Psalm 84: ‘The Pearl of Psalms’ Psalm 84:1-12

Text: “Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house: they will be still praising Thee. Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee; in whose heart are the ways of them.”

Psalm 84:4-5.

          “Thou wilt show me the path of life: in Thy Presence is fulness of joy; at Thy right hand are pleasures for evermore.”

Psalm 16:11.

Good morning, delivered Christian!  Your heart and mine rejoice at the very thought of that glorious day when God the Spirit ‘quickened’ our spirits, breathed regenerative breath into our sin-dead souls; and made us to come alive in Christ Jesus.  Hallelujah!  What Spiritual deliverance!  Hallelujah! What a Saviour we have in Christ Jesus!  Hallelujah! What Sovereign grace God our Father has bestowed upon us who were most definitely on our way to a Christ-rejecter’s Hell.  Hallelujah!  We have been set Eternally FREE!

“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free…If the Son (Jesus Christ) therefore shall make you free ye shall be free indeed.”  (John 8:32-36)

Through the full Atonement Sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary’s Cross, our vile sins – ALL our vile sins – have been atoned for: the price of our guilt and sin has been fully paid; the Eternal punishment you and I justly deserved has been suffered for us by our Lord; the Eternal death our sin demanded has been dismissed by the death of Christ Jesus; we are fully justified (just-as-if-I’d-never-sinned) by Christ’s resurrection from the dead – and we are forever FREE.  Hallelujah!  What a Saviour! What an Eternal deliverance we have!

“Neither is there Salvation in any other: for there is none other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

In all aspects of our sinful state, our weaknesses, our faults and daily failings – we are delivered by the precious shed Blood of our Holy Lord Jesus Christ.  This is a true deliverance from all that pertains to the Fall of Adam/Eve into sinful disobedience in Eden’s Garden, and all the catalogue of sins you and I have committed before and after we have been saved.  All our sins are nailed to Christ’s Cross, and we are forever free.

Our Living Lord Jesus does not perform half, or part, miracles. We are delivered completely.  In our Standing in Christ Jesus – we cannot sin. Sin is under His Blood.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”  (Romans 8:1-2)

We who have been born-again of God’s Spirit, through and in Christ Jesus, are delivered from the household of Satan, and graciously placed within the House of God.  We are free.

Verse 1. “How amiable are Thy tabernacles. Here the Gospel trumpet is blown, and its joyful sound echoed forth, and songs of love and grace are sung by all believers; besides, what makes these tabernacles still more lovely are the Presence of God here, so that they are no other than the House of God, the gate of Heaven; the provisions that are here made and the company that is here enjoyed.” (John Gill, 1697-1771)

Verse 2. “My heart and my flesh crieth out for the Living God. Many today, in this 21^st Century, are crying out, but not for ‘the Living God’!  Many cry out for meetings in a church-building, but that is not what the Psalmist is crying out for.  No!  The Psalmist is crying out for ‘the Living God’; for full fellowship with the Living Lord Jesus, not for yet another half-hearted, half-baked, half-committed gathering of professing Christians, who too often seem more interested in who has the biggest church hat, or the strictest sour-grape religious face; or the highest number of church-attendances.  This is not Spiritual desire for God’s Presence, this is merely ‘playing church’; this is more legalistic ritual than true close fellowship with our thrice Holy Lord God, Jehovah.  Genuine Christians are delivered from all of that pomp and religious ceremony. We are longing for continued fellowship with God.

“As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God.”      (Psalm 42:1)

We sinners have been brought into God’s House by grace, through God-given faith in Christ, and in His Sacrifice for our sins at the Cross – this is the real House, not some building made with sinner’s hands.  It is Christ Who is Lord of God’s House, not some fellow-sinner with a dog-collar of religion around his neck, taking the Lord’s Name of ‘Reverend’ in vain!

“He (the Lord God) sent redemption unto His people: He hath commanded His covenant forever: Holy and REVEREND is His Name.” (Psalm 111:9)

“Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him/her guiltless that taketh His Name in vain.” (Exodus 20:7)

For the genuine Spiritually regenerate soul – EVERY PLACE IS A PLACE OF WORSHIP. In beds of sickness, we worship; locked in prison cells, we worship; castaway on a desert island, we are in a place of worship. How? Because we live in God’s House!  We worship God in Spirit and in Truth.  Real Spiritual Truth IS the Lord Jesus Christ!

“Jesus saith unto him (Thomas), I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” (John 14:6)

Verse 4. “Blessed are they that DWELL in Thy House: they will be still praising Thee.  Blessed is the man/woman whose strength is in Thee (not in some religious building); in whose heart are the ways of them.”  You and I do not ‘dwell’ in church-buildings, we simply go there to gather together to worship, which I am certainly not condemning, but merely pointing out that true worship does not vitally require a building, a congregation, or a Pastor.  True worship is a continual desire, wherever a believer is at any given moment; and always a personally desired privilege of being Christ’s Blood-bought people.

Verse 7. “They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.” Can you and I imagine ‘every one of them in Zion’ fitting into a church-building? No! It is the ‘…appearing before God…’ that denotes true worship, seeking God’s Holy Presence in order to worship and adore Him with a thankful, humble, and reverent heart. Anywhere!

Verse 12. “Blessed (blessed with many blessings) is the man/woman that trusteth in Thee. The true Christian faith is, at all times, a personal commitment to Christ, it cannot be undertaken, or practiced, as a mere, ‘signed up member’ of any organised religious group.

Psalm 84, ‘The Pearl of Psalms’, exhorts us to dwell continually in the true House of God.

Thought: “As having hearts full of Heaven, and consciences full of comfort. There cannot but be music in the temple of the Holy Ghost.” (John Trapp 1601-1699)