Alright brethren, let's go to
Psalm 87. Psalm 87. I love the Psalms and I think
the Lord's people grow to love the Psalms more and more. We
see our prayers in David's prayers. We see our Redeemer in the Psalms.
We see the various circumstances and situations and trials We
can relate to those and just think the older God's people
get, the more you find yourself going to the Psalms and finding
great comfort there. And Psalm 87 is a comforting
psalm. This is giving the Lord God in
Christ all the praise for His church, for His holy city. He says in verse 3, glorious
things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Now this is to be understood
figuratively when we think of a city. It's a true city. It's a real city. It's a spiritual
city. But the Lord's church is compared
in scripture to a city called the city of God. Now the church
is God's holy city. It's the holy city of Zion. It's made up of His chosen, redeemed,
regenerated people that have been saved by God's grace. It's
all God's building. He purposed it. He set it in
order. He builds this city. It's all of His doing. It's where
He dwells. It's where the Lord dwells. It's
called Jehovah Shema. The Lord is there. It's where
He dwells. Now, the Church of God, when
we think about the Church of God, this is important because
there's some that say the church is only the local assembly. The
Church of God is both the local assembly and the universal church. That's very important. The local
church is an assembly that God has assembled. his elect, his
regenerated people, that he's assembled by his spirit, by his
gospel, where he's brought them together. That's the local church.
He makes us to worship. He gives us true worship. When
we really worship in the heart, he does it. He assembles his
people, and his ordinances are maintained in the church by the
grace of our Lord. The church of God's also universal. The universal church of God is
called the city of God, the city of God. The citizens of this
city are God's elect in every generation, every generation. They're in heaven, they're in
earth. This is the whole city. Paul speaks of the universal
church when he says, Christ loved the church and gave himself for
it. That's all his elect throughout all time, beginning to end, all
of them. The universal church is described
in Hebrews 12 when he says Mount Zion, he's called it Mount Zion,
the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. It's the
general assembly and church of the firstborn. Some are in heaven
already, the spirits of just men made perfect, some are in
the earth, but that's the whole universal church, the city of
God, the Zion of God. So this psalm, speaking of his
church, is speaking of God's church, the holy city in heaven
and in earth. And that's our subject, the glory
of God's city. Now the psalm easily divides
itself into three parts, and these will be our divisions.
First, we'll see the provider and foundation of this city.
And then we'll see the citizens of this city. And then we'll
see the rejoicing of this city. Now let's look here first at
the glorious provider and foundation of this city. He says in verse
one, his foundation is in the holy mountains. The Lord loveth
the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious
things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Now every city has to
have a planner. A city planner is somebody that's
gonna Mark out where things are gonna be built and where the
best places to build buildings and how the best use of the land
will be and the resources and what have you. And a city also
has to have a good foundation. Venice, Italy, I don't know if
anybody lives in Venice or knows anybody who lives in Venice,
but they must not have had a good planner, because it's not built
on a good foundation. It's a sinking city. New Orleans. It's below sea level. But it's not so with the city
of God. It has a good planner who made a solid foundation for
his city. The Lord Jehovah laid Zion's
foundation on the rock Christ Jesus, the Son of God. Verse
one says, his foundation is in the holy mountains. In Isaiah
28, verse 16, thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion
for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone,
a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make
haste. He shall not be ashamed and confounded
for trusting on the Lord. Paul said other foundation can
no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
His foundation is laid in the holy mountains. Christ Jesus
is that foundation that the Lord God laid from eternity. Talking
about the ultimate preeminent city planner, this was before
anything was made that was made. In eternity, he laid the foundation. How did he do that? The father
chose the son. He chose his son, and in doing
so, he laid the foundation of his church. Look to the Son, and by choosing
a people in His Son, all His holy mountains were established
on Christ the Rock from eternity. When Christ entered covenant
to save His people, He became the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. The works were finished from
the foundation of the world. Before one thing was created,
before one sinner's sin, God already determined the end from
the beginning. Now that's a solid foundation.
Christ would not fail, it was all predetermined by God who
he would save and who would do the saving, and if he would lose
none, the foundation was settled from before the foundation of
the world. That's what Paul meant when he said, when he chose us
in Christ in heavenly places before the world was made, he
blessed us with all spiritual blessings, because all of them
are in Christ. and he is the one who will guarantee
all his people are saved and receive all the blessing. So
in time he came, the Lord came, and he took flesh and he accomplished
everything that he promised the Father he would accomplish. Every
citizen of Zion chosen by God came forth in the loins, inseparably
united, mystically united. We were in Christ Jesus when
he came. The Lord said, I lay in Zion
for a foundation of stone. He is a tried stone. Our Lord
Jesus came into this earth and he was made under the law and
as a man facing every temptation his people face, he walked this
earth without sin and was proven a tried stone, pure, holy, undefiled,
separate from sinners. even unto the death of the cross,
perfectly obedient to God until the death of the cross. A tried
stone. Sure, because he's tried and
never failing. He's a precious cornerstone.
The cornerstone, the foundation that holds the whole structure
up is Christ. And he's precious to the Father
because God said in him, is all my glory. In Christ is all my
glory seen. This is when Moses was put in
the cleft of the rock and God made all his goodness pass before
him. That's what was typified. That
was what was being shown to Moses from the cleft of the rock and
we behold that glory in the face of Christ. God the Father looks
upon his son and he's precious to him. He upheld the whole law
of God. He fulfilled everything written
in the law in our prophets. He honored justice. He did all
that he said he would do to honor and glorify God, laying down
his life for his people. So he's precious to the Father.
He saved those the Father loved from eternity and entrusted to
his Son. That's why he's precious to the Father. And he's precious
to you and I who know him. Because he's all our salvation. We don't bring anything into
this thing of salvation or contribute anything to it. If left to us,
we would destroy it. But He is the precious stone
to His people because He's everything in salvation. He is salvation. All our righteousness is Him.
All our holiness is Him. He's the perfection by which
we're going to be brought to God, and it's only by Him being
formed in our heart that we even know God and have this heart
that considers Him precious and wants to walk after Him and hates
what we are by nature, what we think, what we do. And He's the
only one that keeps us separated. It keeps us separated unto Him,
hedged about, as our refuge so that we can never be separated
from Him. That's why He's precious to us.
The Lord said He's the sure foundation. For all these reasons, His church,
His holy city is on a sure foundation. It cannot be moved. This is no
sinking city that we're in. It's established firmly on Christ
the rock, the sure foundation. It's that city that John saw
when he said he saw New Jerusalem. The city of God coming down out
of heaven adorned as a bride for her husband, and it's adorned
by Christ, her husband. And he's gonna present every
member, every citizen of this city to himself one day, perfect.
We sing, the church's one foundation is Jesus Christ, her Lord. She
is his new creation by water and the Word. From heaven he
came and he sought her to be his holy bride. With his own
blood he bought her, and for her life he died. And then we
see here in verse two, the Lord loveth Zion. He loveth Zion. He says in verse two, the Lord
loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
The Lord in Christ loves the church, he loves his holy Zion,
he loves each citizen in particular, you who believe. He assembles us to worship Him
publicly. And this is what He's specifically
speaking about here. These gates, and He assembles
us to worship. And this is what He loves more
than all the dwelling places of Jacob. Our Lord loves all
the dwelling places of Jacob. Every citizen of this Zion, every
chosen, redeemed, regenerated child of God is His. And He loves
each one. And He loves where we dwell.
His grace is upon his people wherever we are in this world.
He loves all the dwelling places of his Jacob. But now he's talking
here about when he brings us together to assemble in public
worship, this is where he loves more than any. And you think
about the whole justified, perfect church, the whole city in heaven
that are already there with him. And you think of all His chosen
people in this earth that He assembles together. Wherever
we are in this world, at whatever time, He assembles His people
to worship. We're not doing this by ourselves. The Word has to
come from Christ in Zion, in heavenly Zion, and it has to
come down to us from Him. And the only way we enter into
it and worship Him is if He gives us hearts to worship. We can
come in, we can go through the motions, but we can't worship
Him unless He gives us worship in the heart. And you just think
of this. I like to think of this when
we gather and assemble to worship. I hear people say, well, our
little assembly. Oh, no. Oh, no. There's a heavenly host. Read
Hebrews 12. There's a heavenly host. You've
come to the heavenly Zion. And when we're gathered to worship,
this is why the Lord loves His Zion, His holy city, is because
all eyes in heaven and all eyes here are on Him, on Christ. You know, people don't want to
not assemble with God's people, especially now in days of the
internet. We're thankful for that. It's good for people, especially
that are traveling or sick or that are someplace where there
just is no gospel and they can't just absolutely have not been
able to move. But think about this. What most resembles what
we're going to do in glory? What we're doing right here.
And this is what the Lord's saying he loves more than all the dwelling
places of Jacob. He's the public assembly of his
people. Christ has finished the work, he's risen up to glory
with all his people in him, and now from heavenly Zion, his gospel
goes forth into the assemblies he's gathered for public worship
in earth. Zion and heaven are looking to
him and praising him, and Zion and earth are looking to him
and praising him wherever he's worshiped. He's getting all the
glory. He gets the glory for sinning
the gospel. That gospel glorifies Him. The scripture tells us that
the heavenly host just admires the church and looks at the church
with just admiration. Why? Because of Christ and what's
being declared of Him and what He's doing and what He has done
and what He shall do and who He is. This is why He loves where
He's worshiped It's all of Him. It's all the praise of His glory
and His grace. And so all the glory of Zion,
whatever can be said about this city, whatever can be said about
you and me, it's not said of you and me, of ourselves. It's Him. He's the glory of His
city. That's why it says in verse 3,
Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. The glory
of it is Him. He said that. Whenever John saw
the heavenly city in Revelation 21, 11, he said it had the glory
of God. It had the glory of God. He's
the glory that adorns everything. What do we have that we didn't
receive from Him? Whatever glorious things are
spoken of His holy city, He's the glory of it. It's spoken
of Him. So brethren, the glorious things
are all of him. Now secondly, let's look at the
citizens of this holy city. Not only does a city need a planner
and a foundation, a city's gotta have some citizens. Where are
these citizens coming from? Verse four, I will make mention
of Rahab, that's Egypt. Sometimes when you read Rahab,
it's not, when you read Rahab the harlot, it usually says Rahab
the harlot. When you talk about Egypt, sometimes
it just says Rahab. That word means Egypt. I will
make mention of Egypt and Babylon to them that know me. This is
the Lord speaking. Behold Philistia. Philistia's
where the Goliath was. That's where the enemies of,
they were always the enemies of God. Tyre, Ethiopia. The Lord says I'll say this man
was born there. And of Zion it shall be said,
this and that man was born in her. And the highest himself
shall establish her. The Lord shall count, he'll do
a census when he writeth up the people that this man was born
there. Now this is all dealing with
the citizens. Now when you think about Egypt and Babylon, those
don't put good things in your mind because in scripture, Egypt's
not generally described as a good place to be. That's where the
Israelites were in bondage. Pharaoh rejected God. Babylon,
the great harlot of false religion is called Babylon, and Babylon
was a place they were all carried captive off to. Philistia, where
Goliath was, they hated God all their days. Tyre was a merchant
city where a port city where all they did was just bring,
they just was a thriving city. They didn't have any thought
for God whatsoever. Ethiopia, remember the eunuch
came all the way up from Ethiopia to Jerusalem because there wasn't
any place to worship God where he was. All those wicked places made
up of wicked citizens is where all God's people are when he
finds them. That's where we were when he found us. Wicked, fallen,
not knowing God, hating God, wanting nothing to do with God.
And yet, God says, I have a people in all nations in this world.
Don't ever look at a nation or a people or even individuals
and think, oh, no hope for them. If God saved this sinner, I think
all God's people can say this, if he saved me, he'd save anybody.
If he's preserved me, he can preserve anybody. And he's got people scattered
all over this world. He declares he'll call all his
elect out of it, all nations. He lists some of those nations
here, but there were some nations that didn't exist then, and he
got elect in those nations too, like the one we live in. But all of them, He knows where
they are. He sends this gospel to them.
He brings them out of those nations into His holy city. We were first
born in this and that nation. Citizens of this and that nation
here below. The only way you can be born
into this holy heavenly city is to be born again by the Spirit
of God. The only way. The highest himself
gets all the glory. He says the highest himself shall
establish her. But when you've been born of
him and you've been brought to faith in Christ, Paul said he
not only brought peace for us by his blood, he came and preached
peace to us. The Holy Spirit came and regenerated
us and taught us the gospel and called us to him. And he said,
now therefore you're no more strangers and foreigners. You're
fellow citizens with the saints. fellow citizens of what? Of the
holy city of Zion. And the Lord spoken of here has
taken a census. He said in verse 6, the Lord
shall count. He's going to take a census.
He's going to count up all the people in Zion when he writeth
up the people that this man was born there. And God elected the
people in Christ in eternity. The scripture speaks of the Lamb's
book of life, which all the names of His elect were written in.
And they used to sing this song when somebody would profess Christ.
There's a new name written in glory. There are no new names
written in glory. The names he wrote in that book
in the beginning are the only names he wrote. And they are
the citizens who shall make up this Zion. And when he takes
the final census, there won't be one missing. Christ said,
I will not lose one. He will not lose one. Now all
these things, brethren, have been coming to pass. They were
coming to pass even in David's day, but this is especially speaking
of these last days. Now get this, because many err
here. The last days began when our Lord Jesus came in the flesh. People speak of the last days,
and they're looking somewhere way off in the distance to the
end of the world. The last days started when Christ came. When
Christ came. Hebrews 1 says, God hath in these
last days spoken to us by his son. In these last days, that's
when they started. When he, you read Isaiah 53,
and you see Christ on the cross, and you see him accomplishing
the redemption of all his people. And when Christ did that on the
cross, and he cried out it's finished, the veil ran in two
in the temple. God declaring all that old covenant
system of worship is finished, it's fulfilled by Christ. Here's
the one it all spoke to, he finished it. And Christ ended all that
Mosaic covenant. He's the fulfillment of it. He
brings his people under the everlasting covenant of grace. And then 70
years later, he destroyed political Israel. And then Isaiah 54 declares what
Christ has been doing. He declares what he's been doing.
He began calling his lost sheep. People are waiting on him to
call his lost sheep out of Israel in the end. He came to them first
in these last days. That's where people mess up.
They're looking way down yonder for last days. He came in these
last days when he came and he started with his elect in Israel.
And then he turned to the Gentiles. And so after Isaiah 53, what
does he tell us? In Isaiah 54, he tells the church
saying, O baron, thou that didst not bear, you didn't bring these
children forth, I'm bringing them forth. He said, enlarge
the place of your tent and stretch your stakes out, you're gonna
need more room. And he said, thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles. You're going to make the desolate
cities to be inhabited. Fear not. You'll not be ashamed.
You're not going to remember the reproach of your widowhood
anymore. Why? Thy maker is thy husband,
the Lord of hosts is his name, thy redeemer, the Holy One of
Israel, the God of the whole earth shall he be called. You
see, the saints of old, they knew something of the truth that
God not only had a people in that little nation Israel, he
had a people all over the world. He's telling us in this psalm
In many places in the Old Testament, Isaiah 54, he's saying, I got
a people scattered all over the world. I'm the God of the whole
world. This is where people mess up
when they read the world in the New Testament. Thank God talking
about everybody without exception. He's talking about, I got a people
all over this world. Some out of Egypt, some out of
Babylon, some out of Tyre, some out of America, some out of Israel,
but I got a people all over this world. Jerusalem, which now he
is, is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem, which is above,
is free, which is the mother of us all. Now, on the day of
Pentecost, the Lord poured out the Spirit of God in a way that
had never been done. And men began to preach in languages,
foreign languages they had never heard. The people that spoke
those languages understood them in their own language. They weren't
speaking some unintelligible language. They were speaking
in the language of the people. And Peter stood up and he told
them, Christ has done this. God has made that same Jesus
whom you crucified, Lord, in Christ. He's done this. And he began saving a multitude
out of every, there was a multitude out of every nation there. There
was a picture right there of what he's doing over the whole
course of this gospel age. There was people come up there,
not just from Israel, there was people there from all different
languages were there. And he saves them out of all
of them. That's what he's been doing ever since. We're living
in this day right now, this gospel age, when he's establishing his
holy city of Zion, which some people are waiting on for some
far distant millennial time. It's happening right now. It's
what he's doing. There's never gonna be a time
when sinners are gonna be saved by their works. That's one of
the reasons men are looking for that. Everybody's gonna come
back and have to work out something. No, never. Never gonna be a time
when we would turn back to old covenant Judaism. It is never happening. God's
Israel shall be saved when each elect child is born again into
the city of Zion. Christ is in heavenly Zion. He's
sending his gospel. The Spirit's birthing is redeemed
into this city. by the new birth through the
preaching of the gospel, and he's gonna do it till he calls
the last one. This is what he said in Isaiah 2, in verse 2. It shall come to pass in the
last days, the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established
in the top of the mountains, and he shall be exalted above
the hills, and all nations, elect out of all nations, shall flow
unto it. And many people shall go and say, come ye, let us go
up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob.
He'll teach us his ways and we'll walk in his path. For out of
Zion, out of heavenly Zion, shall go forth the law, the gospel,
and the word of the Lord from heavenly Jerusalem into his earthly
assemblies. This is where they all coming
up to the mountain. You came to heavenly Zion tonight. That's what he said in Hebrews
12. You've come to, Mount Sinai, a city that can't be touched.
You've come there and you've come to Christ who speaks from
heaven. It's exactly what he said. And he said, he'll judge
among the nations. Our God, our Lord Jesus is working
as effectually in his church right now as he was in glory.
This is what makes God's people tremble and why we're careful
in how we treat one another is because he's the judge judging
among the nations and in his city. And he said, he shall rebuke
many people. And he's able and he keeps doing
this. And you know what happens when he does it? They become
peaceable. They beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hunks, and nation stopped lifting
up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.
That doesn't mean, he doesn't do that in all the world, you
can see that. No nation has stopped lifting up sword against nation.
But he does it in his people, so his people stop warring against
each other and trying to exalt themselves over others because
they're better, You live in a sketchy neighborhood. You're this or
that. No, we're all just sinners. And
now he makes you put away that fleshly difference and see we're
one in Christ, in his righteousness. So we say, O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. Let us walk in his
gospel. Let us walk after Christ, the light. He spoke of the strangers the
Gentiles elect, his elect among the Gentiles, and he said, even
them will I bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful
in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their
sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar. What is that? That spiritual sacrifices accepted
of God through faith in Christ our altar. And this is what he
said, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all people. That doesn't mean everybody without
exception, that means all kinds of people out of all nations.
Some rich, some poor, some educated, some educated. All kinds of sinners,
all kinds of people. But he brings them into this
one city. Now look at this last thing.
I'm gonna be very brief here. But since all this salvation
is due only to our Lord, only by his grace, only by Christ,
only through his spirit, all through his gospel, since he
gets all the glory for everything he's doing in building this city.
He puts joy in the hearts of his people. His people are a
joyful people, rejoicing and praising and glorifying him.
That's what's meant here by the singers and the musicians. He says, verse seven, not only
is he gonna have all his people there, but all those he calls
in, they're gonna be joyful. As well the singers as the players
on instruments shall be there, all my springs are in thee. These
represent And when you sing and you play, it's joyful. And this
represents the joy of his people in his house, in his city. Giving
him all the glory. All the Lord's springs are in
his people. The springs of spiritual life,
of renewing, of reviving are in his city. Fountains of living
water, springs of spiritual peace and spiritual refreshment from
Christ Jesus, our life. And so all the true citizens
of Zion are joyful people, rejoicing. Not just putting on a show and
hoop-dee-doo and jumping around and all that. Rejoicing in our
hearts, singing with joy in our hearts to our Lord, in our prayers
to Him, in our preaching, in our songs we sing. Everything
is with a joyful heart, giving the glory to the Lord. He said,
cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy
One of Israel in the midst of thee. And you know in Revelation,
the song they sang, they sang a new song. When He brings you
into this city, you start singing a new song. You were singing
a song about, oh, how I love Jesus and everything I did for
Him. You start singing a new song. Thou art worthy to take
the book and open the seals thereof. For thou was slain and has redeemed
us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and
people and nation and made us under our God kings and priests
and we shall reign on the earth. Citizens of Zion are not looking
for some secret rapture. That's not what we're looking
for. I know people have been taught these things and I understand
people thinking that's something we're looking for. That's not
what His people are looking for. You know what we're looking for?
We're looking for Christ. We're looking for Him. It ain't
gonna be secret. It's not gonna be secret. Our conversation, our citizenship
is in heaven from whence also we look for the Savior. the Lord
Jesus Christ who shall change our vile body that it may be
fashioned like to his glorious body according to the working
whereby he's able to subdue all things unto himself. Reverend
Christ right now is working everything in this world. You know, everything
that you see in politics, everything you see going on between nations,
everything you see going on in the world that's evil, that's
wicked in this nation, Everything's going on, good, bad, and otherwise.
You know why he's doing it? For the furtherance of his gospel.
To send this gospel forth to call all of his elect into this
holy city through this gospel. I don't know how he's working
all that together, but he is. He's working it for you and me
to make it so we can send this gospel forth. He said that he
won't return to this gospel being preached in every nation. As
of right now, just this year, the gospel, just from this place
right here, the gospel's been preached in, I think, 90-something
countries. That's by the internet, but it's
being preached there. And he's working everything to
make sure his gospel is going into every country. If you've
got a person anywhere in the most remotest place, he gonna
get the gospel of Christ to them. and bringing them out. So just
know that. After Paul said we're looking
for Him in Philippians, Paul followed up with this. Therefore,
my brethren, dearly beloved, and long for my crown and my
joy, so stand fast in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again,
I say rejoice. Stand fast in Him. This is what
he promises, Isaiah 35.10, the ransomed of the Lord, those he
ransomed by the price of his blood, the ransomed of the Lord
shall return. They shall come to Zion with
songs and everlasting joy upon their heads. They shall obtain
joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing, shall flee away. You've
experienced that, you know him. You've returned. All his elect
are gonna return to Zion. And then we're all going to that
grand assembly in glory with him. So stand fast in him. Nothing, nothing is failing. He shall not fail. He's going
to do everything to bring his gospel to his people, and that's
what he's doing right now. Father, we thank you for this
word. Lord, bless it to encourage the hearts of your people. Make
us to see how pleased you are with this city that you purposed
and that you erected and laid the foundation for, this city
you love, this people that you're protecting. And Lord, you called
us out when we didn't know you, when we couldn't have known you.
You did all of that by sending us the gospel, assembling your
people together. Let that be a reminder to us
continually, Lord, You won't have any problem keeping your
church protected, keeping your gospel going forth, calling out
your people. We're as helpless to do this
work ourselves now as we were when we were fumbling around
in total darkness. Lord, shine your light, enlighten
our hearts, give us strength for this work you've put in our hands
to preach your word. Make us remember it's all of
you, it's all of your glory. Keep us turned from ourselves,
from our sins, from our vain notions that there's something
in us that contributes to this work of salvation. Lord, keep
joy in our hearts. We pray, keep us seeing Christ,
our joy, our rejoicing, how sure this foundation is, and keep
joy in our hearts. Thank you, Lord, peace, for your
joy. Lord, thank you for making your people
a happy people. We don't have anything, we don't
have anything to be sorrowful about. If we just look up, we
just look to you and see the rejoicing and the good that you've
wrought for us and what you've made us by your blood and your
righteousness. Lord, forgive us for our weakness. Forgive us for our unbelief. Forgive us for our sins. Forgive
us. Forgive us. Lord, look to Christ. Behold
us united and separately in Him. And let us be found only in Him.
Do what you do for your people for Christ's sake. Protect us,
Lord. We need you protecting us. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen.