IN THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD - SERMON V: NO RESTRICTION
The fifth jewel of truth is that, in the House of the Lord – in the eternal presence of the Lord God – there is NO RESTRICTION. The fifth verse of the 23rd Psalm says this: “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies; thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.”
What is it that we usually associate with preparing a table? Yes, of course, getting ready for a meal. As I look around this place, I see tables with white table cloths, folded cloth napkins, silverware, drinking cups and table decorations; so it looks to me like someone is preparing for dinner.
I can just imagine that as the time approaches for you to sit down and enjoy a meal in the dining room, you look forward to something delicious. When I was growing up, there was nothing like Sunday afternoon dinner at our house. How I loved mama’s fried chicken or baked ham or roast beef! We always had beans, potatoes, tomatoes and onions to go with the meat; and, oh, I almost forgot about mama’s homemade biscuits, not to mention her apple cobbler.
Not only did I look forward to Sunday dinner, but many of my friends did as well. Our house was a place where family and friends wanted to be on Sundays to enjoy a delicious meal.
One of my favorite places to travel to is Amish country in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. I love the sight of the horse-drawn carriages going up and down the streets. I could spend a day in the farmer’s market just looking at all the stuff made by Amish women. The red barns and silos surrounded by beautiful fields of corn are impressive. But to tell you the truth, the thing I like most about Amish country is their cooking.
When we go up there, we love to go to a place called Good ‘N Plenty run by Amish folks who serve the meals family style where you sit at the table with strangers and share several different kinds of meats, vegetables grown by the Amish farmers, the best shoo-fly pie and the Dutch apple pie made famous in that part of the country. The food is indeed good; and there’s plenty of it.
When the psalmist talks about the shepherd preparing a table before his sheep in the presence of enemies, He is perhaps making reference to the provisions that those who belong to the Good Shepherd can expect as we journey through this life, but he is also looking ahead to the time when we shall gather at the great banquet table being prepared for God’s children to celebrate our heavenly homecoming.
There’s one thing you can be sure of, says the Psalmist; as you near the completion of your homeward journey, you can be sure that there will be an abundance of blessings, with no restriction on the quantity or quality.
More blessings than you can imagine await you; and you don’t have to worry about whether anyone will take them away from you.
The blessing of eternal life will be yours! There is no way that the enemy called death can rob you of your inheritance. You see, if the good shepherd provided for his sheep in the wilderness, even in the presence of enemies, surely the Lord our Great Shepherd will make good on His promise to prepare a place for us, even though there are times during our earthly pilgrimage that our enemy Satan has tried to discourage or dissuade us from trusting in the Lord.
Jesus spoke to the doubt that arises in our minds as to whether our salvation is secure. Listen to what He said: “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are One” (John 10:27-29).
Oftentimes we go through trials and troubles in this life and we wonder if everything is really going to turn out all right in the end.
It’s not unusual for doubts to enter our minds when things go wrong; after all, as we grow older we come up against all kinds of enemies like crippling diseases, debilitating illnesses, the loneliness of being away from family, the fear of what tomorrow might bring, and so on.
Yet, when we realize that our shepherd is the Lord God maker of heaven and earth, our creator, our redeemer, our sustainer . . . that He endured the humiliation and hurt of his enemies even unto death . . . that He who was crucified conquered the enemy of death when God raised Him from the dead . . . that the risen Christ is the one who made the promise that whosoever believeth in Him shall never perish due to the fact that no enemy can snatch us out of His hand; when we realize the truth of all of these assurances, then we realize that our salvation is secure.
Even in the presence of our enemies in this life, the Great Shepherd – our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ – is right now in the process of preparing the Homecoming banquet table at which all believers in Christ will be the honored guests.
How do I know that we will be honored guests? Consider: The phrase used by the psalmist - “thou hast anointed my head with oil” – refers to a ritual that was customary whenever honored guests attended a banquet or a feast. Their heads were anointed with oil as a symbol of honor.
If you are a Christian, your “anointing” has already occurred. The moment you repented of your sins and accepted God’s Son as your Savior and Lord, you received God’s anointing; the Holy Spirit came upon you.
The apostle Paul put it this way: “Now it is God who enables you to stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come” (2 Corinthians 1:21-22).
Your anointing by the Spirit of God is your guarantee of eternal life.
Your anointing by the Spirit of God is your guarantee that you will be an honored guest in the House of the Lord.
Your anointing by the Spirit of God is your guarantee that you will receive blessings beyond your expectations.
You will be so honored and so blessed that you will be overwhelmed. The only words the Psalmist could think of to express the blessedness of that experience was this exclamation: “My cup runneth over!”
In the House of the Lord – in the eternal presence of the Lord God – there will be no restriction on the blessings you shall receive.
My mind cannot conceive of all the blessings the Lord has prepared for those who love Him. But I must tell you that I really do not have to wait until then to count my blessings. Every day that I wake up and realize that a new day has dawned is a blessing to me, for the dawning of each new day is a reminder to me that God is in the business of turning night into day.
All my life the blessings have far outnumbered the troubles. With the Psalmist, I can say and really mean it, “My cup runneth over” – yes, despite the valleys, I can say it wholeheartedly.
Let me share with you a thought adopted from John Paul Moore, author of the gospel song “Drinking From My Saucer”: My cup has run over so much that I too find myself “drinking from the saucer.” Selah.
