Around each habitation, hovering. I like that. See the cloud and
the fire appear? We just looked at that, didn't
we? Cloudy pillar and fire. It was
before them, remember? And like Bruce's message, what
happened? Went around behind them. for a glory and a covering,
showing that the Lord is near. Oh, glorious things of Thee are
spoken, Zion, city of God. That's us. That's us. That's what he's talking about.
Church. Psalm 48, several titles we could give this. city of our God, but I like verse
14. This God is our God. This God is our God. So that's the title, I believe.
It's a song about the great God and his city, the church. You
talk about God, you talk about Christ, you must talk about his
church. And what You can't talk about
one without the other. It's like a husband and wife
who have been married a long time. When you think of John,
who do you think of? John Davis. Who do you think
of? Irene. And vice versa. And that's just
the way it is. Christ and His church. That's
why He came. For His church. And so, to glorify
God, we glorify His church. We don't get the glory, but God
has glorified His church, whom He justified, He glorified. And glorified, we've seen His
glory. And we sang there glorious things of Thee are spoken. This
is a great psalm. It begins great and it ends great
because it's about our great God. Great psalm. Tonight, this will be your favorite.
Great is the Lord, verse 1. Great is the Lord, our God. O
Lord, my God. When I in awesome wonder consider
all the worlds thy hands have made, I then sings my soul, My
God, how great thou art. This God is our God. And many
gods, small g, that men and women believe in, but there's one living
and true God. Many gods of men's imagination,
but one living and true God declared from the pages of this book.
This God is our God. The world cries in blasphemy,
O my God. God's people cry in fear and
praise, O my God. Now, this God is my God, your
God, this God. The God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, the God of Jacob, Israel, the God of Israel is our God,
isn't it? The God of the Bible is God.
He's not trying to be God. He's not God if men let Him be
God. No. This God is God, and who shall
let Him do anything? That's what He said, all through
the Scripture, in Isaiah 43. You know the Scripture. He said,
I will work, and who will let me do anything? Brother Stephen
read from Psalm 50 tonight. And in that Psalm, he said, Thou
thoughtest. God's not like men think He is.
God is as He is, as the Scriptures say He is, as He declares Himself. That's the God who is God, the
God of the Bible, as He declares Himself. And Stephen read there
Psalm 50. He said, Thou thoughtest I was
altogether such a one as yourself. All through that Scripture, he
said, If I was hungry, I sure wouldn't ask you. You see these
signs everywhere, these so-called church signs. It's not God's
church. Let's say things like this, not God's church. Let's
say things like this, God needs your help, or God believes in
you. I have seen so-called church
signs say that. God believes in you. That's not
our God. Our God does as He pleases, with
whom He pleases, because He pleases. In heaven and earth, none can
stay His hand or say unto Him, what doest thou? This God is
our God. Only one. Listen to how many
times, I won't give you a few times, it talks about our God. Okay? Our God is a consuming
fire. Our God. over in verse 50. You don't have
to turn the page. You have to turn the page to
see this. All through the Scripture. Look at verse, chapter 50, verse
3. Our God shall come and shall
not keep silent. A fire shall devour the poor.
Our God. Our God is a consuming fire.
Psalm 99. Exalt ye the Lord our God. He is holy. Our God. Verse 9. The Lord our God is
holy. Psalm 99 and 9. Our God. Psalm 105, 7. He is the Lord
our God. His judgments are in all the
earth. He's the judge of all the earth. Our God. He's not a bystander
in the affairs of men. He's controlling the affairs
of men. That's our God. Aren't you glad? Psalm 113, 5. Who is like unto the Lord our
God? He dwelleth on high. May I ask
David, where is your God? He said, Our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever He hath
pleased. Is that your God? He is your
God. He is everyone's God, though
they don't know Him. He says that in Isaiah, doesn't He? I
girded you, though you didn't know Me. I've provided for you
all these years, though you didn't know Me. And if God in mercy,
if God It's according to His will. It's all His purpose, whether
or not He lets you know that He's God. We will find out someday. But in salvation, in mercy, if
God comes to you and lets you know... You read it in Psalm
50, didn't you? I am God, even thy God. That's grace, isn't it? Aren't
you glad you found out before it's too late? We pray that others
know this. This God is our God. Psalm 47,
look at verse 6 through 8. Our God, verse 6, sing praises
to God, sing praises, sing praises unto our King. This God is our
King. Verse 8, He reigneth over the
heathen. Our God reigneth. Our God is
King. Not a figurehead. He actually
reigns and rules over principalities and powers. Rulers of the darkness
of this world. Devils, men, elements, everything. Our God reigns. Our God in Psalm
46, verse 11, over three times in Psalm 46. Don't you love it? Our God. The Lord of hosts is
with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Our refuge. Psalm 68. He that
is our God is the God of salvation. Our salvation. God, our salvation. Our Savior. Oh, how many times
in the psalm. He's our shield. Shields of the Lord belong to
the... Shields of the earth belong to
the Lord and God is a sun and a shield. He protects us. Psalm 18, who is God? Save the
Lord. Who is a rock? Save our God. Our rock. Brother Bruce preached
that message and I thought of 1 Corinthians 10. That rock followed
them all the days of their life. And that rock is Christ. Our rock. Who is our God? Jesus Christ is our God. Yes,
Jesus Christ is our God. We worship Him because He's God. In Isaiah 25, I'll never forget
when I first read this as a young man. In Isaiah 25, verse 9, it
shall be said in that day, lo, this is our God. We've waited
on Him. He will save us. Who's that talking
about? Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. In that mountain. Oh, so our
God. You know, verse 4 says in our
text, the kings are assembled. That's Psalm 2, isn't it? Kings
of the earth gathered together, rulers against the Lord, against
His anointed. Pharaoh found out who was God,
didn't he? Moses' God is God. He found out. They had their
little gods. They weren't gods at all. Nebuchadnezzar
found out, didn't he? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
Hananiah, Mashiach, and Azariah, their God is God. He's God. Darius, Darius found out, didn't
he? Daniel's God is God, because
there's no other God that can save after this sword. This God,
their God, is our God. Our God. So, that's the introduction. Great is the Lord, Jehovah. Greatly
to be praised, verse 1, in the city of our God, in the mountain
of His holiness. Greatly to be praised, He's great.
Let me read to you, you don't have to turn, but Psalm 145 speaks
of His greatness. Oh, the unsearchable riches of
Christ, who shall His greatness declare? Here in Psalm 145 it
says, I will speak of the glorious honor of His majesty, of His
wonderful work. Men like me shall speak of the
might of His terrible acts. I will declare Thy greatness.
And here it is. We shall abundantly utter the
memory of His great goodness. He made His goodness pass before
us in the person of His Son. Are you with me? He says, I'll
sing of His righteousness. There you go again, preacher.
That's right. They shall abundantly utter the memory of His great
goodness, sing of His righteousness. The Lord is gracious. Here's
His greatness. He's gracious. He's full of compassion. He's slow to anger. He's of great
mercy. He's good to all. He's tender
mercies over all His works. All His works praise Him, and
the saints will bless Him. That goes on. Now to say, Lord's
mine to them. Call upon Him in truth. You'll fulfill the desire of
them that fear Him. You'll hear their cry and He'll
save them. How great Thou art. Great. Great in power, great
in glory, great in goodness, mercy, and truth. Great in salvation. Oh, how great they are. Verse
1 says, In the city of our God. That's where he's prayed. In
the mountain of His holiness. The city of our God. Verse 2.
Beautiful for situation is this city. The joy of the whole earth.
Mount Zion. The sides of the north. It's
the city of the great King. Talk about the church. The heavens declare His glory,
but in Zion is where God's great glory is seen. Turn there to Psalm 87 we sang
about, okay? I won't have you turn many places,
but this is one you need to remember. We sang it. You need to know
where it is. Psalm 87 speaks of the city throughout. The Word speaks of this city,
the church, the Old Testament and New. Psalm 87, you have it. His foundation is in the holy
mountains. The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the
dwellings of Jacob. The church. Glorious things are
spoken of thee, O city of God. It talks about down in verse
5, this and that man was born there. I tell you what, every
one of God's people are born there. That's where they're born. And the singers and the players,
verse 7, the singers and the players. So this city is where
God dwells and God's people dwell. It's the house of God, it's the
courts of God, the city of God. It says in verse 2, it's beautiful
for situation. Y'all are sitting in a beautiful
situation. Yes, you have. What this really
means is though, it's like Mount Pisgah, where the Lord took Moses
up on Mount Pisgah. He couldn't go into Promised
Land, you know, the Lord was angry at him. But he showed him
from Mount Pisgah, the Lofty Heights, the Promised Land. And
we come into the City of God, the Church of God, and we view,
from God's Word, the Promised Land. It's like Mount Pisgah,
it's like Mount Hermon. where the dew flows down from
the head, even to the beard, to the skirts, the hem of the
garment. God's people are. How blessed
it is to dwell together in unity. Hermon, the greatest site of
all. What mountain? Mount Calvary. Mount Calvary. Oh, the love that
drew salvation's plan. Oh, the grace that brought it
down to man. Oh, the mighty gulf that God
did span, our great God at Calvary. That's the greatest sight of
all from that mountain. City. City is where many people
dwelled. Think of the country, you think
of kind of secluded places where there are not many people, and
the city is where many people dwell. Well, this city is for
those who don't like cities. Okay? If we like Well, we all
have gone into cities, big cities, for a little while and beheld
something of their sights and sounds and food and so forth. I've been to the big cities of
the world. But if you're like Lot, if you're a just and righteous
man or woman like Lot, You will soon be vexed with the conversation
of everybody around you in the cities of the place. And you'll
want out. But not this city. This is your
city. Is there a lot of people dwelling
here? Oh, the more the merrier. This is a city wherein dwelleth
righteousness. This is a city where everybody
is like Jesus Christ. Vexed? No. Blessed. This is the
city full of saints, where the Lord is and his people, where
we gather to hear his word. You go into these places in the
world and you hear things you don't want to hear, but you come
here and you hear just what you need to hear. This is where we
come to hear his word, to see his glory, to sing his praises,
to call on his name, to cuddle up and huddle up with our fellow
sheep. Oh, bring me to your city and
build a wall around it. He has. This city is throughout
the scriptures. One of my favorite Psalms, Psalm
122. He said, Jerusalem is built as a city. Compact together. Oh Lord. Cement us together. Is that what you want? Compact us together. Don't let
us ever be ever part. So he says, pray for it. Pray
for Jerusalem. You'll prosper if you let her.
If you love His city, if you love His church, if you pray
for His people, you'll prosper. You know what God will do for
you if you pray for them? He'll keep you together. Oh, brethren, for my brethren,
David said, my companion. You're my companion. Really?
I'm not just saying that. Really, you're my only, you're
the only companions I have on earth. And I like it that way. He's
the only ones I have anything in common with. And every time
I see Him, I'm glad. I'm glad. I'm a companion of them that
fear Thee. Because of the house of the Lord
our God, I'll seek Your good. I want this house to stand. I want this city to stand, don't
you? And I want to be in it. Because
He's coming for this city. Oh yeah, Revelation 21 says,
I beheld the city coming down out of the sky. That's when the
whole shebang, where did that word come from? That's where
the whole kingdom of God comes to meet us. Mike and Joyce and
Ed and Henry and Henry, coming to meet us. With 10,000 of His
saints, the city of God. Take us up to the city. Won't
that be something? Okay, this is His city. Verse
3 in our text. It says, God is known in her
palaces for a refuge. We know this God. This is salvation. Our Lord prayed that in John
17.3. Can you quote it? This is life eternal. You taught
this, Mindy, and these women taught this. I'm not going to
have you stand up, Olivia. But you know this verse. You've
heard it from a child. He said in John 17, 3, This is
life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God. And they at least know Him in
their heads when they go out there in these places and they
hear about this God who wants to be your God and can't be if
you don't let Him. They say, they know, that's not
God. This God is our God. The living
and true God. And Jesus Christ whom He sent. God sent to do what? To do a job. Do a work. To finish a work. A work that
with man it's impossible. That only God could do. That
God, man, could do. Did He do it? If He didn't, we're
all goners. Not a cooperative effort. It's
His work. And Christ was sent to do a work.
And I've got to go on. I don't have to. This is our God. This
is our Christ. If it's a Christ who came to
make salvation possible, it's not the Jesus Christ description.
That's not our Christ. That Christ can't save anybody.
This God is known in her palaces for what? A refuge, a hiding
place, a fortress, a high tower, a fortress, a mighty fortress. He is our God, a bulwark never
failing. Salvation will God appoint for
walls that will surround us. With salvation's walls surround,
I will smile at all my foes. God is known in her palaces for
a refuge. You know, this is, the church is a city of refuge because
that's where the Lord, who is our refuge, dwells, you see.
We don't get refuge, per se, in a place with people, but we
get refuge in our God where He is, and He's with His people.
So you tell me, I've asked you this all the time, tell me when
or where you feel more at peace than you do here. When or where do you feel more
peace, more safety, more freedom? Back when the Lord set that plague,
Some people thought it'd be safer to stay at home. Are you kidding
me? You've got to be kidding me.
It's safer at home by yourself than where God's people are?
You've missed it, man. Tell me when you feel more freedom
from fears and doubts and worries and more peace. Tell me. When
or where do you feel more peace and safety than you do when you're
sitting huddled with God's sheep at the feet of the shepherd?
Nowhere. Nowhere on earth. Nowhere. At no time. Isn't that so? Because you're not hearing these
things. You're not hearing. In the city
of God, you're going to hear and you're going to see what
you hear. If I get to that verse. Palaces. God's known in her palaces. This is a palace. This is a palace. There's one kingdom, there's
one city, there's one church, but God is... There's many tabernacles,
many assemblies, and little palaces is what they have. Why? Because
there's the king's home. Because it's full of riches.
Palace. You think of a palace as a place
full of riches and expensive paintings. Well, we have no paintings.
We have no pictures. We have the person here. Oh,
the unsearchable riches of Christ that are found in the palaces
of the king. Palace. This is a palatial place
that he's put his name here. A palatial place in the palace.
This is Central Grace Palace. Down in Carolina, Bethel Baptist
Palace. Over in Madisonville, Bible Baptist
Palace. Uh-huh. Kingsport Sovereign Grace
Palace. Where the King is and Christ. Where we feast on fat things,
wine on the leaves, well refined. The body and blood of our crowd.
Look at verses 4 through 7. You don't think I'm going to
make it through this, do you? Verse 4. I might not. Lo, the kings
were assembled, against her, that is. They passed by together. They saw his glory, that is,
his power. They marveled. They were troubled.
Oh, how God, how easily God can trouble these so-called kings,
these so-called sovereigns. Stir up a little trouble. Oh, these great kings and mighty
kings, aren't we something? Oh, God. Remember Pharaoh, Herod, he heard
about a baby, a baby being born in Bethlehem. It troubled him. A baby? Pharaoh heard. There's a Savior. They're talking
about a Savior being born now. He was troubled. He said, I'll
get rid of him. Remember that? I'll get rid of
him. Yeah, you're going to raise him
in your house. Oh, he that sits in the heavens
laughs, and we laugh with him. Oh, verse eight, verse six, fear. Verse six, fear took hold upon
them, their pain as a woman in travail. There were they in fear
who knew no fear. Doesn't take much for God to
put mighty men in fear. that they may know themselves
to be but men. So don't you be afraid of man
that shall die a worm. Don't be afraid of man. Verse
70, breaks the ships of Tarshish with an east wind. This all refers,
I believe, it may have been written by Jehoshaphat. Second Chronicles,
you know, Second Chronicles, let me just remind you about
it, that all the kings were gathered together against Jehoshaphat
in Jerusalem. And Jehoshaphat stood in the
congregation with Judah in Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before
the new court and he prayed for the people. Don't you love that
story? And he said, O our God. You're our God. Will you not
judge these enemies? We have no might against them
that come against us. We don't know what to do. Our
eyes are upon you." Isn't that what we do? We gather here, huddle
together, call upon our God. Darius said, is your God able
to deliver you? He sure is. Well, then Jehoshaphat and the
Lord sent a preacher named Jehaziel, remember? And that young man
preached one message his whole life, as far as I know. It's
the best message you'll ever hear. He said, don't be afraid
or be dismayed. The battle is not yours, it's
God's. He said, you won't need to fight.
Stand still. See the salvation of the Lord.
Fear not. Don't be dismayed. The Lord God
will be with you. He's going to fight this battle.
So Jehoshaphat said, let's start singing. Well, wait a minute. The battle hasn't started yet.
It's as good as over. And they start singing. And when
they began to sing, the Lord set ambushments and the enemies
were smitten. And that's what I said. That's
what he said. That's what I said he said. That
you sing, your enemies will be smitten. Your problems Won't
go away, but they'll diminish. Won't do. Your troubles will
lessen. Sing. You know it's all over
but the shouting. You know that? Might as well
start shouting now. Now. Oh, back to our text. It says in verse 8, As we have
heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord, of hope, in
the city of our God. God will establish it forever. What we've heard, God will establish
it. The covenant, He will establish it. What He's told us, the promises,
He's established it. The promises of God are yea and
amen in Christ. They're established, aren't they?
As we have heard, so have we seen. Where? In the city of God. The city of God. This is not
true in the cities of the world. All you'll hear is idle tales.
All you'll hear is gossip. All you'll hear is man's opinion,
man's so-called wisdom that God calls foolishness. And it won't
come to pass what they say. Seldom does. But what you hear
here has, is, and shall come to pass. You're going to see
it. You have seen it. We have seen it. We've seen man
do exactly what God said he would do before they did it. See, I've spoken it. I'll do
it. I purposed it. It will come to
pass. You just wait. You'll see. You'll
see. As we have heard, all you hear
in the world is lies and idle tales, but here, by God's grace,
all you'll hear is truth. Truth. Ah, which you have heard
and you will see this truth come to pass. When you hear the gospel,
you know what you see in the city of God? You see His glory. Before you heard all this about,
look here, look there, look at the glory of man. Boy, you hear
the gospel, you don't see any glory in there. You see His glory. You see His glory in Christ.
You hear the promises of God and you see them fulfilled in
Christ, don't you? You hear the promises, you see
them fulfilled in your life. Have you not seen what He told
you come to pass in your life? All the mercies and the promises
of God already. Haven't you seen it? Everything
He said to you has come true already and will continue to
do so. Will God continue to have mercy?
How many times does He say it will endure forever? How many
times? Who wrote a psalm, didn't Kelly? 26 verses, 26 times. Do you have to say it that many
times? I guess we're so dumb and stupid.
We worry about it. His mercy endures forever. I've heard it and I've seen it
all my life. I've seen His mercy new every
morning. Haven't you? We've heard of His
grace, His love. We see it all in Christ, don't
we? We see it in our lives. It's vital, people, it's vital
that you hear the Word of God and not man. Stop. Stop listening
to man. Okay? Start listening to God
and you'll have peace. And you'll see. You'll see. Believe God. He said to Martha
and Mary who were distraught. He said, didn't I tell unto you,
if you would believe, you'd see the glory of God. Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. How does he
help our unbelief? How does he help our unbelief?
Right here. No other way. Faith cometh by
hearing. Don't forsake the assembly of
your saviors. Don't do it. And read it for yourself. Here,
he said, and your soul shall live. As we have heard. That deserves a message all by
itself. I read one by Spurgeon. It just
thrilled me. As we have heard, so have we
seen. Here, in the city of God. God
will establish it, his promises, and his church forever. The gates of hell, Bruce quoted
it, shall not prevail against her. They tried to bring it down
and never shall. Verse 9, We have thought of thy
lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple. When do
you ever think of the lovingkindness of God more than you do here?
Huh? Tell me that. If we're honest,
we'll say we get so caught up in the world most of the time
that we forget God. Don't we? But then God doesn't forget us.
And what's He do? Calls us. And we come, we sit
down, far from the maddening crowd, in the city of God, and
He reminds us. And we start thinking on His
loving kindness. We go out there and we see all
this hate, and all this malignity, and all this darkness, and evil,
and wickedness. We come in here, He brings us
back in here, and we think on His loving kindness. Loving kindness. The greatest
loving kindness is for Him to bring you to hear the Gospel.
David said that your loving kindness is better to me than life. Can you really say this? that it doesn't get any better
than this. Can you say that? It will get
better when we get there. When we can worship without sin,
it will get better. But down here, it doesn't get
any better than this. You may hear a better preacher
if you want to hear a better message, a better gospel. Can
you say that? We've thought of your love and
kindness in the midst of the temple. Verse 10, according to
thy name, O God, so is thy praise. He's the Lord. He's the Lord. He really is. God. Creator. Sovereign. Judge of all the earth.
Merciful. Gracious. Forgiving. Iniquity. All manner of sin.
Oh, His praise. That'll make you praise Him a
lot. If you're a great sinner, Thy right hand is full of righteousness."
Who's that? Christ. So, verse 11, let Mount
Zion rejoice. Let the daughters of Judah be
glad because of thy judgments. Our God is judge of all the earth
and He does what is right. Whatever He's doing is right.
Whatever He does for us and to us is right, just, and good,
and for our good. Aren't you glad He's the judge?
He is. His judgments, that means His
dealings everywhere with everyone, especially His people, are right. Look at verse 12. Walk about
Zion. Go around the matter. We preached
on this one thing. A tour of Zion. Take a walk around
this city. Take a walk around. Go round
about. Tell the towers thereof. Count
the towers. Listen to this. Listen to this. Isaiah 62. Isaiah 62. Let me
just read this for you. Count the towers. There's many
towers round about this city. In verse 6 it says, I've set
watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem. They'll never hold their peace,
day or night. He that make mention of the Lord keep not silence.
How many towers and how many watchmen has God placed around
this city to cry out this herald of the gospel? God sent us a
good one, didn't He? For three days. Mark, count the
towers there. Listen to this. Watchmen? Hey, watchmen. Sitting up in
that tower. What of the night? What of the
night? Well, he said, the morning's
coming. In other words, it sure is dark.
The morning's coming. Son of righteousness is about
to come. That's the last chapter in Isaiah. With healing in His
wings. Just wait and you'll see. That's
what we keep crying in the watchman. Oh, man. Look at verse 13. Mark well the bulwarks. Bulwarks. Ed, that's an old sailing term. In a sailing ship, these big
cannons would fly into the side of these ships and they would
make walls, enforce walls to keep those cannonballs from flying
through there and killing everybody. And then in a castle, you'd be
surrounded with bulwarks, thick walls, sometimes six and eight
feet thick, that the fiercest armory could not go through those
walls. Salvation has our God appointed
for bulwarks. That's Isaiah 26. I will keep
him in perfect peace. A mighty fortress is our God.
His mind has stayed on Him. Mark those bulwarks. Consider
her palaces. Tell it to the generations following.
Tell it to your children. Son, daughter, come to Christ. Come get in the ark. There's
no safety anywhere else. Four, in closing, this God is our God. Forever and ever. This God is our God forever and
ever. He will be our guide even unto
death. Guide me, O thou great Jehovah,
pilgrim through this barren land. He'll be our guide even unto
death. You know what He's going to do? He has determined the place,
the time, and the means of your death. And you can't pass it. And when He brings you to that
point, you'll be glad. You'll lie down in peace and
rest. And then you know what He's going
to do for you? Take you to glory. Now what's there to fear about
that? So leave it to Him. He's your guide through everything
in this life. He's bringing you through everything.
He's sending it, and He's bringing you through it, even unto death.
And that is of Him, too, your death. Our God's great. This God is our God. Okay, stand
with me.