Sermon: Why We Should Be Glad to Be in the Lord’s House, Psalm 122

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07302017Psalm122DonRuhl

 

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Why We Should Be Glad to Be in the Lord’s House 

Are you glad if someone suggests going to worship?

Psalm 122

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • July 30, In the year of our Lord, 2017

Persuasion: 

1. Psalm 122.0 | Ascending to the House of the Lord
   
   0 A Song of Ascents. Of David.
   
   1. Knowing what you know about David,
   2. what do you think his thoughts would be
      1. as he went to the House of the Lord?
      2. I cannot imagine that anything else in life thrilled him more.
2. Psalm 122.1–2 | The House of the Lord
   
   1 I was glad when they said to me,
   “Let us go into the house of the LORD.”
   2 Our feet have been standing
   Within your gates, O Jerusalem! 

   The Jerusalem Bible:1 How I rejoiced when they said to me,
   ‘Let us go to the house of Yahweh!’
   2 And now our feet are standing
   in your gateways, Jerusalem.

   1. David was glad when someone said they should go to the House of the Lord.
      1. Why would that make David glad?
      2. What is the House of the Lord?
   2. What makes me glad?
      1. Am I glad to be part of the House of the Lord, the church?
      2. Am I glad to enter into worship?
   3. Verse 2 then pictures him already arrived within the gates of Jerusalem.
      1. Like saying, Man, I am here! Wow!
      2. This is the most special place on earth.
3. Psalm 122.3–4 | The Testimony of Israel
   
   3 Jerusalem is built
   As a city that is compact together,
   4 Where the tribes go up,
   The tribes of the LORD,
   To the Testimony of Israel,
   To give thanks to the name of the LORD.
   
   1. Jerusalem, the main city of Israel, designated so by the Lord Himself.
      1. The city where all the tribes of Israel gathered.
      2. What happened here would affect the rest of the world.
   2. Why did they go there?
      1. The Testimony of Israel was in Jerusalem,
         1. referring to the Ark of the Testimony,
            
            21 You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you. 22 And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel (Exo 25.21–22).
            
         2. We most often call it the Ark of the Covenant, but
            1. you can find over a dozen times in the Old Testament
            2. where the Bible refers to it as the Ark of the Testimony, because
               1. the Testimony had been put into it.
               2. In this case, that would be the Ten Commandments.
   3. Therefore, going to Jerusalem
      1. was not about its beauty,
      2. was not about having fun,
      3. was not about going for entertainment, but
         1. God dwelt there and
         2. from there in the Temple
            1. He communicated with the high priest,
            2. who then communicated God’s message to Israel.
   4. No wonder David was glad when someone said,
      1. “Let us go into the house of the Lord!”
      2. No wonder he wanted to go there and give thanks to the Lord.
4. Psalm 122.5 | The Thrones of Judgment
   
   5 For thrones are set there for judgment,
   The thrones of the house of David.
   
   1. Initially this seems out of place for the rest of the Psalm.
      1. However, when you look over the Psalm again,
      2. you ask why they wanted to go to the House of the Lord, and
         1. why in particular to the Testimony of Israel.
         2. Later, he brings up seeking the peace of Jerusalem.
   2. Therefore, Israel may have been under attack, and
      1. going to worship the Lord,
      2. going to hear what He had to say,
      3. seeking His judgment against their enemy,
         1. may have been the very purpose of this Psalm.
         2. Thus, it actually fits in perfectly.
   3. Worship played a part, but
      1. ultimately they sought the Lord’s help,
      2. in particular His judgment.
5. Psalm 122.6–9 | The Peace of Jerusalem
   
   6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
   “May they prosper who love you.
   7 Peace be within your walls,
   Prosperity within your palaces.”
   8 For the sake of my brethren and companions,
   I will now say, “Peace be within you.”
   9 Because of the house of the LORD our God
   I will seek your good.
   
   1. Going to the House of the Lord,
      1. going to the Testimony,
      2. seeking His judgment,
         1. naturally brought up the idea of peace for Jerusalem.
         2. They went there to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
   2. The prayer consisted of:
      1. The prosperity of those who love Jerusalem,
      2. Desiring peace within the walls of Jerusalem
         1. (from outside enemies, and
         2. from internal strife),
      3. Looking for prosperity within her palaces.
   3. It was not so much for the peace of Jerusalem,
      1. the city of walls, streets, buildings, and homes, but
      2. for the people of Jerusalem,
         1. David’s brethren and companions.
         2. When I asked brother Hugo McCord what he thought of Oregon,
            1. He said, “It’s the people.”
            2. He did not want to talk about
               1. the beauty of the place, nor
               2. did he want to compare it to Oklahoma.
                  1. He thought as David did.
                  2. It is about the people.

Exhortation: 

1. Secure peace for the house of God, which is the Church of God. 
2. Listen to the writer of the Book of Hebrews. 
   1. In Hebrews 12, he states that we have not come to a mountain like Sinai, but
   2. he pictures the kind of mountain to which we have come,
      1. using earthly Jerusalem
      2. to picture heavenly Jerusalem,
         
         22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel (Heb 12.22–24).
         
         1. Jerusalem of which David spoke in Psalm 122, therefore,
         2. typified, represented the new Jerusalem that the Lord would set up.
3. Therefore, what Psalm 122 said of old Jerusalem, we can say of new Jerusalem. 
   1. We are glad when we can join others in the church.
   2. We are glad to be in the assembly.
   3. The Lord has compacted His church from living stones from everywhere.
   4. The church shall judge the world.
   5. Pray for the peace of the church.
   6. Pray for the prosperity of those who love the church.
   7. Pray that the church have peace within herself.
   8. Seek her good.