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[ Silence ] [MUSIC] ♪ Say my name, I'll know ♪ ♪ I know I've been changed ♪

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♪ I've been changed since the Lord has given me ♪ ♪ I wanna be ready when Jesus comes ♪ ♪ When Jesus comes ♪ ♪ You know that trumpet is gonna sound ♪

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♪ When Jesus comes ♪ ♪ All angels say, "Saint Christ, you're right" ♪ ♪ I'm so enchanted ♪ ♪ Since he lifted me ♪

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♪ Oh, I wanna be ♪ ♪ Ready when Jesus comes ♪ ♪ Just sign me up ♪ ♪ Sign me up ♪

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♪ For the Christian jubilee ♪ ♪ Write my name ♪ ♪ I've been chained all along ♪ ♪ I know I've been chained ♪

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♪ I've been chained since the Lord has lifted me ♪ ♪ I wanna be with Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ With Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ Oh, the trumpet will sound loud ♪

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♪ Savior come ♪ ♪ All the saints in Christ shall rise ♪ ♪ God of the church ♪ ♪ Say Jesus, lift up me ♪

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♪ I wanna be ♪ ♪ Ready when Jesus comes ♪ ♪ So sign me up ♪ ♪ Sign me up ♪

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♪ For this come to me ♪ ♪ By my name ♪ ♪ By my name ♪ ♪ All in all ♪

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♪ I've been changed ♪ ♪ I've been changed ♪ ♪ Since the Lord has lifted me ♪ ♪ I'm gonna be ♪

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♪ Ready when Jesus comes ♪ - Amen. Well, sometime now we have been involved in a sermon series based on the book of Psalms.

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And as we continue, we come today to the 69th Psalm. The 69th Psalm. So lift up from that Psalm two verses, the 9th and the 21st.

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"For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up, and the reproaches of them that reproach thee have fallen upon me. They gave me also gall for my meat,

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and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Let the fire burn. In time of crisis, a good word we've heard or read some time before will often come readily to mind.

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This is true because of the gift of memory. The camel is an animal so constituted that water which is consumed may be stored in the body and used to carry the camel safely and triumphantly through a thirsty and dry land. This particular psalm is associated with a personal crisis.

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The psalmist is in the clutches of despair. He petitions God for deliverance. Some of his suffering is due partly to his own foolishness, and some of his suffering is for the sake of God.

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And that situation is true of every fateful pilgrim of the upward way. There is some suffering that is caused by our own sinfulness, our sins. And then there is some suffering that occurs in our lives because of our faithfulness to God.

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So it's that particular phase of suffering, that which has to do with suffering for the sake of God that gives rise to the language of our text, "For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up." Zeal has to do with fervor, passionate concern, intense devotion.

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Zeal has to do with enthusiasm. To be filled with zeal is to be stirred up. It is to be diligent. To be filled with zeal is to be on fire.

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During New Testament times, there was a group known as the Zealots. They engaged in radical action. They were revolutionary.

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They were rebels against foreign rule. They were vigorously opposed to the domination of Palestine by the Romans. So the psalmist considers himself a zealot

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in the best sense of the word. He's an agent of God's wrath and judgment. He is against idolatry, apostasy, and the transgression of the law, which

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excites God's jealousy and zeal. The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up." To be zealous is to be jealous. I need not take a great deal of time explaining how jealousy operates.

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So ever so often someone says to me, you know, Reverend, I'd like to marry this person, but she's just too jealous. She in turn said, you know, I'd like to marry this fellow. He's nice, but he is too jealous.

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I can't look at anybody. He's concerned. To be zealous is to be jealous. And being jealous often gets one into trouble, particularly when one is being jealous for

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the sake of God. "The zeal of thine house has eaten me up." The psalmist has shown his concern for the temple, God's dwelling place. He is disturbed by the conduct of the enemies of God.

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They have engaged in wrong practices. They have entertained idolatrous worship. They have engaged in superstition rather than been practicing that which comes from purity of heart.

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They've done all of this within the sacred precincts of the temple. And so what they have really done is that they have praised God with their lips when their hearts are far from Him. And so the psalmist is stirred up over this condition and he is possessed by righteous

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indignation, divine anger, if you please. He's on fire, on fire for God. And so he cries out, "The zeal of thine house has eaten me up." Ever so often you hear somebody say, "What's eaten on him?

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What's eaten on you?" That was a practice in ancient times to have a burnt offering. offering, the choice pieces of meat, or the choice lamb, bullock, whatever it may be, was placed on the altar,

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and it was completely consumed in the burning. Dedicated to God and completely consumed. Now we understand, we can visualize that when the sacrifice is placed there, but let's assume that we are the sacrifice.

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I am the sacrifice, you are the sacrifice, and somehow we put ourselves on the altar, living for God and dedicating ourselves with our enthusiasm, with our commitment so that We can say in the language of the psalmist that the zeal of the divine house had eaten me up.

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Now a whole lot of us are eaten up with a whole lot of other things. I know some people who get a whole lot more excited over the bridge club than they do about the church. A whole lot more excited over some social function, some affair that may be held at

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the auditorium than they'll ever be excited about what's held here in this sanctuary. So if we are really going to have a revival in our lives, we somehow have to understand and identify with what the psalmist is saying here when he says, "Diseo, a vine house hath eating me up, eating me up.

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Well this psalm is attributed to David, it has a caption there of David. And if we were to associate this with David's life, how did he show zeal in reference to the Lord's house? when he became king of all Israel,

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one of the first things that he did was to establish the tabernacle on Mount Zion. And he had the Ark of the Covenant brought there. And he was so caught up that it is said

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that David danced before the Lord. And there was great rejoicing. Great rejoicing. But you see the tent was just a tabernacle.

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And so David shows his zeal in the second place when he has a desire in his heart to build a permanent dwelling place. Something far more substantial and enduring than just a tent. And even though he was not permitted to do so, thirdly, he shows his zeal again when

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he collects material for the temple. He collects, gathers all of the essential materials so that later his son Solomon builds the temple. But he collects it.

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What kind of material do we collect for the building of a dwelling place for God? What kind of material? Well, if we really look at it, well, we'll need to have a spirit of repentance. You know, it's one thing to do wrong and have godly sorrow.

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Really go to God and penitence and say, "Lord, I know I didn't do right. I want you to forgive me." And it's another thing to do wrong and say, "Well, yeah, I did it, so what?" The kind of material that has to be collected is the kind of material that is expressed

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in repentance. And then we need to have faith along with repentance, godly sorrow and faith, commitment, surrender, not some conditional surrender, but wholehearted, complete surrender without "Lord, any reservation?"

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I said, "Lord, here I am. "Every bit of me, all that I am, here it is, it's yours. "Take it." And you said, "I wanna be burned up for you,

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"the zeal of thine house, and eaten me up." Be on fire with God's love. Be on fire. with loyalty to God, to zeal of that heart.

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I said that to be zealous is to be jealous. Be jealous. Be jealous. To be jealous for God.

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God says, "I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God. And thou shalt have no other gods before me." No other gods. No other gods.

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No other gods. that the car I drive I'll not make it a God. I'll not make this frame a house that I dwell in. I'll not make my children, I'll not make anything that I have in this world take the place of God. That you're going to be supreme. That I'll look to you as the highest and best. I'll honor you.

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The zeal of that house has eaten me up. Those that have issued reproaches against you, those reproaches have fallen upon me. How much, you know there's some people who are against God, they insult God, they intrude upon God, so to speak. And if we are his servants and we are identified with him in doing his work and carrying out his will in the world,

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then when we do that, then those reproaches that are for him come to us. Now how much How much of our suffering is that kind of suffering? That's the question I'd like to ask today. Sure, we cry out, many of us,

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Lord, I'm having a hard time, but how much of that hard time is because of God and our dedication to goodness? How much of it is for truth?

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Many people won't know the truth, they wanna hide it. Oh yeah, I know what happened, but I don't wanna have nothing to do with that mess. Shame!

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And we look for cover many times rather than just to tell the truth. And sometimes people can be so easily bribed. Balaam is asked to prophesy against the Israelites.

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He said, "No, no, no, no, I cannot but help "to deliver the word that God gives me to speak. "I just have to tell the truth." zeal of thine house has eaten me up. That's why Amos cries out, let justice

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roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. The zeal of justice has just eaten me up. So often there are those things that would keep us from being enthusiastic to keep the fire from burning. So many things can just throw some cold water on, be just wrapped.

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You can start out many times, the beginning of a day, say, "Well, I'm going to do this," and then before you get started, good, someone will dash some cold water on. I remember we had a sister in our church when I pastored in Waco.

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She went away to California. And she was identified with one of the churches that I pastored by one of my dear friends. And oh, they were in the habit of saying amen.

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And she caught the spirit of saying amen. And then she came back to our church. And for a Sunday or two, she still was saying amen. But when she got among all those other cold ones, she too lost her zeal.

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[laughter] And so many times we take on what the environment has rather than to be initiators, you see. We just adapt ourselves to the environment. - Yes.

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- But here the Psalmist cries out, "The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up." "Hath eaten me up." On fire, on fire for God.

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On fire, the zeal of thine house. You know, Paul talks about zeal. I mean, he says, you know, there are those who have a zeal for God but not according to righteousness. For

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going about to establish their own righteousness they have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. A whole lot of people have zeal but it's wrong kind. But he says the zeal of thine house, in other words the kind of enthusiasm, the kind of dedication, the kind of fire that burns in my life is

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because you dwell there God, because God is dwelling there. You know you'll see so many people in the life of the church who identify with the church and they and say that the Lord is moving in their lives, and one or two people come along and insult them,

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and you can't find them. You know, they drop out of the choir, they don't get the seat they want, or something like that. You see, they drop out of the circle,

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they leave the Sunday school class, and the little thing that happens that just slightly insults them, they're gone! They don't really understand what it means

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to live the Christian life. They don't intend to suffer. But here he says that the reproaches here, those that reproach God also all of that reproach that's intended for God has fallen upon me.

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The zeal of thine house has eaten me up. Well that's a psalm that's attributed to David, the first king of Israel, but there is another king. He is the King of Kings.

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And he marches into Jerusalem. And as he comes to Jerusalem, he goes to the house of God and he finds there the money changing. They are selling, buying, selling, exchanging.

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They are profiting by what goes on. You know that still happens today? A lot of people who identify with the temple for profit. They identify with the church because, well, there are a lot of people up there and that'll

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help my business. Or maybe I can get this done if I identify with the church. This would be profitable to me in some kind of way. And so there were those, these were leaders.

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Jesus took a card and drove them out and he said, "My house, it is written that my house shall be called a house of pride, but you have made it a den of thieves, for the zeal of mine house has eaten me up." You know, it's interesting, you know, see when Jesus quotes scripture, he's quoting one, I say it's probably one of

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of his favorite hymns. He had this 69th Psalm and somehow in the crisis of his life he still quotes from this this psalm because some some authorities point out that it's because he drove him out of the temple that this contributed largely to his going to the cross. Well not only is that true but when he's on

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the cross and he cries out I thirst they brought him vinegar and the psalmist says here that they gave me gall for my meat and vinegar to drink in other words they tried to make life as bitter for me as they possibly could. And when I was thirsty instead of bringing me fresh and pure water they brought me vinegar which

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intensified my thirst. But in spite of all of that, the zeal, the zeal of that house has eaten me up. And I continue to be on fire for God. On fire. On fire. On fire for God. Just let the fire burn. The fire of God's love. Well I'm gonna love no matter what. I'm gonna let the fire

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burn no matter how high steep may be the hill, no matter how great may be the suffering because the zeal of the Lighthouse has eaten me up. Pharisees may try to has dampened my zeal by their religiosity and their hypocrisy, but I let the fire burn. That's what Jesus says, that's what he demonstrates

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in his life. And that's what he wants us to do if we would follow in his train, the Sadducees with all of their emphasis on orthodoxy and the like with their misguided orthodoxy. They are read against Jesus but let the fire burn. That's what he says to us by his example. The Herodians are caught up with their

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crass materialism but let the fire burn. The zeal of thine house has eaten me up. There's a zealot out there with their revolutionary tactics but let the fire The fire of God burned in your life. The zeal of that house had eaten me up.

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The fire is the fire of God. Let it burn. The desire to please God, let it burn. So that it burns away all of the dross,

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all of that which is not in keeping with his will and way it burns it up, burns it up. So that fire gives us light, that fire purifies, that fire gives us comfort, that fire gives us strength. That's the fire we need, not just for revival,

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but we need it every day. We need it every day. That's expressed so beautifully in the language of the hymn, "Set my soul afire, Lord."

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Set my soul afire. That ought to be our prayer right now! Every one of us ought to be able to say, "Set my soul afire, Lord!

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"Set my soul afire!" "Lord, set my soul afire. Make my life a witness "of thy saving power.

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"Millions grope in darkness. "Waiting for thy word, set my soul afire, Lord. "Set my soul afire,

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so that I too can go out "and say, not only with my lips, "but with my life, I am consumed by your life.

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That the zeal of thine house had eaten me up. I'm consumed by your truth. I'm consumed by your righteousness.

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I am consumed by your love. The zeal of thine house had eaten me up. Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart. - Mm-hmm. - Oh, yes.

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This is the invitation. We invite you to come. Surrender yourself! The disease is a virus.

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Let God heal us and save us from the virus. [MUSIC - "LORD, I WANT TO BE A PRISONER"] Lord, I want to be a prisoner in my heart, in my heart. ♪ For thy heart ♪

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♪ Shall be a crystal ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪

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♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ Lord, I long ♪ ♪ To be a Christian ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪

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♪ For I want to be unhappy ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ For I want to be unhappy ♪

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♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪

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♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ For I want to be unhappy ♪ ♪ Be all you'll be in my heart ♪ ♪ For I want to be all you'll be ♪

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♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ For I long to be nobler in my God ♪ ♪ In my God ♪

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♪ In my God ♪ ♪ I want to be loved only in my life ♪ [ Music ] [BLANK_AUDIO]