The Quest for the Presence of God (3)

The Quest for the Presence of God

Text: Psalm 42:title–3 (KJV 1900)

1 As the hart panteth after the water brooks,

So panteth my soul after thee, O God.

2 My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God:

When shall I come and appear before God?

3 My tears have been my meat day and night,

While they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?

* In this passage of Scripture we look into the soul of God’s servant David, a man who the bible says was a man after God’s own heart.

* In this passage I have one truth that I want to drive home to you. If you take anything home from this message this is it- The bible indicates that there is something about God that draws us to seek and know Him intimately.

* In this passage David is in great distress and agony of soul. David’s soul is crying out in desperation for God.

* David, like many of us in this room this morning, was subject to times of spiritual depression. It was said of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, that even thought he was called the “prince of preachers,” a man like David who was greatly used of God- Spurgeon endured great battles with depression like David.

* On a Sunday night, October 19, 1856, 12,000 people streamed into London’s Surrey Hall and an additional 10,000 people overflowed into the surrounding gardens outside the building to hear Charles Spurgeon preach. * The services started, but as Spurgeon rose to pray, some hooligan shouted “Fire! Fire! The galleries are giving way!” * There was no fire, but the crowd bolted in panic, and in the resulting stampede seven people were trampled to death. Twenty-eight more were hospitalized. * The young preacher, reeling in shock, was literally carried from the pulpit to a friend’s house where he remained in seclusion for weeks.

* After this tragedy Spurgeon found his soul in a dry and parched place. Spurgeon sank into a deep, dark, depression that he later described as a black darkness where he cried for hours, but didn’t even know what he was crying about. * Spurgeon found himself in such a place that he refused to leave his home or go to the church. His deacons had to come and physical carry him to the pulpit to preach.

* In our text this morning, we find David’s soul in such a place. * I want you to learn from our text that God allows the Christian to come to that dungeon of despair in order to create in us a desire to thirst after God! * Listen to how thirsty the soul of David was for God in the words of our text:

1 As the hart panteth after the water brooks,

So panteth my soul after thee, O God.

* Like an old dog that is suffering from thirst and the great heat of the sun, David declares that his soul is in great anguish. * David’s soul thirsted for the refreshing of the Holy Spirit of God, like a panting dog would crave for the cool refreshing water of a brook.

* In another place, when David was hiding from king Saul in the desert wilderness David says:

Psalm 63: 1 (KJV 1900)

1 O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee:

My soul thirsteth for thee,

My flesh longeth for thee

In a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;

* This morning the Holy Spirit of God is, to the thirsty soul of a man, like a refreshing rain on the dry parched ground in a time of terrible and mighty drought!

* In these dry times, our souls, like that of king David and Charles Haddon Spurgeon, long to see the face of God!

* We are driven to desperation by God, in His wisdom and mercy, that we might seek his face!

* David said in Psalm 119

Psalm 119:70–71 (KJV 1900)

71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted; That I might learn thy statutes.

* In our passage in Psalms chapter 42 David find David’s soul in a quest to see the face of God!

* Listen again to the words of David in our text in verses:

Psalm 42:1–3 (KJV 1900)

1 As the hart panteth after the water brooks,

So panteth my soul after thee, O God.

2 My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God:

When shall I come and appear before God?

3 My tears have been my meat day and night,

While they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?

* David, in anguish of soul, cries out “where is my God?!” The people who observe David’s anguish of soul continually say to David; David “Where is thy God!”

* My friend, the greatest quest that man could ever occupy himself with is the pursuit of the presence of God!

* The only thing that will make a difference in you today will be presence of God in your life!

* The only thing that will ever make a difference in this preacher is to continually live in the presence of a Holy God!

* The only thing that will make Blue Springs Baptist Church a church pleasing to God is the desire to abide in the glorious presence of God!

* The only hope for sinful mankind this morning is the quest to know God!

* In our text in verse 3 David says “When shall I come and appear before God!” David was in a quest to see the face of God!

* As your pastor, and one who cares for your soul, I am telling you this morning that my greatest need- and your greatest need, in life has nothing to do with the temporary distractions of this life earthly life, but with the eternal matters of the soul!

* Yesterday I was in Gatlinburg and I observed crowds of people wander around like sheep without a Shepard, looking at cheap tinsel trinkets trying to satisfy their souls with the emptiness of fleshly lusts of this life! * They were all on a quest to satisfy their thirst souls! Trying to have a good time, seeking to satisfy the longings of their lean souls, but to their disappointment, all it left them with was disappointment, disillusionment and an empty wallet!

* The greatest need that you and I have this morning is to seek the face of God!

2 Chronicles 7:14 (KJV 1900)

14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

* If I were preaching from this passage 5o years ago, there might have been a few who would understand what it means to seek God’s face. * In this day and time in which we live we know nothing of the power of God or of what living in the presence of God can do in heart of a man!

* Moses was overcome with the desire to seek God’s face. Listen to the story as Moses sought to see the face of God in Exodus 33:7- 23:

13 Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee,

* We need as a people of this nation, and of this church, and as individuals to return to the place that it is also our cry this morning shew us now thy way, that we may know thee!

that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people. 14 And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.

* Oh my friends there is a sweet peace and rest for the soul that comes as a result of being in the presence of God this morning!

15 And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.

* Like David in our text this morning, we will come to God in times of leanness of soul and cry out to God “If you don’t give me your presence I can’t go on!

16 For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth. 17 And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.

18 And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. 19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. 20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.

* Oh how we need, like Moses, to cry out for the presence of God!

21 And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me,

* Oh my friends there is a place by God this morning! There is a place where God desires us to meet with Him face to face! This is not a physical place, but a place in heart and mind where God desires every Christian to come and talk with Him face to face!

* Oh that we would set upon the great quest to find this place where we will see the face of God in our soul!

* For Jacob it was the place of Bethel where he built an alter to God and saw that great vision of angels ascending and descending from haven! * Every time Jacob was in trouble and needed the presence of God, he returned to Bethel!

* Do you need to return to Bethel this morning and like Jacob flee to the alter and once again find the presence of God in your life?

(Verse 21) and thou shalt stand upon a rock:

* Oh my friend, you can’t see the face of God until God first sets your feet upon the rock of Jesus Christ!

* The man of our text, David, used words almost identical to those in this story of Moses seeking to see the face of God in Psalms 40:1-3:

Psalm 40:1–3 (KJV 1900)

1 I waited patiently for the Lord; And he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. 2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. 3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: Many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.

* Oh brothers and sisters how the presence of God makes a difference in the soul of a man!

* The presence of God made a difference in the funeral of Lazurus:

22 And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: 23 And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.

John 11:40–44 (KJV 1900)

40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? 41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. 42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. 43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. 44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.

* Moses said “Shew me now thy way, that I may know thee,”

* God Said “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.”

* Moses said again “If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.”

* Moses said again “show me thy glory!”

* Moses desired the presence of God so much that he refused to go on until he saw God’s very presence.

* Oh that we here at Blue Springs Baptist Church would refuse to sing another song, preach another sermon, hold another camp meeting, hold another community event- until we first seek and find the presence of God!

* What good does it do for Christians to labor in the strength of our own efforts to try to serve God?

* This church needs the power and presence of God before we can go on! The arm of the flesh will fail us, but the presence of the Lord will make us to prosper!

* When the Sennacherib the king of the Great nation of Assyria came and besieged Jerusalem Hezekiah the king if Israel encouraged God’s people and said: 2 Chronicles 32:7–8 (KJV 1900)

7 Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him: 8 With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

* Dear church this morning the presence of the Lord makes all the difference!

* Moses and the people of Israel had seen the presence of God, every day in the wilderness, descend and fill the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle. * There God spoke with Moses face to face in the sight of all the people.

* Moses, and the people in the wilderness, watched as the presence of God, in the form a pillar of fire at night, and a pillar of a cloud in the daytime lead the people for forty years.

* The people of God in the wilderness watched as the Glory of God descended upon Mt. Sinai with black clouds of smoke and fiery lightning bolts, and the smell of smoke, sulfur and brimstone. * God’s people watched in great reverence and fear as Moses ascended up into the mountain and spoke with God face to face.

* Moses while in the mountain asked God for a sign that the presence of God would continue to go with them as they left the wilderness and began the quest for the Promised Land.

* God sheltered Moses in the cleft of the rock with his hand as the presence of God passed by Moses.

* The presence of God had affected Moses so much that the people requested Moses wear a veil over his face. The effects of being in the presence of God made Moses’ face shined so bright that it hurt their eyes to behold his face!

* Moses and the Children of Israel knew the power of beholding the face of God!

* In our test this morning David, in agony of soul, is involved in a quest to see the face of God.

* What do we know about the quest for the presence of God this morning?

* In mythology and literature, a quest, is a journey towards a goal.

* Quests appear in the folklore of every nation.

* There are a few things about a quest this morning that relate to the soul’s quest to know God:

1). The first think I want you to see is; that in order to gain the object of a quest, requires great exertion on the part of the hero. * We should understand that in order to obtain the quest for the presence of God this requires a great amount of effort on the part of a Christian.

* You will not find the presence of God this morning by just attending a few church services and praying every now and then. * If you would find the goal of the presence of God this morning it will involve getting on your face before god in fervent prayer! * If you choose to take up the noble quest for the presence of God this morning, it will involve meditating in the Word of God! It will involve seeking to gain an understanding of God as He has reveals Himself to you His Word!

* If you would see the face of God this morning you must set aside a time that is holy, and sacred for seeking God’s face! * You must make A Devine appointment with God!

* This appointment must be given more importance that any other appointment that you have!

II. The second thing about a quest we need to understand is that in order to gain the object of a quest requires the overcoming of many obstacles. * To obtain the goal of the presence of God in the Christian life requires overcoming the many obstacles of the flesh and our own weaknesses.

* In order to overcome the obstacles that keep us from abiding in the presence of God, there will be a great deal of self-discipline required!

* If you will move closer to God this morning the must be a decision, and then there must be a plan!

* As J. Vernon McGee loved to say, “now this is were the rubber meets the road!”

* This is a common-sense matter of forcing our will to bend to meet the requirements of the quest to seek the face of God.

* The flesh, our mind and body, hates the will of God this morning! Our mind and our body will do everything in it’s power to keep us from seeking the presence of God!

* The objections of the flesh must be silenced! In order to seek the face of God we must obtain the mastery over our flesh and the interruptions that would keep us from our quest to seek God’s face!

* The apostle Paul, talking about the mastery of the flesh, used the following words in I Corinthians chapter 9 and verses 24-27:

1 Corinthians 9:24–27 (KJV 1900)

1.) First of all Paul says that he trains his flesh:

24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. 25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.

* If you would see God’s face this morning, then you must prepare to train your flesh for the quest that is before us!

* You must consciously attack the bad habits and seek to develop good habits that will aid you in your quest to seek the face of God! 2). Then Paul says he aims his flesh- he directs his mind to the goal: 26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly;

* If you would seek the face of God this morning you must first make the presence of God the number one priority in your life.

* Once you have established that the quest to seek the face of God is your number one priority, then you must establish the Goals that will aim you toward the mark of your ultimate goal- the presence of God!

3). Then Paul says he fights the flesh:

so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: 27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection…

*Once you have prepared to train your flesh, aim your flesh, then my beloved, not mark this down-, you must be prepared to fight your flesh.

* Now let me warn you, this is not going to be a little playground scuffle, oh no my friend, you need to prepare for all-out war!

* The Devil is not going to be happy that you have discovered his secret- that He uses our flesh to keep us from seeking the presence of God in our lives!

* The apostle Paul tells us that we need to have the attitude of a soldier, prepared in every way to do battle!

2 Timothy 2:1–4 (KJV 1900)

Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. 3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

* Paul says to be like the marines! Be strong! Be faithful! Endure hardness! Be ready!

III. Now here is the third thing that we should know about a quest:

* In order to gain the object of a quest typically includes much travel and leads the traveler on a journey to exotic locations and cultures. * The Bible describes the Christian life as a journey in which we are pilgrims just passing through this world. * God’s plans for our lives will lead us through many twists and turns as we seek to see the face of God.

IV. The fourth and final thing about a quest is that in the process of the quest, the traveler’s character is changed and refined.

* To seek the face of God this morning is a journey that refines us and changes our character!

2 Corinthians 3:18 (KJV 1900)

18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

* What did the apostle Paul just say? * Paul here says that every Christian, as he journeys on his quest to see God’s face, is changed into the very same image we seek- the image of God’s face!

* The Holy Spirit of God changes us as we seek the face of God! He changes us into an image like face of God as we journey on our quest to seek the face of God! * The Bible has a word for this process of change as we seek the face of God- the world is Sanctification.

* The precious Holy Spirit, by faith in the blood of Jesus, first seals us from the enslaving power of the sin- (the sin nature that we inherited from Adam.

* After sealing our soul from original sin, the Holy Spirit then begins the lifetime process shaping our character into what God wants us to be- a picture of his Son!

* My friends what then is our greatest need this morning?

* Our greatest need is to realize that our lives are an eternal quest to see the face of God!

* When we reach the quest for the presence of God we will be like him.

* In Psalms17:15 David stated exactly this in Psalms 17 and verse 15 when he said:

Psalm 17:14–15 (KJV 1900)

15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.

Conclusion:

* Is there a longing in your soul this morning to know God personally and intimately? That is exactly how God desires to know you.

* The Holy Spirit is calling out to God’s people to seek God’s face this morning.

* Will you obey the leading of the Holy Spirit this morning and as a people that are called out to seek God’s face, come to this alter for a season of prayer seeking the presence of God in this church?