All right, take your Bibles and
turn me to Psalm chapter 48. Psalm chapter 48. I have two
main points out of this that I want you to get from these
best passages of scripture. Our birth text, we found in verses
six through eight. Let's read verse five. They saw
it. Oh no, verse four, sorry. For
lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together. They
saw it, they marveled. They were troubled and hasted
away. Fear took hold upon them there
and pain as a woman in travail. Thou breakest the ships of Tarsus
as 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. Two things here, a sure fear,
a sure fear and a sure foundation, a sure fear. Scripture here begins
in this, the psalmist, he couldn't wait, he begins with a very maxim,
a very prominent fact. Great is the Lord. That's just
so. Great is the Lord. And greatly
to be praised. Where? In the city of our God,
in the mountains of His holiness. He's talking about His church,
He's talking about those who are founded upon Jesus Christ. We know this, God is great and
He is greatly to be praised among His people. Why? Verse 2, beautiful
for situation. The joy of the whole earth is
Mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the great
King. Believer in Christ, I want you to consider the great and
beautiful situation you find yourself in. You are in a beautiful
situation. That Mount Zion was in a perfect
situation. It was naturally surrounded by
mountains. On all sides. You couldn't scale
over the mountains. You couldn't dig underneath them.
It was the safest place. There was only one way in on
the side of the north. There was only one way in and
one way out. What a picture of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Those of us who are in Christ,
we are safe. We are safe. I read this just
a minute ago in the study, Psalm 46, verse 5, God is in the midst
of her, she shall not be moved. You got that? You're in Christ,
you're in Zion, you have a beautiful situation. Ain't nobody can get
in there to get you. Nobody can pull you out. There's
only one way in, Christ. Only one way in. We have a beautiful
situation. Why? Our city is the city of
the great king. That's Jesus Christ and God is
known in her palaces for a refuge. This is a gospel message in those
first few verses. This is speaking about Christ
and the surety of Israel in Christ. The surety of God's elect in
Christ. What a wonderful situation you
are in. But notice here, There are some
people who are not in this beautiful situation. There are some people
outside of Zion. And notice he said this, For
lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together, they
saw it, so they marveled. They were troubled. And they
hasted away. The world and its false religion
cannot agree on anything except this, their hatred of Jesus Christ
and the gospel of His grace. I mean, consider the differences
between all false religions. They're just massive differences.
They differ on most everything except this, they all hate Salvation
by the free grace, the sovereign grace of God through Jesus Christ
alone. They despise it. And so what
do they do? They assemble together. They
come and they behold Zion. They come and hear the gospel
of this beautiful situation. They even marvel at it for a
while. Some people come in and they'll listen to it. It's kind
of a, when people never heard of the Doctrine of Grace or any
Calvinistic doctrine, they come in and they marvel for a little
bit. They ain't heard none like this. And it kind of tickles
their intellect. And they want to learn something
about it, until it grows stale. They'll hear it for a little
while until, you know, the cares of this life come in and the
troubles that follow it come in. And then they'll just, they'll
haste away. They'll haste away. Our Lord
had people like that when he opened the gospel that first
time and he read the gospel and he said, this day is just fulfilled
in your ears. You know what the scripture says? But when he explained what he
was preaching, by the end of it, they wanted to throw him
off the cliff. You see, they marveled for a minute, and then,
when they actually understood it, they wanted to kill him.
Same thing happened in John chapter 6. Remember, those men would,
by force, make him king. He fed those 5,000 men, plus
the women and children. Boy, they wanted to make him
king. Until when? Until he preached the gospel
to them. And you know what the scripture says, and many of his
disciples walk no more with him. A lot of people like to hear
this gospel. They'll hear it for a little while. They're like
these caves. They go around Zion, but they
never go in. They measure it, they marvel
at it, but they don't enter in. But those of you who are planted
by God, those of you who are saved by the grace of God continue
in faith looking unto who? We look unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. I had to marvel at that this
morning. I was just so enamored by this. The author of my faith. Who's
the author of your faith? Again, this simple text should
do away with all Arminian thinking. All Arminian religions should
just be thrown in the trash at this point because they believe
the author of their faith is free will, is their volition. I'm the author of my faith. Well,
you're not of Christ then because the scripture tells me that my
faith is authored by Jesus Christ. He's the author of my faith.
And listen, he's the finisher. Got that? I'm depending upon
him totally. I believe on him. He's the author
of my faith. You know, I had a very wonderful
experience growing up. My parents believed the gospel
of Jesus Christ. And they made sure that I was
in the congregation under the gospel at every opportunity.
They were sure of it. They made sure that I was there.
But you know what? They were never the author of
my faith. I had a good pastor. He was faithful to preach the
gospel to me. He was very clear in his preaching. He was constant. He was steady. He was faithful
to preach the same gospel over and over. He's not the author
of my faith. Thankful for him, but he's not
the author of my faith. Jesus Christ is. You who believe,
you confess that, don't you? He's the author of my faith.
For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.
It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And
I'm so thankful for this, that He's not the finisher. And this
should do away with all progressive holiness. This is not a cooperative
effort, friends. Aren't you glad of that? I'm
so thankful it's not a cooperative effort. I surely am willing to
believe But my willingness really has nothing to do with it. It's
part and parcel of what God put in me. He made me willing in
the day of His power, didn't He? Are you still willing? Well, who's doing that? Well,
that's Christ. He's not only the author of my
faith, He's the finisher of it. He's the finisher of our faith. Because God's saints are saved
then in righteousness. We are saved by the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. We are therefore protected, guarded
from all the enemies that would destroy the church. As Zion was
protected, as Zion was surrounded, so are we protected. We are kept by the grace and
mercy of God, but we are robed in His righteousness. So then
this, none of the enemies of the church can destroy us. God
says this, I will keep thee. Who's keeping who? Joanne, you've been doing this
a long time. What in the world has kept you all these years?
Why is this still important to you? Why is this still a joy? I will keep thee. I will keep
Psalm 121, the Scriptures are plain. The Lord is thy keeper. He is the shade upon thy right
hand. The sun shall not smite thee
by day, the moon by night. You got that? The sun doesn't
touch me except by the will of God. Nor does the light of the
moon. Nothing. Not without His command. Believer, let us then trust in
our God who will keep us who will preserve us by His grace.
Oh, how beautiful is our situation. Isn't it a beautiful situation
you're in? Saved by the grace of God. Robed in the righteousness of
Christ. Cleansed by the blood of Christ.
Quickened and called by the Spirit of God. Are you in Christ? That's a question. Are you in Christ? If you're
in Christ, you've got a beautiful situation, but I'm going to first
talk about people that aren't. These kings and these that assemble
themselves together, they were not in Zion. They were outside
of Zion. All who pass by. Listen, as I
preach Christ tonight, I will lift up Christ. I will hold up
Christ. I will set Him before you as
the only Savior for sinners. The only hope for you is His
blood, His offering, and His righteousness. Now tonight, as I proclaim these
things and you pass by them, you pass by them, I will pronounce
to you that He is the only High Priest that His offering alone
has satisfied the justice of God against sin, that He is the
only representative man that has obtained righteousness by
His obedience. And I say to you that pass by,
come now! Believe on Christ now! Behold, Him alone, He alone is
the Savior of sinners. Listen, He came into this world
in the nature and in the body of a man, He is the only begotten
of the Father. You know what John said? John
says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. You got that? The Word was with
God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God, and all things were made by Him. And listen, and
we saw Him when He came into the world. John said, I saw Him.
And He was full of grace and truth. You ever thought about
that? Grace and truth. Do you know
those two things are opposed to each other? Grace and truth are opposed to
one another. It's the same thing as said in
Psalm 85. Look at Psalm 85. Look at Psalm 85. He is full
of grace and truth. In Psalm 85 and verse 10, the
psalmist puts these two things, the same thing, two polar opposite
things. Psalm 85 and verse 10, mercy
and truth are met together. See, two opposite things are
now together. Righteousness and peace, two
opposite things, are together, have kissed each other. Listen,
the only place that grace and truth could meet together is
in Christ. The only place that righteousness
and peace could kiss each other is in Christ. What do I mean
by that? Well, we know this, Salvation
is by the grace of God, by the free unmerited favor of God. Forgiveness of sins is freely
given without merit, without work, without obedience to the
law. It was by the grace of God the
Father to purpose this salvation. It was by the grace of the Son
of God to accomplish this salvation. It was by the grace of the Holy
Spirit to apply this salvation and to keep this salvation. Don't
you know that salvation is by grace? But what's the truth? The truth
is none of us are worthy of it. That's true, isn't it? Isn't
that true? If you're honest, is that not true? None of us are worthy of saving.
No man can merit the grace of God. That's true. The truth is
we all have sinned. The truth is we have all fallen
short of the grace of God, the mercy, we have all fallen short
of the glory of God. Scripture tells us this, there
is none righteous, no, not one. That's true, isn't it? I know
men don't like that, they don't believe it, but that's just true.
You want to hear the truth? That's the truth. There is none
that understandeth. There's none that doeth good. No, not one. They're all together
become unprofitable. That's truth. The truth is we are born dead
in sins and incapable of pleasing God. The truth is the justice of God
must be and will be satisfied by the death of sinners. That's
true, isn't it? So how then can truth and grace
meet together? How can God be just, holy, and
still graciously forgive sin without merit? There's only one place. These
two things only meet in one man, Jesus Christ. Only by the righteousness
and blood of Christ that to be imputed and imparted to the sinner is how these two things can come
together. Now the gospel that we preach, that I'm preaching
tonight, is very simple. I want you to know that. The
gospel is not complicated. It's a very simple thing. First
of all, it's a simple fact. We've all broken the law of God.
That's simple, isn't it? Do you understand that? God put
His law in our hearts so I don't care where you are, what you've
done, I don't care if you've lived up in a jungle somewhere. You know this, you've broken
the law of God. It's a simple fact. God, the
Gospel declares a simple requirement. What does God require of a man
to be holy? Is that not simple? You understand
that? God requires that a man be holy as He is perfect in obedience
and He requires the death of everyone who's not. That's a
simple requirement, isn't it? You understand that? Remember
over in Micah chapter 6, that heathen king, he says, How in
the world can a man please God? He said, Can I offer 10,000 rams,
10,000 rivers of oil? Will God be satisfied with that? What about if I offer the fruit
of my own wood, my own seed, my own son? What if I offer my
children to God? Will He be satisfied with that?
You know what the answer was? He had told the old man what
is right. He said, Do justly. and love
mercy, grace and truth. How can we do that? Have you
ever figured out how to do justly and love mercy? Can you do those
things at one time? There's only one man ever did
that, Jesus Christ. He was the only man who was just
and still loved mercy. Remember that woman caught in
the act of adultery? What a beautiful picture of justice
and mercy. They caught her. She was guilty. And they caught him. They got
him. He said, ah, he said he wanted to show mercy. We're going
to see if he wants to show mercy now. Got this woman, threw her
out there and says, ah, she's guilty. The law says kill her. You know what the law said? That
was right. The law said kill her. You know what Jesus said? He said, all right. Any one of
you who are just, you cast the first stone. Now who's the only
man standing there could throw the stone? Jesus Christ was the
only just man. He did justly in everything. He was the only man. But yet,
you remember what he said to her. Our sins be forgiven thee. Go sin no more. How could he
do that? because he loved justice so much
that he would die for that sin. He would satisfy justice by the
offering of himself. That's how he could do both.
But God requires, you know, you to do justly and love mercy.
Can you do that? No. So we have a simple fact, we
broke God's law, simple requirement, God demands holiness, a simple
declaration. Here's a simple declaration,
Jesus Christ has visited and redeemed His people from their
sins by His blood, established their righteousness and ascended
to the throne of glory. That's a simple fact. It's a
simple declaration, isn't it? The Son of God became a man and
redeemed His people. He saved them, every one of them.
He redeemed them. His blood satisfied the justice
of God for their sins and now He has arisen and went to glory
where He sits on the throne. That's a simple declaration,
isn't it? Now, here's a simple command. You have broken the
law of God who cannot meet His requirements. You that have heard
this simple declaration, listen, here is a simple command. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. To do this, you have to cast
off all hopes of cooperative salvation. This is not a cooperative effort.
To believe on Christ is to believe on Him completely and wholly,
trusting only Him. That's what it is. It's a simple
command. It is to cast off all your works
and your obedience of the law. It is to rest completely on His
offering and righteousness and a simple promise to everyone
who believes. Thou shalt be saved. That's a simple promise, isn't
it? None of that's complicated. Any of that complicated to you?
Not complicated. You shall be saved, forever saved,
forever pardoned, forever forgiven, forever loved of God, forever
accepted. You shall be given eternal life
and peace with God to everyone who believes. And a simple commandment
is given to us who believe. What is this commandment? Believe.
You that believe, believe. The commandment of Christ is
not complicated. Faith is the commandment. John
tells us that in 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3 and verse 23. And this is his commandment,
which that we should believe on the name of the son of his
son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he gave his commandment.
We that believe that is our commandment. It's a very simple commandment,
isn't it? Believe and love one another. Therefore, you who believe you
are safe. You are forever safe. But all
who reject this gospel and pass by, there is a simple promise
to you. Fear. Fear and pain are promised
to you. Look at our text. To those that
pass by, he said they assembled, they passed by, they marveled,
they were troubled, and they hasted away. Now look what happens
to them. fear took hold upon them there,
and pain as of a woman in travail. Thou breakest the ships of Tarsus
as an east wind." Now, I want you to see the contrast here
of the foundation of these people versus the foundation of Zion.
The foundation of Zion was a mountain. Those on the ships Their foundation
was a ship. You see the contrast? One is
sure and won't move. The other is in constant movement. A ship. You ever been on a boat? They
don't stay still for very long. The slightest breeze and it moves. It's not sure, it's not a sure
foundation. And so you see these people who
are passing by as though they are passing by these great ships
of Tarsus. These ships were merchant ships
full of treasures. That's what the ships of Tarsus
were. And so this world as they come
in their great ships of pride, though they come expecting to
conquer the church by their power and by their wealth, they come
with the wisdom of the world, the philosophy of men, they come
boasting in their morality, their spirituality, either boasting
in their religion or their reason, in their experiences or their
emotions. Behold, the promise of God to
them is this, One day you who reject, you who are not founded
upon Zion, you who are founded upon the ships of your pride
and religion, God says this, one day I will send a great wind
and destroy you. One day, that day that God has
written in stone by His own finger, the day of their death, the day
of their death. Though they thought to conquer,
in that day they will be conquered. Though they thought to destroy,
they in that day will be destroyed. Though they in this day boast
of their works in religion, in that day they shall be plunged
into the depths of God's justice. In a moment When the breath leaves
the body, the soul of the lost is immediately taken in fear
and pain. Consider that. Those that pass
by, this is a promise of God. As soon as you leave this body,
you will be enveloped in fear and pain. Isn't this what happened
to the rich man? In Luke chapter 16 the scripture
tells us that there was a certain rich man. I like that. You know,
God doesn't even want to give you his name. He doesn't even
care to give you his name. A certain rich man. You know, He cared
to give you Lazarus' name. He didn't care to give you this
man's name. A certain rich man. He fared sumptuously every day. I'll tell you what, it appeared
that everything was going well for that man. It appeared that
his foundation was strong and sure. I'm sure he was very influential
in the political affairs of his day. He was wealthy. I'm sure
he was socially accepted by the masses. He fared sumptuously. Listen,
every day. Every day of his life was just
better than the last. It was Lazarus. This man was
digging in the garbage of the rich man just ate. And yet God says something happened
to both of them. They died. Lazarus died. carried into Abraham's
bosom. The rich man died also, what
the scriptures say, and immediately he opened his eyes being in torments. The psalmist in our text illustrates
it as a woman in travail. You women that have been pregnant,
you have this child and you're troubled by this. This is not
an easy task. It's a burden every day. You're tired, your feet hurt,
your back hurts. It only gets worse the closer
you get to birth. But you know what you don't know?
You don't know when it's coming. But when it comes, the pain comes
immediately. And he says, that's how it is
with the lost. They go through the cares and
troubles of this life, but one day when God arises to defend
His church, when God shall reveal to them His absolute holiness
and the power of His wrath and hatred for sin, then they who
are so proud shall be abased. They who They will be brought to tremble
as a woman in agony before Him. All who boasted that there is
no God. I cannot tell you how many times
I've heard that this week. Idiots. Willful idiots. You know what they like? They
like to get around other willful idiots to let each other know,
say that there's no God. You know what I do with those
people? I leave them alone. I leave them alone. Why? Because they're not honest. They're
not asking. They just like an echo chamber
of other idiots to defy all reason and conscience. You have to defy
reason and conscience to say that. But these who say there
is no God in that day, their worst fear will come true. There
is a God. There is a God. They will see
Him on His throne, and all who boasted in their works and self-righteousness,
those who boasted in their free will, shall be overwhelmed to
find out that they will be in hell rather than heaven. How
many people suppose that they're going to heaven? And in that
day, they find out they're not. Matthew 25, the Lord tells us
of that day He's going to take the sheep and the goats. He's
going to take everyone from Zion. He's going to put them on His
right hand. He'll take all those that passed by, all those that
rejected, all those that despised His gospel and hasted away. He
shall put them on His left hand. He'll say to His people, come
you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you
before the foundation of the world. Why? You're righteous. When I was hungry, you fed me.
When I was naked, you clothed me. When I was prisoned, you
visited me. Oh my. Lord, here's their response. When did we do any of that for
you? He said, well, it was manifested
when you did this for my brethren. You did this unto them, you did
it to me. Faith is always manifested by love, isn't it? But when he says to those on
his left hand, depart from me, you that work iniquity. When
I was hungry, you didn't feed me. When I was sick, you didn't
visit me. I was in prison, you didn't come see me. And they
said, Lord, when did we not do that for you? See the difference? They're still boasting. And in that moment, they will
suddenly be destroyed. Look at that again in verse 6.
He says, Fear took hold upon them. There's a woman in travail. It shall happen all of a sudden. I know the Lord describes these
things as though they're taking time, as though that there's
going to actually be a division, and we're all going to be sitting
in this big area, and He's going to tell the sheep, it's not how
it works. It's an instant. It happens immediately. How many are so foolish as to
say, I'll believe tomorrow? I'm just too busy. I've got too
many other things that are more important than this. Tomorrow,
when I get older, when I get better, when everything is more
convenient for me. I don't know if you saw it or not,
but that hockey player that died this week, you see that? Young, strong man, fit, top of
his game. Only concern he had was trying
to get that little black puck into a dent. That was his greatest
concern at the moment. That was his goal. That was his
aim. He had no other concerns. I'm sure he had plans afterward. I'm sure the worst thing that
ever happened to him is he had broken bones or lost a tooth
or something like that. Never in his wildest mind did
he dream that that night he would end in eternity. Ost not thyself
of tomorrow, thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. I
don't know if the man was lost or saved. I hope he was a saved
man, I don't know. But I know this, he entered into
eternity in a moment. Unaware, he didn't know. You remember that man Felix in
Acts chapter 24? The apostle Paul preached to
this prosecutor, this man who was prosecuting his case, He
was preaching to him. He preached the gospel of Jesus
Christ to this man. And you know what this man said?
The scripture says, when he heard of judgment, he trembled. This man was very afraid when
he heard Paul preach. You know what he said? Go away,
I'll hear thee some more convenient day. I tell you this, that man had
the opportunity to hear Paul for two years and never found
a convenient time and died in his sin. Sinner, we sing that hymn. If
you tarry till you're better, you will never come at all. If you're waiting for a more
convenient time, you'll never come. And I'll tell you this, fear
is not salvation. I can't tell you how many, some
of your relatives have come to me in fear. Some of them almost died and
they were so afraid of going out into eternity, into hell. Fear is not salvation. Believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ is salvation. Not fear. The wicked sail on uncertain
seas of this life. The foundation of the wicked
is always uncertain. The foundation of all self-righteousness
is constantly changing. They're in the mighty ships of
Tarsus, which picture pride and self-righteousness. The wicked
go along as supposing nothing is wrong. Psalm 73, the wicked
prosper. They seem to be sure that they
don't fear like other men. They wear their wisdom and works
and religion as a gold chain about their neck, just sure that
they'll not be destroyed. Behold the end of all who are
not in Christ God will break the ships of Tarsus look at that
in verse 7 thou breakest the ships Whatever their foundation
is in that day. It'll be broken In that day it will be broken When you're on a ship and the
ship is broken, what's your foundation? You don't have one All men seem well. All may seem
well for the lost. It may seem that he is in favor. His sea may be as glass for a
moment. But soon, when God's wrath arises,
it will swallow him up. It will swallow him up. Thy scripture
came to my mind. He that believeth not shall be
damned. And those two words, shall be.
You know, God's immutable. He doesn't change. And God's
promise of damnation is eternal. You see a man in hell and you
say, ìHe that believeth not shall be damned.î And he says, ìI am
damned.î Yes, and you shall be damned. And a million years roll by and
the word still is just as sure, ìshall be damned.î So all who pass by, you have
a promise given to you, a promise of fear and pain. But now I want to hear you to
hear comfort in our text. I want you to see the hope for
everyone who believes, comfort. confidence for all who believe
because God has established for us a sure foundation. Not the
foundation of pride, not the foundation of self-righteousness,
not the foundation of works religion. There is no sure foundation in
that. God has made for His people a
sure foundation. Look at this in verse 8. As we
have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts,
in the city of our God. Listen, here it is. God will
establish it forever. God will establish, this is what
we heard, this is what we've seen, is that God will establish
His city forever. The word establish means built
or erect. Believer in Christ, behold then
the surety of our salvation. Behold, the immutable, eternal,
and holy promise of God is that He will establish us forever.
He will establish us forever. Believer, it was our God, our
immutable God. In the trinity of His persons,
He established our salvation before He ever established the
earth. Before He ever set any foundations
in the earth, before there was an earth, He made a foundation
for our salvation, sure and steadfast. In this, He put us in Christ. There's our sure foundation. But of God are you in, Christ
Jesus, who of God has made unto us wisdom, righteousness, and
sanctification and redemption. Jesus Christ was anointed of
God to be the foundation of His church. He was always appointed
to be the foundation. Go to Matthew chapter 16. Jesus Christ here declaring He
is the foundation of His church. Matthew chapter 16, and look
at verse... Verse 16, look at verse 16. Simon
Peter, Jesus Christ, who do you say I am? This Simon Peter is
always first one to boast. He's quick on the draw. This
time he's right. Sometimes he said some things
he wasn't right. But this one he was dead on.
He said, Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. It's not, isn't that your confession,
you who believe? You who have passed by and have
entered into Christ, you who have been put in Christ. Isn't
that your confession? It is. That's my confession. I know you're the Christ. You're
the Son of the living God. You know what the Lord said to
Peter? Look at that. He pronounced a
blessing. Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou,
Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed this
to thee, but my Father which is in heaven. You know that blessing
belongs to you and me. Joanne, the Lord said, Blessed
art thou, Joanne Burns, for the Lord, for my Father, hath revealed
this to thee. Blessed are you, Glen Whitehead,
for flesh and blood hath not revealed this to thee, but my
Father which is in heaven. You see, you get the same blessing
as Peter. Everyone who believes that is blessed with Peter. Why? Because we all have that
same experience. Flesh and blood didn't tell us that. We were
taught of God. Well, just so Peter don't get
a big head, He puts him right in his place. Immediately after,
look at this. He said in verse 18, But I say
unto thee, Thou art Little Pebble. Peter, thou art Little Pebble. But upon this rock, Petros, mountain,
mass of rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it. Jesus Christ was telling him
who the foundation of the church was and it wasn't Peter. That's why He says to me, He
said, you're just a little pebble. God is able to raise up stones
to be the sons of Abraham. Isn't that what He did? We're
little stones. But upon whom is this stone,
these living stones, founded? We are founded upon the rock,
Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit clearly reveals
throughout Scripture that Jesus is the rock. Jesus is the rock,
He is the mountain, He is Zion. This foundation of our salvation
then is built upon Jesus Christ. The souls of the lost are founded
upon the sea of the law, the waves of human reasoning. They
are constantly changing, constantly learning, constantly evolving.
They are never settled. Enough is never enough with them. But praise God for such a foundation
as this, a foundation not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. How thankful we are that our
peace and our salvation and our assurance does not rest in our
obedience. Do you have any rest in your
obedience? Are you confident in your obedience? Are you sure it's enough? Not
me. I don't have any rest in my obedience. I'm like Paul, I count those
things as loss. for the excellency of the knowledge
of Jesus Christ. I count them but done that I
may win Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but the righteousness which is by the
faith of Jesus Christ. How thankful then we are that
this foundation is wholly upon Jesus Christ. My hope is built
on nothing less. than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, not the sweetest feeling, not the sweetest emotion, not
the sweetest experience. I don't trust any of it. I trust
Christ. The foundation of my soul rests
upon that foundation. Look at Isaiah, real quick, Isaiah
28. Oh, you know this one. Isaiah
28, verse 16, Therefore thus saith the Lord
God, Behold. Oh, God says this, stop. Consider what I'm about to say. Look at what I'm fixing to show
you. Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation. What? A stone. Not just any stone, a triad stone. Precious corner stone. A sure foundation. Friends, I cannot point to anything
in this life that's sure. Except this. The foundation of my salvation
is sure. You know what a cornerstone is? It's the one that bears all the
weight. You ever play that little Jenga?
You take the little sticks and you stack them all together and
you pull out one and man, you pull out the wrong one, the whole
thing goes down. You without this cornerstone, it's all going
to fall down. Jesus Christ, the weight, the responsibility, is resting solely upon the work
of Jesus Christ. My salvation, when He came into
the world, was resting on Him. I like that picture of the the
high priest that goes in there, you know, on the great day of
atonement. You remember, he went in with that blood and the only
hope for them is that God accepted it. And they were all waiting
outside. Some tradition said they had
a rope around his foot just in case he messed up so he pulled
his dead body out. What joy when the high priest
came out. And he says, done. God accepted
the offering. What a fearful day it was for
the apostles when he died. And he went into that tomb. We
thought this was the one who should save Israel. What a joy
it was when he came out of the tomb and said, boys, it's done.
Salvation's finished. Nothing left to do. Our foundation is upon Jesus
Christ and all who are founded on Him. God said that. Look at
that. He that believeth shall not make
haste. What'd those kings do when they
saw it? They made haste. They got away. Eric, you going anywhere? Is there any other place to go?
I don't want to go anywhere else. Why? Because those who are founded
on Christ shall never be moved. No one can take me off of this
rock. I don't want to get off this
rock, but I'm sure of this, no one can take me off of this rock.
Why? God put me in this rock. God
made him to be my savior. God made him to be my foundation.
And God's people aren't going anywhere. And notice this, go
back to your text, I'll show you. Notice this, in verse 8,
As we have heard and so have we seen in the city of our God.
Have you heard of this foundation? Have you seen it by the eye of
faith? That God has established it forever? And what should we
do with this? We should tell everyone we can. Tell everyone we can what we
see and what we have heard. Look at this, the following verses
here, I'm just gonna read them for you. Notice what those that
are established on this rock do. First of all, they think
of God's loving kindness. We have thought of thy loving
kindness, O God, where? In the midst of thy temple. Where
do we see the loving kindness of God but in Jesus Christ? Temple,
sacrifice. According to thy name, O God,
so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth. What do we do when
we see His lovingkindness? We praise Him. We praise Him. Why? Thy right hand is full of
righteousness. You need righteousness? Well,
God says, My right hand, Christ, is full of righteousness. Let Mount Zion rejoice. Let the
daughters of Judah be glad because of his judgments, thy judgments. Aren't you glad because of his
judgments? That's strange, isn't it? Glad because of judgments?
Listen, I'm glad because of judgments. You know why? Because God is
just, he cannot demand twice payment. I'm glad he's just,
aren't you? I'm glad he's not like men judges
who are unjust. I'm thankful for his judgments.
Now then, what does he say to Zion? He says, walk about Zion.
Go round about her and tell of her towers. Mark you well her
bulwarks and consider her palaces. What do you do when you study
and hear the gospel preached? What are you doing? Well, you're
just walking around looking at Zion. You're marking those towers. Anybody get over that? Can anybody come get me, take
me out of this? No. Mark them well. The bulwarks,
those things that are protecting, the walls of protection around
about you. Who's around about you? Who's
your wall of protection? God said, I am a fire around
about you. Why? That you may tell it to
the generations following. That's why we go about this tower
to tell the generations following. For this God, the God who made
Zion, the God who made this foundation, he is our God, how long? Forever
and ever. And he shall be our God even
unto death. What a sure promise, a sure foundation
we have in Christ. Oh, if you're not in Christ,
if you're not in Christ, come to Christ. Flee your ship and come to Christ. There's no surety in the things
of this world. Nothing is sure but death. That's sure, isn't it? God's wrath is sure. So is God's salvation. It's sure
to everyone in Christ. I pray this blessing to you.
God, make it so. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer. Terrence's business, please. For you this evening, we're thanking
you for this place that you've raised up here where the gospel
is declared. We thought it was so thankful
because the gospel is so singular. There's only one way that your
people could have been saved. It's only by the precious blood
of Christ. Father, we're so thankful that
you've called us to hear this gospel. And Lord, we hear it,
we hear it, we hear it, only to know that we need to hear
it again. Lord, it's our prayer that you would keep us this coming
week, and that you'd draw us, and that you'd cause us to look
to you for everything. Lord, we pray that you leave
not any of us to ourselves. We know what would happen. And Lord, we pray as our pastor
did for service, that you would give us hearts, Lord, to pray
for our family and our friends that we know, and Lord, that
you'd give us opportunity and that you'd give us life and the
ability to teach and to tell others of this glorious gospel,
Lord. We just, we know that all of this is a view, and the Lord
likes a view, and we just pray that you give light to us and
to this dark world, to our family and friends, and Lord, we pray
that you can cause this place here to stand, and Lord, that
the gospel would go out here for many more years, and Lord,
we're totally dependent upon you, Lord, we wait upon you,
and Lord, cause us to value your will, and cause us to pray that
thy will be done. Lord, we ask that you forgive
us of our sins and Lord, keep us this day, I pray, in Christ's
name.