studying Psalm and Psalm 87. And I want you to go back to
Psalm 87 this evening. Psalm 87. A whole Psalm is about
the city of God, Zion. And I'll read verses 1, 2, and
3. to you once again. Psalm 87,
his foundation is in the holy mountains. That is the foundation
of all blessings, of all gifts, the foundation of Zion, which
is the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. The foundation is in the Lord
himself. Second verse, the Lord loveth
the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Thank
God for his everlasting love to his covenant people. Love
that had no beginning. Love that will never end. Love
that did not find its cause in us. and therefore a love that
will never be cut off or exhausted because of the sins in us. God loved us because he would
love us. He willed to love us. The Lord
chose us unto salvation and he put us among the number of his
children because he loved us always in Christ. Now this evening,
focus on the third verse, where we read, glorious things of thee
are spoken, are spoken of thee, O city of God. And then all the
translations say Selah, which means stop, take the time to
think about what's been said. Glorious things of thee are spoken. Tonight's message is Zion, the
Lord's City. What does the word glorious mean? Well, it means wonderful, honorable, delightful, wonderful, honorable,
and glorious things. are spoken of Zion, Zion being
the city of God. That was true of the liberal
city of Zion, that is Jerusalem, the city of David. David conquered
the city. David is the one who named Jerusalem
to be the capital of Israel. We first read of Jerusalem by
the name of Salem way back in the book of Genesis where Melchizedek
was king of Salem and he met Abraham returning from this victory
over the kings who had invaded and they took Lot as a hostage. They stole the possessions of
the people but mainly because of Lot. Abraham went to get revenge
and he whipped the kings. And as he was making his way
back in his weariness, a man by the name of Melchizedek, he
was a high priest of Jerusalem or of Salem, the city of peace,
he met him. And he gave him bread and he
gave him wine. Melchizedek, the apostle, tells
us in the book of Hebrews was a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the great high priest of his people, who feeds us with that
bread from heaven and who gives us to drink of the wine of the
gospel. The wine of the gospel makes
our hearts merry. What is more cheerful than receiving
such a wonderful message of salvation altogether by grace through the
doing and the dying of our Lord Jesus Christ and revealed to
our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are spiritual Jerusalem. We're spiritual Zion. We're the city of peace. God
is not at war with us. He never has been. We have never
been His enemy. We've been His enemy, I should
say, but He hasn't been our enemy. He's always stood for us. He's
always ruled for us. He's always been merciful to
us, and He ordained our salvation back in eternity past. The literal
city of Jerusalem was a magnificent city, glorious things, honorable
things are spoken of the literal city of Jerusalem. It was full
of inhabitants, full of houses. It was the capital of Israel.
That's where later Solomon would build the temple. That was the
seat, the headquarters of the kings of Israel. It was a place
where God was worshiped. It was a place where God received
sacrifices from the priesthood. It was an honorable city. It
was a respected city. Glorious things were spoken of
in the streets of Jerusalem because people spoke of the greatness
of God. They spoke of the mercy of God.
They spoke of the faithfulness of God. They rehearsed with each
other the story of God's mercies to Israel, and how God had formed
this country for Himself, and how through hundreds of years
He had protected the city. It was a glorious city, this
city of Jerusalem. And folks were taught the truth
there. They were taught the Word of
God. They remembered what blessings God had poured out upon the people
of Israel. This city, this city of Jerusalem
pictured another city, the true Zion, the true Jerusalem, the
city of peace. Glorious things was foretold
of Zion. Zion, the people of God. Zion,
who were made the righteousness of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Zion, who was saved by the grace
of God, according to His determinate counsel and foreknowledge. Zion, built upon the solid rock
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Zion, the church is glorious,
for she's redeemed at the cost of the very Son of God, who laid
down His life that all of Zion would be redeemed. She is glorious. Zion is a glorious city. This
is the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. She has existed for hundreds
and hundreds of years, and she will continue to exist throughout
eternity. She is the city of our God. Our
Lord has made Zion, true Jerusalem, the true city of God. He's made
it to be where He dwells. He dwells where His people are.
He dwells wherever there's a congregation of folks. We have a new pastor
in our midst this evening. Our brother, Danny, was called
to be the pastor over at tri-state missionary Baptist church. And
he was over there preaching this morning. And of course, Alan
is a pastor of a church. And here I am pastoring this
church. God has taken care of Zion through
the years. And no matter how small that
the local church may be, it's still the people of God. It's
the sheep of the Lord's pasture over which he's the shepherd
He's the great shepherd. He's the chief shepherd. He's
the good shepherd over all of his people. And he gives under
shepherds the responsibility of feeding the sheep. Our Lord
said to Simon Peter, shortly before he ascended back to glory,
he said to Simon Peter, feed my sheep, feed my sheep. Don't beat the sheep, feed the
sheep. Don't go around fussing at the
sheep. Feed the sheep. They're not your
sheep. They're the Lord's sheep. He
has redeemed his sheep. And in every location where the
gospel of God's grace is being delivered, there's a little part
of Zion there where God dwells. You wanna find
out where God dwells? Well, obviously, he dwells in
glory. He dwells in heaven. He said,
heaven is my throne. The earth is my footstool. Where
does God dwell? He dwells in heaven. He dwells
in a glory and a holiness all his own. Where does God dwell? He dwells with his people. He
dwells with his church. He dwells with Zion. And he says
to all of Zion, he says to all of his people, I will never leave
you and I will never forsake you. Just like the literal city
of Jerusalem, the church of our Lord Jesus is glorious, but even
more glorious than that literal city. This is the city that our
Lord visited quite often during the days that he spent in this
world. He taught in the streets of Jerusalem. He performed miracles in the
city of Jerusalem. He went into the temple, and
though his ministry was frowned upon by most of the religious
leaders of the city, still our Lord blessed that temple by his
own presence. It was a temple that was erected
to begin with to honor God as a place of worship, as where
God would be magnified through the preaching of the gospel and
through the sacrifices that were offered, each one of them picturing
the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord honored the
temple by visiting it and by teaching there. but he was despised
and rejected of men. That was the temple that was
built by Solomon, for they honored the praise and the glory of God. But in our Lord's day, the Lord
wasn't honored there. He wasn't praised there. He was
mocked there. by a bunch of self-righteous
religionists who knew absolutely nothing about the grace of God,
who had no interest in the glory of God. They were really interested
in glorifying and magnifying themselves. And when our Lord
Jesus Christ came along, preaching the kingdom of God, preaching
that He was the Son of God, they would have none of His preaching.
They would not stand for what He said. Our Lord, right toward
the end of His public ministry, He made what the writers called
His triumphant entry into Jerusalem. People lined the streets, the
streets of Zion, the streets of the Holy City as they called
it, the streets of Jerusalem. They lined the streets celebrating
His entrance into the city. This is the great warrior, this
is the great King who's going to deliver us from Roman oppression. People bowed down and honored
Him. But they didn't honor Him as
the Savior of sinners. They honored him because they
thought he would release them from the bondage of Rome. They had no interest in the salvation
that he preached. They had no interest in him being
the sacrifice for sins because they didn't even consider themselves
to be sinners. We be not sinners, they said. Therefore, when John the Baptist
went about baptizing those, the baptism of repentance, people
who had repented of their sins, they said, we need cleansing.
We need cleansing by the sacrifice of the seed of the woman, believing
him, trusting him. They said, John baptizes. baptizes,
not to have their sins remitted, not to have their sins forgiven,
but because their sins had been forgiven. And it was a sign of
repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But
the religious self-righteous group, they would not submit
to John's baptism because they didn't need any repentance. They weren't sinners. They didn't
need the grace of God, I do. They didn't need the mercy of
God, I do. They didn't need the righteousness
of Christ, I do. They didn't need cleansing by
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, I do. And all of Zion does, and
God will bring everybody in Zion to see, tis only by the grace
of God, that I have learned that Christ is the only Savior and
He's the only way to God. And His sacrifice is the only
sacrifice that God will ever receive. It's the means of our
salvation. Zion, you see, the city, the
true city of God. I'll tell you why she's glorious.
Because our Savior is glorious. And he dwells with us. He dwells
among us. But the liberal city of Jerusalem,
they forsook the worship of God. Turn with me to Jeremiah. Let me show you a verse over
here in Jeremiah chapter two. of Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter
two. And I remind you, it was in Jerusalem
where he was especially hated. In fact, toward the end of our
Lord's public ministry, he didn't go into Jewry, as he called it,
because they were ready to kill him then. So he stayed in Galilee
primarily, primarily, until the time came for him to be crucified. They hated him because of his
claim of deity. They hated him because he said
he was the son of God and they crucified him for that. For when he said he was the Son
of God, they said, this is blasphemy. And the high priest rent his
clothes. And he said to the rest of the
Sanhedrin, you've heard what he has to say. You have heard
from his own lips. When I said, art thou the Son
of God, you heard this man, Jesus of Nazareth say, thou saddest. You said the truth. No more discussion. Let's vote. And they all voted
to have him executed. And they pleaded with Pilate,
you gotta kill this man. And yet his death in Jerusalem,
just outside of Jerusalem, his death fulfilled God's eternal
purpose. For he was himself the Lamb of
God slain from before the foundation of the world. He died for sinners
according to God's eternal purpose and decree of grace. The only
way God could be a just God and a Savior was through the death
of our Lord Jesus Christ. The city of Jerusalem, that place where God was to be
worshiped and adored, that place God set aside as the capital
of Israel, Their David reigned, their Solomon reigned, their
the kings of Judah reigned, with several of them still believing
the things of God. They turned their backs on the
truth of God. Are you in Jeremiah chapter two?
Look at verse 13. The Lord condensed all of their
sins into two sins. all of their ungodliness into
two transgressions. The Lord said in Jeremiah 2.13,
for my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain
of living waters. That's sin number one. Evil,
number one, they have forsaken me. Who else can save but God? Who else can give spiritual life
but God? Who else can forgive sins but
God? Who else can purify the polluted
but our God? But the Lord says, number one,
they've forsaken me, and I'm the fountain of living waters.
All life comes from me. All mercy comes from me. The
salvation that's typified by the living waters, they flow
from the throne of God, but they've forsaken me. And the second evil was this. They hewed them out cisterns,
broken cisterns that can hold no water. In other words, I would
put it this way. They turned their backs on grace
and embraced salvation by works. That's what they did. And all
false religion has within it, within them, these two basic
principles. Condense it down to this. They
don't want God. So they'll make up their own
God. They'll invent their own God. They won't have the truth.
They'll embrace error. They won't have grace. They'll
take works. And God said, these are the two
evils of Jerusalem, of the city of Jerusalem. They have forsaken me, the fountain
of living waters. You remember Our Lord Jesus said
to the woman at the well, if thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee,
give me to drink, thou wouldest asked of him, and he would have
given thee living water. You recall, I'm sure in John
chapter seven, The last day, the great day of the Feast of
Tabernacles, our Lord Jesus stood and cried saying, if any man
thirsts, if any man thirsts, do you thirst for salvation?
Do you thirst for righteousness? Do you thirst for peace with
God? Do you thirst for peace in your conscience that all is
well between you and a holy God? Do you thirst for this deliverance
from sin, from sin's penalty, and ultimately from sin's power
and sin's presence? Do you thirst? Do you thirst
to be saved from sin? Christ said, come to me and drink.
Let him come to me and drink. I like that, let him come. Forces
of evil, release him, let him come. All you self-righteous
religionists, you preachers who preach falsehoods, let him come. Let him come to me and drink
because there is no salvation in any other. In the New Testament, the descendants
of these Old Testament rebels did the same thing. rather than
drawing near to the Son of God, who has words of life, words of mercy, words of grace, words of the forgiveness of sins,
rather than draw near to our Lord Jesus Christ. Modern day rebels, have raised
up an altar and an idol and named it free will. Free will. And that is the altar where most
people worship today. Not God's sovereign will, not God's eternal determination
that cannot be frustrated, But man's free will is exalted even
above the will of God. They have committed and are committing
two great evils. They've forsaken God. They've
forsaken the things of God. They've hewed them out cisterns
that can't hold water. and therefore there is no salvation
in any of them. They turned their backs on God and embraced all manner of evil. You see, if you forsake the truth,
you open the doors to just anything and everything. These two sins always go together. If you forsake grace, you'll
embrace sin. Turn your back on salvation by
the Lord Jesus Christ, by the eternal purpose of God, by the
sovereign will of God, turn your back on the Lord, you will inevitably
turn to something else that involves you. That always happens. That always happens. Although the glory and the honor
of literal Jerusalem has ceased, in a spiritual sense, the city
of our God, the city which is a people chosen
unto salvation, redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus, called
by the Holy Spirit, the city of God, still goes on. She can't be stopped. Despite the lies of false prophets,
despite the people who oppose the teaching of the word of God
regarding salvation by God's free and sovereign grace, Zion
continues to prosper. Nobody can stop the purpose of
God or hinder what he's doing. Glorious things of thee are spoken. Honorable things of thee are
spoken of the city of God. Why, this is the sheepfold into
which the shepherd gathers his sheep. This is the family of
God to which all of the children of God have been gathered. Someone
asked me recently, do you think that we'll know one another in
heaven? I forget who asked me that actually,
but I've been asked several times. I think that we will know everybody
who's in heaven because they're family. You know
your family, don't you? Well, I'll tell you what, in
the family of God, we have many brothers and sisters. And doesn't
it say that we will sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob
in the city of God? We'll know who they are. Who's
that fellow over there? Why, that's Abraham. He believed
God. It's counted to him for righteousness.
Who is that fellow over there? Why, that's Enoch. He walked
with God because God drew him unto himself. Who is that fellow
over there? Why, that's Noah. He built an
ark to the saving of his household, thereby picturing our great Noah,
Christ himself. the ark of our salvation. I think
we'll know as we're known. That's just me. And if I'm wrong,
well, you won't even remember what I said when you get to glory
anyhow. So I'm safe on that right now.
For sure, for sure. But we're the family of God.
It's the city of God's choice. Turn with me to Psalm 132. Look at Psalm 132. This is the city of God's choice.
Psalm 132, look at verse 13. Mark it. Psalm 132, verse 13. For the Lord hath chosen Zion. Who did? You think Zion chose
the Lord? No, it's the Lord who chose Zion. He hath desired it. for His habitation. This is my rest forever, and
here I will dwell." The Lord says, "'For I have desired it.
I will abundantly bless her provision. I will satisfy her poor with
bread. I will clothe her priests with
salvation. and her saints shall shout aloud
for joy. There will I make the horn of
David to bud, Christ himself. I have ordained a lamp for mine
anointed. His enemies will I clothe with
shame, but upon himself shall his crown flourish." It's the
city of God's choice. and it is the city of our Lord.
Turn to Isaiah chapter 60. Isaiah chapter 60. And verse 14. Isaiah chapter 60, verse 14. The sons also of them that afflicted
thee shall come bending unto thee. And all they that despise
thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet. And
they shall call thee, this is the people of God now, this is
the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. They shall call thee
the city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. And then we get over into, Isaiah
62, where we were this morning, we find that Zion is the city
that the Lord delights in. Chapter 62 and verse 4. Thou shalt no more be termed
forsaken. Neither shall thy land any more
be termed desolate, but thou shalt be called Hephzibah. and
thy land Beulah, for the Lord delighteth in thee. The Lord
is satisfied with thee. And thy land shall be married,
that is married to the bridegroom, our Lord Jesus Christ. And this
city of Zion, it is a walled city. It is a protected city. And I'll tell you what the Lord
has done in putting a wall around His city, the city of Zion. He's put upon the walls of Zion
watchmen. Watchmen. To speak the truth to the city
of God. To warn of coming danger. and
to encourage troubled saints. The Lord places preachers where
he will. Look at verses eight and nine
of chapter 62. Excuse me, verse six. Verse six. I have set watchmen upon thy
walls, O Jerusalem. which shall never hold their
peace, day nor night. Ye that make mention of the LORD,
keep not silence, and give him no rest, till he establish, and
till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. Preachers are watchmen. God said,
I've set watchmen. upon thy walls. And he says,
number one, don't hold your peace. Preach. Preach the word. I said you preach the word of
God. Preach Christ crucified, buried,
risen again. Preach. Notice that he says this,
which shall never hold their peace day nor night. Day is light. That's when light
shines. Preach when people enjoy the
light. Preach when people believe the
light of the world who is Christ Jesus Himself. But oft times
it's night. There's a spiritual darkness.
Evil forces are against you. What shall I do then? Just keep
on preaching. Keep preaching. Or the apostle
Paul put it this way in 2 Timothy chapter 4. Preach in season and
out of season. When people want to hear what
you got to say, preach. Tell them the truth. Preach grace. Preach God's sovereign will,
preach election, preach redemption, preach effectual calling, preach
when they want to hear it. But when they don't want to hear
it, when it's nighttime, preach it still. Don't back off. Don't dull the sharp edges of
the gospel, just set forth the truth and God will bless it to
the hearts of those to whom he's pleased to bless it. Don't ever water the message
down to try to make it more receivable by people, more tasteful to people. The truth has always offended
the enemies of the gospel, and it always will. And with some
of us, when we first heard the truth, it offended us. I'm glad
that when it offended me, the preacher didn't back down and
say, well, I'm sorry it hurt your feelings. I'll ease up a
little bit. Oh no, don't ease up. As you think back through history,
the history of preaching, you'll find that some of the older writers
and some of the older preachers, toward the end of their ministry,
they seem to get a little soft. A little more Well, kind of compromising a
little bit. Let's just don't be too hard
on these false religionists, you know? They mean well. No, they don't mean well. They're
wolves out to devour. Let's don't get soft. Let's stay
firm in the gospel. Don't ease up. I hope that as
my ministry is dwindling down, because I know my ministry, I'm
74 years old, my ministry is a good bit of it's gone. The
years have gone by. I don't want to go soft. I don't
want to go easy. I want to go out into eternity
preaching the sovereign grace of God, preaching the Lord Jesus
Christ, the King of kings and the Lord of lords and salvation
by Him and through Him and only in Him. Let's don't ease off
now. I'm not saying be cruel. Don't
be cruel to people on purpose. And you, don't you be the offense. I don't wanna be the offense.
But if the truth of God's gospel offends you, I ain't gonna apologize. I won't do that. I'm not gonna
say, I'm sorry you don't believe this. No. You'll only believe it if God
reveals it. That's the only way you'll ever
believe. The Lord has his watchmen. And they speak the truth. Day and night. Notice what he
says also in verse six. Ye that make mention of the Lord
keep silent. Tell people who God is. They don't know. There's an ignorance
in religion today that it's as great as it ever has been. People
don't know anything about God. They really don't know anything
about the Lord Jesus Christ. They don't know why he came.
They don't know why he died. They don't know that salvation
is altogether of God's free and sovereign grace. They don't know.
Make mention of the Lord. Tell people who God is. That's
what he's saying. Brag on the Lord. Don't brag
on sinners. Well, we've got nothing to be
bragged about. We have no reason for pride.
What are we? Well, if we're part of Zion,
we're just sinners saved by grace. That's all. We've done nothing
for recognition. Speak to the people. Hold not
thy peace. Make mention of the Lord, keep
not silence. You see, there are a lot of false
watchmen out there. In fact, look back in Isaiah
56. There are a lot of false watchmen
out here. False prophets. Isaiah 56. In the book of Philippians,
Paul calls them dogs. So we shouldn't speak of preachers
that way. Well, Paul did. And I'll tell
you, Isaiah did too. Isaiah 56 verse nine, all ye
beasts of the field, you come to devour. Yea, all ye beasts
of the forest. His watchman, Satan's watchman. See, anything God has done, Satan
always has a counterfeit. Isn't that right? He's always
got a counterfeit. So he's got watchman. Verse 10, his watchman though,
they're blind. They don't see the truth. They
don't see how the God of the Bible saves sinners. They're
all ignorant. They're ignorant. I think I can rightfully say
that these false preachers, they're ignoramuses. That's what I'd
call them. They're ignorant. They don't
know who God is. If you ever find out who God is, you're gonna
fall down before him in worship now, and you'll shut your mouth. You'll stop bragging. They're ignorant. And he says
then, they're all dumb dogs. They're dumb dogs. They cannot
bark. In other words, they can't give
a clear message of salvation by God's grace. They're sleeping,
lying down, loving to slumber. They're lazy, they don't study.
He says in verse 11, they're greedy dogs, which can never
have enough. Reminds me of that Copeland fellow.
He said he wants to buy, I guess he did get enough money to buy
another jet. Said he wasn't gonna fly in the
air in a tube with a bunch of ungodly people. He wanted to
fly even higher to be closer to the Lord. Greedy dog. Covetous. Worth $700 million. The Roman Catholic Church is
fabulously wealthy. Why don't they feed the hungry?
They got the gold, they got the silver, they got the jewels, but they don't have any truth. False prophets. You see, here's the difference.
True watchmen preach grace. False watchmen preach works. True watchmen brag on the Lord
in the Trinity of His person. False watchmen brag on sinners. Well, we can't have church without
you. We need you. We need you. God can't fulfill His plan unless
you let Him. God needs you. Won't you let
Jesus save you? Whenever I hear any preacher
use the word let before the Lord, I just mark him off. He doesn't
know anything about the truth. You can't let God do anything. I believe he created the world
by the word of his power. He didn't ask you, will you let
me do this? And he doesn't ask you, will you let me save sinners? Will you let me give you a new
heart? Will you let me have my way? I tell you what, if your God needs
you to give you, to give him your permission to act, you got
the wrong God. You're just worshiping an idol.
And most people do. They do. Well, enough about these false
watchmen, but you go back to chapter 62. True watchmen. True watchmen
speak to the people the Word of God. Hold not thy peace. They
mention the Lord. And true watchmen, look at verse
7 of chapter 62. True watchmen in Zion, they pray to the Lord for grace
and salvation for those who know him not. Give the Lord no rest till he establish, until he make
Jerusalem a praise in the earth. Pray for sinners, pray to God
for sinners. If salvation's of the Lord, then
pray to him about the salvation of sinners. If salvation's not
of the Lord, if salvation's in the hands of sinners, in any
instant pray it. But it is up to the Lord. Give
him no rest. Pray. Preachers are called upon
to preach and pray, preach and pray, preach and pray. Woke up early this morning as
I usually do on Sunday mornings. praying about the message this
morning and tonight and praying for those who would listen. And
I just couldn't articulate it in my mind. And sometimes all that a fella
can do, all that a woman can do is say, Lord, help. Isn't that it? Lord, help. Help me to be a sounding board
for the truth. Help me to warn people, close
with Christ. Help me to honor the name of
my God. And I just, that's all I come
up with was help. Help me, Lord. Help me, Lord. Do something for me and do something
for people to whom I preach. quickly finish this message here.
In verses eight and nine, the Lord gives a promise of the certainty
of the expansion of Zion, that the Lord will save his people
by conquering the enemies. Look what the Lord says, or what
Isaiah says, the Lord has sworn by his right hand and by the
arm of his strength. Who is that? That's Christ our
Lord. And here's what God swears, here's
what God promises, that the enemy, the enemy is not going to win. And He expresses it this way,
Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies. Your enemies are not going to
triumph over you, they are not going to triumph over the gospel.
and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine for
the which thou hast labored. The enemy is not going to win.
They can't win. We're more than conquerors through
Christ who loved us. But they that have gathered it
shall eat it and praise the Lord. We'll eat the good gospel of
God's grace. We'll feast on the dainties of
the things of the Lord. And they that have brought it
together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness." Now,
preachers, watchmen, go through, go through the gates. Prepare
ye the way of the people. Cast up, cast up the highway. Gather out the stones. Lift up
a standard for the people. Tell people the way of grace,
the way of salvation, and gather the obstacles out of the way.
It's like those six cities of refuge. They had a road crew. And they'd go through, take,
if trees had fallen over the road, Because the cities of refuge,
six cities of refuge, they were very important. Man, if a man's
trying to escape for his life, he doesn't need any big boulders
in the way, and he needs the curves to be straightened out.
Make a straight way. Repair the bridges. And it's our job as preachers
of the gospel to take as many obstacles as we can out of the
way. and just declared the way to
God is Christ himself. And we lift up a standard for
the people. Christ is the standard. It's
like rally around the flag. Rally around the standard. Rally
around Christ Jesus. And he says in verse 11, behold,
the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, say ye
to the daughter of Zion. So now we're bringing it right
back around to Zion. Well, Isaiah and all the rest
of you prophets, what are you gonna say to Zion? Say this to
Zion, thy salvation cometh. He's coming. He's coming. And our message to people today
is He has come. He has come. Salvation cometh. Simeon looked in the face of
a little baby and he said, mine eyes have seen thy salvation. He's coming, that's what they
said. And our message is He has come. And behold, His reward
is with Him. What's His reward? Eternal life
and salvation. for all those in whose stead
he's gonna lay down his life. And his work is before him, the
work of redemption. And they shall call them, what
shall Zion be called? The holy people, separated by
God from old eternity. The redeemed of the Lord bought
with a price. And thou shalt be called sought
out, a city not forsaken, as the work of the Father, the Son,
and the Spirit. A holy people, the Father separated
us, chosen unto salvation. The redeemed of the Lord, there's
Christ our Savior, who bought us with his blood. And thou shalt
be called sought out, the work of the Holy Spirit. What is the Lord doing for Zion? He's seeking Zion. So see, many,
many of Zion, many of the Lord's chosen ones, redeemed ones, haven't
been called yet. So what do we do? Just keep on
preaching the gospel. And there's something about this
message that is miraculous in the hands of the Spirit of God.
and where there was once only death, there's life. It just happens by the power
of God. And he said, this city, look
at the last words of the chapter, this city, this city of Zion,
the city of God's habitation, this city shall never be forsaken. That's what our Lord Jesus said,
I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. He was
forsaken on the cross in order that the city, in order that
Zion would never be forsaken. Zion is a glorious city. Get your song books.