Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number 33 from the Hardback Tymnal. Stand up
and bless the Lord. Let's all stand, stand together
and we'll sing hymn 33. ? Stand up and bless the Lord ?
? Ye people of his choice ? ? Stand up and bless the Lord your God
? ? With heart and soul and voice ? Though high above all praise,
Above all blessing high, Who would not fear His holy name,
And laud and magnify? O for the living flame from his
own altar brought To touch our lips, our minds inspire And wing
to heaven our thought God is our strength and song, and His
salvation ours. Then be His love in Christ proclaimed,
with all our ransomed powers. Stand up and bless the Lord,
the Lord your God adore. Stand up and bless His glorious
name, henceforth forevermore. Please be seated. It'd be hard to sing that hymn
sitting down, wouldn't it? It was good. Thank you, Tom and Joy. Good
to have you with us. It's such a blessing to have
David back. There you are. Will you open
your Bibles with me to Isaiah 49 for our call to worship? Our New Smyrna folks got caught
in that storm a while ago, so they won't be here tonight. They called and said they'd be
watching, so they're with us via the internet. All right. Beginning in verse 13, Isaiah
chapter 49, sing, O heavens, and be joyful, O earth, and break
forth into singing, O mountains, for the Lord hath comforted his
people and will have mercy upon his afflicted." You see, the
Lord has comforted his people and will have mercy upon his
afflicted. He's telling the afflicted to
sing for the comfort that they have in Christ. Can a woman forget her sucking
child? That she should not have compassion
on the son of her womb? That'd be unnatural. Yea, they
may forget. Yet will I not forget thee. Behold,
I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. Thy walls are continually
before me. Thy children shall make haste,
thy destroyers, and they that make thee waste shall go forth
of thee. Lift up thine eyes round about
and behold, all these gather themselves together and come
to thee. As I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt surely clothe
thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee
as a bride doeth. Let's pray together. our merciful Heavenly Father,
we join our hearts together in asking you, Lord, to show forth
your mercy, to show us your grace, to reveal to us more of thy dear
Son, and to increase, Lord, our comfort, our hope, our joy, as
you increase our faith. Enable us, Lord, to rest in the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is our life. We thank you for your church. We thank you, Lord, for bringing
us here to this place. We thank you for your word and
for the promise of thy presence. And, oh Lord, how we pray that
you'd be pleased to To bless us for your namesake, pray that
you would cause us Lord to. To lift up our voices in our
hearts. Rejoicing and singing. In praise
to Christ. For it's in his name we ask it.
Amen. Number 168. 168, 168 in the hardback
tempo. ? Lord, I hear of showers of blessing
? Thou art scattering full and free ? Showers the thirsty land
refreshing ? Let some drops now fall on me Even me, even me,
let thy blessing fall on me. Pass me not, O tempter, Savior,
let me love and cling to Thee. I am longing for Thy favor, whilst
Thou art calling, O call me. Even me, even me, let Thy blessing
fall on me. Pass me not, O mighty spirit,
thou canst make the blind to see. Witnesser of Jesus' merit,
speak the word of power to me. ? Even me, even me ? Let thy
blessing fall on me ? Love of God so pure and changeless ?
Blood of Christ so rich and free ? Grace of God so strong and
boundless them all in me. Even me, even me, let thy blessing
fall on me. Pass me not thy lost one bringing,
Find my heart, O Lord, to Thee. While the streams of life are
springing, Blessing others, O bless me. Even me, even me, let thy
blessing fall on me. Please be seated. We sing that in truth, don't
we? Why me, Lord? Would You be pleased to bless
even me? Well, I hope you'll be encouraged
tonight to see what the Lord says about you, His church. Because the way He sees His church
is the way she is. And He has spoken some glorious
things about her. And if the Lord enables us to
see ourselves like He sees us, What a what an encouragement
what a blessing that would be open your Bibles with me to Psalm
87 Psalm 87 The church of the Lord Jesus Christ
His body his bride His people She's called here the city of
God. This is His city. There are some beautiful cities
in this world as they compare themselves one to another, but
oh, this city. This is the city where God's
people gather. and where God's pleased to make
himself known. Look what he says in verse three
of Psalm 87. Glorious things are spoken of
thee, O city of God. And when God speaks, it's glorious. This is not my opinion or your
opinion or someone else's opinion. This is what God says about his
church. And he says, I've spoken glorious
things of you. Why does the Lord speak glorious
things of His church? Well, verse 1 tells us why. His
foundation. That's why. His foundation. The Lord Jesus Christ said, Whom
do you say that I am? Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona. Flesh and blood did not reveal
the Son to you. My Father which is in heaven,
upon this rock I shall build my church. I am the foundation. The precious stone, the tried
stone. Listen to what Isaiah said in
Isaiah 28. Behold, I lay in Zion for a stone,
a tried stone. It's been proven. Proven to be
faithful. Proven to be able to save. A precious stone. A precious
cornerstone, a priceless stone. He is the pearl of great price. This is the reason why the city
of God has such glorious things spoken of it, because it's built
on the Lord Jesus Christ. He's called a sure foundation. sure foundation a building is
only as strong as its foundation and this city is as strong as
Its foundation and God says the foundation is sure These are
the sure mercies of David the Lord Jesus Christ being our surety
the one who accomplished the salvation of his people and he
says it's a it's a sure foundation and There's nothing, nothing
can move it. He that believeth shall not make
haste. He's not going to run anywhere
else. Men, men run to and fro trying to find some hope in life. But when the Lord puts you in
his church, you just stand right there on that rock. Did not the
Lord say, after the Sermon on the Mount, He said, if you hear
these words that I've just preached unto you and do them, believe
them, you'll be like a man who builds his life, his house on
a rock. And when the storms come, Yes,
the storms of life in God's providence and the difficulties and troubles
that He's ordained for us, but more than that, the storm of
judgment that will come against all men. When that storm comes,
that house will stand. Why? Because of its foundation.
And if you don't hear these words and don't believe them, you're
like the man that builds his house on shifting sand. And when the storm comes, the
house will fall, and how great will the fall there be of." So,
the Lord makes it clear that he is that rock. He's the rock that was struck
by the rod of Moses in the wilderness. He's the one that the law satisfied
all its demands on, punishing him in our stead for our sin. The law's been silenced. The
law was not only just satisfied in that the Lord was obedient
to the Father in everything, but the law was satisfied in
that its broken part on our behalf was satisfied through the sacrifice
of Christ, the rock, the one smitten, out from which flows
rivers of living water. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
12. Glorious things are spoken of
thee, O city of God. Here's what I've said about you.
Hebrews chapter 12, look at verse 27. And this word yet once more
signifying the removing of those things that are shaking as of
things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken
may remain, wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved. Let us have grace whereby we
may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.
He's going to come as a consuming fire. And everything that can
be shaken will be shaken and will fall. And there's only one
thing that's not going to be shaken. There's only one thing
that's not going to fall. Every nation is going to fall.
Every career is going to fall. Every person is going to fall.
All the things of this world are going to be shaken by God
when He comes as a consuming fire. One thing will not fall,
and that's His church. That's His church. You belong
to a kingdom. How glorious is that? You belong
to the only kingdom that will not fall when the consuming fire
of God comes to try the things of this world. And the only reason
that this kingdom will not fall is because of its foundation.
Because of its foundation. Abraham looked for a city which
had foundations. Whose builder and maker was God. Abraham was looking for a city
that had a sure foundation. The city that was builder and
maker is the architect and the constructor. So the one who designed
it and the one who built it was God. That's the city that we're
part of. Glorious things are spoken of
you, O city of God. You've been built on a tried
foundation, a precious stone, a sure foundation. And it cannot be shaken. It cannot
fall. Our bodies are going to be shaken.
They're going to fall, aren't they? They're going to be put
in the grave. Our homes, our careers, everything
that we have in this world is going to be shaken. But our union
with Christ, in the body of Christ, in the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ, will never be shaken. That's an eternal foundation.
Oh, what hope! Glorious things! What more glorious
thing can be spoken of anything in this world? Men glory in a
lot of things, don't they? They glory in their achievements,
they glory in their accomplishments, they glory in their strength,
they glory in their beauty, they glory in their abilities. We
glory in the fact that we are standing on a sure foundation
that when the consuming fire of God's wrath comes, will not
be shaken. It's not going to be shaken. It's going to last forever. Why does God speak such glorious
things concerning his church? Well, the second thing is found
in verse two. The Lord loveth the gates of
Zion more than the dwellings of Jacob. Now we know who that
gate is, don't we? You know the very first mention
of gates in the scriptures is found in Exodus chapter 20 when
God was given to Moses the law and he said the seventh day shall
be your Sabbath. Now we know from Hebrews chapter
4 that all those Sabbatarian rules and laws and regulations
of the Old Testament were types and shadows pointing to the rest
that we have in the finished work of Christ. The work that
was done, Hebrews chapter four, before the foundation of the
world, that's the Sabbath. And the Lord told Moses, the
seventh day shall be your Sabbath, and you shall do no work. Your sons, your daughters, your
maidservants, your manservants, and the strangers that are within
thy gates shall not work. You know, the very thing that
men are doing in an attempt to get into the city of God is what's
keeping them out of the city of God. I mean, just look at it. The
whole world, the whole religious world, and I'm not talking about
just those who call themselves Christians. Every religion of
this world is based on work. It's based on you doing something
in order for you to earn favor with God. Every one of them. And the first time that God says
anything about gates, He's talking about the gates of the city of
God. You shall do no work on the Sabbath. The Lord Jesus Christ is your
rest. Don't lift a hand. Don't try
to help Him. Don't try to do anything to make
what He did work for you. Don't add your will. Don't add your works. Rest. Labor to enter into His rest. Don't work. No work. The things that men are doing
to try to get into the city is the very thing that's keeping
them out. They're working. God says, well, you know what
else happened in that same time frame when right after God gave
Moses that law in Exodus chapter 20, a man was caught right after
that picking up sticks on the Sabbath day, wasn't he? They
brought the man to Moses, didn't know what to do with him. And
Moses went before the Lord, and the Lord said, Stone him. Stone
him. God made an example out of that
man, because he violated the Sabbath. Now, there's people
not here, but listening perhaps, that not only do they keep themselves
out of the city of God, by the things they do, but they violate
the Sabbath by the things they do in attempt to try to keep
it. The Sabbath is resting in Christ.
The Sabbath is a condition of faith from the heart that enables
us to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for all our righteousness
before God, for all our justification before God. We're not laying
a hand to what he did. No one's going to be within your
gates that violates the Sabbath. It works on the Sabbath. Now this city, glorious things
are said about this city because of its foundation and because
of its gates. And all you have to do is go
to Revelation chapter 21, and when that new Jerusalem comes
down from heaven that John sees, which is the church, the habitation
of God, the city of God, there's 12 gates, three to the east,
three to the west, three to the north, three to the south, and
they are all of one pearl. They're all of one pearl. And
then when you go to John chapter 10, the Lord Jesus Christ likens
himself to the door into the sheepfold. I am the way, the
truth and the life. No man can come to the Father
except by me. I'm that pearl of great price. I'm the gate.
I'm the only access you have to God. There's a way that seems
right unto man, but he's crawling over the wall. And he's not going
to get in. The only way to get it in is
through the gate. And God says, the Lord loveth the gates of
Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. All the other cities
of Jacob, all this, this, this city. The scriptures make it clear
that the Lord Jesus Christ had to go outside the gates in order
to be crucified. And in Hebrews chapter 13, the
Lord tells us to go without the gates in order to see where He
went. In other words, He came outside
the city to where we are. and was crucified in our stead
in order that the gates of heaven would be open for all of his
people. What a glorious city. Glorious
things have been spoken of the city of God. This is God's city
because he's the foundation of it and he's the gate of it. And then the Lord said, enter
ye in by the straight gate, the narrow gate. For wide is the
gate and broad is the way that leadeth under destruction." I
had a man ask a brother just a day or two ago, been listening
to our services and said, said, nobody believes what you all
believe. Why am I supposed to believe what you believe when
everybody else believes something different? You know, our children. Everybody
else is doing it. The fact that everybody is doing
it ought to give us some concern because the Lord said, broad
is the way that leads to destruction. Enter in by the straight gate. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
straight gate. He's the only way into the city. The Lord loves the gates of Zion. And God's people love the gates
of Zion, don't they? And God's people love being able
to stand on that sure foundation of Zion. Psalm 46 verse 4 says, there
is a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God. And again, if you go to Revelation
and you see that city, the holy city, the New Jerusalem, where
the river clear as crystal is flowing from the throne of God
and the Lord Jesus Christ is the water of life. He's the one
that sustains every member of the city of God. Glorious things
are spoken of you. Your foundation is Christ. Your
gates are Christ. Your sustenance, your water,
your food is the Lord Jesus Christ. This city's not gonna be shaken.
When the consuming fire of God's wrath comes against this world,
everything will fall except the city of God. Glorious things
are spoken of you. In the Song of Solomon, you remember
when the Lord Jesus Christ comes to his bride and he knocks at
the door and she refuses to get up and then she smells the aroma
of his presence and she goes out looking for him and she begs
the daughters of Zion, the daughters of Jerusalem, have you seen my
beloved? And they rebuke her. Oh, what is your beloved more
than our beloved? How is your God any better than our God?
And then she describes him. in all of his beauty and glory,
and then they say, oh, he's gone down to the garden of spices. And she went down into the garden
of spices. That's the church. The garden of spices. This is
where the sweet aroma of his grace is enjoyed by his people.
This is where his, the prayers of God's people are precious
in his sight. They are. Well, how much more
are the joint prayers of His people when they gather together
in public worship and they join their hearts together in lifting
up their praise and their supplication to the Lord. He hears it. Glorious
things are spoken of you, O city of God. You're the church. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 23,
the Lord speaks glorious things of his church when he calls her
the body of Christ. The body of Christ. Now when
Paul likens different members of the church, he refers to them
as different parts of the body, doesn't he? The body of the Lord
Jesus Christ? That's pretty glorious. It doesn't
get any more glorious than that. The very body of God, that's
what he's calling his church. There's no more higher standing
in this world. You're not going to find a more
honorable place than to be called the body of Christ. In Revelation
chapter 21 verse 9, the church, glorious things are spoken of
thee, O city of God. You are my bride. You're my bride. And there's
a great feast coming. When the bridegroom is going
to sit down with his bride, and they're going to feast on him
in his very presence. The body of Christ, the bride
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's done everything to save
his bride. Don't you love it when Naomi
tells Ruth, she tells Ruth, she said, you sit down at that man's
feet, speaking of Boaz, for he will not rest until he has finished
the work this day. Naomi knew that Boaz loved Ruth. What a picture. The Lord Jesus
Christ loves His bride. He's done everything for His
bride. And He did not rest until He finished the work that very
day. It is finished. Everything necessary
for my bride to be able to inherit everything that I have. Everything
I have. There's no, it's a one joint
account. You know, I know there's some
married people have separate accounts. We don't know anything
about that. We've had, you know, everything's in one pool from
the very beginning. And that's the way it is between
Christ and His church, isn't it? It's all one. By virtue of our union with Christ,
We're his bride. What a glorious picture. Matthew
chapter 13 verse 38. The scripture refers to the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ as the children of the kingdom. The
children of the kingdom. The children of the king. There's not a higher place to
be had in this world. You're not going to be born to
higher royalty than to be children of
the kingdom. Glorious things are spoken of
thee, O city of God. And then how many times the Lord
refers to His church as the church. The church. Now that word church
means called out ones. Who maketh thee to differ? What
do you have that you did not receive? Why do you believe the
gospel and most people don't? Why are you part of the body
of Christ and most folks aren't? Because God effectually called
you out. He spoke and you had no choice. The call of God is always irresistible. Now if something's irresistible,
you can't say, well, I made a decision. I chose, I, I, I, no. God shut
me up, I had no place else to go. I've been called of God. When the spirit of God calls,
God's people come. They believe, they hear his voice,
they follow after him. It's an effectual call. And that's
what the very word church translated means. It means the called out
ones. In Psalm 45 verse 13, glorious things are spoken of thee, O
city of God, you're a daughter of the king. A daughter of the
king. Romans chapter 9 verse 11, the
elect of God. Chose you I Elected you look
what he says in verse in verse 6 of our text the Lord shall
count When he writeth up the people that this was born there I'm gonna leave the 99. I'm gonna
go after every one of my sheep. Not one's gonna be lost Why? Because God chose a particular
people, wrote their names indelibly, eternally in the Lamb's Book
of Life. Christ laid down His life for
those whom the Father chose. God the Holy Spirit is effectually
calling out those that God the Father chose and those that Christ
redeemed. Election, redemption, and regeneration. God's going to do it. This is
the city of God. See, I'm not going to lose a one. They're
my family. Ephesians chapter 3 verse 15,
the church is called the family of God. The family of God. What we just read in Isaiah,
would a mother forsake her breastfed child? No. But if she did, I'll not forsake
you." It happens sometimes. A woman
might be so hard-hearted, if my mother and my father forsake
me, David said, the Lord will not forsake me. That's what he
said. He's committed to his family,
isn't he? Glorious things are spoken to you of you. Oh city
of God in Isaiah chapter 46 verse 13 The church is called the glory
of God the glory of God He is most glorified in the church. I Mean you go out you The the
heavens declare his glory we know that you see his hand in
nature and But there's no place where he's more glorified than
in his church, where his people gather together and his gospel
is preached and Christ is lifted up. That's where God's glorified.
You are my glory. This is the world knows nothing
about the glory of God. They don't know anything about
it. In Ephesians chapter 2 verse
22, glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God, for you
are the habitation of God. You are the habitation of God.
When God's people gather together in the church, this is where
the Lord manifest his power, his glory, and his presence.
Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I
am in the midst of you. I inhabit the praise of my people.
I walk among the candlesticks. The Lord Jesus Christ, We have
a precious couple in the church in Sarasota, and they had to
go to Puerto Rico to take care of some business, and they were
gone for like six weeks. And they got back this past Sunday,
and they were just hugging on me and Tricia. And just, oh,
we watched all the services, but it's not the same. It's not
the same. We're just so glad to be here.
And the brethren from New Smyrna called me this afternoon and
said, we want to be there. The storm is so bad we can't
get there, but we'll be watching. And they are watching. And there
are some believers that I have every reason to believe that
they're believers, but for one reason or another, there's a
dear lady that supports this ministry regularly. a divorced
single mom living in the same city with her ex-husband, can't
move her children away from her husband, watches every service
and sends financial support to this ministry. She would be in
a local assembly if she could. My heart goes out to the believers
that way. But if a believer ever experiences
the gathering together of God's people, that's where they're
going to want to be. Why? Because they experience
the very presence of God. They experience Him. This is
where he speaks. This is where he makes himself
known. People call themselves believers who can get to a local
assembly and have a take-it-or-leave-it attitude about public worship. I don't get it. I don't understand
it. Glorious things are spoken of
thee, O city of God. You are my habitation. You are the very place where
I make myself known. And in Galatians chapter 6 verse
16, the church is called the Israel of God, the Prince of
God. So we're the children of God,
the family of God, the Prince of God. Ephesians chapter 5 verse
30, we're called the members of Christ, the members of the
Lord Jesus Christ by virtue of our union with Christ. This is
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the only thing God's
concerned with in this world. Everything else is fodder, it's
props, it's irrelevant. Turn with me to 1 Peter chapter
2. 1 Peter chapter 2. This is glorious. Verse six, wherefore also it
is contained in the scriptures, behold, this is that passage
in Isaiah 28 that I quoted earlier. Behold, I lay in Zion a chief
cornerstone, elect, precious. He that believeth on him shall
not be confounded. Unto you, therefore, which believe,
he is priceless. he is priceless but unto them
which be disobedient disobedient is not to believe the stone which the builders
disallowed The same is made the head of the corner, and a stone
of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at
the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. Just as you were appointed unto
eternal life, as many as God appointed As many as God elected,
as many as God chose unto eternal life, they believed. They believed. And these were appointed unto
death. They didn't believe. They were vessels, as Paul says,
fitted for destruction. But you, look at verse 28, verse
9, but you, You are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people. Some of us are more peculiar
than others, but that's not really what that word peculiar means.
It means purchased. It means purchased. A purchased
possession, bought by the very blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
that you should show forth the praises of Him who hath called
you out of darkness into His marvelous light. But you. Glorious things are spoken of
thee, O city of God. This is what God has said about
His church. He calls His church the apple
of His eye. I don't know about you, but the
most sensitive thing on my whole body is the pupil of my eye. And that's what the apple of
the eye is. That's what the Lord called it.
And how many things the Lord has put I think the strongest
bone structure somewhere in your body is the socket around your
eye. You've got eyebrows to keep the
sweat from going down in your eyes, and eyelashes to keep the
dust away from your eyes. Every time you blink, you're
brushing the dust away from your eyes. The Lord has just designed
our eyes with such protection. And He says, you're the apple
of my eye. I'm going to protect you at every turn. I've written
you in the palm of my hand. I'm not going to forsake you.
You're my body. You're my bride. Glorious things
are spoken of you. In Psalm 135 verse 4, he calls
the church a peculiar treasure. Treasure. You're my treasure. Nothing else is to be treasured
but you. And in 1 Corinthians 3, verse
16, the scripture refers to the church as the temple of God.
Now, go back with me to our text quickly. Let me show you something.
Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. And we just
looked at a few of the things that God likens his church to. Do you believe what God has said
about you? You know, I hesitate to say this because
it sounds like psychology, but it's really not. The view that
we have of ourselves is the same image of the view the most significant
person in our lives has of us. Whatever the most significant
person in your life thinks about you is what you think about yourself.
That's certainly true with children, isn't it? So two questions. Who's the most significant person
in your life and what's he think about you? If the Lord Jesus Christ is your
life, this is what he says about you. What liberty, what freedom,
what confidence, what hope there is in seeing myself like he sees
me. Verse four, I will make mention
of Rahab. Now Rahab is a reference to Egypt. And the nations that are mentioned
here are the same nations that are mentioned in Acts chapter
two when Peter preaches to Jerusalem and all these nations are gathered
together and they're all hearing the preaching of the gospel in
their own language. It's the same nations. I will make mention
of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me. Behold Philistia
and Tyre and Ethiopia. This man was born there. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ was
born in Nazareth, but he was brought from the grave
in Jerusalem, wasn't he? Brought from the grave. When the scripture refers to
the Lord Jesus Christ as the first begotten, and this is the
word here, begotten, Speaking of his resurrection, the hope
of our salvation is in his resurrection. The proof that God is satisfied
with everything the Lord Jesus Christ did is in his resurrection. This man, and so just like Peter
was declaring to all the nations of the world, this man was born
here. He was raised here. And this is where the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ is preached. in this Jerusalem in this city
and of Zion it shall be said this and that man now the typical
word for man in the Old Testament is the word Adam or Adam and
it's the common most often used word for man but the word being
used here is the word ish And he's referring to the people
of God now. And the word ish is used to define
a man of renown, a man of great respect, a man of incredible
wealth, a man of worth, a famous man, an eminent man, a powerful
man, a prestigious man. The word ish is describing that. Now we know that we're sinners
and in our flesh dwelleth no good thing. But in Christ, in
Christ, glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. You can't
be any more wealthy. You can't have any more power
than to be a child of God and to be a part of the family of
God. You can't have any more prestige You can't achieve any
higher level of respect in this world and yet men by nature will
do what Esau did. They will sell their birthright
for a bowl of soup. They will sacrifice, why? Because by nature we value the
praise of men more than the praise of God. We're more concerned
about what men think about us than we are about what God thinks
about us. Now God's telling us what He thinks about us. And
He says, you're an ish. You're a man of renown. By virtue
of your union with Christ, you're a child of God. You're the body
of Christ. You're the bride of Christ. You're
the temple of God. You're the apple of my eye. And of Zion, of Zion it shall
be said, this and that man was born in her and the highest himself
shall establish her. Hebrews chapter 13, when the
Lord's word shakes all the things of this world and everything
in this world crumbles, the only thing left standing is the church. I will establish her. Why? Because of the foundation
on which she's built. And because of the gates through
which her members entered in. The Lord shall count. I love
this. Look at verse 6. The Lord shall
count, and when he writheth up the people, that this was born
there The Lord's taking count. Not one's going to be lost. Not
a single one. Everyone God chose. Everyone
Christ died for. Everyone the Spirit of God regenerates.
Until the last of God's elect enter in to the city of God. And when that happens, it's all
coming to an end. Nothing else is of any significance
to God. Glorious things are spoken of
thee, O city of God. Nothing glorious God says about
anything outside the church. Everything outside the church
is firewood. The church, the only thing gonna
be left standing. As well, verse seven, the singers
as the players on instruments shall be there. All my springs
are in thee. The spring of life, the spring
of peace, the spring of hope, the spring of joy. All my springs. Everything outside of Jerusalem
is polluted water. It's broken cisterns. And God
says, why would you go to a broken cistern when all my springs are
here? The water of life flows freely
from the preaching of the gospel in the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Oh, how shameful we are. And how sick we get, don't we? When we drink of the polluted
waters of this world. They're not clear. They're not
like crystal. They're not flowing from the
throne of God. They're full of bacteria, aren't they? And they
make us spiritually sick. Every time we try to drink from
the broken cisterns of this world, God makes us sick in our hearts,
don't He? We just think, oh Lord, give
me some clean water. All my springs. are within her. I don't need springs out there.
You want a drink from the fountain of life? City of God. Glorious things are spoken of
thee. Our Heavenly Father, we're so
very thankful for the for the glorious things that you have
said in your word, first about Christ, as the foundation of
the city of God, as the gates through which we enter into the
city of God. Lord, we pray that you would
cause us to find comfort and hope, peace and joy, forgiveness
of sin, and the knowledge of eternal life in Thy dear Son. For it's in His name we ask it.
Amen. 185. Let's stand together. Number
185. ? Glorious things of thee are spoken
? Zion, city of our God ? He whose word cannot be broken ?
Formed thee for us On the rock of ages founded,
What can shake thy sure repose? With salvation's wall surrounded,
Thou mayest smile at all thy foes. See the streams of living
waters springing from eternal love. Well supply thy sons and
daughters, and all fear of want remove. on the rock of a Thai
River sorry ever flows their thirst to sway grace which like
the Lord the giver Never fails from age to age. Round each habitation hovering,
See the cloud and fire appear. ? For a glory and a covering
? Showing that the Lord is near ? Glorious things of thee are
spoken ? Zion, city of our God He whose word cannot be broken,
form thee for his own abode. He just wants to sing. I didn't have to sing a lot of
the tracks.