Good morning to the eighty-fourth psalm.
Psalm eighty-four.
How precious to read the word of God
again and find from the pages of the
book of Psalms the message for our hearts
and for our consciences in the past below.
Psalm eighty-four, reading it through from the
beginning to the end and hearing the psalmist
say, how amiable and lovely are thy tabernacles,
O Lord of hosts.
My soul longer, yea, even fainter, for the
courts of the Lord.
My heart and my flesh cryeth out for
the living God.
Yea, the sparroweth found in house, and the
swallower nest for herself, where she may lay
her young even thine altars, O Lord of
hosts, my King and my God.
Blessed or happy are they that dwell in
thy house, they will be still praising thee,
Thela.
Blessed or happy is the man whose strength
is in thee, in whose heart are the
ways of them.
Who passing through the valley of Bacon maketh
a well, the rain also filleth the pools.
They go from strength to strength.
Every one of them in appeareth before God.
O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer.
Give ear, O God of Jacob, Thela.
Behold, O God, our shield, and look upon
the face of thine anointed.
For a day in thy courts is better
than a thousand.
I had rather be a doorkeeper in the
house of my God than to dwell in
the tents of wickedness.
For the Lord God is a sun and
shield.
The Lord will give grace and glory.
No good thing will he withhold from them
that walk uprightly.
O Lord of hosts, blessed or happy is
the man that trusteth in thee.
May God bless the reading of his word,
and we pray earnestly that it will be
the Spirit of God who will give the
message from the word as we meditate upon
the psalm.
The psalm is divided into three sections.
The divisions are indicated by the word Thela.
After the first four verses you have the
word Thela.
At the end of the eighth verse you
have it again.
And it brings before us a threefold division
of this wonderful psalm of David.
I would like to speak to you about
each of these divisions.
I'm giving you these thoughts concerning the divisions
of the psalm in this threefold way.
The first section telling us how to find
God.
The second section telling us how to follow
God.
And the last declaring how to fellowship with
God.
I'm sure these are three important considerations.
How to find God, how important this is.
How to follow God when we have found
him, how great and important that is.
And then greatest bill, how to fellowship with
God, and then join him as we go
on through this scene to the home of
glory above.
First of all, how to find God.
I wonder if every one of us here
present has found God.
The prophet Isaiah wrote, seek ye the Lord
while he may be found.
Call upon him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his ways, and the
unrighteous man his thoughts.
And let him return unto our God, who
will have mercy and will abundantly pardon.
The most important discovery in any person's life
is to find God.
A servant of God prayed on one occasion
as he registered at a hotel in New
York City, that the Lord would lead him
to someone who desired to find God.
Going down the street of the city, he
noticed in a store window an article that
he desired to purchase.
Entering the store he was approached by a
salesman who said to him, Sir, what can
I do for you?
He answered, you have a prayer book in
the window that I would like to purchase.
The man looked at him in astonishment and
said, Sir, but you're mistaken, we don't sell
prayer books.
Yes, he said, you've got a prayer book
in the window that I want to purchase.
And the astonished salesman again perplexingly said, Sir,
we don't sell prayer books.
And the servant of God said, come and
let me show you.
And so to the window they went together
and the servant of God said to the
salesman, do you see that notebook that you
have in the window?
He said, I want to use and buy
it for a prayer book.
He said, when I pray I put down
on one side my prayer requests that I
make to God, and then on the other
side of the page I put down the
date that he answers my prayers.
The salesman looked at him in astonishment and
said, Sir, can you tell me how I
could find God?
What an important responsibility for every man and
woman, boy and girl, to find God.
Have you found God?
Know what the psalmist declares in the first
four verses?
For he tells how to find God so
very clearly.
First of all he recognises in the opening
verse how lovely it would be to find
him and be with him.
How amiable, how lovely are thy tabernacles, O
Lord of hosts.
One thing you must confess when you read
the psalms, the psalmist seems to have had
been like to be in the presence of
God and longing to be in his tabernacle.
Psalm twenty-seven and verse four the psalmist
wrote, One thing have I desired of the
Lord, that will I seek after, that I
may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life, to behold
the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire
in his temple.
May I say, my beloved, if you are
not saved, no lovelier experience can come to
your soul and into your life than when
you find God, for his tabernacles are lovely.
But then, would you also know, when any
person desires to find God, they must long
for him.
For David said, My soul longeth.
There must be a longing to know God.
There must be created by the Spirit of
God's convicting grace, the longing to find God.
And note what follows.
That certainly would indicate why the longing is
so great.
For he goes on to say, Yea, my
soul even fainteth for the courts of the
Lord.
And the meaning of that Hebrew word, fainteth,
as it's translated in our language, fainteth, the
meaning is, if I don't find him, I
shall perish.
I wonder if you've ever come to the
experience in your soul's history, where you recognize,
if I do not find God, I shall
perish.
For that's the truth.
When God saved my soul, it was many,
many months before that wonderful moment.
I was in the knowledge and under the
conviction, John, you're on the way to hell.
John, if you die without Christ, you'll be
in hell.
John, if you die in your sins, you
never can be in heaven.
And there was the consciousness, I would perish,
I would perish.
For God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life.
And the psalmist indicates not only the longing
to know God, but the danger of never
finding him.
My soul fainteth, for if I never find
him, I shall perish, was the knowledge of
the psalmist.
And then you note the rest of verse
two, you see his whole being longing for
God.
He cries out, my heart and my flesh
cries out for the living God.
My, it's a wonderful thing when a person
anxiously and completely wants to know God.
I wish I could find a few like
that.
Could you tell me where I might find
them?
Oh, my beloved, how the presence and the
power of the Holy Spirit is so needful
to bring conviction that men and women may
realize their longing as well as their danger
if they never find God, but that they
may find him as he certainly considers that
he is available for all to find him
if they will.
Beloved, do you want to know him?
Now you note verse three.
And here we have an object lesson that
certainly indicates very definitely the way to find
God.
We may believe, and I'm sure it must
be true, that in the days of David
as a shepherd, as he wandered over the
hillsides of Judea, caring for the flock of
his father, David noticed many things in life.
Amongst those experiences he observed the sparrow and
the swallow.
Has he noticed the sparrow and the swallow?
Note what he declares.
Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and
the swallow a nest for herself, where she
may lay her young, even thine altars, O
Lord of hosts, my King and my God.
Now what David noticed was around the land
and all the land of Israel were many
altars.
The patriarchs and Abram and Isaac and Jacob
and others had built many altars around the
land of Israel, and those altars had been
neglected, become unused, and they were overgrown.
But in the overgrowth and the vegetation of
those altars that covered them, the sparrow and
the swallow found a house and made a
nest for the raising of their families.
The object lesson was not lost upon the
psalmist as he observed this, and there as
he saw the sparrow, perhaps the most worthless
of birds, and the swallow, perhaps the most
restless of birds, finding a nest and a
home in the altars of Israel that were
overgrown, he thought, perhaps I can find my
home and resting place in God.
Now wherever you read in the Old Testament,
as well as with you, wherever you read
the mention of an altar, you have that
which reminds the heart of God, as well
as the hearts of all, of the death
of his beloved son.
The only approach to God must be an
end by the death and the sacrifice of
his beloved son upon the cross of Calvary.
One wrote the lovely hymn saying, I must
needs go home by the way of the
cross.
There's no other way but this.
I shall ne'er dwell in that home
of light if the way of the cross
I miss.
And how true that is.
The way of the cross leads home, and
the death of the Lord Jesus is the
only ground of approach for a poor guilty
sinner to find God.
And as David noticed the altar, as he
saw the worthless sparrow and the restless swallow,
he could say of himself, and you and
I must do the same, I know I'm
a worthless sinner.
I know that I am a restless sinner.
But there in the death of Christ and
through the virtue of his sacrificial work on
Calvary, my soul can find its resting place
in God.
The poet wrote those lovely words, I heard
the voice of Jesus say, come unto me
and rest.
Lay down thou weary one, lay down thy
head upon my breast.
I came to Jesus as I was, weary,
warm, and sad.
I found in him a resting place, and
he has made me glad.
My beloved, the Lord Jesus alone himself, and
through the work of his redeeming power of
the cross, can bring you and me to
God.
The Savior said when he was upon the
those lovely words of John 14 6, I
am the way, the truth, and the life.
No man cometh unto the Father but by
me.
Would you find the way to God?
Christ only is the way, and through him
you may come, if you only will, to
God today.
And when you find him, you will indeed
be able to say as David concludes the
third verse, he's my king and he's my
God.
My king, my God.
And what a lesson to know that as
a worthless sparrow and a restless swallow could
make a home and a nest in the
altars unused in Israel, yet ever speaking of
the sacrificial work of God's Son to the
heart of the Father above and to the
need of the sinner below.
That's the way to God.
Have you found the way to God?
Do not ever dare to approach God without
the virtue of Christ and his blessed death.
He alone will bring you to God.
There will be an eternal fruitfulness, for the
they will be still or they will be
continually praising me.
For happy is that man and woman, boy
or girl, who has found God and can
rejoice in knowing.
Happy are they because they will forever in
the house of the Lord above be praising
him.
What a portion.
One gratefully acknowledges that joy of heart in
having found God through the Lord Jesus Christ
and his blessed redeeming work.
May I ask again, have you found God?
May it be your joy to say this
morning, yes, thank God through the Lord Jesus
and his death, I found my way to
God.
Note the second division of the psalm, how
to follow God.
For when one finds him, how important it
is to follow him.
One of the earliest recollections of spiritual impressions
carries my mind and heart back to my
boyhood days in the old country of England,
where a godly brother was quite interested in
young men as well as young boys.
And he had a boy's Bible class, and
one of the favorite hymns of this dear
brother, whose name was Sam Walker, was one
he taught to us again and again.
Down in the valley with my savior I
would go, or that hymn that says, I
will follow Jesus.
And again and again we would sing the
words of the chorus, follow, follow, I will
follow Jesus, anywhere, everywhere, I will follow on,
follow, follow, I will follow Jesus, everywhere he
leads me, I will follow on.
My beloved, when you find God, it is
important to follow him.
May I say, I do it very earnestly
and lovingly, but it is a sad commentary
upon the truth, that we have too many
half-hearted Christians, and not sufficient whole-hearted
Christians, who are following wholly the blessed one
they've found.
But how to follow God is important.
We shall know him better.
Hosea the prophet wrote, then shall we know
if we follow on to know the Lord.
And the importance of following him must be
emphasized, and the psalmist revealed this, how to
follow God.
Now note the section very carefully.
There are important truths telling how to follow
him.
First of all, in the opening of verse
5, blessed or happy is the man whose
strength is in thee.
The first important lesson is to recognize, we
do not follow him in our own strength.
Our strength is in him.
Said Paul, I can do all things through
Christ, who strengthens me.
Be strong in the Lord and in the
power of his might.
The joy of realizing when a believer finds
the Lord today, there is given to that
believer enabling strength to follow him.
I remember a dear old saint who was
saved to the Lord in the old country
of England by the ministry of one of
England's noble men by the name of Lord
Radcliffe.
And Lord Radcliffe had the privilege of ministering
the word of God in many places of
Europe, in the capitals and among the nobility
of the land.
And wherever he went, he was a faithful
believer to give the gospel to these people
who very infrequently heard it.
On one occasion he was ministering in a
certain drawing room, in a certain palace in
one of the European countries, and he presented
the gospel to the company gathered.
Following the message, in the close of the
session, one of the noble men of that
land came to him and said, Lord Radcliffe,
if you only realized the temptations, the difficulties,
the circumstances that surround us in our society
of life, you would never tell us that
we could live a Christian life.
As you have been preaching, we should come
to Christ and follow him.
The Englishman looked at the man and said,
Sir, if you will receive the Lord Jesus
Christ as your personal savior, there will enter
your heart and soul immediately, a divine power
that will enable you to live for his
glory, regardless as to your circumstances.
And he left the man.
Months later he was ministering again in another
part of Europe, and doing the same thing,
preaching the gospel to some of the nobility
of that place.
Following his message, a man came to him
and said, Sir, Lord Radcliffe, do you remember
me?
The Englishman looked and said, No, I don't
think I do.
Well, he said, Do you recall being in
such a place, and he named it, and
speaking to a man who said it was
an impossibility to live a Christian life in
our environment, and you told him if he
would trust the Savior, there would immediately enter
into his soul and heart and life a
power divine that would enable him to live
for God?
Oh, yes, the Englishman said, I remember that.
The man said, Let me take your hand.
He said, I'm the man that you spoke
to, and he said, I want to tell
you I proved it.
Hallelujah.
No matter who we are, where we are,
the moment we are saved, there is a
divine presence of the indwelling Spirit of God
dwelling in the heart, abiding within for divine
enablement.
Blessed is the man whose strength is in
thee.
Hallelujah.
I do not have to live my Christian
life in my own strength.
Praise the Lord.
Still note the next words.
They're very significant.
In whose heart, and the clear, the translation
is unfortunately unclear, but in whose heart are
the highways?
May I put it this way?
In whose heart are the highways of God?
For the moment you find him as your
Savior, the Spirit of God plants into that
soul, into that heart, the highways of God.
I never wanted to follow God until Christ
was my Savior.
I never wished to follow the Lord Jesus
until that night I took him for my
own.
And within my soul was planted the highways
of God, God himself, to follow.
Then may I point out something precious?
He gave me a guidebook.
When you want to go anywhere in this
world, or if you want to make a
trip in this country, you get a route
map.
You map out and chart your path.
Well, bless your heart.
God's given us a book to guide us
through the highways of life.
Hallelujah.
I hope you look at it every day,
and follow the guiding of the scriptures.
We sing that old hymn, Guide me, O
thou great Jehovah, pilgrim through this barren land.
I am weak, but thou art mighty.
Guide me with thy faithful hand.
And the guidebook is the word of God.
I will instruct thee and teach thee in
the way which thou shalt go.
I will guide thee with mine eyes, wrote
the psalmist in chapter 32 and verse 8.
And the precious things he plants into the
heart, his highways.
Now let me remind you of what the
psalmist said in Psalm 119, verse 11.
Thy word have I hid in my heart,
that I might not sin against thee.
And my beloved, how to follow God.
First, in the strength of the indwelling spirit.
Second, through the guidance of the word of
God.
Hallelujah.
Then may I point out the significant fact
in verse 6, where it leads.
When I was saved, I recall when I
went home with that night, across the city,
saying to myself three things in which I
was wrong.
I said some things to my soul which
I knew was right.
I know I said, Johnny, you're not going
to hell, you're going to heaven now.
But I said also, Johnny, this world is
going to be a path of roses.
That was a mistake.
I said, Johnny, the devil will never bother
you.
Not at all anymore.
That was another mistake.
Johnny, you'll never sin again.
You'll go on, you'll be the best boy
that ever lived.
And that was the third mistake.
When you and I follow God, well you
know what the psalmist says.
Who passing through the valley of Baker.
When you and I follow God, and as
I learned subsequently, the words of the Lord
Jesus were true in John 16.33. In
the world ye shall have tribulation, trouble, but
be of good cheer, he added, I will
overcome the world.
When you follow God, never forget, you follow
him in a world that despises him.
And it leads through the valley of Baker.
Now, Baker has never been proved to be
a specific place on any biblical map.
I've seen but one map that ever noted
it, and the question marks answer it.
But it is the valley of trial, it
is the valley of weeping, it is the
valley of testing.
And my beloved, you know and I do,
who have been going on for the Lord,
there are testings and trials in the path
when we follow God.
And it leads through the valley of testing.
The psalmist said in Psalm 23 verse 4,
Yea, though I walk through the valley of
the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil,
for thou art with me, thy rod and
thy staff they comfort me.
And it is a valley with its shadows
ever upon and around us, and we pass
through it.
But one sure thing we know, we're going
through.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of
the shadow of death.
And that valley is one of testing.
But note what the psalmist indicates as we
follow on.
Who passing through the valley of Baker, make
it a well, or a fountain, the rain
also filleth the pool.
Now, may I give you a lovely thought
that has blessed my soul, and astonished me
when I found it, not many months ago.
I found the expression at the end of
verse 6, the rain also filleth the pool,
was a Hebrew word.
The derivation of a Hebrew word that you
find in 2 Chronicles chapter 20, where you
may remember Jehoshaphat as he prayed with Judah
and Jerusalem to be delivered from the Ammonites
and the Moabites, and God delivered them, the
enemy was overthrown, and on the third day
as they marched toward the wilderness, Jehoshaphat and
all of Judah and Jerusalem that were with
him, they came to the valley of the
raka, meaning the valley of blessing.
The valley of blessing.
And the expression, the Hebrew idiom, the rain
also filleth the pool, is a derivation of
that Hebrew word baraka.
Now, couple the verse with the beginning and
the end of it, and you have this
truth.
Who passing through the valley of trials, make
it a fountain, and come to the valley
of blessing.
For your troubles can be the greatest source
of blessing in your life.
Make it a fountain, and bringing you to
the valley of blessing.
Or can we quote the words of Hebrews
12, 11, Now therefore no chastening for the
present seemeth to be joyous, rather grievous, but
afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness
to them that are exercised thereby.
Oh my beloved, the valley of trial that
you and I pass through in this world
as a believer is the very place that
will lead us to the valley of blessing.
I remember dear old sister Abigail said, John,
your darkest trial can become your greatest spiritual
blessing.
How true that is.
How to follow God.
It leads through the valley of testing.
But in that valley, it becomes a fountain
of blessing, as he brings us to the
barracks.
And then you know, they go from strength
to strength.
The strength increases.
The experiences of trouble will give you more
spiritual strength than anything else.
I have never known prosperity to give spiritual
strength.
But I have known adversity and trouble to
increase spiritual strength.
The soul grows in the midst of adversity.
The soul grows in the midst of trouble.
Did you ever notice those words in Psalm
107, where the mariner is on the sea,
and the ship goes to the crest of
the waves and down into the trough, and
their soul is melted because of trouble?
Oh my beloved, let me say this.
There's nothing like having a melted soul.
I remember a story I once read.
Some of you old country folks may recall
we had a character in English history whose
name was Oliver Cromwell.
Oliver Cromwell was called the defender of the
commonwealth.
He led the people of England against the
crown and the impositions that were placed upon
the common people in that day.
He led them to fight against the crown
and the state to bring better conditions about.
But he had to fortify his army and
provide in many different ways.
One thing he did, he ransacked the cathedrals
and state churches of their treasures wherever he
could to provide for his army.
One day he was out of funds, out
of provisions, out of supplies, and he sent
a detachment of soldiers to a nearby cathedral
with the command to bring back anything and
everything of value.
They returned to the commander and they were
empty.
They said there was nothing there, and they
reported nothing could be found in that place
of value.
He roared at them, he said, what, nothing
at all?
Well one man spoke up and said, sir,
the only thing that we could see was
the statues, the silver statues of the faith.
And he roared back, then take the saints
down, melt them, and put them in circulation.
And you know, beloved, if you really want
to be in circulation for the Lord, you've
got to be melted first.
And God uses trouble to melt you.
And I conclude I'd rather be a melted
saint than a cold statue.
Take your choice, for it strengthens.
And they go from strength to strength with
the assurance every one of them will appear
before God.
Hallelujah.
It's the way home.
It's the way home as you go through
this valley of trial.
It leads home.
The way of the cross leads home.
And thank God as we pass through the
testings of life.
Hallelujah, this is the way the Saviour went.
From suffering to glory.
And the servant is not greater than his
Lord.
Oh my beloved, may I emphasize, this is
what the psalmist declares, how to follow God,
how to follow God through thick and thin.
Job said, yea, though he slain me, yet
will I trust him.
And Job, one of the greatest joys is
to keep on following.
Timothy was told by Paul, continue thou in
the things which thou hast learned, and hast
been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast
learned them.
Keep on, Timothy, keep on, keep on, keep
going on.
And may God give to you and me
the grace of his children to go on
till he comes.
One of our Indian brethren back home, as
he told me of his conversion, bless his
soul, he joined himself to the little company
of believers in that old schoolhouse where I've
often preached, and it was so cold to
preach in that place in wintertime.
And he said, you know, Brother Bramall, I
told my brethren after I was saved, they
ought to get a stove.
And they all agreed they needed a stove
in the building.
They had a little trash burner that didn't
mean anything much.
And he said, Brother Bramall, I found I
had to buy the stove, so I bought
the stove.
Then he said, Brother Bramall, I found I
had to buy the coal.
Then he said, Brother Bramall, I found I
had to light the fire.
But he said, Brother Bramall, if it's only
me and Jesus, I'm going to light the
fire till he comes.
I said, praise the Lord, John.
And that's the spirit that brothers still have.
Thank God it pays to follow him.
They go from strength to strength, and the
assurance we shall appear before God.
O Lord God of hosts, the psalmist says,
hear my prayer, give ear, O God of
Jacob.
And O my brother and sister, keep following,
follow him.
And may we follow him faithfully through the
valley.
For one thing we're sure, just as dear
Samuel Rutherford said, I know not what storms
may meet my frail bark between here and
glory, but I know I shall reach the
desired haven.
Praise the Lord.
Can I give you this assurance?
Whatever you go through, you're going through.
Sure, you'll come out the other end.
Praise the Lord.
You can't help it.
Look who's taking you through.
Following through thick and thin.
Last of all, how to fellowship with God.
All of these three things are important.
First, basically, how to find him.
Then, second, how to follow him.
And third, how to fellowship with him.
Oh, how important it is to enjoy God.
No greater joy can you and I have
than be in the joy of having the
presence of God and the fellowship of God
as our experience.
And the psalmist mentions it very carefully.
How to enjoy him, how to fellowship with
God.
Notice the verse 9.
Behold, O Lord, O God our shield, look
upon the face of thine anointed.
Now I want you to notice something.
The psalmist indicates this fact.
Keep your faith in the sunshine of his
love.
Look upon the face of thine anointed.
I think someone once wrote, asking a question
of dear old brother Darby, and said, Mr.
Darby, if I turn my back on God,
will he love me?
And the servant of God answered, yes, he'll
love you, but his love will be shining
on your back.
And O my beloved, keep your faith, keep
yourself in the sunshine of his love, where
his face can shine upon his anointed.
Keep your faith toward that blessed one.
Remember the Hebrew writer said, looking unto Jesus.
What better object, or whatever better occupation, could
you be doing than looking unto Jesus?
What better direction could you be looking than
unto Jesus?
What better object could you be looking upon
than Jesus?
That his face may shine upon his anointed.
O beloved.
Remember the psalmist said, they looked unto him,
and their faces were lifted, or enlightened.
And if you want your faith lifted, nowhere
to look.
Look unto Jesus.
Stay in the sunshine of his love, and
of his faith.
And say, O God, our shield.
Look upon the face of thine anointed.
O thank God that his love shines in
the face.
And my beloved, don't ever turn your back
to it.
You cannot enjoy fellowship with God by so
doing.
Stay in the sunshine of his own faith.
O that blessed, blessed benediction of Moses.
The Lord bless thee and keep thee.
The Lord make his face to shine upon
thee.
The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee,
and be gracious unto thee, and give thee
peace.
What a benediction.
My beloved, keep yourself in the sunshine of
his faith.
Second, for a day in thy courts is
better than a thousand.
I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house
of my God than to dwell in the
tents of wickedness.
And the second thing is this, stay in
the glory of his presence.
Or that we could practice what one has
said, practicing the presence of God.
I'd rather be on the threshold of the
house of my God than to be dwelling
in tents of wickedness.
And the joy of realizing I can enjoy
his presence wherever I am.
Practice in the presence of God.
For it's better to be there than spending
a thousand days elsewhere, and have just a
day in his presence is far greater.
And I'd rather be there than be dwelling
in the tents of wickedness.
Stay in the sunshine of his face.
Stay in the glory of his presence.
And third, note the last verse, in verse
11, for the Lord God is a sun
and shield.
The Lord will give grace and glory.
No good thing will he withhold from them
that walk uprightly.
May I point out these three principles?
First, enjoy the sunshine of his face.
Second, stay in his holy presence.
Practice in the presence of God.
Third, walk uprightly.
No good thing will he withhold from them
that walk uprightly.
Stay in the path of obedience and beloved.
Fellowship with him will be unbroken and it
will be blessed.
For happy or blessed, Lord of hosts, blessed
is the man that trusts in thee.
All the joy of knowing we can enjoy
God, if we only will.
May I recapitulate this precious song?
Three things.
How to find God?
My friend, if you've never found him, seek
ye the Lord today while he may be
found.
Come as a poor guilty sinner, acknowledge him.
Receive him into your soul.
Confess the precious work of his cross, the
only ground of coming to God, and be
saved today, and then follow him.
Wherever it may lead, it leads homeward, but
through the valley of Baker it will bring
you to the valley of blessing even on
the way home.
And then someday we shall be in that
home forever, but on the way home we
can also fellowship with him.
And we shall be with him in that
glory to fellowship forevermore with our God, nevermore
to leave his presence.
May God bless these truths.
How to find God, how to follow God,
how to fellowship with God.
May God make every one of us know
we have found him, and every one of
us to follow him, and every one of
us to fellowship with him for his namesake.
Shall we pray?
O blessed God, how great thou art, that
thou shouldst ever desire the children of men
who have wandered in disobedience away from thee
to be brought back to thee.
We thank thee, Father, that it was the
shepherd who was sent from heaven above, who
sought the lost sheep, and when he had
found him, he placed that sheep upon his
shoulders, carrying it home rejoicing.
We thank thee for every one the shepherd
has found.
We pray for those in our gatherings who
are not yet found, O that they will
be concerned to find thee, Lord Jesus, and
this moment trust thee as their Saviour.
We pray for each one who's found thee,
teach us to follow, help us to be
faithful, following through thick and thin, faithful to
thee, Lord.
It brings blessings the world could never give,
and gifts strength spiritually we could never find
in ourselves, nor from this earth we see.
And then, Father, help us to enjoy what
is even greater, a life of fellowship with
thee, until we step into that glory at
the coming again of our Saviour, when we
shall be forever with the Lord.
Sanctify these truths in the name of our
Lord Jesus.