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It is often the misunderstanding idea which people attributes to the rightful understanding of the Scripture and the Gospel as set out by God Himself that is the greatest problem of mankind today and even before, and if this situation is allowed to be without an effective effort to correct it, our true understanding of exactly what God wants us to know with regard to God’s Aims, Plans and Purpose for the New--Man and the New--Earth is surely going to be with us in this generation just as it was with the generation of our Lord’s first advent and the current old earth thus just like in the first advent when true God—Man relationship was first introduced to man nobody is actually going to know real things the way that our Lord God Almighty wants us to know the things that belongs to our peace; just in similar way that prompted our Lord Jesus to tell the people of that time, ‘if you know what belong to your peace…’! For example do you know that much of what the combined Scripture and the Gospel teaches us in preparation for the Second Advent is all about Confident and Hopeful Expectant Courage that prepares or make us live a life fit to be ushered into the bliss of Heaven, that place that our Lord Jesus Christ said that He is going to prepare for us so that where He is there we too will be! So in essence what the Scripture and the Gospel do is to stir up in us the right heaven’s nostalgia because people are always afraid when they start getting close to the point of transition (via death process) that ushers us into this bliss. Nostalgia is a wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for a return to or of some past period or irrecoverable condition. Christians –that is, true followers of Lord Jesus Christ–not only have an assurance that when they die they will go to heaven, but they also have a divine nostalgia, which is a true yearning for a return to heaven. The word ‘nostalgia’ comes from two Greek words: ‘nostos’, meaning ‘return home’; and ‘algos’, meaning ‘pain’. Combing the two Greek words meant, originally, an incurable homesickness –incurable by anything, except, of course, by home, by an actual return home! The whole idea is liken to a situation whereby a Creator created a blissful home for His creatures and after which He realized that His creatures does not know the Actual Precious Worth/Value of the Blissful Home He created for them as expressed in their Bad/Wrong Usage of the Blissful Home; so He decides to temporally remove them from the bliss by transferring them to a temporally designed painful home so that they will Realize the Worth/Value of their blissful home and develop a true and sincere longing--Nostalgia with an in-built readiness to value and correctly handle their Blissful Home once their Creator returns them back there Being Fit. An old legend of the Western Isles tells of a mythical sea king – a Neptune-type figure –who desired the company of human being. One day he heard, from his cavern/chamber under the sea, a baby’s cry –and he rose to the surface, to discover a tiny infant in an abandoned boat. Just as he was about to make for the vessel, a rescue party intervened –and he lost his prize. But, so the legend goes, as the boat was towed away, the sea king threw into the heart of the child a little salt wave, saying as he submerged: ‘The child is mine. When he grows, the salt sea will call him and he will come home.’ Before we continue with our inspirational learning, let us first of all know the story teller used the word: used the word ‘call him’, which is a spiritual call; a Neptune-type figure –who desired the company of a human being. Remember that Neptune is one of the planets, it is said to be very massive and spiritually inspirational in essence and it brings beauty to a higher, more spiritual level than other planets especially the earth. So this Neptune--type figure or being, is likely Giant looking, Beautiful, Highly Spiritual Being and probably Highly Intelligent with some kinds of powers since it can ‘say’ and it be. So with all of this knowledge about the essence/beauty of other planets, is it still surprising that our good Lord and Savior Jesus Christ longs to give us a New Earth and a New Heaven to be inhabited with a New Body. Our Lord God Almighty longs to give us the Best! Have in mind that this story is only a legend (a traditional story sometimes popularly regarded as historical but not authenticated), of course, but the story underlines the timeless truth that when God (Holy Spirit) comes into our lives (our heart/mind) like the little salt wave that the sea king threw into the heart of the child, we have not only the assurance that we belong to Him God, but a deep, insatiable longing for Home where He God is. One Church leader claims there are two things you notice about a Christian who is head over heels in love with Lord Jesus: you notice first how natural and ‘at home’ he/she is, and the next thing you say to yourself is, ‘This man/woman is an exile; he/she doesn’t belong here at all.’ Have you ever felt this way in life, that is feel the people you find yourself in their midst does not have the same characteristics/attributes/values as you do, does not behave the way you do, are not truthful and godly to a large extent, are not Christly neither do they have love for Christly things, does not have the same divine longing as you do, does not think and does not have the same thinking and reasoning pattern as you do, their spiritual content is very different from yours, theirs are so tied to this world than have any thought/likening or love for the heavenly. Have you ever observed all/some of these truths in some of the people around you assuming you are very watchful and observant! You can observe this in the life of Apostle Paul: how busy and concerned he was for our Lord Jesus’ affairs on earth (love for Christ and Christly things), and yet he sighs, as in our text today, and longs to be ‘at home with the Lord.’ Whether consciously or not this is the truth about all true sons and daughters of our true God! But just like the issue of the Israelites and Canaan, our God kept us here on this current old earth like He kept the Israelites in the wilderness so as to Sieve out the True Wheat from the Tares, and know that this exercise is spiritual because what went wrong during Creation is spiritual whereby the wrong spirit was mixed with the right spirit and the mixer (Lucifer via serpent/Eve) intends to immortalize this evil mixture of good and bad in one contrary to God’s Will of good and bad remaining separate for easy divine separation at the due time; in order for it not to spell Dome for the Entire Universe if allowed but God has been at Work Separating (the mixture) and Restoring Back His entire Good Divine Creation to as they were in the beginning meeting up His aimed divine performance and accountability in us as explained in all the first underlines of our reading passage below: For we know that if the tent which is our earthly home is destroyed (dissolved), we have from God a building, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 Here indeed, in this [present abode, body], we sigh and groan inwardly, because we yearn to be clothed over [we yearn to put on our celestial body like a garment, to be fitted out] with our heavenly dwelling, 3 So that by putting it on we may not be found naked (without a body). 4 For while we are still in this tent, we groan under the burden and sigh deeply (weighed down, depressed, oppressed)—not that we want to put off the body (the clothing of the spirit), but rather that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal (our dying body) may be swallowed up by life [[a]after the resurrection]. 5 Now He Who has fashioned us [preparing and making us fit] for this very thing is God, Who also has given us the [Holy] Spirit as a guarantee [of the fulfillment of His promise]. 6 So then, we are always full of good and hopeful and confident courage; (2 Corinthians 5:1-5) Can you now fully understand all what we have been talking about that has to do with our good divine expectation and hopeful and confident courage being in Christ knowing that our present old earth life is likened to the wilderness life of the Israelites where we are under preparation to be made fit to enter heaven that is like the combine Canaan part of earth given to God’s people: remember that we have Canaan of the first advent that serves and is still serving as figure and we are expecting the emergent of the Canaan of the second advent that is really flowing with Milk and Honey that will serve the reality of the figure any time from now! Both Canaan will serve for God a place where humans will be truly prepared for heaven’s journey in Christ, using it to teach the whole world how humans are to live their life in order to be fit for heaven’s requirement before the End, only God knows when but it will be when God feels He has given mankind enough time with enough divine education to be made fit! Always guard the purity of your spirit so that it will always help you to be in union with the Holy Spirit of God because this is the only thing that helps us in this divine preparation for heavenly fitness!

As we continue looking at the final phrase of Psalm 23 –‘I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever’. David feels so safe and secure in the flock of God that he has no hesitation in affirming that this is the way it will be forever. Do you, I wonder, feel as safe and secure in your life as David did in the Shepherd’s fold? This is not the time or place to debate the issue of ‘eternal security’ –or, as it is sometimes described, ‘once saved, always saved’ –but it is right to focus here on that most wonderful of all earthly experiences –assurance. The question is often raised in Christian circles: can a person have, in this life, the assurance of personal salvation? One denomination gives this answer: ‘It is not possible to know in this life, with any degree of certainty, that one is a recipient of the grace of God.’ It is very important to reason this answer very well and properly in other to know! I strongly disagree! Listen again to those now famous words which John Wesley wrote in his Journal after going ‘very reluctantly’ to a room in Aldersgate Street, London, on 24 May 1738, where a reading was being given from Luther’s Preface to the Book of Romans: ‘I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation, and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.’ Assurance was given me! Wesley had the assurance of salvation. And so, I might humbly add, so do I. But what is more important, as far as you are concerned, is that if you surrender your life fully to Lord Jesus and trust Him alone for your soul’s salvation, then so can you.

We come now to the final phrase in David’s ‘hymn of praise to divine diligence’: ‘I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.’ We said when we began our sermon on this Psalm –and the point has been reportedly emphasized –that David is not speaking here as a shepherd, though he was one, but as a sheep: one of God’s flocks; which each and every one of us is. David knew, better than anyone, that a sheep’s welfare depended to a great degree on the love and care of its shepherd. Having begun with the proud boast, ‘The LORD is my Shepherd’ –or, as someone translates it, ‘Look at who my Shepherd is –my owner, my manager –the Lord is!’ –he finishes on an equally positive note: ‘I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.’ The thought that comes through in this final phrase is clearly this –I am so completely contented with being under the care of my loving Shepherd that I have no wish to have my circumstances changed –I want things to stay this way forever! Some commentators have expressed disappointment at David’s use of the word ‘house’ in the closing phrase of his Psalm, believing it to detract somewhat from the imagery of a shepherd and his sheep. But the word ‘house’ has a much wider meaning than most seem to attach to it. It means, in fact, the ‘household’ of God, the ‘flock’ of God, or –as the Amplified Bible translates it –the ‘presence’ of God. Philip Keller’s rugged translation of this final phrase may offend the pursuits, but to me it states fairly accurately what was in the Psalmist’s mind. ‘Nothing will ever make me leave this outfit! It’s great!’ And to that I add a hearty Amen! You can only understand this when you know and realize that our God always mean well and good for us in everything He God allows to come our way in life!

The thought which has been quietly shaping itself in our minds over the past weeks is a powerful and transforming one –namely, that the goodness and mercy (love) of God follow hard on our heels to turn every tragedy and calamity into a triumph and every loss into a gain. This is the essence of having Christ in our life in both His Presence and His indwelling! It is easy to affirm this as we look back –the challenge is to affirm it with equal conviction as we look ahead too. If you can get hold of this divine truth in your heart/mind and absorb it into your life as a working truthful principle or call it law, then it will transform your attitude/character to everything in life. Never again will you be at the mercy of circumstances or vicissitudes of life. In Acts 5:40-41 we read an astonishing statement saying: “40So, convinced by him, they took his advice; and summoning the apostles, they flogged them and sternly forbade them to speak in or about, the name of Jesus, and allowed them to go. 41So they went out from the presence of the council (Sanhedrin), rejoicing that they were being counted worthy [dignified by the indignity] to suffer shame and be exposed to disgrace for [the sake of] His name.” Rejoicing? Over injustice? Someone may ask which is likened to being joyful in trials! How is it possible to rejoice over an injustice? Because they believed, with David, that the last word was not with men, but with God –goodness and mercy (love) would follow them and turn the situation to their advantage. When you can rejoice over injustice, you are indomitable. Indomitable is when something is impossible to subdue or defeat or depress you in all perspective of it. Another verse from Acts that always intrigues me reads: “And the patriarchs [Jacob’s sons], boiling with envy and hatred and anger, sold Joseph into slavery in Egypt; but God was with him,” as seen in Acts 7:9. The phrase, “but God…” is always at the end of every injustice –He (our God) has the last word in every situation. This is a divine principle or you call it law that man is yet to be thoroughly familiar with in life circumstances! And just as God used the injustice done to Joseph to feed the Egyptian people and his own family, so He transforms every injustice, every sorrow, every bereavement, every tragedy, every calamity for our good. Christianity may not explain everything, but it most certainly transforms everything.

It probably goes without saying that this phrase of David’s which we are considering –‘Surely goodness and mercy (love) will follow me all the days of my life’ –is an utterance of faith. It can be said only by someone who looks beyond the events and circumstances of life and has implicit confidence in the One (Lord God Almighty) who is ultimately in control of everything in the universe. David believed that nothing could happen to him, no difficulty or dilemma could come into his life, without eventual good emerging from the chaos because he knows that as long as he remain loyal to his God, He will overrule everything in his life and bring good out of every evil or bad that come his way. Most of us, when we look back on our lives, can see the truth of this, but the challenge is to believe it when we are going through the circumstance. Ah –then it is not so easy! The only people who can practice this life principle are those who believe and trust in our Lord God Almighty. Let us all try and be practicing this divine principle. Have you heard of Philip Brooks? He was one of the great preachers of a previous generation. He began his career as a schoolteacher and both he and his advisors had every reason to believe that he would do well. But he was a failure. He went home to his parents mortified beyond words. In the midst of his depression, there came to him a clear call to the Christian ministry. At first he pushed it aside, but the call grew louder and louder. He was led on step by step to become a preacher of amazing influence, gaining a position of high esteem on both sides of the Atlantic. Whenever our God wants you in a particular area of life, He has a way of bringing you into it through circumstances and vissicititude of life. He says in a sermon on the 23rd Psalm: ‘In the hours of my humiliation, if anyone had said to me that “God’s goodness and mercy and His Gracious interventions” were following hard on my heels, I would have considered them an imbecile. But actually God’s goodness, His mercy and His grace did! How differently I might have quickly responded if I had believed then, as I believe now, that His goodness and mercy and grace are constant companions.’ How different indeed! And so it is with many people today, and this is why it is vital that we take advantage of our hearing the Gospel so that we will always be on God’s side!