Let's go to Psalm 87. We began a study in this psalm
a few weeks ago and I hope to finish it up this evening. Psalm 87. The psalm has to do with a place
called Zion. Zion originally, and literally
was a location in Israel. That's where Jerusalem was. But in the Old Testament and
in the New, Zion means more than just a physical location in Israel. It has to do with the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It has to do with the redeemed
of God, It has to do with spiritual Israel. And this evening, I want
to finish up our study in Psalm 87 by talking about Zion's census. You know what a census is when
everybody is counted. Well, I direct your attention
now to Psalm 87 and verse 6. says, the Lord shall count. And I assure you his count is
accurate when he takes a census. The Lord shall count when he
writeth up the people, that is the people of Zion, that this
man was born there, and then he uses the word Selah, as well
the singers as the players on instruments shall be there, all
my springs are in thee." I want to tell you five things about
Zion tonight, so I'll keep it simple. It's five points that
I want to bring out to you. Number one, about Zion. And now
I'm thinking about spiritual Zion. I'm not making reference
to the literal city of Zion or Mount Zion where Jerusalem was. I'm talking about the people
of God now. The spiritual application and
the spiritual usage of the word Zion. Here are five things about
Zion. Number one. And for this, I want
you to go right back to that Psalm Joe read to us, Psalm 132. Psalm 132. And verse 13. Here's the first thing that we
learn about Zion, about the people of God, about true Israel, about
the church of our Lord Jesus Christ, Psalm 132 verse 13, for
the Lord hath chosen Zion. Now, Jerusalem of old, and I'll
go back to the literal city now, was no different from any other
Canaanite city or town. It was steeped in superstition,
in idolatry and in false religion. But God chose that location where
he would establish the capital of Israel and then later the
capital of Judah. God chose that location. David captured it. That's where
Solomon built the temple, and that's where the Lord dwelt.
And I'll make a spiritual application now. The people of God, the people,
the spiritual Israel, the spiritual Zion, no different from any other
people in the world, we're all sinners. We're all fallen. You see, the choice of God of
these people to make up Zion was not a choice based upon that
which God saw pertaining to and having to do with the people
that he decided to choose. He didn't choose people because
they were better than others or more receptive to the gospel
than others or more prone to read the Bible than others. The
people of God by nature are just like everybody else, alienated
from God, sinful, rebellious, We turn aside from the right
way, from the appointed way of grace and the appointed way of
salvation. We're born in sin. We were drinking
iniquity like water, defiant, depraved, dead in trespasses
and sins, worshiping a false Jesus, a false God, living for
self, but unbeknownst, to these people who make up Zion. God loved her with an everlasting
love. She didn't have any idea about
that. And the Lord in old eternity, He chose a people unto salvation. Not because of what He foresaw
that they might do. He chose them because He willed
to do it. He loved these people with an
everlasting love, though the people he loved don't know anything
about that love until the Spirit of God reveals the love of God
to them through the Lord Jesus Christ and His work of redemption. These people were chosen in grace. If you're a believer, You are
a believer because God chose you unto salvation before the
world began. And it wasn't because of anything
He saw in you that drew His affection toward you. There was nothing
lovely about you. He chose you because He loved
you, and He loved you because He would. That was the purpose
of His will from the beginning. Zion's a people chosen unto salvation
and predestinated to be the children of God through the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, like Jerusalem of old, the
city, the Lord's people was a stronghold
of false religion. That's what we were in. You see,
before David came along, this Jerusalem or Zion of old was
a stronghold of the Jebusites. And the people there didn't worship
God. They didn't know anything about
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. They didn't know anything about
how the God of the Bible saved sinners. They were wrapped up
in worshiping false idols. But God determined that this
city would be the place of His abode in the temple. And even
so, the people of God, chosen in grace, were an idolatrous
people. That was us. And our first idol
was the worship of self. We're always looking out for
self. That's what we try to do. But like David conquered Zion,
So the son of David, David's son and David's Lord, he conquers
Zion. He conquers us in the heart.
He's the mighty conqueror. He's the victor. And if you're
one of His own and you haven't been brought to know Him yet,
I promise you at some time in your life, the Lord Jesus Christ
will come to you in sovereign amazing power and He'll conquer
you by His grace and He'll draw you unto Himself in a way that
you can't resist. Luther. I read a little bit Martin
Luther had to say this afternoon. He said, the choosing grace of
God makes certain that the Lord will overthrow every kind of
false religion that His people are involved in. Every religion of man's own invention
and choosing, He will overthrow them in order to bring those
people unto himself through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the
God we worship. He overthrows all of his foes
and all of our enemies. Look at the rest of verse 13.
He hath desired it for his habitation. This was by divine determination. God has desired, God has craved,
God has all along intended to set up His throne and His residence
in the hearts of His people. He will have the people of His
choice. He will have Himself to be known
by us because He will reveal Himself to us by the power of
His Spirit through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
chose us and He desired us. And He desired a people who are
by nature a bunch of undesirables. There's nothing about us that
would cause God to desire us. And yet He craves His people. He prefers us above all people
that have ever lived. The Lord's desire to dwell with
his children, with his people, is not based upon our own worthiness,
for we have none, but based upon the good pleasure of his will. Christ has purchased us. The
sweet savor of redeeming grace comes to us, and God looks upon
us, and he's well pleased for Christ's sake. Notice what he says in verse
14. He says, this is my rest forever. Where does God rest? Where does God dwell? Well, you
could say God dwells in heaven. That's true. There's no physical
location that can hold the presence of God because God is omnipresent. God is everywhere. That's the
reason he said in Isaiah, where's the building you're going to
build that'll hold me? And yet he makes his residence
in his people. And Zion, now there will come
a day when all of Zion will be gathered together in glory. We
know that. All of the converts, all of the
chosen people, gather to Him in glory, and that will be the
end of time as we know it. But the Lord says, I dwell with
these people. Here will I dwell. Notice at
the end of verse 14, He used the same word, desired, once
again. He desires to dwell with us. Now, I said that in the end,
all of Zion will be gathered together, but there are little
pockets of Zion that meet all over the world. And wherever Zion is meeting,
you may rest assured the presence of God will be there. Because
He desires to meet with us. This is a very amazing thing. I desire to meet with Him, don't
you? I desire greatly to meet with
God. I desire all of us to meet with
God tonight. But there's a desire infinitely
greater than our desire. It's the desire of God. And God
desires to meet with us. He said, that's my rest forever. And when He says that, that means
He'll never leave us and He'll never forsake us. That gives great assurance because
if the Lord is not going to leave us, if He has desired Zion for
His habitation, that means we have everlasting life. We have
a salvation that none can take from us. a salvation that will
never be, that we will never forsake. He who brought us unto
himself will keep us. He who gave us an interest in
the gospel of the grace of God in Christ will maintain that
interest. The children of God will not
leave the Lord and the Lord will not leave his children. The Lord says, I've desired this. And you can mark it down, whatever
God desires, God will have. He will not be turned away. He
will not be frustrated. He has eternally desired His
children and He will be with us forever. There will never
be a time throughout all of our lifetimes and throughout all
of eternity that the Lord's presence will not be with us, with you
and with all of His children. Notice what He says in verse
15, I will abundantly bless her provision. abundantly blessed? Well, yes, because Ephesians
1 says we were blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly
places in Christ. God withholds no good thing from
his people. Every blessing, every spiritual
blessing that he gives to any of his other children, he has
already given to you and he's given to me. He keeps back nothing. You say, well, I'm not blessed
with great riches. I beg your pardon. You're blessed
with the riches of his grace. You're blessed with the riches
of his mercies. You're blessed with his great
salvation. I will abundantly bless her provision."
And He says, I will satisfy her poor with bread. Poor? That's us. That's us. Spiritually penniless. We have
nothing to contribute. And the Spirit of God shows us
our sinfulness and He shows us our spiritual poverty. He satisfies us with bread. What is this bread? Well, it's
the living bread that came down from heaven, our Lord Jesus Christ. He blesses us with the Son of
God who loved us and who gave himself for us. He satisfies
us with bread and wine. You remember when Abraham came
back from defeating the kings? And he was met with a man who
was the high priest in Salem. And his name was Melchizedek.
And he gave to Abraham bread and wine. Bread to strengthen. Bread to nourish. Wine to make
the heart merry. and cause us to rejoice. And
today as we have met this morning and we meet again tonight, the
Lord gives us the living bread that came down from heaven. Eat
to your full. This is a blessed provision from
God. He gives us the Lord Jesus Christ. And he gives us the wine of the
gospel that makes the heart merry It gives us happiness. I have full forgiveness. I stand
in the righteousness of Christ. I've been washed in the blood
of the Lamb. That makes me happy. And I drink
in this gospel as often as I can because it meets my heart's needs
and it leaves me rejoicing. There's so many things around
us today in your family, perhaps, certainly in the world, and even
in your own heart, I'm sure, things that disappoint us. But I tell you, there's no disappointment
in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's joy in Him. and we rejoice
in Him. And the Lord is not finished
talking about Zion in verse 16, as Joe read to us a little bit
ago. It says, I will also clothe her priests with salvation and
her saints shall shout aloud for joy. Clothe her priests. We are kings and priests together
through Christ Jesus. I'm a priest and you're a priest.
I'm not going to enter into some room and a fellow on the other
side says confess your sins now and I'll absolve you of your
guilt. I'm not going to do that. He's
no priest. He's a devil. The people of God are priests.
I don't need somebody else to go into the presence of God for
me except the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the great high priest, but
I'm a priest. I go to God through Christ. Christ
said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. He's my great high priest, and
as a priest, I can enter into the presence of God. The way
into the presence of God has been opened for me by the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The veil has been rent from top
to bottom, and I'm free to come boldly into the throne of grace
and into the presence of God. I will also clothe her priests
with salvation, the robe of righteousness, and her saints shall shout aloud
for joy. There will I make the horn of
David to bud. Who is that but Christ Jesus
himself? The horn of David, that one who
has all power, the horn is symbolic of power and authority. That's
our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord says, I will make the
horn of David to bud, to blossom, to bear fruit. Our Lord Jesus
Christ is the successful Savior, and He will have a people. He
will have the people that He redeemed to come to Him. They will be born of the Spirit,
be brought to faith in Christ, and they will be fruit, born,
and produced to the glory of God by the Son of God. And then
he continues, I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed. God
has ordained in Zion a light, the light. John said, John the
Baptist said, I'm not the light. I'm not the light. I come to
bear witness of a light. The light is our Lord Jesus.
when all of Zion gathers together in everlasting glory. There'll
be no need of the sunshine, there'll be no need of the moon, for the
lamb is the light in the city of God, and the city of God is
another name for Zion. And upon himself shall his crown
flourish. Our Lord Jesus can never be defeated,
he will flourish. His kingdom will flourish until
all of the people of God have been brought into everlasting
salvation. The scripture talks about him
being crowned with honor and glory as he now sits at the right
hand of the God who reigns on high. So what do we know about
Zion? Chosen by the Lord. Here's the
second thing I want to tell you about Zion. Go to Psalm 69. Psalm 69. And here's God's determination. And he's never going to be disappointed
for his determination always comes to pass. Psalm 69 verse
35, for God will save Zion. Oh, I like that. God will save
Zion. There's no question about it.
It doesn't say God will save Zion if they will do thus and
so, if they will cooperate, if they will repent, if they will
believe. Oh no, God will save Zion. This was His eternal determination. This was His purpose of grace.
I will save my people. and He has saved us from eternity,
and He saved us by the death of Christ at the cross of Calvary,
and we will experience this salvation wrought by the Holy Spirit within
our hearts. God will save Zion. Didn't the angel say to Joseph
in Matthew chapter 1, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. For he, what's the next word? Shall save his people from their
sins. God will save Zion and all the
opposition of hell. Can't stop that. You can't stop
God from doing His work to save sinners. And I'm going to go
quickly, I want you to go to Isaiah chapter 1. Here's the
third thing. The Lord has chosen Zion. The Lord has determined that
Zion will be saved. And now Isaiah chapter 1, Zion
was redeemed by our Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah chapter 1. Here's a prophecy from the pen
of Isaiah. Zion shall be redeemed with judgment
or with justice, and her converts with righteousness. Zion shall be redeemed. We sing,
redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Was that a real redemption
when Christ died? Or was He just making redemption
available if you choose to accept it? That's what a lot of people
believe. But the redemptive work of our
Lord Jesus was ordained before the world began and accomplished
at the cross of Calvary. And all that He bought He must
have, He will have. When you go to the store and
you buy something, you expect for that cashier to then give
you your purchase, don't you? What if the cashier said, well,
I know you paid for it, but you're not gonna get it. Well, that
wouldn't be fair. Everybody our Lord Jesus Christ
has redeemed, He will have, He must have. He paid the price
of redemption. The price of redemption was His
own death. He has rendered satisfaction
to the justice of God. and therefore all for whom Jesus
Christ died was buried and rose again, they have been redeemed. Their sins have been remitted
by the blood of Christ. It's not your repentance that
causes forgiveness to be realized or to be made. It's not your
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that puts your sins away. It's
the blood of the Lamb of God. It's the death that satisfied
God, satisfied justice. That's the reason it says, Zion
shall be redeemed with justice. One of the things that people
in religion don't get people in false religion don't give
any thought to whatsoever is the satisfaction that God's justice
absolutely demands. They leave that out. I attended a funeral, or I watched
a funeral, I should say, on the internet just a few weeks ago. And the emphasis was on You believe. You must repent and you must
believe. Well, there's the necessity of
repentance and there's the necessity of believing. But those things
are the results of the grace of God at work in you and there
was really nothing hardly at all said about that which satisfied
divine justice and put sin away. Why did Christ die? Did he accomplish
anything? And in the minds of most people,
they think, well, he just made salvation available. And if that's
your idea of salvation, you got it wrong. You're way off base
on that. It was the satisfaction of divine
justice by the death of Christ. And therefore, her converts come to Christ because of righteousness
established by the blood of the Lord Jesus. Well, let me give
you something else here because I've got to go quick and I don't
want to get all this in. Psalm 102. Okay, the Lord has
chosen Zion. The Lord has determined that
Zion shall be saved. Zion was redeemed by the Lord. Now, number four, when Zion is
built, that's when the Lord's coming back. Psalm 102. Psalm 102. A lot of people are talking now
about the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. And all of the
church of God, all of Zion has been on the tiptoes of faith
for 2000 years ever since our Lord went back to glory. We've
been looking for him. Well, when's that gonna happen?
Psalm 102, verse 16. It's pretty clear here. Psalm
102, verse 16. When the Lord shall build up
Zion, When Zion is built, when all the stones in that spiritual
building have been brought in, quarried, or cut out of the quarry
of the world, and brought to salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ,
when the Lord shall build up Zion, that's when He's gonna
appear in glory, and not until then. All of the elect must be
saved, and then the end will come. Nancy was reading to me
something somebody put on the internet about the Lord wouldn't
destroy the world again by water, but he will destroy it by fire
and talks about wars and rumors of war and all that kind of stuff. You go ahead and look for signs.
I'm not looking for signs. An evil and adulterous generation
looking for signs. I'm looking for the Savior. That's
who I'm looking for. And I know when he's gonna come
back. Well, Jim, give me the date and I'll write it down.
Well, I don't know the date. But I know he's coming back someday,
and I know what is going to precede his appearance. All of Zion will
be saved, and then that's when the end's gonna come. That's
what I believe. Because that's what it says here.
It's exactly what it says. When the Lord shall build up
Zion, well, what's gonna happen then? He shall appear in his
glory. And that's the end. And then go right back to Psalm
87. Zion shall be counted then and
dwell with the Lord forever. That's what our text says. Zion
shall be counted, the Lord shall count when he writeth up the
people that this man was born there, Siloam. Now obviously,
this is not a literal book. When he writes up the people
in a book, when that final day arrives, as it were, and this
is, we can better comprehend this, gonna be two books. The Lamb's Book of Life, and
here's a catalog of every name of God's elect from the first
ones, and I believe that's Adam and Eve, all the way down to
the last one as the catalog. He's got another book over here
of all the converted ones, all the names in Zion. It's going
to be a census taken. And I know this. Every name in
this book is gonna be in this book too. When the Lord counteth
up the people, nobody will be missing. Everybody God intended to save,
he saves. We say, well, is that gonna be
every person who ever lived? No, no sir, no ma'am, that's
not possible. But everybody He chose into salvation,
their names are going to be in that other book too. Every person
that Christ redeemed and bought, their names are going to be there,
and every person the Holy Spirit has revealed to their hearts,
Christ is all. Christ is the Savior. Salvation
is by grace. All who have been regenerated,
born again by the power of the Spirit, Their name will be in
that book, in that final census when God counts. Brother Mahan, I believe I heard
him say this many years ago, he was preaching for me down
in Rocky Mount, Virginia, and he made this statement. Be lots
of room in heaven, plenty of room in heaven, he said, but
no empty seats. No empty seats. Everybody that
God desired to be there, everybody that God determined to be there,
they will be there. And there will be a lot of room
in heaven, but there won't be any empty seats. This census, when is that going
to be done? When time shall be no more. When there comes the day of separation. when the Lord separates the sheep
from the goats. You read Matthew 25. The Son
of Man's coming. It's gonna be a great separation.
Actually, the separation was made before the world was created. But in the end, there will be
a revelation of that separation. And the shepherd will do the
dividing, sheep on the right hand and goats on the left. What is this census concern?
Well, it has to do with individuals. Notice it says in verse 5, well, even the last line of verse
4, this man was born there. That's the last statement of
verse four. Now look at verse five, and of Zion it shall be
said, this and that man was born in her and the highest himself
shall establish her. Verse six, the Lord shall count
when he writeth up the people that this man was born there.
In other words, this is a personal thing. Not gonna be families gathered
together, it's gonna be you. You're not going to be there
with your wife standing before the Lord. You're not going to
be there with your children. Your children are not going to
be there with you. It will be you individually standing before God. And you
will stand either in the beautiful, imputed righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ, or you'll stand there in your filthy rags
of Self-righteousness and unrighteousness to be cast into hell. It's a
very personal thing. This man, this man, that man,
said, well, I hope our whole family's together there when
we stand before the Lord. Won't be like that. It's just
gonna be you. Unless you're one of the Lord's
people, and it'll be you and Christ. you and Christ has to do with
individuals. And this census doesn't concern
trivial matters. It concerns the issue of salvation. Who will take the census? The Lord. Who else could do it? Who else is qualified? And why will he take this census? Well, certainly not for his benefit, because the foundation of the
Lord standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that
are his. Well, why then? The Lord will
count his people. There'll be a census to show
how much he values each one of his children. You who are believers, listen
to me, you are a trophy of His grace. That's what you are. He chose you, He perspired to
save you, He redeemed you, He desired you, and you'll be with
Him forever. The Lord will take a census.
He will count his people in that day to show Satan his utter defeat. Behold, I am the children that
God has given me. All of them will be there. All
of us shall be there to show the certainty of God's everlasting
decree. Our Lord Jesus said this, and
this is the Father's will. And I kind of cupped my hand
behind my ear, what is the Father's will? The Savior said, and this is
the Father's will, which has sent me that of all that he has
given me, I should lose nothing, nothing. but should raise it up again
at the last day. This final census will show the
impossibility of the purpose of God in salvation of ever being
defeated. And then the last verse says,
as well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there.
All my springs are in thee. Every blessing that comes to
me comes from God. He's the spring. He's the source. And the blessings come to us.
What a privilege to be numbered in Zion. To be among God's people. And to have this blessed assurance
that the Lord says, I'm with you. Always. In your darkest
hour, when you've got so many troubles, you can't count them
all, when it seems like the world is against you, and it is, when it seems like there are
all kinds of troubles and trials and difficulties or sicknesses,
all those things, the Lord says, I am with you. Always. Always. Because the Lord has purposed
to make Zion his habitation. It's one of the delights that
I have is coming to public worship because the Lord has said, I'll
be where Zion's at. And we love him for it and we
praise him. Well, let's sing a closing song,
shall we? Number 443.