We'll head to Psalm 48. Psalm
48. We'll continue our study that
we've been doing in Psalm 48. I'd like to read the whole Psalm,
seeing as it's been about four weeks since we looked at this
Psalm. Great is the Lord and greatly
to be praised in the city of our God and the mountain of His
holiness. Beautiful for situation, the
joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion on the sides of the north,
the city of the great king. God is known in her palaces for
a refuge for low. The kings were assembled. They
passed by together. They saw it and so they marveled. They were troubled and hasted
away. Fear took hold upon them there, and pain as of a woman
in travail. Thou breakest the ships of Tarnish
with an east wind. As we have heard, so have we
seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our
God. God will establish it forever.
Selah. We have thought of thy lovingkindness,
O God, in the midst of thy temple. According to thy name, O God,
so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth. Thy right hand
is full of righteousness. Let Mount Zion rejoice. Let the
daughters of Judah be glad because of thy judgments. Walk about
Zion and go round about her. Tell the towers thereof. Mark
ye well her bulwarks. Consider her palaces, that ye
may tell it to the generation following. For this God is our
God forever and ever. He will be our guide even unto
death. Oh, what a wonderful study. What a wonderful psalm. Tonight
we'll be in verses 11 and 12. Let Mount Zion rejoice. Let the
daughters of Judah be glad because of thy judgments. Walk about
Zion and go round about her. Tell the towers thereof. Mark
well, mark you well her bulwarks. Consider her palaces that she
may tell it to the generation following. So we'll look at those
three verses actually. And the name of the message is
Zion's Song. Zion's Song. Now four weeks ago when we last
met on Sunday night, we looked at verse 10 of this song. We
looked at verse 10 and we considered that the praise of God goes all
around about the whole world from the lips of his people,
from his elect. All who have been redeemed by
the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It says, according
to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth. And then let us look again at
verse 8, which says, As we have heard, so we have seen in the
city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God, God will
establish it forever. It's God who establishes Zion,
and salvation is of the Lord. And in verse 10, we see again
that God's right hand is full of righteousness. And we looked
at how that verse speaks of Christ, how it speaks of Christ and Him
alone. And how he is seated right now, right now. He is seated
at the right hand of the majesty on high. He's king of kings.
And he's lord of lords. He's not waiting to rule. He
rules and reigns right now. And the right hand, of course,
denotes power. And it denotes authority. And
that's who Christ is. He's seated at the right hand
of the father. So tonight we'll look at verses 11 to 13. Let's
read them again. Let Mount Zion rejoice. Let the
daughters of Judah be glad because of thy judgments. Walk about
Zion and go round about her. Tell the towers thereof. Mark
ye well her bulwarks. Consider her palaces that ye
may tell it to the generation following. So we see verse 11
proclaims, let Mount Zion rejoice. Let the daughters of Judah be
glad because of thy judgments. Because of thy judgments. Let
all the members of the church universal rejoice. Rejoice. Let us all rejoice. Let us take
great comfort in God's providential works that unfold right before
us every day. Think of that. God's providential
works are unfolding before us every single day. My. So let us rejoice. Let us rejoice. in his wonderful workings in
this world, not only amongst the church, but in general, in
the whole world, in the whole world. And those who have been
redeemed by the Lord, we greatly rejoice. When we see what he's
doing, we rejoice, don't we? Sometimes we wonder, Lord, what's
going on? We really do sometimes, don't
we? If we're really honest, we do. But we know, we who have
been redeemed know that all things are working out according to
his plan and according to his purpose. And sometimes we see
things that are just absolutely marvelous. And we just, especially
when we see the miracle of the Lord gathering one of his sheep.
And it's a miracle, beloved. It's a miracle. When God saves
one of his people, it's a miracle. It's a miracle of grace. So let
us marvel continually at the Lord's continual deliverance
of the church, right? No matter what we go through,
what does He do? He continuously, continuously delivers us all
the time, all the time. And let us rejoice at His marvelous
works in this world, His works of creation, and again, His works
of judgment too. And He's working out all things
according to His purpose, for His purpose and for our good,
for His purpose and for our good. He does His works in wisdom.
And as we have seen before, who can know the mind of the Lord?
Who can know the mind of the Lord? None. None can know the
mind of the Lord. And what are His works? Are they
just little insignificant things? No. Every work of God is a mighty
work. Every work of God. It's incredible. It's incredible. And he does whatever he pleases.
And sometimes when we ponder his great works, whether they
be in the creative realm or the redemptive realm, what do we
do as God's people? We just marvel, don't we? Think
of this. God has wrought out in his people
the new birth. Born again. By what? By the Holy
Spirit of God. It's a work of God. And it's
a miracle. And it's marvelous. It's absolutely... And then we look around this
world that we live in, and we see things. One of the things
I love the most is just to watch the birds. Just to watch the
birds. How they don't toil, they just
fly around. And who takes care of them? My
Heavenly Father. He takes care of every single
one of them. And the scriptures even says
that not even one of them fall to the ground without Him knowing.
Then it says, the very hairs of our head are numbered. That's
how intimately he knows us. It's incredible. He's not a far-off
God like the false gods that have been proclaimed through
the years. He's not like that at all. He's an ever-present
help for his people. An ever-present help. And what
does that cause God's people to do? It causes us to rejoice,
doesn't it? To know that no matter what I
go through, He's with me. He's with me. And so we marvel
at the continual deliverance of the Church. We marvel at His
wondrous works of creation. We marvel at His wonderful works
of providence. We marvel at His wonderful works
of redemption. And as we look back in our lives,
Speaking of deliverance, as we look back, we can see how he
continuously delivered us out of situations. And if he didn't
deliver us out of the situation, he gave us grace and strength
to go right through it. And what do we do? We rejoice,
we marvel, marvel. Oh my, what a great God we have. Scripture says this, greater
love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends. Christ laid down his life for
his friends, for his people. We who believe stand in awe of
the judgments of God which fall upon His enemies. Look at, turn
if you would to Revelation 16. We stand in awe of the judgments
of God which fall upon His enemies. And our text proclaims, let Mount
Zion rejoice. Let the daughters of Judah be
glad because of thy judgments, it says. Look at Revelation 16,
verses 5 to 7. And I heard the angel of waters
Say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and was, and shalt
be, because Thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the
blood of the saints, and the blood of saints and prophets,
and Thou hast given them blood to drink, for they are worthy. And I heard another out of the
altar say, Even so, O Lord God, Almighty, true, and righteous
are Thy judgments. God's people marvel, marvel,
as God's judgments fall upon His enemies. As Miriam took her timbrel and
led the song of the woman on the shore of the Red Sea, so
let the daughters of Judah be glad because of the Lord's righteous
judgments upon the enemies of His people. Do you remember when
Pharaoh's army was swallowed up? Miriam took her timbrel and
led the song of the woman. All the church and each individual
member should rejoice in the Lord and we should magnify His
name. Why? Because of thy judgments.
The righteous acts of the Lord are subjects for joyful praise
for the saints in heaven. Turn, if you would, to Revelation
chapter 19. Revelation chapter 19, verses
1 to 3. And after these things I heard
a great voice of much people in heaven saying, Alleluia, salvation
and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God. For true
and righteous are his judgments. His judgments are true and righteous.
For he hath judged the great oar which did corrupt the earth
with her fornication and hath avenged the blood of his servants
at her hand. And again they said, What did
they say? What did they say at her destruction? Alleluia. Hallelujah. And the smoke rose up forever
and ever. Spurgeon says of these verses
here in Revelation, justice which to our poor optics now seems
severe will then be perceived to be perfectly consistent with
God's name of love and to be one of the brightest jewels of
his crown. We will bow our knee. We will
bow our knee seeing God rot out his judgments. Brother Matt and
I were discussing this the other day, and we were talking about
how we're Bowerny, and we're saying, for true and righteous
are His judgments. That's what we're saying. We
see things in a whole different light. We who have been redeemed
know that if it was not for God's mercy and grace, we'd be right
there with them. Think of that. If God hadn't saved me, I'd still
be shaking my fist at Him and doing the things that I did,
thinking everything was fine. Thinking that my good would outweigh
my bad. In total blindness. And I would have thought I was
fine. But praise God. He revealed Christ to me. He
revealed Christ to me. Oh my. Our text continues in
verse 12. Walk about Zion and go round
about her. Tell the towers thereof. Behold here Zion. What is Zion
here? Note this. Zion's a picture of
the church, right? But notice this. It's a protected
city. You who believe are a protected
city. You're a protected city. Walk
about Zion and go round about her, tell the towers thereof.
It's a city protected by our sovereign God. She's strongly fortified and
unconquerable. She is, as a city here, as verse
4 says, God is known in her palaces for a refuge. She's a refuge. These pictures of walls and towers
show the character of God as He is a shield and a buckler,
a high tower. A high tower to those who trust
in Him. Zion is a protected city. Protected by the mighty, majestic,
sovereign God, the Lord Jesus Christ. This city is chosen of
God. God watches her. God protects
her. She's encompassed by God. Number
her towers. Number her towers and apply your
mind to consider her walls. It is God who protects her. It's
God who protects her. And it is God, think of this,
it's God who protects his people. And it's God who preserves his
people. That's cause for rejoicing. That's cause for God's people
to rejoice. Because I know, left to myself,
I'd be gone. And that every one of us would
know we're in the same boat. But he protects Zion. He cares
for her. He provides for her. He watches
over her. And he brings her safely to glory.
Oh, my. What a great God we have. What
a great God we have. What a picture of the church
of God chosen in Christ and encompassed round about by our great God
and sovereign king. Walk about Zion. Go around about
her. Tell the towers thereof. She's protected. Turn, if you would, to Isaiah
33. May we contemplate Zion's beauty and safety in her glorious
and particular privilege all bestowed upon her by God. Look
at Isaiah 33, verses 18-20. Isaiah 33, 18-20. Thine heart
shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? Where is
the receiver? Where is he that... counted the
towers. Thou shalt not see a fierce people,
a people of deeper speech than thou canst receive, of a stammering
tongue that thou canst not understand. Look upon Zion, the city of our
Solomites. Solomites, thine eyes shall see
Jerusalem, a quiet habitation. She's quiet. She's quiet. A tabernacle that shall not be
taken down. Oh, what? How can she be quiet? She's protected. She's protected,
beloved. And this is speaking of the church.
A tabernacle that shall not be taken down. How many people through
the years have tried to tear the church down? And they all fail, beloved. They
all fail. Usually when persecution comes,
the church spreads. Why? A tabernacle that shall
not be taken down, not one of the stakes thereof shall ever
be removed. Why? Because a sovereign God
protects her. Sovereign King protects her.
Neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. Where are
we? We're in his hands. We're in
the hand of the Almighty, aren't we? And he protects his people
and he watches over his people. And this gives me great cause
to rejoice. Does it so with you? To rejoice
knowing that these precious truths proclaimed are all about we who
believe. A tabernacle that shall not be
taken down. Not because of anything we do. All because of God. All because
of our great King. And we see this spoken of in
the New Testament as Zion here in Isaiah represents the church.
Turn, if you would, to Matthew 6.18. And keep in mind, while
you're turning there, I'll read what... Now look at Matthew 16.18. And look what our Master says,
And I say unto thee, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will
build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it. God protects his church. He protects his people. And the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Let's go back to
our text in verse 12. walk about Zion and go round
about her, tell the towers thereof." Again, let us take note in this
verse, and in the one to follow, the security of the church, the
security of the church of God. May we mark the eternal truth
on which she is founded, as we know from verse 8 in our psalm,
that it is God who has established her. See, the same one who said
the gates of hell shall not prevail is the same one who the church
is established in. The Lord Jesus Christ. So again,
our security doesn't come from anything we do, does it? It all
comes from Him. And it's marvelous. It's absolutely
marvelous. The forts and bastions of omnipotence
preserves her from the assaults of her enemies. The Lord Jesus
Christ is our strong tower. Proverbs 18, 10 says this, The
name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous runneth
into it. Oh, we run to Christ. He's our strong tower. He's our defense. We have no
hope in ourselves. In the name of the Lord is a
strong tower. The righteous runneth into it and is safe. Safe. We like to be safe, don't
we? We do. The sinner is safe in
Christ. Safe in Him. We're not safe in
ourselves. But, oh, the name of the Lord
is a strong tower. The righteous runneth into it
and is safe. He is our constant shelter and
our strong tower from the enemy. Turn, if you would, to Psalm
61. Psalm 61. And then put your finger in Micah
chapter 4, if you would. Psalm 61 in Micah chapter 4. He is our constant shelter and
our strong tower from the enemy. Look at Psalm 61, verses 1 to
4. Hear my cry, O God. Attend unto
my prayer. From the end of the earth will
I cry unto Thee. When my heart is overwhelmed,
and it often is, isn't it? When my heart is overwhelmed,
lead me to the rock that is higher than I. O Lord, for Thou hast
been a shelter for me. He's proven to be a shelter,
beloved. Time after time after time, He's a proven shelter for
His people. In a strong tower from the enemy,
I will abide in Thy tabernacle forever. I will trust in the
covert of Thy rings, Selah. There's our refuge, beloved.
There's our refuge. There's our shelter. The Lord
Jesus Christ in Him alone. And the Lord is to the church,
to His people. a tower of the flock, a stronghold
of the daughter of Zion. Look over in Micah 4, verses
6-8. In that day, saith the Lord,
will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is
driven out, and her that I have afflicted, and I will make her
that halteth a remnant. And her that was cast far off
a strong nation, and the Lord shall reign over them in Mount
Zion from henceforth even forever. And thou, O Tower of the Flock,
there He is. The stronghold of the daughter
of Zion. Unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion, the
kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem. Oh, He's our stronghold,
beloved. Back to our text in Psalm 48,
verse 12. Walk about Zion, go round about
her, tell the towers thereof. The towers spoken of here are
pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who is the tower of
His people, high and strong. We are secure, and it is He who
defends us. It's He who defends us, beloved,
from all our enemies, from them all. And this is God's doing. And it's by His providence. If
you're saved, It's by the providence of God that Christ is a refuge
and a high tower to you. Marvel, beloved. Undeserving,
ungodly sinners that we are, and yet he has mercy on us. And to all who flee to him, he
is their strong tower. All, all who flee. Come on, all
ye that labor and are heavy laden. And I will give you rest. Rest. Oh, the pictures of the Lord
Jesus Christ here who is the tower of His people. The tower
of His people. Our verse continues about the
defense of the city of God. Look at verse 13. Mark ye well
her bulwarks, consider her palaces, that ye may tell it to the generation
following. Towers in verse 12 were for observation
and defense. The bulwarks were the outermost
circumference of the city. And in this place, they are in
contrast to the palaces in the interior, which are mentioned
in verse 13 along with the bulwarks. And here in these two verses,
the exhortation of the psalmist is a thorough survey of the city
of Zion, a thorough city of the city of Zion, which represents
the church. The people may see how entirely
free from injuries, She is. And how capable of resisting
attacks of any foe. Because it's God who is our refuge.
It's God who's our defense. It's Christ. And this is a city
defensed by God himself. And it's so today. It's so today. Let us never forget that. Oh, what a great God we have. Think of this in light of all
of people all through the ages who have tried to crush the Lord's
Church, tried to exterminate the Lord's Church, all to their
utter destruction, all to their utter destruction as the church
has prevailed and their enemies have perished. Because God is a very present
help. This is our God. This causes
us to rejoice. Causes us to rejoice. Great is
the Lord, and greatly be praised. Zion is a walled city with mighty
towers and bulwarks, which represent before us how the Lord defends
his church. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider
her palaces, that ye may tell it to the generation following.
John Gale comments, on this portion here, consider her palaces. He
comments, for Jehovah, Father, Son, and Spirit have their dwelling
places in Zion. In the people, right? We're Zion. He dwells in us.
The Holy Spirit dwells in us. Every saint is a prince and a
king and has a place in the name there, better than the sons and
daughters of the greatest potentate on earth. Every dwelling place
in Zion is a palace. Oh my. Let's look at the design
of this survey of the city. Look at verses 12 and 13 again.
Walk about Zion and go round about her. Tell the towers thereof.
Mark ye well her bulwarks. Consider her palaces, that ye
may tell it to the generation following. What is the design
of this survey? That you may tell it to the generation
following. Each generation raised up by
the Lord, each generation of His people, what do we do? We
proclaim the free and sovereign grace of God in the Lord Jesus
Christ alone. Every generation, God has a people
that He's raised up. And we proclaim to our generation the mighty God. The mighty God
of our salvation. We declare the mighty acts of
God to our generation. How He has redeemed us by His
precious blood. We sang of that tonight. How
He's redeemed us by His precious blood. How He saved us from all
our sins. How Christ bore the wrath and
judgment of God in our place. We declare this to our generation.
How He lived as our substitute. The perfect sinless sacrifice.
And He lived as our substitute before God's law, didn't He?
In our place. He says, the Prince of this world
cometh and hath nothing in me. But He's satisfying God's law
for us. And we proclaim that all who
flee to Christ, that he's done it for all his people. We declare
how he died as our substitute. How on Calvary's cross, the wrath
of God and the justice of God was poured out upon our mighty
Savior. And how he willingly went there.
And how he bore that. The room and place of His people. And how He was raised for our
justification. Because God is satisfied with
the sacrifice of Christ. We proclaim that to our generation.
We declare the mighty works of providence. The mighty works of God in His
providential workings to our generation. How He saves His
people. and how He keeps His people,
and how He works all things, everything, everything, together
for our good and for them who are called according to His purpose,
for His glory. And He does this because it pleases
Him to do it. And we declare a mighty sovereign
God, a mighty sovereign God who does all things according to
His purpose. We don't hold back. We don't hold back. Zion declares
the mighty acts of God also in her defense. Look what he's done. Look what he's delivered me from. And I know every one of us sitting
in here who are redeemed by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ, I know every one of us can look back in our lives and
go, my goodness, look at that. And usually it's when we're on
the other side we see that. When we're going through it, Yeah,
it's triumph, isn't it? If we're real honest with each
other. We look back and go, my goodness. Time after time after
time, He's delivered me. And then one day, glory be to
God, we will be delivered from this body of sin, beloved. And
we will see our Savior face to face. And we're really rejoicing. Oh my. Because we'll be rejoicing
in sinless, without sin. We'll be sinless then. I know we all desire to be. So Zion declares the mighty acts
of God in her defense. And we declare the mighty acts
of God in our deliverance, don't we? How He's delivered us from
our sin. And we declare to our generation
the mighty acts of God and our protection. How He takes care of us constantly.
Turn if you would to Acts chapter 13 verse 36. Scripture declares
that David served his generation and he served his generation
by the will of God. By the will of God. That's why
I say if you're saved, it's by the will of God. It's not, you
know, I remember someone saying, they were trying to explain election
to someone, and they, this old preacher said, when God saves
us, does he save us by accident or on purpose? And the person
said, well, on purpose? And he said, that's election. It's all according to his purpose.
It's all according to his purpose. Look at Acts 13, 36 here. It
says, for David, after he had served his generation, and note
these little words here, by the will of God. You see, we serve
our generation, beloved, right now. We who are redeemed, we
serve our generation by the will of God. The reason you're saved,
the reason you're here tonight, the reason anyone's tuning in,
the reason this message goes forth is all by the will of God. All by the will of God. It's
not by accident that you're here. It's by the will of God. So David
served his generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and
was laid unto his fathers and saw corruption. So God hath appointed
everyone's time in this world, when they are born and when they
will die, and it's all by His will. It's all by His will. We don't know when we're going
to die, and that's probably a good thing. But we will die one day
and be in his presence at his appointed time. We declare to
our generation, oh, we declare to our generation the person
and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the savior of sinners. He is the spotless, perfect lamb
of God. He's God incarnate in the flesh. My words never seem sufficient
to explain who He is. But oh, if I could tell you how my heart
feels. Oh, what a Redeemer. What a Savior. He's everything. He's everything to me. I have no hope without Him. And
we proclaim to our generation the Lord Jesus Christ, who is
the Son of God, who became flesh to die for my sins. If you're a believer to die for
your sins, And He went to that cross, and
He willingly died in the place of all His people, all who flee
to Him. And we know His sheep will come
to Him. They will. Oh, what a God. Behold the Lamb
of God. Behold the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sinners. And we proclaim Him to our generation. We proclaim Him. The Word was
made flesh and dwelt among us. We proclaim to our generation
that the Son of God came into this world to save sinners by
the sacrifice of Himself, of Himself. Oh, we proclaim that He died
upon Calvary's tree as the sinner's substitute. He who knew no sin
was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of
God. And we declare that the Lord Jesus Christ died by the
hands of wicked men, but that He died according to the purpose
of God. All according to the purpose
of God. and that he was the sinner's substitute, the only one who
could satisfy the law and justice of God in our place. And we declare
to our generation that Christ died, that he might save guilty
sinners from the wrath of God. Oh, what a mighty Savior. What a wonderful redeemer. And
we declare to our generation that Christ arose from the dead
and that he has put away the sins of his people which were
imputed to him. They're gone as far as the east
is from the west. And you know that if you keep
going east, you never hit west. Think of that. They're gone. Makes my heart rejoice. Does
it make yours? We just want to cry out to him. And we declare
divine satisfaction, divine satisfaction in and through the sacrifice
of Christ in the room and place of his people, that divine justice
is satisfied. And this is proved in the fact
that Christ was raised for our justification and that the sure
mercies of David, the sure mercies of God and Christ shall be bestowed
upon all his people. And we declare to our generation
that the Lord Jesus Christ reigns and rules right He's not waiting to come back
in the rolling rain, beloved. He's upon the throne right now. And He's defending His city,
Zion. His eye is upon her. His eye
is upon her. Turn, if you would, to Romans
3. We declare that He rules and
reigns, that the Lord Jesus Christ rules and reigns as the Son of
David, the Son of Man upon the throne of God to give eternal
life, to dispense the sure mercies of David to chosen sinners given
to Him by God the Father in eternity, whom He purchased on Calvary's
cross. And we declare to our generation that Christ saves,
that the gospel of God's free grace is proclaimed. It is a
message of redemption. Redemption that's being accomplished,
beloved. Redemption that's being accomplished
by a successful Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ. We declare
the preaching of the gospel is the proclamation of free forgiveness
of sins. Free forgiveness of sins and
complete justification for all who believe on the grounds of
justice satisfied and righteousness imputed. Look at Romans chapter
3 verses 24 to 26. Being justified freely freely, freely, freely, being
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation.
Oh, He bore the wrath of God, a propitiation through faith
in His blood to declare His righteousness, His righteousness, beloved, for
the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God, to declare, I say, at this time His righteousness,
that He might be just. and justifier. He's a just God,
right? His law has to be upheld. A just
God and a justifier. Christ is a justifier of his
people, of him which believeth on Jesus. And we declare to our
generation the responsibility of man. To you is this word of
salvation sent. To you is this word of salvation
sent. The gospel call goes out to all. It goes up, and man is fully
responsible for his sin. Oh, flee to Christ. We say flee
to Him. He's the only Savior for sinners. And if you do flee to Him, if
you do trust the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall live forever. Forever. And if you refuse to believe,
if you reject the gospel and despise the Son of God, unutterable
woe shall be your eternal portion. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. So we have
looked at tonight, Hal Zion, which pictures the church. She's
a fortified city, beloved. She's defended and she's kept
by the Lord. She's defended and she's kept
by the Lord. The Lord is represented by the
fortifications, the towers and the bulwarks, and Zion is safe
behind His providential protection. Last week, we looked at how we
proclaim this to our generation, don't we? We proclaim. We proclaim
the wondrous God and King and Savior who our Lord is, the wonders
of our Lord, His mighty acts, both in salvation and providence.
And what do we say? Praise His mighty name. Gracious Heavenly Father, all
we marvel at what we looked at and how Zion, Your church, is
a defended city. And we are defended by You, Lord
Jesus. You are our shepherd. You ever
watch over us. And we marvel at the wonders
of Your grace and how You have saved us and redeemed us but
that we were chosen before the foundation of the world to be
a witness to our generation. We just marvel. Oh, Lord, allow
us to faithfully keep proclaiming the gospel and proclaim your
precious truths. Give us grace to help in time
of need. Strengthen us, we pray in Jesus'
name. Amen.