If you take your Bibles and turn
back with me to Psalm 48. Psalm 48. Psalm 48. We'll read the first
four verses, actually the first three verses, and these are going
to be my text this morning. The psalmist says, Great is the
Lord, and greatly to be praised. Notice where he is praised. In
the city of our God. In the mountains of His holiness. Beautiful for situation. The joy of the whole earth is
Mount Zion. On the sides of the north, the
city of the great king. God is known in her palaces for
a refuge. entitled this message, The Greatness
of God and the Situation of Zion. The Greatness of God and the
Situation of Zion. And the prophet here designs
to set forth the safety, the security of Zion, the church. Those of you who are in Jesus
Christ, it is my intent this morning as I expound this scripture
that the Spirit would instruct you and show you your safety,
your security. We are surrounded by danger. We are surrounded by trouble.
We are surrounded by those things who would remove us from God
if they could. But they cannot. They cannot. Your safety and security is sure. But I want you to understand
the foundation of your safety, the foundation of your security
is in this, the greatness of God. The greatness of God. He says beautiful for situation
is who? Zion. But what's the foundation
of this city? What's the foundation of their
safety? It is the greatness of God. And
that's where he begins. So that's where we'll begin this
morning, first of all, with the greatness of God. And then because
of his greatness, I would have you see the safety of this. Now, the city of God is only
as safe as God, the greatness of God. Our city is only as great
as the God who designed it, purposed it, and built it. It's only as
good as God. So let's go and see what the
psalmist says here. The first thing we see right
off the bat is this. The psalmist sets forth in the
plain truth. This is an undisputed truth. Great is Jehovah. Great is the Lord. To us who
are believers in Christ, this is a self-evident truth. When
someone says, Great is the Lord, we say, Yes. Yes. We know the greatness of our
God. He is great. And He is great
in this. There is no other God but Him. There is only one God. One God, Jehovah. And His greatness is
essential to His person and His nature. He is great. I was thinking of that word great.
And you know, it's just not great enough. It's just not great. I mean, we are limited by language
to describe the greatness of God. How great is God? Well, whatever we think greatness
is, is greater. He's greater. So this is a very
daunting task to expound on the greatness of God. But we must
if we're to know anything of our security. And because of
God's greatness is essential greatness. We know this. Everything
he does is what? Great. If God is, He is great. And if He is great, all that
He does is great. Behold then the greatness of
God. Now I want you to see first of
all the greatness of His power. How great is the power of God? How great is the power of God?
Go to Isaiah. Read what Isaiah wrote here. This is astounding
if you can muse on this for a while. Isaiah chapter 40, and look at
verse 12. He's asking this question. They
were trying to compare God with these graven images, and He's
going to show them that there's no comparison. He said, Who,
God, hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and
meted out heaven as a span? and comprehended the dust of
the earth in a measure, weighed the mountains in scales and the
hills in balance." Who did that? Who could do that? God measured
the water in His hand. God meted out the heavens as
a span, as though one would throw open a curtain. That's how God
created the heavens. He comprehended the dust in a
measure. There's so much dust. You can't
see all of the dust. And yet God meted it out in measure. He knows the measure of it. Now
listen to this. And who hath directed the Spirit
of the Lord, or been his counselor, or taught him? Who taught him
to do this? Who taught God to create by the
word of his power? Who was his counselor? With whom
took he counsel? Or who instructed him? Or who
taught him in the paths of judgment? Who taught him knowledge and
showed him the way of understanding? I heard this one time. Somebody
said that passage in Genesis. He said, let us make man in our
image. And he said he was talking to
angels. You believe such nonsense? With whom took he counsel at
any time to create? No one. He took no counsel with
any man. No one instructed him or taught
him the paths of judgment, or taught him knowledge, or showed
him understanding. Behold, the nations are a drop in the bucket,
counted as a small dust of the balance. He had taken up the
isles as a very small thing. Leaven is not sufficient to burn,
nor the beast sufficient thereupon to burn off. In other words,
you take all the works of man and you take all the sacrifices
of man. It's not sufficient. It's not sufficient to satisfy
the great and holy justice of God. Not sufficient. All the nations to Him are as
nothing. They're counted as less than nothing in vanity. Now to
whom will you liken God? Is there anyone as great as God? Behold the greatness of our God.
You could see it when the sun comes up in the east in the morning
and runs his course as a strong man and goes down into the West,
this happens according to the sovereign will of God every single
day. Matter of fact, we set our watches
to His Son. Don't we? That's how we tell
time. We tell time by His creation. All the stars and the moon. Can
you imagine the omnipotent power of God? All men know this by creation. There is a God. They can see
it. They don't like it. They rebel against it. They say,
I don't believe in God. Liar. You're a liar. You know there's a God. You know
there's a God. You see it in creation, yet they're
blind to who He is and what He requires of them. Therefore,
what does man do, knowing there is a God? He makes up a God likened
to himself. The gods of men are created either
by a craftsman or by the imagination of men. And as such, they are dependent
upon their Creator. The God of this world is dependent
upon man. That's why the doctrine of their
God is so mutable and changeable, because their God is not great. Their God is powerless. Their
God is weak. I told you that story of missionary
Walter Gruber. A young boy was converted. And
you know, Catholics, they have all their idols and all their
statues. This young boy was converted
and he was trying to tell his dad the powerlessness of his
gods. No, son, these are our gods. And one day, a little boy came
in and he took a hammer and he smashed all of those gods except
for one. And he laid the hammer at the
foot of that other god And when his dad came in and said, what
did you do? He said, I didn't do it. He did
it. And the dad said, that's foolishness. He can't. He said, Dad, that's
what I've been trying to tell you. They're powerless. They can't save themselves, much
less you. The God of this generation is
not great. He is not worthy of praise. He
is mutable. He is unjust. His power and will
are limited by the will and works of man. That God is not great. The God of this generation, who
they say created the world, sent His Son to make salvation possible,
yet He lacks either the power or will to save those He died
for. What an unjust God that is. A God who will pay for your sins
and then execute you because of your sins. Unjust, unholy. That God is not worthy to be
praised. He is not greatly to be praised.
He is unjust. He's rather to be mocked or pitied. But our God, Our God is no such
God. Great is the Lord and greatly
to be praised because He is the only living God. He is greatly to be praised because
He is omnipotent. Our God is in the heavens and
hath done what? Whatsoever He hath pleased. Now
that God's worthy of praise. That God is great. A God who
does what He pleases is a great God. He is sovereign. He is all-wise. He is ever-present. And all He purposed to do, He
will do. Isaiah chapter 46. Isaiah chapter
46 and verse 10. This is our God. Look at verse
9. Remember the former things of old, for I am God. And what?
There is none else. I am God. There's none like me.
What's the distinguishing difference between God and all other false
gods? Here it is. God declares the
end from the beginning. From ancient times of things
that were not yet done, saying this, my counsel shall stand
and I will do all my pleasure. Friends, that is a great God. Great God. And especially in
this matter of salvation. Our God is great in that He has
purpose to save. All He has purpose to save, He saved. He is saving them. Now, Jehovah's greatness and
power and creation are witnessed only by those in the city. Look
back in your text. Great is the Lord and greatly
to be praised. Where? In the city of our God. Only in the city of our God.
Only in the church. Only those who have heard and
seen of His greatness in the salvation of Jesus Christ Greatly
praise him Look at verse 8 of your text. He says This is talking
about those in the city says 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 You have heard the gospel You have heard
the gospel of Jesus Christ you have not only heard it you have
seen it With the eye of faith, you have seen the destruction
of our enemies. You have seen it where? You have
seen it in the righteousness and the death of Jesus Christ.
You have seen our salvation. You have heard of it and you've
seen it. And it's upon this salvation, the greatness of this salvation,
that His church rests. Jesus said, upon this rock, Speaking
of himself upon this rock, I will build my church and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it. So you who are his people,
I want you to see now we've seen the greatness of God in his person,
that he is great because he is God alone. He is great because
he's omnipotent, he's sovereign. But I want you to know this.
If you've seen and heard of him, you know this, the greatness
of his holiness. Look how the psalmist in the
very beginning is great as the Lord and greatly to be praised.
The city of our God in the city of our God, only those who believe
in him will praise him. And notice what he says in the
mountains of his holiness. How great is the holiness of
God? We just saying holy, holy, holy. He is a thrice holy God. God is holy. What does this mean? It means that in the very essence
of His nature, there is no spot. There is no evil. There is only perfect righteousness. John says God is light. And in Him is no darkness at
all. And so then, all who approach
unto God, consider the greatness of this, all who approach unto
God must be as holy as God. Be ye holy even as I am holy. This is not a suggestion. If
we are to stand in the presence of perfect light, we ourselves
must be as holy as God. Have you ever considered this
standard? The absolute perfection of God,
that all who are guilty of one sin must be cast out forever. If we are guilty of one spot,
one stain, one wrinkle, one evil thought in the presence of God,
we must be cast out. We must be. According to the
justice of God. And see how he describes his
holiness as a mountain. A mountain for its height, a
mountain for its immutability. You can't move a mountain. These
mountains are so high, you can't scale it. You can't scale the
holiness of God. You can't attain unto the holiness
of God by works. It's not mutable, it's not changeable. God does not change His holy
standard because you lack the ability to obey it. It's immutable. Yet men still vainly believe
that God's going to somehow accept their best efforts. If I just
try really hard, if I just do the best that I can, somehow
God will accept me. They believe sincere efforts
to obey. God will accept their sincere
efforts to obey rather than obedience itself. O that man would behold
the greatness of God's holiness, the greatness of his power, the
greatness of his justice, so that we may see this, the greatness
of our sin. The holiness of God must be displayed
so that man should see the greatness of his sin. It is only in the
light of holy perfection can we see the darkness of our own
nature. The impotence of our nature to
satisfy the greatness of God. But we who have been made to
see the greatness of his holiness, have we not been made to see
our sins? Have we not been made to see the ruin of our nature,
the vileness and corruptness of our nature, that we all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God? We have all come
short of the holiness of God. So then is there hope? Is there
a better situation? Is there a better standing before
God? Yes. We who have seen the greatness
of his holiness, we've seen the greatness of our sin, but we've
also seen this, the greatness of his mercy. Have you not seen
the greatness of his mercy? The greatness of our God in mercy
was this, that he sent his son into the world to save who? Sinners. This is a faithful saint. worthy
of all acceptation. Jesus Christ came into the world
to save one class of people. One class of people. Those who in themselves could
not attain to the holiness of God, to those in themselves who
had no righteous, to those in themselves who were impotent
to offer a sacrifice acceptable to God. That's who Jesus Christ
came into the world to save. Sinners. Sinners. Not the righteous. I came not
to call the righteous, Christ said, but sinners to repentance. I came to call sinners. God sent
His Son in love and mercy to save sinners. Not by any merit of their own,
any measure of their will or their work. But those who are
supposed to somehow combine the work of Christ and their works. Christ came not to save these
people. You understand that? Paul said this to those Galatians.
They added one thing to Christ. They added circumcision. They
added one thing to Christ, and Paul said, if you add one thing
to Christ, Christ shall profit you nothing. If you add your
work or your will to Christ, He will profit you nothing. But Jesus came to those who had
no goodness, those who had no strength, those who had no merit,
those who were dead in trespasses and sins. He came to save them,
to please the justice of God for our sins. Now let me ask
you this, is this you? When I describe a sinner, am
I describing you? Is the Holy Spirit speaking to
you? Are you incapable of scaling
the mountain of God's Holy Name? Well, stop trying. Stop trying. I'm going to tell you of someone
so great that he himself did it in the stead of his people. Jesus Christ Himself came in
the flesh and scaled the mountain of God's holiness for His people. So I'm going to speak to you
of the great salvation of our God. Behold the greatness of
our Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord, because He by Himself has
accomplished salvation, finished salvation for all His people. In religion, if you were to survey
religion, most every religion has some kind of priest, some
kind of law for obedience to their God. But one thing is common
with all false religion, they're never finished. If your religion is not finished,
you're in false religion. If there's something more for
you to do for salvation, listen, that's false religion. They're
never finished. They're never done. There's never
an end to their trying to merit righteousness. Therefore, they are continually
working and never able to finish worshiping God perfectly. This
was even true of the Jewish religion. The Jewish religion, which was
established by God, they had priests, they had offerings,
but we know this, that none of those offerings by those men,
by those priests, none of those offerings ever removed sin, though
it was ordained by God. Not even these priests were able
to satisfy God's justice. But what did these priests do?
Why were these priests commanded to offer sacrifices of no benefit? Because they pictured one high
priest whose offering God did accept. They were a picture.
Go to Hebrews chapter 9. See this. See the greatness of
our God in this salvation. Look at this in Hebrews chapter
9 and look at verse 6. Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 6,
it says, Now when these things were thus, listen, ordained,
God ordained them. The priests always went into
the first tabernacle, accomplishing what? The service of God. Now,
they were doing the service of God. They were ordained, and
they were doing the service of God. But they went into the second
house, only the second veil. The high priest went once a year,
not without blood, which he offered for himself and the heirs of
the people. Now, why was this? The Holy Ghost, this signifying. that by these things that the
way into the holiest was not yet made manifest. While the
tabernacle was standing. Which was a figure of figure
for the time then present. In which were offered both gifts
and sacrifices. Now what was a result of them?
They could not take away sin. They could not make them that
did the service perfect. As pertained to conscience. which
stood only in meats and drinks and divers, washings and carnal
ordinances imposed on them. Until when? Until Christ came.
Time of the Reformation. But Christ, being coming high
priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle. What tabernacle? His body. That
was a tabernacle, was His body. That tabernacle pictured what? His body. God manifests in the
flesh. As a representative man, He tabernacled
among us in a body not made with hands, that is to say, not of
this building, and neither by the blood of goats or calves,
but by His own blood He entered in, how many times? How many
times did Jesus enter in the presence of God with His own
blood? Why once? Because when He entered in, He
finished. He obtained. Now you get that. Having obtained. Not just redemption. What kind
of redemption? How long is this redemption?
It's an eternal redemption. He obtained it by His one offering
to God. By His one offering, He got it.
He bought it. He obtained eternal redemption,
not for all men, but for us. You who are His, His elect, His church, you who are called to life and
faith in Christ. Are you called to life and faith
in Christ? Then He obtained eternal redemption for you by His one
sacrifice. How much greater then is His
offering than all the offerings of man? How great is this offering
that God said it's enough? God says, I'm completely satisfied. He forever put away our sins
by the sacrifice of himself once for all, once forever. How great is this sacrifice? How great is the blood of Jesus
Christ to remove our sins? These for whom Christ died, he
obtained eternal redemption. Those in our text, those who
are in the city of our God. We greatly praise the Lord. Why?
Because of his great salvation. He obtained eternal redemption
and righteousness for us. You are in the city of God. Do
you not greatly praise Jehovah? greatly praise Him. Now why in
the world would you greatly praise Him? Because He is great. Because
He is great. Now secondly, notice this, because
of His greatness, because of His greatness in power, His greatness
in holiness that manifests our sins, His greatness in mercy
in sending His Son into the world to save sinners, and the greatness
of His accomplished salvation by the death and burial and resurrection
of Jesus Christ. What's the result of this greatness?
Look at verse 2. Beautiful for situation. Beautiful for situation. The
joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion. The city of our God here,
Zion, is the church. It is a picture. These who are chosen of God,
loved of God, redeemed of Christ, and called of the Spirit, I want
you to know that you are the true Israel. Everything that's
said of Israel in the Old Testament pictures you, pictures me. True Israel of God are those
of which the nation of Israel only were a type. Now, national
Israel, national Zion, if you were to be able to view that
city. It was a high city. It was a beautiful city. It was
one blessed of God. It's where God dwelt. Can you
see that? Can you understand that? That God only dwelt in this one
place. manifest his glory and the picture
of his perfect salvation only to one nation. It was only there that the atonement
was made, the sacrifices were offered, which things were figures
of the true Christ. So then by these ordinances,
the gospel then was preached to them, wasn't it? It was preached
to the nation of Israel, but that people in that city were
only a type of the church. Therefore, see all those to whom
the Spirit of God comes in power and quickens to life and faith
in Christ. You are the true Israel of God. If you want to go through this,
you can see it in Romans chapter nine. We don't have much time.
Paul said, not all they that are of Israel are of Israel.
Not all those born to the sea are the seed of Abraham. What
he's saying is this. Just because you're a Jew physically does
not mean you are a Jew spiritually. They only represented this. So
this picture of Zion here, this picture of Zion is a picture
of all those who believe on Christ. Have you believed? Have you and do you cling to
Christ right now? Do you cling to Him by faith? To all who know His greatness,
and know the greatness of our sins, to us who know that justification
is by the faith of Christ, and we who believe on Him are justified
without the deeds of the law. We are the city of the living
God. We are His chosen people. We
are His purchased possession. We are regenerated by the power
of the Spirit to belief in Christ. Consider then, believer, As the
great Jehovah dealt with Jerusalem, how much greater has He dealt
with us? How much greater is our situation
than theirs? Behold the grace of God in that
God did dwell in that place. How much more does He dwell in
you? Now listen, He dwelt in a building. Right now, As believers, you're
the city of God. God dwells in your body. Isn't that greater? How much
greater that is? God dwells in it. He that hath
not the Spirit of Christ, he is what? None of his. The Spirit
of God dwells in it. Now, having been given life from
the dead by His Holy Spirit, seeing He dwells in us, We greatly praise Him. We greatly
praise Him. Now listen, how beautiful is
this situation that you're in right now, believer. Listen,
all around us are troubles. All around us, just like Jerusalem.
Jerusalem was always surrounded by enemies. Always. Every time you read of them,
they're being assaulted. They're trying to be conquered. And so it is with us where troubles
surround us, trials and pains. We are often cast down, weeping,
concerning our situation in the flesh, concerning our sins, our
fears, our doubts. We see that all around us is
dark, but God reveals this for your comfort, that Jerusalem
and Zion is a picture of your safety. How safe was Jerusalem
when God was in her? When God was with physical Israel,
how safe was she? Scripture says, in our text it
says, they passed by. They couldn't assault it. They
couldn't get to it. They passed by. They marveled.
They were afraid. They were troubled. God wrecked
their ships. God destroyed His enemies. And
they never assaulted Zion. Listen, consider this, believer,
that you who are in Christ are in the mountains of His holiness. In other words, as the mountains
wrapped around Zion as a natural barrier from her enemies, you
realize there was only one way in and one way out of this. What a picture of Christ. There's
only one way into Jerusalem. There's only one way into Zion.
Christ. He is the door. And you understand
that all of those mountains that surrounded Jerusalem were a picture
of the holiness of God that surrounds us. The robe of His righteousness
that covers us. The blood of His offering that
cleanses us from all of our sins. That's why Paul said this. Go
to Romans chapter eight. I don't want to misquote it again. Romans chapter eight. This is
why Paul said that we consider that as Jerusalem was wrapped
by mountains, only one way in, only one gate. Look what Paul
says in verse 33. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? A good question, isn't it? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect since God justified it? Now look, if I justified you,
surely you can find some fault in that. You see, I can't see
what's going on in your mind and heart. I can't justify anyone.
I can't justify myself, much less you. But if God justified
you, who in the world can lay a charge to you? You see how
this holiness surrounds you? Who is He that condemneth? Is
there anyone that can condemn you? Is there anyone that can
convict you of any guilt? No, because Christ died. Yea,
rather, is risen again to manifest this, that His death was Perfect. His death actually removed all
your sin. He endured the condemnation of
God in your place. Therefore, no one can condemn
you. He is risen to testify of this
fact. He's risen again, who's even
at the right hand of God. And what is He doing? He ever
liveth to make intercession for us. Because why? We know we still
sin. We know we still have this old
nature, this old sin nature, but yet we have this promise.
He ever liveth to make intercession. His wounds for me continually
plead my innocence. Therefore, consider the safety
of this because of His great offering, because the Great and
holy God is satisfied with Him. Those of us who are in Him are
safe. Not by your merit. Not by your
works. But because of the work of Christ
alone. How beautiful is your situation. It's in the mountains of God's
holiness. It says mountains because of His greatness, His majesty
and His immutable nature. This salvation is immutable. If you're in Christ, who can
remove you? Now listen, in Christ we do fall. In Christ we do suffer. In Christ
But one thing is, no one can take us out of it. I thought
about Noah in that ark. Don't you suppose he slipped?
Don't you suppose the waves were beating him around in that boat?
You suppose he was comfortable in there? No. But I'll tell you this, no matter
what happened in there, he was safe. Time and circumstance have nothing
to do with what Christ has already accomplished in our state. They
will not affect it. You cannot be unjustified. You
cannot be unsaved. When were you saved? Now, you
experience salvation at a certain time, but when were you saved?
Oh, my friends, in the purpose and mind of God, it was from
eternity. It was actually accomplished
when Jesus died and rose again from the dead. And then what? You experienced it. Salvation is something done outside
of you, and then it's something put in you. It's not something
you do for it. So what can you do to remove
it? How beautiful is the situation of God's people. Go back to your
text real quick. We'll close. How beautiful for
situation. You know that word means elevation,
really? Elevation. How high has God lifted you from
the dunghill? He has lifted you from the dunghill
to set you among princes. Who then could reach and remove
us from here? No one. Beautiful for situation. Listen, the joy of the whole
earth is Mount Zion. That was kind of confusing at
first. The world hates us. How are we the joy of the whole
earth? How is that possible? I'll tell you why. Because we
are the only ones who have the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are
the light of the world. We are not set under a bushel. We are set on a mountain. And
how joyful is it when men by the power of God can see and
understand our gospel? Are we not a joy to those who
believe? To those who God saves? We are
a joy to the whole earth. Listen, what men are seeking
for, we already got. They're seeking for joy, contentment,
peace, happiness. Well, that's exactly what we
have. They never obtain it, but we have it. Oh, everyone that
thirsteth, come ye to the waters, come buy wine and milk without
money and without price. Wherefore do you spend money
for that which is not bread? And you labor for that which
satisfieth not? Come, hearken diligently unto
me. Come, believe on Christ, and find those things that you
that you long for, peace, joy, true peace, true contentment. We are the joy of the whole earth
because we have the gospel on the sides of the north. Listen,
we are the city of the great king, and God is known in her
palaces for what? A refuge. Don't you know the
great God is your refuge? The great God is your refuge. Oh, may God help us to consider
the greatness of His person, His power. Consider the greatness
of His mercy, of His holiness. The greatness of His salvation
in Jesus Christ, that it's all finished, it's done. And you
who have entered in by Christ, how beautiful is your situation. Pastor, you just don't know my
situation. Yes, I do. In Christ, I know your situation.
Maybe you don't see it right now. Maybe you don't feel it
right now. But what does that have to do
with it? You may feel like it today, not
tomorrow. But it doesn't change your situation. Why? Because your God is great and greatly to be praised. Oh,
God, help help us to learn to praise. You know, I really want
to praise him. One day, I hope to praise him. I really do. I hope to praise
him like he should be praised. One day I will. One day in that
heavenly city, I'll be able to bow at his feet. I don't know why I long to see
his feet. Just do it. I spend so much of my time longing
just to hold on to his feet. I know one day I'll see his face. And a smile. Why? Because God is great. His
salvation is great. He's great. I pray God will bless
this