some of you. It's not a job. It's not a duty. It's a passion they have. I think of Ray Cruz. They should be returning from Idaho tonight. But I think of him coming here. He comes here and fixes things all over the place. He's probably saved this church a million dollars over the last 20 years by fixing doors, some of them I've broken, things.

He's always fixing things. And it's not because he has to. He has a love for God and the things of God. So he comes and do it. I think of there's people out in the parking lot right now who won't hear this message unless they get the tape. They have a passion for the things of God. They wanna protect the children. They wanna protect us here. Let's move on to the point number two, the pilgrim's path, verses five to seven.

These pilgrims in Psalm 84 would come from long ways, long journeys, all over Israel for the three festivals. Or they would be the sons of Korah coming for their duty at the temple. But even then they would have to come. There were 48 Levitical cities in Israel before the separation of the north and the south. You know, when I think of this, I think of Jack and Barbara Graham when they would drive an hour and a half from Wrightwood to come to Christ Community Church for over 20 years. Many of you come from cities that are not so close, right?

So there's three points here, walking with God, walking in the valley, and walking to Mount Zion. So first off, he says in verse five, blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.

That's why it's called a pilgrimage to Psalm. They're on the highways marching to Zion. So for the Jewish travelers traveling to Jerusalem, it could be a long, exhausting journey depending how far away you live. Foot travel was difficult then. But God is their strength as it says in this Psalm. And you see here we have a second beatitude, right?

Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are on the way to Zion. What does it mean whose hearts are on the way to Zion? Well, for us today, when we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior, he comes and abides in our heart. He's the way. We then have a highway to Zion in our hearts. That road is paved in holiness. We know where we're going. God has revealed his way in his word. Ray Stedman says that when you get into difficulties or troubles or pressures, where is your strength? Have you found out that your strength is in God?

That he is the one who makes the difference. So they're walking with God on the way to highways to Zion. Then they're going to walk through the valley. Okay, verse six says as they go through the valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs. The early rain also covers it with pools. Albert Barnes in his commentary says this is the most complicated verse in all of the Psalms because nobody knows what the valley of Baca is. There is no valley of Baca in the Old Testament. There's no valley of Baca in extra biblical literature.

We literally don't know what is the valley of Baca. Well, there's two interpretations. I'll give them both to you. The number first interpretation, many commentators call it a valley of tears because they're traveling through Palestine.

It's hot, it's dusty. There's not a lot of water and they would be going through these valleys on the way up to Jerusalem to worship. Yet the pilgrims, they would be fearful. They would be scared. But when they came to this valley, they would find rain. That water had filled pools to quench their thirst so they wouldn't be crying anymore. The second interpretation is that it refers to balsam trees, balsam trees.

There's one of David's battles, David inquired of the Lord to fight the Philistines and God says, go up and around and when you hear the wind going through the balsam trees, march your army out, I'll give you the victory.

So some people think that that would be what it is here, weeping trees, balsam trees. For us Christians today and throughout the centuries, commentators have used this valley of Baca in hymns and poems to be a description for our Christian life because we Christians go through valleys, don't we? We go through difficulties, sorrows, discouragements and it reminds you of Psalm 23. I quoted last week, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

So let's keep walking, we'll keep walking. So verse six was the valley experience, verse seven would be the mountain experience. We're walking the Mount Zion to Jerusalem. It says they go from strength to strength, each one appears before God in Zion, that's why they're going to worship there. They would have to go through valleys in verse six, here in verse seven, when you go up to Jerusalem, you always go up to Jerusalem, you have to go through mountain passes. I mentioned that Psalm 121, one is the Psalm that's on my dad's grave and it says, I will lift my eyes to the hills, where does my help come from?

That is a song of ascent Psalms. Psalms 120 to Psalms 134 and that Psalm is talking about the journey to Jerusalem, they're going through the hills and there's dangers, there could be robbers, it could be bad weather. So verse one says, I lift my eyes to the hills, where does my help come from? And the answer is in verse two, my help comes from the Lord, who made the heaven and earth. God was the pilgrim's strength, I think this is the third time it says strength in the Psalm.

And verse five, verse five said, blessed are those whose strength is in you, here it says they go from strength to strength because this could be a long arduous journey for them. And sometimes I wonder here, if we'll make it, the way is hard, it's rough, we've talked about this in some of our Psalms, the Christian life has disappointments and dangers and difficulties and sometimes we feel overwhelmed, but it's God that supplies our strength to go on. Many years ago at Christ Community Church, it has to have been 25 years ago, I think, when I was in the youth group with Tom and Jennifer Small, we would sing Isaiah 40, do you remember that, Isaiah 40?

It says, why do you say, O Jacob? Verse 27 to 41, and speak, O Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord, my right is disregarded by God. And then the hymn would be, have you not known, have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary, his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint and to him who has no might, he increases strength. Even you shall faint and be weary and young men shall fall exhausted. But they who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not be faint.

I still remember singing that song from 25 years ago. But like a pilgrim on his way to Jerusalem, it says they, but we also go from strength to strength. Let's look at point number three, the pilgrim's prayer.

The pilgrims have journeyed and they have made it to Jerusalem. The pilgrimage to God's house is complete. What's the first thing they're gonna do when they get to the temple?

They're gonna lift up their voices into heaven in prayer and they're gonna pray for the king of Israel, first off.

So two points, listen to my prayer and lift up the king. Verse eight says, O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer, give ear, O God of Jacob. And then verse nine says, verse nine says, behold our shield, O God, look upon the face of your anointed. We'll talk about that in a minute. So last week or a couple of weeks ago, I don't know if you were here, we looked at Psalm 29 and Psalm 29, 18 times had the word Yahweh, God's name in it 18 times. Well, I don't know if you noticed throughout this prayer, there's a lot of names of God.

This is another one of those Psalms that I love to study and I'll just run through them real quick. The first name is in verse one, eight and 12.

O Lord God of hosts. It says, O Lord of hosts, I'm sorry. In verse one, three and 12, correct me there. It says, O Lord of hosts in verse one, three and 12. And then it says, O Lord God of hosts in verse eight. And then verse 12, it says, O Lord of hosts. What does that mean? That's the name of God, Jehovah Sabaoth, Jehovah Sabaoth. He's the Lord God of hosts and they would worship him on the Sabbath. Psalms 24, 10 says, who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, Jehovah Sabaoth. He is the King of glory.

Now this title for the name of God emphasizes the Lord as a sovereign ruler of all powers in heaven and earth and even over the armies of Israel. He's the Lord of multitudes, the Lord of many, the Lord of great crowds. This name of God is the one all creatures on earth depend upon for the power to meet the needs of his children everywhere. For the man in this Psalm, the tabernacle was a place where God manifested himself to his people. The second name of God, you probably noticed in verse eight, it says, oh God of Jacob.

We know that Jacob was a conniving, cunning, cheating, deceiving man and God never gave up on him though. And God didn't give up on Jacob, but God and Jacob struggled and finally Jacob became the man that God wanted him to be.

God had a purpose in Jacob's life and he had a purpose in our life. He'll never give up on us. When I read this, I think of Philippians 1, 6 says, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. We are works in progress, but God is gonna bring that to completion. Then the third name of God is in verse two, the living God, right?

Psalms 42, as a deer pants for the streams of water, they pant for the living God. So he's called the living God. 1 Timothy 4, 10 says, we have our hopes set on the living God. We don't trust in money or material things, but we trust in the living God who provides for our needs. It's a contrast to the idols that the pagans would worship, right? Our God is called the living God in contrast to the idols of silver and stone and wood. This living God is active. He's alive on behalf of his children. He provides for his children.

The fourth name, it says, oh God, our shield in verse nine. And then verse 11 mentions our shield. Now, some people would say in verse 11, the shield is another name for the king, so you got two views here. One view, the shield is God. And you remember Genesis 15, one, the first time it says, fear not Abraham, I am your shield.

So God is often described as a shield in the Psalms and all through the Bible. And you know, the shield's a defensive weapon used in battle. This metaphor is used 21 times in Psalms and it's appealed to God as a protector. So the Psalmist went on a dangerous journey as a pilgrim and would always be looking for God. And in his prayer, he's reminding God being his shield. The second view I mentioned is that the shield is the king of Israel because the king is responsible to protect and watch over the people.

The fifth name here is in verse three, my king and my God. And you know, a king has supreme authority, right? Maybe it's over a tribe or a clan, over a nation, or like the king of Thailand over a country. Isaiah 33, 22 says, for the Lord is our judge. The Lord is our lawgiver. The Lord is our king. He will save us. First Timothy 1, 17 says to the king of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, the honor and glory forever and ever, amen.

God is the king and we are his subjects. We are his people. The sixth name of God in the Psalm 84 is in verse 11, the Lord God is a son. There's nowhere else in the Old Testament that the Lord is called a son, probably because many of the pagan religions like the Egyptians in Pharaoh's time worshiped the son. There were a lot of religions that worshiped the son. But this is the only place in the Old Testament where the Lord God is called a son. And it's interesting that Malachi 4, 2 says that, talks about that the Messiah is called the son of righteousness.

Psalms 27 says the Lord is light. So God, Jesus are often used as the scriptures of the son. So the psalmist is crying out using many different names of God and he's demanding God's ear. Listen to me, God, give me your ear. And then the second thing he says, look upon our king.

And he continues there in verse nine. Oh God, look upon the face of your anointed. And commentators will debate about this word anointed. It can literally refer, it often refers to the king of Israel. And it probably does here. It's used some 40 times in the Old Testament. But it's also used of high priests who are anointed, patriarchs who are anointed, prophets who are anointed. It just simply means that someone who has a special relationship with God, that person is anointed, that person's chosen, consecrated or commissioned by him for a special task.

You remember in 1 Samuel 16, 12, when Samuel had the lineup of David's brothers and the seven brothers go through and nope, nope, nope, not them, them. And then Samuel says, is there anybody else? And then David's father says, well, there's a youngest one is out with the sheep and brings them. And the Lord God says, arise, anoint him for this is he.

So this probably here is the face of the king anointed here. So the psalmist here would be asking our heavenly king to bless our earthly king. And the pilgrim would be asking that because he wants to go home in peace. He has a long journey. Today, we pray for the peace of Jerusalem, don't we? We pray for that often. So, and let's look at the last point and probably the most beautifully poetic in all of the Psalms, the pilgrim's preference.

He would prefer to be nowhere else other than this house of God. And two points, he delights in God's service and he delights in the holiness of God. So two points there or two sub points there in verse 10, the best day and the best duty. It says for a day in your courts is a better than a thousand elsewhere. We just sang it. The NIV version says one day in your court. So I think that's where they got the chorus from. But as mentioned in this Psalm, it's probably written by a priest who could not make this journey.

He could not make it to Jerusalem. So he has a passion. He's be moaning, literally fainting, wishing he could be there. He would love to be in the tabernacle courts. He's missing the worship. He's missing the teaching. He's missing the fellowship. And he says that one day is far better than a thousand elsewhere. The Psalmist is an Old Testament saint who had carefully observed the Sabbath, the holy day. The Lord blessed the Sabbath and made it holy. You know, we're under New Testament and grace, not under the law.

But I hope Sunday's a special day for you. Do you get up on Sunday? I used this illustration before. When I first went to India, I didn't understand why on Sunday morning did all the pastors look haggard.

They look like they were dead. They look like they were asleep in half. Sometimes they were sleeping. But I quickly learned it was due to cricket. Now, they have a sport called cricket. And cricket in India is basically basketball, football, and baseball rolled into one. It's the national religion sport. They're just psychotically crazy. Ask Rohan, ask Rejoice, ask anybody from India about cricket. Well, the big games are on Saturday night. The World Cup is on Saturday night. I stayed up till 1 a.m.

one night watching it with some people to try to understand cricket. But come Sunday, half the congregation's half asleep. The pastor's not prepared to preach because they're not ready for Sunday. They're not ready for that best day. Their best day was Saturday watching sports. You can't stay up late on Saturday and expect to give it your best. I hope you get up in the morning ready to come on Sunday. You know, we're not under the Sabbath, but Sunday's still a special day. It's still the best day, isn't it, of the week.

So it's the best day. It's also the best duty. The last part of verse 10 says, I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. This pilgrim comes to worship. He comes to sacrifice. He comes to serve. Some translations use your, maybe your translation says, stand at the threshold. But most current translations, King James, NIV, ESV say, I would rather be a doorkeeper. While the Legacy Standard Bible, I think NASB say, stand at the threshold. But I like the, I would rather be a doorkeeper.

James Boyce calls this psalm, the psalm of the janitors, the psalm of the janitors. I like that. He's, because what it's saying here is, even the lowliest job, the doorkeeper is basically an usher or a guard or a janitor because they were always cleaning up. So I'd rather be a janitor. I'd rather be a parking lot attendant. I'd rather be a usher. I'd rather be a greeter. I'd rather be a nursery worker. I'd rather be a helper in Sunday school. That's what he's saying. Even the lowliest job in the church is a position of blessing.

Because you're not serving men. You're not serving the babies. You're not serving the children. You're not protecting our cars. You're serving Lord God Almighty. So I was thinking it says there that to be a lowly servant, a parking lot guard, greeter, usher, helper, nursery. Those are not exalted positions, but they're much better than to have an exalted position. It says among the wicked. Remember last week, we talked about Doeg, Doeg, the bad guy. He had an exalted position in Saul's court, but he was a filthy wicked, right?

So better to have a lowly position serving God. And it kind of reminded me here, you know, there's joy in serving God no matter what you do. And no unbeliever can understand that. Unbelievers cannot understand why you come to church on Sunday. They can't understand why you do what you do because you have a special relationship with the living God. Luke 17.10 says, we are unworthy servants only doing our duty. And Psalm 100, we're gonna look at that next week, says, serve the Lord with gladness.

So better one day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. This man wants to be serving God and he would take the lowliest place, the lowliest duty, a janitor, maybe clean the toilets. For in God's house, he feels the love of God and he rejoices in his savior. He feels the power of the Holy Spirit. Why? Because of verse 11, God himself. So let's look at delighting in God's holiness.

If you wanna come and worship, if you wanna delight in God's service, you have to be holy. And there are four things here. God is a son, God is a shield, God is a source and God is a sustainer. Okay, the first three in verse 11, the sustainers in verse 12.

We already talked about God is a son in verse 11. The temple was a very beautiful place, right? The temple of Israel, they could see it in the distance. The gold, it was magnificent temple. But it's not the building that's important, but the beauty of God at the temple. The New Testament says that the light shines in darkness and that Jesus was the true light which gives light. So God is a son that gives light and that light shines in darkness. He's also described as a shield. We talked a little bit about that.

And the shield would be our protector, whether the shield is the king of Israel or whether he's God, commentators argue. But either way, the king of Israel would be responsible to protect the people. Here, if it's God, I think it's God, God is our protector. Psalms 3, we looked at that many months ago. It says, but you, O Lord, are a shield about me. So God is a son, God is a shield, God is also a source. Verse 11, it says, the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.

Because he's a son and a shield to us, he's a source of every good thing that we give, gives us. But notice there's a caveat.

It says, no good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. You have to be holy. You want blessings, you want favor, you want honor, you have to walk holy. Blessing comes with obedience. How many times does the Bible say, for I am the Lord your God, consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. First quoted in Leviticus 11.44.

I think seven times as it is, seven times the last time in 1 Peter 1.15. Okay, the MacArthur study, note if you have a MacArthur Bible, talks about Leviticus 11.44 says, this is the first time this statement is, I am the Lord your God is made, as a reason for the required separation and holiness.

After this verse, the phrase is mentioned 50 more times in Leviticus, I am the Lord your God. Along with this claim, I am holy. Because God is holy and is their people, the people of God are to be holy. So he's our source, but you need to be holy to receive favor, honor, and the blessings that come with us. Now the last one, God is a sustainer. And that's the last verse, verse 12. Oh, Lord God of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you. If you were with us last week, we talked a lot about trusting in God.

We talked about that in quite a few songs because the word trust is used over 50 times, telling people to trust in God in the songs alone. And you notice this last verse 12 contains the third and final beatitude.

But notice the first beatitude and the second beatitude in verses four and five were plural. They said, blessed are those, blessed are those, plural, multitude. This last beatitude says, blessed is the one. That's an ESV and the NASB and King James say blessed is the man, singular. So it's everyone has to trust the Lord individually, okay, in a singular way. So verse 12 tells us that you wanna be blessed, you have to put your trust in the Lord. You know, we trust in him for our salvation or pardon from sin.

We trust him for his power and protection, right? We trust him for wisdom and guidance in our lives. We trust him for faithfulness and for our perseverance. We trust him for our provisions, our sufficiency in him, right? So what do we learn from this Psalm? Well, we're not quite finished this week. We're gonna finish it next week. I'll talk a little bit about that. In this Psalm 84, we're not under the Old Testament. Rituals and laws, are we? Ritualistic demands. We don't have to go to the temple three times a year.

We don't have to observe the Sabbath. We're under grace, right? We're saved by grace and we live a life of growing in grace. So this Psalm could be applied to the Christian life as I mentioned. The Christian life is a journey. The Christian life is a pilgrimage. And it's a pilgrimage, a long pilgrimage till that great day when we arrive at the heavenly temple, our eternal home. And you're gonna go through many valleys of Baca, but you have to rely on the strength of the Lord. And this last verse in the Psalm says, O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you.

It's the life of pilgrimage of trusting in the Lord. Now tonight, Psalm 84 was the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, right? Next week, we're gonna look at Psalm 84.

And that's the Psalm that's gonna tell us what to do when we arrive at the temple or at the temple. There are seven imperatives in Psalm 100 in five short verses. So Psalms 84 is a pilgrimage to God's house. Next week, we will look at the application, seven things that we do when we get to God's house or at God's house.