Let's turn to Psalm 48. I'm not holding my breath, but I
got potential, we got some potentially short-term good news this week.
Word has been given a lot, I don't mean much, but Kimberly's got
a job tomorrow morning, at least until December. So we're thankful
for that provision for a little bit. if it holds true. We'll tell you, we'll tell you
at 9 a.m. Monday morning. Keeps going back and forth, don't
it? Limbo. But I'm thankful for that Lord's provision if he sees
fit. Here in Psalm 48, I was looking
at, working on a message out of Genesis 42, Jacob's brothers. I told you that Jacob, there's
nothing recorded that Jacob did wrong. I've said that. Faithful men throughout time
have said that for a couple hundred years. I can go show you where
it's written down. And then people contest that. And I said, well
Jacob, his brothers came to him. He spoke Egyptian, whatever they
were speaking at the time. He didn't speak Hebrew to them. And he
spoke harshly to them. Was that good? It was good. Does the Lord speak harshly to
us? First time you hear, you're a sinner. You hate God. That hurts, don't it? We are
wicked. We are not righteous. He is not
wicked. He is righteous. He died for
us. That's heavy stuff. That hurts.
Boy, how much we received doubled. But I was working on that all
day. And I thought, all right, I got it done. I'm going to work
on Psalm 48. And I was looking at verse 14.
And I thought, well, I can't just jump to verse 14. And I
thought a lot about verse 13. We have a commission here to
do something. I sit around and talk about doing
something, but do something. I have a job too. And I thought, well, I can't
just jump to verse 13 and 14 without telling you the good
stuff leading up to it. So after I typed a couple notes, we're
going to look at it for both hours. I think it'll be good.
Here, beginning in Psalm 48 verse 1, if you have a headache to
it, it says, a song and psalm for the sons of Korah. It's a
song. This is sang. They sang this. And to the believer, we're going
to look through this and this is going to be such a sweet song. And you know, someday we'll sing
it and it's going to rhyme. Wouldn't that be something if
it just rhymed so well? That just adds to it. But even
as we see it without it rhyming. Oh, it's a song. We sang it.
And here's where it begins. Here's the first thing. This
comes first. Great is the Lord. Psalm 48 verse 1, great is the
Lord, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, the Lord of hosts,
the self-existent one, great is the Lord, comma, and, that
comes first, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God
in the mountain of His holiness. One of the old writers said a
prophet, the prophet was very The prophet began very properly
in praising the king of Zion before he enters upon the praise
of Zion. He praises the king first and
foremost before he praises that place that he's in, that place
he's established for us. He says it's always comely, it's
always good, it's always right to bless the God of our mercies
before we bless God for our mercies. I hold that for another day.
There's a long time I didn't know if... I grew up underneath
the gospel. Do I have a head knowledge or
a heart knowledge? Do I come here because it's what mom and
daddy does? And that's all I've ever heard my whole life? And
then I was talking to my pastor one day and I said, God needs
worshipped whether... it don't make a difference what
I am. If he's right to send me to hell and if he does, he ought
to be worshipped because that's who he is. That's God being merciful
to somebody and teaching them something. That's good, isn't
it? Praise Him first. Bless the God
of mercies before we bless God for our mercies that He's given
us. If we really love the gift, if
we really love the gift, if we really love salvation in Christ,
how much more are we going to love the gift giver? You get
that? Not the idea, not five points
Calvinism, not some doctrine, not a theological standpoint.
If we love the gift of salvation, boy, I tell you what, you're
going to love him. You're going to thank him for it. He's great
first, and then we praise him and we thank him, and everything
else he's done is great too. That's a good time. That's a
good song. That's a good thing to whistle, isn't it? Verse 1
again. I'm sorry. Verse 1. Great is the Lord, and greatly
to be praised in the city of our God, 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. It says, beautiful for situation.
And I thought about Providence. Does that mean that whenever
you see Him as great and you praise Him and you're thankful
for the gift giver and the gift that you're... Providence is
beautiful. That was horrible. Well, yeah,
but God meant it for good. He purposed it. All of a sudden,
that's beautiful, isn't it? Yes, it means that. Everything's
perfect, just as it should be. And as experience goes through,
like you pick up a heavy weight. You start lifting heavy weights.
It's a burden and it tears your muscles and it hurts. But I know
I'm going to set that weight down and gravity is going to
keep it off and take care of it instead of me. I know that,
but the pain is still there. It still hurts. I understand
those things. And it's a beautiful thing. These trials the Lord
sent us. But the Hebrew word here for situation, it means
elevation. Elevation. Beautiful for elevation. The great city of the great king,
it's elevated. It's exalted because it's his
city. Not it's got gold and rubies
and all these things that man thinks is important. It's his
city because he's there. That's why it's elevated. That's
why it's elevated. He's there. Beautiful for situation,
the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion. On the sides of the
north, the city of the great king. Verse 3, God is known in
her palaces for refuge. Those people that live inside
of that city, they know God, and they know Him as their refuge. That's how they know Him. There's
a lot of things mankind will say that God's known for, and
I don't care to waste my time listening. Well, I know facts
about this, or what about this, or what about this, or whatever
man can float off into his own mind and come up with. The inhabitants
of his city, his people, people in his kingdom, they know God
as their refuge. We can camp out there for a couple
of hours. We need a refuge. I'm the manslayer. How about
you? You need a place to run? You
in trouble? You offended a holy God? I know
Him and I know Him as my refuge. You do too. You that know Him. You that are sinners in need
of a city of refuge. He's known as that. He's known
as a city, as a refuge. God is known in her palaces for
a refuge. A refuge. He's the provision.
That refuge provides for us, provides protection for us, doesn't
it? Everything we consume is inside that. Life is inside the
refuge. And that's how we know Him. We
know Him as a refuge because we need Him. die without him. And I thought this too, that's
the means, him being our refuge, protection, provider, everything,
is the means that we know he's our refuge. He did that too. He brought us into that city
and he revealed himself to us and showed us our need and showed
us his mighty sacrifice and that he's the mighty God that did
it all. I want to sing that. I don't
care if it rhymes. I want to sing it. Hum it all
day. Verse 4. For lo, the kings were
assembled. They passed by together. They
saw it, and so they marveled. They were troubled and hasted
away. Fear took upon them, and that pain is a woman in travail. Those lowercase k kings. I thought
of those Philistine princes that sought David. 2 Samuel 5. bunch
of kings gathered together, all them princes, and they chased
him. We're going to search him out. And those Ethiopians, they
saw Asa. And those Moabites and Jehoshaphat. Throughout time, this has happened
a bunch, hasn't it? Our enemies, your enemies, whether it's time or a wounded body or whatever,
family members or whatever it is. Our enemies, it seems like
they're just encompassing us about. You look at that and that's
an enemy. I'm going to pay attention to
my enemy. There's another one. Okay, I'm going to look west.
No, not to look east. They're all around us. Everywhere
you turn. The other day I thought, that's
it. My dog's sick. I'm just going to take her to
the vet. And they said, it ain't good news. Encompassed about, isn't it?
When they see the Lord's people, they don't run away. They don't
run away when they see the great King. When they see Him who is
our refuge, that's when they run. Look at verse 5 again. Notice
the italics. It says, They saw it, and they
so marveled, and so they marveled. That's and saw it and. They saw,
so they marveled. When they saw Him. and they were
troubled, and hasted away, and fear took hold of them, and pain,
and as a woman in travail. Thou, speaking of Him, of our
King, our refuge, Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish in an east
wind." That's from His mouth, isn't it? It's just in a word.
As that Spirit moves from the east, when the sun rises, it
moves, and it breaks the ships of Tarshish. The distress of
the enemies of the Gospel, they feel it, and a lot of times we
feel the same way, don't we? We experience it. We feel that
chaos. We bear it. They're described
as kings and armies circling. They're described as the pain
of childbirth. It's described as navies of a
great country coming. Not just a place in Spain and
not just where Jonah was heading, it's Titicuna Nineveh, but just
a mighty force that we're no match for. And none prevail. Whatever it
is, whatever's stacked against you, nothing's prevailed. Nothing's
prevailed. Look at verse 8. 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. Stop and think about
that. Pause. Pause. As we've heard,
so have we seen. He said He's going to do something
and He did it. And then he said he was going
to do something else and he did that. Over and over again. We saw, we've
heard and we saw it in the city of our God and he will establish
it forever. I thought of those disciples of John that come to
the Lord. They said, you him and we look for another. And
the Lord listed those miracles, didn't he? I always try to touch
on this. What was that last miracle God said was a miracle? The poor
had the gospel preached to them. He was preaching the gospel to
them poor ones. And he said, go your way and
tell John what things you have seen and heard. You've heard
about this and you've seen it. You've watched it. Not that we
stand on our experiences and cling to experiences, we cling
to the one that sends the experiences. But he's gave us a pretty good
track record we can lean on. What you and I heard that we
have seen also. What are those things? His promises. Not one's failed yet. Not one. His Word. What His Word says. People don't like it. People
don't want to hear it. They refuse to accept the context
of what His Word says. Natural man does. But I read
that and that's right. I know it's right and He proves
it to me again. It's right. We'll look next hour.
But we quote some things and if you look at the other angle,
it's right that way too. That word's majestic and perfect,
isn't it? It might be very simple, something the Lord reveals to
us in His Word. I mean real simple. I'm thankful. Ain't you? He shows, I mean, just a little
bitty thing just to chew on and think about Him today. Don't
that make you happy? Isn't that good? I thought of
the fruits of the Spirit. Things we've heard about and
we've seen. The fruit of the Spirit's love. Have you heard
about His love towards undeserving people and unlovable people?
That's me. Have you seen it? Yeah, I've
seen joy. Not as the world thinks is a
good time riding a roller coaster. His joy, His peace that He gives,
that contentment, thankfulness. You heard about that? Have you
seen it? I want to see it more. Peace.
Peace I give you. Not as the world gives, but I
give it. I've heard about that. You've seen it? Long suffering. What's that mean? Suffer a long
time. How can I not be long-suffering
when I saw how long he suffered me? Today might be the day. I was
gonna save somebody this morning. This might be it. That's gotta
be it. Gentleness. Oh, like old Joseph. He spoke harshly. That was good.
That wasn't harsh. They thought it was. My children
think that I'm harsh on them. And whenever they turn 30, they'll
thank me. You older people know that. You got kids, right? Joseph's
brothers have grown me and he's up in his thirties and he's harsh
to them. They'll thank him when they get a little bit older.
I'm going to keep staying after my job. Joseph's going to keep
them storehouses open and they'll thank him. The Lord was gentle
to me. Goodness! I've heard and seen
faith. Everybody and their brother talks
about faith. Well, I got my faith and this faith and that. My faith
is strong and I kept my faith. I've heard about the faith of
Christ. The one who is faithful. And I've seen it. I've seen what
I might use the English word faith as. Me sticking to my guns
or whatever. And I saw it crumble and dwindle
to nothing. And then I saw the one that never
wavers. I've heard about Him and I've
seen Him. You've seen Him? He's poured these out on us.
We see that He's all. We see Him as that. But He's
gave that to us. That's a fruit of the Spirit. With wisdom He gave it to us.
And I wrote this down and I'll just say it on 35 minutes. In
perfect measure. I want more each one of those,
don't you? I want more meekness, I want more long-suffering, I
want more joy, I want peace for me so I can be more peaceful
to other people, be peaceful around them. He's given it what
I have in perfect measure and I know it and that gives me more
peace. The fact that I don't have peace gives me peace because
it's the peace he gives. All that, we've heard it, we've
seen it, that we may tell another generation and that by God's grace, they
see it. They experience. Look at verse
13. Psalm 48, 13. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider
her palaces. We're here. Pay attention. Look around. He's telling you. Mark it. Mark it. Write it down.
Consider places that her palaces, that ye may tell it to the generation
following. Why am I here? You all grown-ups
that I come here to, I'm here to feed you and help you and
guide you best I can, whatever. And little people? We got to
tell them. Somebody's watching. They're
watching us. How we pray, how we act, how we, our consistency
of showing up for services, how we dress when we're here, how
we talk about old experiences. Somebody young's watching or
somebody old's watching. Somebody's watching. The next
generation, they may be 50 years older than me, I don't know.
I want to tell them things that I've heard and I've seen come
to pass. That's our job, isn't it? Think about that. Verse 8,
As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord
of hosts, in the city of our God, in his city, on his property,
in his hand. Is that right? Has the whole
time I've been in his hand? Didn't know it and I was fighting
him as hard as I could and Lord saves you. He's kept me this
whole time. I was a rebel. I was a sheep
from his fold. I hated the fold. I didn't want
to hear nothing. I didn't want nothing to do with it. Like that poem Boner
wrote there in the bulletin. And he pursued. And I heard and
I realized he had me the whole time. Just blind and didn't know
it. It was in his property. It says, God will establish it
forever. Selah. He'll establish it forever.
Establish. Why not finished? Is it finished? Is the work finished? Of course
it is. I know that. You know that. It's done. It's finished. We're the ones
trapped in time, isn't it? Why do you say established? Turn
over to Lamentations chapter 3. This is wonderful. You're
going to enjoy this. Lamentations 3. The scriptures, many times, are bifocal, be it
practical or in a spiritual application. Sometimes it's trifocal, depending
on what phase of life you're in. And the older I get, I had
to see if that was even a word, it's quadfocal. That's the living
word. It just gets bigger. The more the Lord reveals of
His word, the more I see I don't know nothing. It's just majestic. It's amazing. He's going to have
to teach us, isn't he? Look here in Lamentations 3, verse 22. Lamentations
3, 22. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because
His compassions fail not. Another way of wording that. Salvations of the Lord. Praising
for it. They are new every morning. Do
you see that they are is in italics? So we can remove that from the
text without doing the text harm, okay? It's there to help us,
but sometimes we can read it with it and then read it without
it. So let's read it without it. New every morning, colon. They're going to list what is
new to us every morning. New to you, new to me. You ready?
Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. On
His compassion, in the realm of the compassion of the thrice
holy God, great is His faithfulness and He shows that to us new every
day. Is His mercy new every morning?
Yeah. New every morning, great is Thy faithfulness. Is that
so for you? Since you've been given eyes to see, since you've
been given hearts to understand, has the Lord established His
faithfulness every morning, every day. We sing, I need thee every
hour. How prone I am to forgetting.
So he's going to have to establish it. Let's say I establish his
faithfulness every day and I dedicate 12 minutes to him every morning. He establishes. 346 this morning,
He established His faithfulness in waking me up. I thought I
was going to sleep, but thank you, Lord. I guess You woke me
up this morning. He was faithful. Back in our text there in Psalm
48, verse 9. What a privilege it is to say
this in truth. Psalm 48, 9. We have thought, considered and
dwelt on, we have thought of thy loving kindness, O God, in
the midst of thy temple. That's a good thing to think
on, isn't it? His loving kindness and love
he chose us in Christ before the world began in that covenant
of grace. He elected a people in His elect.
That's a good thing to think on. Loving kindness of God. Presidential
elections, not a good thing to think on. The God of election,
good thing to think on. That's a good thought to have,
isn't it? If the Lord can elect a people, I think He can handle
a presidential election, right? I ain't worried about it. When do we think on him? When
do we think on his stuff? Well, I hope I can get that,
it'll plant a seed in election season, you'll think on him.
In the morning, we see his faithfulness in the mornings, what about in
the evenings, in the night, in the middle of the night? Do we
think on his loving kindness, the loving kindness of our God
and our Lord only when we're in this building? You do? You don't think on him 30, 40,
45 minutes a week? We think on Him all the time.
Here's what Paul told the church of Corinth. He said, what? Know
ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which
is in you? He said, I'm going to dwell in
my people. I'm going to make up my boat.
I'm in them. They're in me and I'm in them. Which ye have of
God. You're not your own. You're bought
with a price. This whole body of death, it's his, he owns it.
It's his property. That new life that's inside just
happens to be housed in this. I thought of them covers you
get for your phone so you don't get busted up. That's all this
body is. It's just a housing for that
new creation that's in me. That's his too. He bought me. You're bought with a price. Therefore
glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.
Both. When's that? At work, when you're
grocery shopping, when you're brushing your teeth. I want to
think on Him. I don't a lot, but throughout
the day I think on Him. I hope you do. I want to think
on Him more. Verse 10. According to thy name,
O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth. Thy right
hand is full of righteousness. Let Mount Zion rejoice. Let the
daughters of Judah be glad because of thy judgments." His praise
is worthy. He's worthy to be praised according
to His name. However high His name is, that's
how much He ought to be praised, right? Well, how high is His
name? God has given Him a name. He's highly exalted Him and He's
given Him a name which is above every name. Make a name up, it's
above that. Think anything. His name's higher.
That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in things of
heaven, in earth, and things under the earth. And that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father. Confession is to tell the truth.
That's the truth. He's Lord. To earnestly say that
now and think on Him in this lifetime, that's called salvation.
A new creation in you has done that. Everything He's going about. Every time He's going to confess
the truth, the truth's going to come out. That's to know Him
now. Like we looked last time in the
Psalms, my heart, it shouts and claps. You know why? I know these
things. He said, Peter, do you think
you can come up with that on your own? He said, my Heavenly Father
has taught you that. Do you know these things? God taught you that. I want to know more. I know more
than I used to. I know a little bit more than
most folks, but I want to know more of Him. What about Him? Whatever He's
pleased to teach. I want my heart set on Him throughout
the day. I want to consider Christ throughout the day. I want to
consider His attributes, and I want to consider His work,
and His person, and His promises, and His words, and His life.
And I water them fig trees. I think, He eats figs? He eats
figs? Well, He's here. And then I think Him being a
carpenter. You reckon them tables He made was good quality? I bet
there ain't never been a carpenter worked like Him ever. Maybe I
will go rake up some leaves. I'm going to do it a little bit
harder. I want to think on Him and work under Him. Look here
in verse 12. Here's an instruction. Walk about
Zion. Don't just sit there and chew
on it. Get up and walk around and look
around. Go look around a little bit. Lord, put this place here.
Walk about Zion. Go around about her and tell
the towers thereof. What towers? Well, that's the
Lord's. Go see Him. We should read in Psalm 18 verse
2, He said, the Lord's our high tower. But we're told here to
tell the towers. That means to mark the towers,
to tally them, to take record, and to celebrate them. The Lord's
established a lot of His towers in this nation. I know where
some of them are. Just found out about a new tower
the other day. I'm happy about it. He set lights on a hill,
hadn't He? All around this country, I want
to know them, I want to pray for them, I want to encourage
them, and I want to thank God for them, and I want to thank
God and encourage those watchmen that sit on that tower. I want
you to know them. I want you to love them. Reach
out and be thankful for them. The Lord said, I have set my
watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their
peace, day nor night. You can get the same words out
of them no matter what time of day it is. Ye that make mention of the
Lord, keep not silence, and give him no rest till he establish."
Isn't it finished? Yes, and he's going to establish
it in some new ones, that it's finished. Until he establish
it, until he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. God has promised
these things, and I'm going to inquire of him. Keep your soldiers
on their posts until he establishes children, until he brings them. And what we read there in the
text, He will establish forever. What He does is forever. Plum
done. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and the finisher of our faith. He's the author. In Spanish,
it's alter. The alter. That's the author. And the finisher is consumador. That's one way of saying finisher.
Perfecter. when our faith's perfected, when
we no longer need faith because we see Him. It's consumed. He gave it all the way to the
end. And then we're made like Him, we see Him. Don't need faith
no more. Right there He is. We're with
Him. Verse 13 again. Mark ye well
her bulwarks, and consider her places, that ye may tell it to
the generation following. Go hide in a cave somewhere and
twiddle your thumbs till the Lord comes. No. That's not what
He's charged us to do. He's given us something to do.
And we're willing bond servants. I want to do something. If He
says sweep the floors, I'm going to... I was talking to my brother the other
day. Let me talk to a floor sweeper. Should I go from left to right?
Or should I do it towards me? Or should I do it away from me?
Get a push through? I want to learn about sweeping. He said,
all power is given to me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore, because
of that, and teach all nations. That means make disciples. Go
preach gospel to them. Baptizing them in the name of
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Teaching them
to observe all things. Whatsoever I've commanded you.
He said a lot that's recorded in this word in three and a half
years. And if we knew all of it, said the books wouldn't contain
it, John said. Teach them everything. Go teach them. Who's sufficient
for such things? There's a colon there in Matthew
28, 20. Go teach them everything I've told you. Who's sufficient?
I can't do that. He says, and lo, I'm with you always. I'll
be with you. I'm the one that's going to teach
them. You're just going to say what I tell you to say. How long,
Lord, until the end of the world? And then in black letters, it
says, Amen. I bet John Rooke was like, Amen. Next hour, we'll look at verse
14. This one we've been talking about. I've been telling you
about a person, Lord Willem, for the last 30 minutes. This
one we've been talking about, for this God, this God is our
God. And it wasn't hyperbole. Old
Maurice Montgomery looked me dead in the eye one day and said,
our God is God. Natural man says, that doesn't make sense. Oh,
it makes sense to me. Does it make sense to you? This God,
that's our God. How long? Forever and ever. Forever and ever. He will be
our God even unto death. This God, the God of all power,
of all providence, of all election, of all protection, the author
of faith itself, the sustainer of all things, the God of salvation,
that's our God. How long? Forever and ever. And
He's going to be our guide, even unto death. I looked up unto. In Hebrew, it means above and
over. It don't just stop there. Above
and over death. Because what if I die and there's
a .2 second gap that something's on? He ain't guiding me. I'm
a goner. If he ain't the God forever and
ever and the God forever and ever and the protector and the
refuge forever and ever, I'm a goner. Above and beyond this.