Psalm chapter 48. And I've entitled this, Our Beautiful
Situation. Our Beautiful Situation. We'll read verses 1 through 3
and try to take care of these verses in their order in just
a minute. The psalmist says, is the Lord, and greatly to be
praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness. Beautiful for situation. The joy of the whole earth is
Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great
King. God is known in her palaces for
a refuge, a refuge, a beautiful situation, a beautiful situation. Now, the prophet in this psalm
sets forth his heart to declare the beauty Jerusalem, the beauty
of God's city, the city of God's people. But he must first have his eye
toward the founder and maker of the city rather than the city. Therefore he begins with God,
as we should. You will never know of your beautiful
situation apart from God. Apart from our God. And so the
psalmist must first gear our minds and hearts toward our great
God so that he might, by the Spirit, comfort God's people
concerning our situation, this city. This city was literally
Jerusalem, but we know that the Holy Spirit here has an eye toward
the spiritual Jerusalem, heavenly Jerusalem, which is the true
city. of the living God. That city
in Revelation that shall come down out of heaven from God,
and God shall dwell in her, and that river of water of life flowing
in the midst of her. This city is the city of God.
It's a picture of God's beautiful church. We who make up this holy city
that comes down from heaven, whose walls are four square,
whose God dwells in her, in which there is no sin, surely this
is a most beautiful situation. If you are in the city, if you
have fled to the city of refuge, if you are a believer in Jesus
Christ, it is my desire that you should know your standing
before God, your safety, your security. Isn't that what a city
in that day, especially, that was what a city was for? A city
was for a place of safety, a place of nourishment, a place of communion. It was a place ruled by a king.
And friends, we are a great city. We are a great city. How great
is the Church of God? How beautiful is our situation? Listen, it's only as great as
our God. If our God is great, then believe
me, the situation of this city, the placement of this city is
great, is great. If we who know of our beautiful
situation Desire to know of our beautiful situation. We must
first know of the greatness of our God One man wrote of the
greatness of God and he included a few scriptures And he said
God is greater than all men. Is that not true? God is greater
than all men. The scripture says in Psalm 95
verse 3. The Lord is great I'm sorry in
Job Job chapter 33 in verse 12, he says, Behold, in this thou
art not just, I will answer thee, that God is greater than man. That's just an evidence statement,
isn't it? God is greater than man. God is greater than all
false gods. Isn't that so? Psalm 95, verse 3, The Lord is
great, and a great king above all gods. And in truth, God our
God is so great that he is greatness itself Psalm 145 verse 3 great
is the Lord and greatly to be praised and his greatness is
unsearchable You who are the heavenly city Let us first consider
if we're to consider our safety our situation our placement We
must first consider the greatness of our God if we're to have any
confidence in our standing. We must surely, first of all,
know something of the greatness of God. God's greatness surely
is unsearchable. You won't find an end to His
greatness. But we know something of His
greatness. And so the psalmist begins here
and he says, Great is the Lord. He begins with a self-evident
truth. A self-evident truth that Jehovah
is great. This is self-evident because
He is the only God. There is no other God. He says,
I am God. How many times did He say this
in Isaiah? He said, I'm God. There is no other God. He said,
there's no God beside me. As though God looked around and
saw that there was no one else but Him. There's no God beside
me. I'm it. I am Jehovah, and His
greatness is essential to His person and nature." Listen, if
God is not great, He is not God. Any God that is not great And
this word, great, you can put it in front of every attribute
of God. He's great in power, great in
holiness, great in righteousness, great in judgment, great in omniscience,
great in omnipotence, great... He is great in every way. How
great is He? He is infinitely great. And just
when you think you know how great He is, He's much greater. He's
much greater. Go to Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah
chapter 40, look at verse 12. The prophet Isaiah is showing
the Lord God. He said, Who hath measured the
waters, listen, in the hollow of his hand, and hath meted out
heaven with a span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure,
and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hill in balances? Who hath directed the Spirit
of the Lord, or been his counselor, hath taught him? with whom took
he counsel, or who instructed him, and taught him in the path
of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding. Behold, the nations are as a
drop of a bucket. and are counted as a small dust
in a balance. Behold, he taketh up the isles
as a very little thing, and Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor
the beast thereof sufficient for a burn offering. All the
nations before him are what? Nothing. Nothing. And they are counted as less
than nothing and vanity. Now then, to whom will you liken
God? He's putting up these little statues and calling them God,
and he said, Nope, that's not it. Did that little thing measure
the water in the palm of his hand? Does that little thing
understand judgment and justice and righteousness? No. He said, Whom will you like in
God, and what likeness will you compare him? Friends, wake up
in the morning. Look across the sky in the east
and see the sun rise in the morning. Watch it as it runs its course
in the sky and sets in the West so faithfully every day. Matter
of fact, we set our watches by it. See the moon and the stars and
the sea and the earth, and they exist only by His sovereign decree. And He upholds them by the Word
of His power. This is our God. Our God is great. All men know there's a God, but
in spiritual blindness, they do not know Him as God. They know that there is a God,
but they worship Him not as God. and their spiritual blindness,
they in superstition make up a god of their own imagination
that looks nothing better than themselves. They think of themselves,
and they put a god like themselves. They make a god. Look at the
gods of false religion. Do they not appear as man? Are they not just a little above
man? They take a man, they imagine
a man, and they put him just a little above in some areas. The God of this generation, one
said, the God of this generation no more resembles the God of
Holy Scripture than a candle represents the noonday sun. The God of this generation is
not great. He is not worthy of praise. For their God is altogether such
in one as themselves. That's what God told him in it.
And he said, thou thoughtest that I was altogether such in
one as thyself. The God of this generation is
supposed to have created the world, supposed to have saved,
made salvation possible, but lacks both the power and the
will to save anyone. Except man give him permission,
except man do something for him. But that's not the God of this
city, is it? No. The God of Zion, the only
true and living God, is great and greatly to be praised because
He is great in omnipotence. He is all-powerful. Our God is all-powerful. He has all power. Our God sits
in the heavens and hath done whatsoever He hath pleased. our
god is all wise our god is on my present and listen all our
god purpose to save he will say now that's a great that is the
great god god who purposes and a god who accomplishes what he
purposes jehovah's greatness and power in creation are witnessed by
all men. But I want you to know something.
Not everybody knows God is great. Matter of fact, the Scripture
says God is great and greatly to be praised only in one place,
in the city of our God. In the city of our God is the
only place where He is known. It is the only place where He
is known in His greatness of His person and character and
work. And in this city, we do praise
His greatness because we have seen His greatness. We have experienced
the greatness of His power in the regeneration of our souls.
His greatness is something we know something about. We know
our God is great. Therefore, you who are His people,
You have, and you do look to the Son of God by faith. You
know His greatness. Now I'm going to mention some
things about His greatness. We know the greatness somewhat
of the greatness of His holiness. How holy is God? How holy is
God? God is holy, and this word just
simply means He is altogether alone by Himself in His own category. He is set apart, completely devoid
of any evil whatsoever. He is perfect in all His attributes. Holy. He is spotless and completely,
eternally free from any evil. God is great in His goodness
and His justice, and therefore all who approach Him must come
and worship Him and be as holy as He is." Now, I understand
something about God's holiness. I know this, that God is absolutely
holy. And if I am to worship God, I
must be absolutely holy. In order to be received, I myself
must be holy." Is that not what he said? Be ye holy. How holy? Even as I am holy. Have you considered the standard
of God's absolute perfection? That all who are guilty of sin,
all who have any spot or wrinkle, shall be forever consumed by
the great and eternal justice of God. The soul that sinneth, it shall
surely die. Secondly, we know this, we know
the greatness of His power. Not only do we know His holiness,
His greatness and justice, but we also know the greatness of
His power in that none can escape Him. You realize that? That there will not be one who
escapes the justice of God. Not one. None can escape His
hand. None can flee His presence. And
there is no sin that will escape His sight. How great is that?
You catch everything your children do? Do you catch everything you do?
No. I escape me all the time. But
you won't escape Him. Great is His understanding. Great
is His wisdom and omnipotence, omniscience. Oh, that men would see the greatness
of God's holiness and the greatness of His power and the greatness
of His justice, so that they would see the greatness of their
sin. In light of His holiness, what
does this do but shine guilt, expose the guilt inside of us? That we by nature are anything
but holy. We by nature are anything but
just. May God by the sight of the greatness
of His holiness and power and justice expose the sins of men
so that they would forsake all their works, all their religion,
all their supposed goodness. But we know this, we who are
the city of God understand what we are by nature, that all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. We readily confess
that this is our place, that we take our place as sinners
before God. We take our place. So then, is there any hope for
a better situation? Look, I wouldn't be here if there
wasn't hope for a better situation. There is hope because God, who
is great in holiness and justice, is also great in mercy, great
in mercy and kindness. And this is displayed as he sent
his son into the world to save sinners. This is a display of
His great mercy. Is there anyone so great in mercy
that would send their son to die for rebels? See the greatness of His love
in that He came not to save the self-righteous, He came not to
save those who are supposed to earn or merit their salvation.
Listen, if you're here to merit your salvation, I have no message
for you. I have no good hope for you.
I've got no good news for the self-righteous. I've only got
good news for sinners, because that's who Christ came to save.
He came to save sinners. But all who believe in freewill
works religion, If they continue in that way, it is clear and
evident He did not come to save them. But Jesus came to those of us
who had no goodness. Isn't this a display of His greatness?
To come to us who deserve no mercy. Matter of fact, if it's
mercy, it's undeserved, isn't it? That's a part of the definition
of mercy, is undeserved. We had no goodness. We could
not merit for ourselves the favor of God. We could not please the
justice of God by all our sacrifices. We just read that. All of the
beasts of Lebanon are not sufficient for a burnt offering. All our
works, you could do anything, you could do everything that
a man could do, and it'd still not be enough. Behold the greatness then of
our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, in that He has come to and accomplished
salvation. You know the difference between
the true religion and the false is simply this. accomplished
salvation. Did Christ accomplish salvation? Or did He just make it possible
for you to finish it? False religion is always trying
to finish His work. True religion acknowledges the
greatness of His sacrifice and the all-sufficiency of His blood
to atone for our sins. On the cross, Jesus died. The wrath of God, listen, He's
satisfied. How great is that? How great
is that Savior who bore our sins in His own body on the tree and
God pouring out all His vengeance, God turning His back on His own
Son because of our sin. And God poured out wrath on Christ
and He bore all of it. He bore all of it. This shows us, this shows us The greatness of
our Savior and High Priest. You know, in every religion,
there's always a priest in every religion. There's always a sacrifice
in every religion. It's just basically the enemy
copying the truth. That's all it is. He just photocopies
it and perverts it. But all religions have priests,
somebody to mediate, somebody... Even the Athenians or the people
who worship Zeus, they had their priests, they had their temples,
they had their sacrifices. All false religions have the
appearance of the true religion. Even the Jewish religion. even
the Jewish religion, which was ordained by God, which was set
up by God. Yet even in this religion, these
priests that God ordained, these sacrifices God prescribed, what
did Paul say about that in Hebrews? That these sacrifices were only
a figure. They were only a picture of the
true. They never took away sin. Never removed sin. They only
pictured the one who would come and remove sin. I'll read this to you in Hebrews
9. He said, Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests
went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of
God. But into the second went a high priest once every year,
not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the errors
of the people." You see that? He needed a sacrifice himself. These priests were not sufficient
because they themselves were not great. They had spot. They had wrinkle. They had sin. They had need of a sacrifice
themselves. And so this priest, he offered
for himself and for the people. The Holy Ghost, by this signifying
that the way into the holiness was not yet made manifest. While
the first tabernacle was yet standing, which was, listen,
a figure, only a figure. Only a a type and a picture for
the time present in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices
That could not make him that did the service perfect. They
could do it a hundred times. They did it Thousands of times
every day at least two sacrifices a day and none of those sacrifices
ever removed one sin Which stood only in meats and divers washings
and carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time of Reformation
but Christ Being come and high priest. Oh Paul already dealt
with this. He was a high priest ordained
from eternity He was always our high priest but in the process
of time he came and became our high priest and high priest of
good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle that
is his body not made with hands not of this building neither
by the blood of calves and goats but by his own blood he entered
in listen once oh I love that word don't you love that word
once once means once once means one time How many times did Christ die?
How many times did He offer Himself for sin? One time He did this. See how easily it does away with
all this vain tradition of religion, the Mass, how they offer the
sacrifice of Christ continually by that Mass? That's not my Jesus. My Jesus died once. You see there,
Jesus is perpetually dying. Poor thing. Pathetic sacrifice
that He is. Christ died once. See the greatness
of my God, the greatness of His sacrifice, in that His sacrifice
actually accomplished redemption. Paul said, "...neither by the
blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood entered in once
into the holy place." Listen, having obtained obtained eternal redemption. It's just hard to make that any
clearer. How great is that sacrifice? How great is that high priest? Behold the greatness and finality
of his offering as our great high priest once for all. Once for all, He offered Himself
as a sacrifice for sin and sat down on the right hand of the
Majesty on high. He sat down because the work
was finished. How great was His work! How great
was His person! How great was His work! And He
did this, this eternal redemption He obtained for us. For us. Therefore, when Christ obtained
eternal redemption, He did it for those mentioned
in our text. Look at this. The great is the
Lord, great in holiness, great in justice, great in mercy. He
is our great high priest who has offered himself once with
a great sacrifice and rose in great victory over sin, death,
and hell. This is our Lord. Great is the
Lord. And what? He is greatly to be
praised. But who will praise Him? Who
will praise Him? He is greatly to be praised only
in one place, in the city of our God. Only those of us who
are eternally redeemed will praise Him. We will praise Him because
we understand something about His greatness. His greatness and power came
to us in the new birth. Look at verse 8. He says, "...as
we have heard, so have we seen in the city of our Lord." Isn't
that so? Look, we not only know His greatness,
we have experienced His greatness. In the resurrection of our very
souls, we have not just heard it, we've seen it in ourselves. God raising this worthless sinner
from the dead, giving me faith and life and hope and joy and
peace in Christ Jesus. This is the city of God. the
church, those who were chosen of the Father in sovereign love,
those who were redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, and those
who are called by the grace and power of God to faith. That's
the city of God. And in this city, what do we
do? What is the purpose of this city?
It is to praise the greatness of God. Religion praises the
greatness of man. Forget them. Let the blind lead
the blind. They'll both fall in the ditch.
Our business is to praise the greatness of our God. And we
do this through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
That's how we praise His greatness. We praise Him in the city of
our great God. And this city is His people. And we praise him through the
preaching of this gospel. Therefore, all those in whom
the Spirit of God has comes in power and quickens us together,
we who have received Christ, listen, you are, you are the
city of the living God. You are the city of the living
God. Because God dwells in you. dwells in you. So to all who cling to Christ
by faith, to all who know of His greatness, the greatness
of our sin, the greatness of His holiness, to all who know
and are justified by the faith of Christ and who have believed
in Christ, we are the city of God, the church of God. The city set up on a hill. Jerusalem. Jerusalem was a city
set up on a hill. It was an elevated city. It was
a city self-fortified by mountains on either side. It was a place
of refuge by its natural surroundings. It was the place where God chose
to dwell. with his people. How much more so is the church
of God elevated above that natural city? That word situation, it
does mean elevation. He says, beautiful for elevation. You, my friend, are highly exalted
only as you are in union with Christ. If you were in Jerusalem,
you were exalted above all other cities. You were higher than
all of them that surrounded you. Why? Because you were in Jerusalem.
You were on the mountain. And listen, if you are in Christ,
you are highly favored, highly exalted. in union with the Son
of God. Think of this, His loving kindness
towards us, that the great God who tabernacled among us, became
one of us, now having made an offering for sin and having perfected
us forever, He has made us acceptable before God." You are acceptable. Acceptable before a holy God.
"...and has given you life from the dead, His Holy Spirit dwelling
in you, Oh, then the greatness of praise that is due to His
name. Why? Because He is great. He is great, and He is greatly
to be praised. Where? In the city. In the city
of God. Listen, in the mountain of His
holiness. Oh, friends, consider the beautiful
situation you are in right now. You who believe, I want you to
know your standing. This is important for your comfort, for your joy.
We're always surrounded by troubles. We're always surrounded by difficulties.
We're always surrounded by things that appear that our situation
is bad. That our standing is other than
what God says it is. And sometimes these things lead
us to doubts and fears. But in order for us to rise above
these doubts and fears, we must truly believe the Word of God
concerning your situation, concerning your standing. You, the city
of God, are in the mountain of His holiness. Mountains. When
you think of mountains, you think of a sure foundation. This city
was built on a sure foundation. Your soul is built on a sure
foundation. The mountains of Christ's holiness
is your foundation. These mountains speak to us of
size, large. You wouldn't call a little hill
a mountain, would you? Mountain is large. Can you think
how infinite the righteousness of God is? How pure it is. Friends, that's your righteousness. His righteousness is your righteousness. As those mountains surrounded
Jerusalem, even so, His righteousness robes us. And these mountains speak to
us of immutability. You that are in the mountain
of holiness cannot be moved from the mountain of holiness. God put you in it. Christ merited
it for you. And the Spirit of God keeps you
in it. And no one can take you out of
it. No one can take you out of it. We are in union with Christ. This is your beautiful situation. That God himself loves you with an everlasting love. Therefore,
with loving kindness have I drawn thee. You remember, Jeremiah calls
Him the Lord our righteousness and gives the church the very
same name, the Lord our righteousness. See, then we have these mountains
of holiness around us, in us, even because we are in Him, and
none can move us from His hand. The psalmist then in verse 2
rightly says, beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth is
Mount Zion. At this time, Jerusalem was said
to be the queen of the east, the greatest of all cities. And
it was great only because God was in it. It was a fortified
city, naturally so exalted above others, Even so, what a picture
it is of God's church. Just as God in no other place
said His name and established His worship, even so it is with
His church. In no other place is God's worship
established and declared but in His church. This is the place God has chosen
to put His name. This is the place God chooses
to dwell in His church. Therefore, what are we? Seeing
we have this beautiful situation that we are free from all condemnation,
we are righteous in the eyes of God, we have a new nature,
we have a just standing before God. That's our situation. Because
of this God has placed his gospel in his church. And therefore
we are the joy of the whole earth You got that we are the joy of
the whole earth You know why because we have the only gospel
of joy The only gospel of peace Men are spending all their money
and time trying to find joy and we have it We have it. We have the peace
of God. We have eternal life. And we
declare this message to sinners. And what a joy it is when sinners
receive it. Isn't it a joy? Christ said there's
joy in heaven when one sinner is found. When God finds one
of His people. There's much joy in heaven. Friends,
we have this gospel, this treasure in earthen vessel. I want you to see this. I know
my time is closed, but go to Psalm 45. I want you to see the
heart of God in this. Why has God established this
beautiful church in the midst of this wicked and perverse nation
of people? Look at Psalm 45 and verse 1.
God says, My heart is inditing a good matter. That word, inditing,
means gushing. My heart is gushing with a good
matter. What is the good matter that
He wants to speak of? He said, I speak of things which
I have made touching the King. His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. My tongue is the pen of the ready
writer. Here He's speaking of the King.
Thou art fairer than the children of men. Grace is poured into
Thy lips. Therefore God hath blessed Thee
forever. Gird on Thy sword upon Thy thigh,
O Most Mighty, with Thy glory and with Thy majesty. And in
Thy majesty ride prosperously. victoriously, successfully, because of truth and meekness
and righteousness. And thy right hand shall teach
thee terrible things. Thine arrows are sharp in the
heart of the king's enemies, whereby the people fall under
thee. Thy throne, O God, is forever. The scepter of thy kingdom is
a scepter of righteousness. Thou lovest righteousness, hated
wickedness. Therefore God, thy God, hath
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. All
thy garments smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of ivory
palaces, whereby they have made thee glad." Now all that speaking
of Christ, how beautiful are His garments, how victorious
is His work to kill our enemies and to save our souls. And now
he speaks about us. Here it is in verse 9. You and
me. Look at our situation. King's daughters were among the
honorable women. Upon thy right hand did stand
the Queen in gold of Ophir." Speaking of his church, the Queen.
"'Hearken, O daughter, and consider and incline thine ear. Forget
also thine own people in thy father's house.'" That's Adam's
house. We forget Adam's house. We forget
our father's house. "'So shall the king greatly desire
thy beauty, for he is Lord, and worship thou
him. And the daughter of Tyre shall
be with thee with a gift. Even the rich among the people
shall entreat thy favor. The king's daughter is all-glorious
wherewithin. Her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought into the
king in raiment of needlework. The virgins, her companions that
follow her, shall be brought unto thee. With gladness and
rejoicing shall they be brought. They shall enter into the king's
palace. Oh, don't you see your beautiful
situation? He has wrought for you the righteousness
of God. He robes you in it and he brings
you into the king's palace. Forget your sin. Forget your
sorrow. Forget your father's house that
was ruined. I have betrothed you to myself. And I bring you in. And how do
they come? Kicking? Screaming? With gladness. With joy. Why? Because this city is a city
of joy. Because it is the city of the
great King. The great King. Oh, I'm so glad
for our situation, aren't you? Is your situation not good? Why is it so good? Great is the Lord. I'm greatly
to be praised. Beautiful for situation elevation. The joy of the whole earth is
what now Zion? And that sides of the north,
you know That's the sides where where the mountains where there
was no way to get to it. You couldn't get to it by one
road There was one way and that was on the north there was on
the north you go up one road It's only one way into this place
in this kingdom Christ And all who find their way into this
kingdom are having a beautiful situation Why then the distress? Why then the murmuring, why the
complaining, when we have such a beautiful situation and such
a great God? Let us instead praise Him, magnify
Him, because we are the light of the world. We are the city
set on a hill. We are the trophies of God's
mercy. May God give us hearts to see
that. Believe it. Rest in it. I pray God will. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer.