Psalm 87. Last Sunday evening
I began to speak from this psalm, Psalm
87, and I intend to go verse by verse through this psalm. Last week was kind of an introduction
to it, Now this evening I want to handle, if I can, the first
verse. His foundation is in the holy
mountains. Now here's the subject for tonight. Let me talk to you about Zion's
foundation. That's another thing for the
church, Zion. the family of God, Zion's foundation. Now we know from our studies
thus far that the church of our Lord is both local and it has
to be considered in a universal sense. We certainly believe that
the local church is God's institution in this world by which his gospel,
by which his truth, by which his worship and by which his
ordinances are maintained. The gathered assembly of God
in any location, in any generation, whether it be small or large,
is the house of God. And this local assembly just
like Brother Allen, where he pastors that local assembly,
is said to be the pillar and the ground of the truth. It's an honor to attend a local
church. It's an honor to be a member
of a local church. It's an honor to be supportive
of a local church. It's an honor to invite others
to come to a local church to hear the truth. This local church,
though the community doesn't recognize this, this is vital
to our community. It really is. And it's vital
to your family. And your family may or may not
attend here, but it is vital that they see from your actions,
from your attendance, just how important the local church is
to you. I tell you, public worship, I
believe, is the most important aspect of a believer's life.
public worship, when we join together, open our Bibles, and
see what God has to say to us. But not only is there a local
church, the church is used in a local sense, but It is also
spoken of throughout the New Testament as a universal church,
and by universal, I mean that the church of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the bride of Christ, the body of Christ, consists
of all of the people of God of every age, of every era, from
the beginning of the Old Testament, with the conversion and the worship
of Abel, And him assembling with his family, which is what I believe
he did, all the way to the end, it's just vital, a local assembly,
but also a universal church. I'm sure Paul is speaking of
this universal church in the book of Ephesians, chapter five,
where I read this morning, Christ loved the church and gave himself
for it. Who did Christ die for? He died for his church. He died
for Zion. He didn't die for everybody who
has ever lived. If he died for everybody who's
ever lived, then hell will be empty. Because people go to hell
because they owe a debt to God that wasn't paid by Christ. There are only two groups of
people in the end, the righteous and the wicked. Those who die
in debt to God and those who die having been released from
their indebtedness by the substitutionary sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Savior is said to be, in
the book of Ephesians, three times he's said to be the head
of the church. He's the king of the church.
He's the master of the church. Also in the book of Colossians,
the same thing is said. And I would say for any mortal
to assume the title of the head of the church, is equal to blasphemy. I know that man who's just been
voted in to be the new Pope. He claims to be the head of the
Church of Rome, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, but the
head of the Lord's Church on earth. He's called the Vicar
of Christ. He is not the substitute of Christ. He doesn't stand in the stead
of Christ in this world. He is not the head of God's church. He's the head of Babylon, false
religion. I agree with that. If you read
any of the old writers, the old Puritans, people who
wrote and doctrinal men, They all believed that the Pope was
the Antichrist. Well, I don't believe the Pope
is the Antichrist, but there's not a shadow of a doubt in my
mind but what he is Antichrist. He's not the head of the Lord's
Church. He is in many ways the head of
the largest false religious denomination in the world. but it doesn't
have anything to do with the Lord's church. I was thinking
about it, and just permit me to say a few things here. For
a man to say he's the vicar of Christ, that he's head of the
church, he might as well be saying, I'm the creator of all things.
That's just as blasphemous. He might as well be saying he's
the one who died for the church, just as blasphemous. To say that the pope is the head
of the church on earth is to say that he's the savior of the
church. It's to say that he's God. Our Lord Jesus is the head of
the church. He has never ceased to be the
head of the church, and he will never, never ever stop being
the head of the church. He's the redeemer of the church. He's the savior, the Bible says,
of the body, the Lord's body that is the church. You see,
there are but two heads when it comes to mankind. Our Lord
Jesus is the head of the Lord's people. And the devil is the head of
his people. That's the only two heads there
are. He's the head of those who persist in their unbelief and
disobedience. Our Lord Jesus is the sovereign
ruler, not only of the church, but of all principalities and
powers as well. There's nothing, there's nothing
that exists that isn't under the authority of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Now know that and rejoice in
that. And this church that our Lord
Jesus is building, and he is building, It says in the book
of Acts, the second chapter, the Lord added to the church
daily, such as should be saved. Who added? The Lord added. Who's
adding today? The Lord adds. Such as should
be saved. Why should they be saved? Because
of God's covenant of grace. He ordained their salvation.
Because of the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus Christ. because
of the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. They must be
saved. They must be saved because God
appointed them not to wrath. It's what Paul said in 1 Thessalonians
5. He hadn't appointed us to wrath.
He's appointed a lot of people unto wrath, but he hadn't appointed
us to wrath. He's appointed us to salvation. And he did that before the world
began. Our Lord Jesus, He's the head
of Zion. And Zion is God's word for the
church. Look here in Psalm 87, and I'm
just gonna read three verses, but I'm gonna deal with the first
one. His foundation is in the holy mountains, that is in the
holy hills. The Lord loveth the gates of
Zion, more than all the dwellings of Jacob. In other words, there's
no comparison between physical, literal Israel and spiritual,
eternal, true Israel. There's just no comparison. He
loves the gates of Zion. And then verse three, glorious
things of thee are spoken Glorious things are spoken of thee, O
city of God, Selah. Now you pause and think about
that. Don't just read over that and
then forget it. You could just stop reading and
dwell on this. That's what it means, dwell on
this. Think about this. This is the city of God. We're
talking about the occupants, the occupants of God's family,
the children of God's family. It's this universal church that
is in view here. Now, in thinking about Zion,
especially verse one, his foundation, I think about the word foundation
and it has a twofold meaning. The first meaning of foundation
is origin or originator. origin or originator. This is
the act of founding something. Ron could get up here and talk
about our founding fathers because he was a history teacher and
some of you others, history teachers. Talk about the founding fathers
of our country. They originated the formality
of it, the structure of it, and the constitution of it, and so
forth and so on. It's the act of founding something. That's what foundation means. If you mention a company, somebody
had to found that company. Someone had to be the founder
of a company. I'm from Bassett, Virginia. John D. Bassett, John David Bassett,
in 1902. He founded a company that still
exists. It's called Bassett Furniture
Company. He was the founder. He was the
originator of it. I had the honor of meeting one
of his grandsons. I was working there the summer
before Nancy and I got married, 1969. I told my uncle, he was a personnel
manager. I don't know what you call those
now, personnel manager, something else. What is that called? Human resources, thank you. Didn't
call it that back then, personnel manager. And he arranged, he
said, Jim, how many hours you want to work a week? I said,
as many as I can get. I'm saving up to go to college.
I'm saving up to get married. And he said, well, you want to
work vacation week. And I said, I do want to work
vacation week. As many hours as you can give
me. He said, well, that's when the plant shuts down and we need
some concrete floors torn out Can you run a jackhammer? I said,
you betcha. I never had, but they didn't
take long to teach me. It beat me to death, but it didn't
take long for me to learn how to jackhammer. So I was working
vacation week, and here come my uncle in with a man in a suit. He's with a man in a suit. And
my uncle motioned this, and I stopped the jackhammer. Jack Hammer,
and he said, he said, Jim, I want you to meet the man who's the
president of this company, J.D. Bassett. And he said, well, you're
working here on vacation week. I said, well, I'm going to get
married August the 2nd. And then we're both going away
to school, and I needed the money. He said, well, you better get
back to it then. That was the extent of our conversation. But
his grandfather founded that company. Founded it. He originated it. It's kind of
like Henry Ford. Henry Ford established Ford Motor
Company. It originated with him. He had in his mind and his desire
to start a company, he started it. He was the founding father
of Ford Motor Company. Well, you see, when it comes
to the foundation of Zion, Somebody originated Zion. Somebody originated the church. Somebody originated salvation. And it wasn't any human being,
it's our eternal God. Before the world began, God founded,
He established, He originated the purpose of grace, the purpose
of salvation, and this entity called Zion, the Lord originated
it. That's his work. You take the
Model T. The Model T didn't originate
itself. Henry Ford originated that. And I'll tell you, when it comes
to our salvation, that didn't start with us. It wasn't that
somebody said, you know, I believe we ought to get saved. That's
the furthest thing from Adam and Eve's mind. They just took
off running from God. You see their restoration, their
salvation and the restoration and salvation of every sinner
who is ever saved by free and sovereign grace, the restoration,
the salvation did not originate, it was not founded by the sinner,
it's founded by God who is the Savior. It originated with Him,
in His eternal mind, and in His purpose, in a manner far above
anything we can ever conceive of. God eternally had his people
on his heart and in his mind. He eternally chose a people unto
salvation, and he gave those people to the surety of the covenant,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and Christ promised to be the surety, the
savior, the representative, the redeemer of all those that the
father gave. It originated with God. He's
the founder, you see? He's the founder. But salvation
is not founded on you, it's not founded on your faith. It's not
founded on your repentance. It's founded on someone who's
a whole lot greater than you are. It's founded on Jehovah
Himself. That's why salvation is sure. In 2 Samuel, David talked about
the covenant of grace in his dying words. He said, this covenant,
he said, it's sure. This salvation is sure. Why is
it sure? Because the one who founded it
is eternal and all powerful and nothing can frustrate his purpose. Our Lord, our Lord is himself
the originator of salvation. And the people he chose to make
up Zion is called the church. This all started in the heart
of God. And to kind of put this in a
way that we can grasp hold of it, he wrote our names down in
a book. It's called the Lamb's Book of
Life. The writing, the inscription
of all the names who would make up Zion wasn't based upon what
God foresaw that these people would do. It's based on God's
eternal purpose of grace. Life was given to us in Christ
Jesus before time ever began. You see, really, our salvation
predates creation. The new creation, the spiritual
creation, predates liberal creation. Which came first, the earth or
the Savior of sinners? The Savior of sinners. In fact,
before there was ever a sinner, there's already a savior. Before
we became in debt to God's divine, God's justice, someone had already
obligated himself to retire our indebtedness in full by his life
and death and resurrection, our Lord Jesus Christ. It originated,
you see, with God. He's the founding father. of our salvation. Look with me in Isaiah. Let me show you a passage of
scripture. Isaiah chapter 14. Isaiah 14. Here in Isaiah 14,
here's a prophecy of the overthrow of the Assyrian empire and the
land of the Philistines as well. Let me say that again because
you're turning and trying to find the passage, Isaiah 14. Here is a prophecy of the overthrow
of the Assyrian kingdom, the Assyrian empire, and the land
of the Philistines as well. And the Lord, he had determined
himself to spare Israel for His glory. Though she was very small
in the eyes of the other nations round about who were much greater
and more populous than Israel was, yet the Lord purposed to
spare this little nation. And she would go forth being
victorious over her enemies. which would lead the people of
those countries to say, how in the world can a little country
like that achieve such great victories over these world powers? How does she get these victories
over her great enemies? In Isaiah 14, look at verse 24. Well, trace it back to its origin,
it's the Lord. See what it says here? 14, 24, the Lord of hosts hath
sworn, saying, surely as I have thought, so shall it come to
pass, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand, that I will
break the Assyrian in my land. and upon my mountains tread him
under foot. Then shall his yoke depart from
after them," from after Israel, and his burden depart from off
their shoulders. You wanna know how Israel managed
to defeat these? Well, the Lord was at work on
their behalf. Look at verse 26. This is the
purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth. And this is
the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. For the
Lord of hosts hath purpose and who shall disannul it? Who shall
frustrate it? And his hand is stretched out
and who shall turn it back? In the year that King Ahaz died
was this burden. And Ahaz was really an enemy
of God. Here was a small, insignificant
nation, and should get victories over the Assyrians, over the
Philistines, and run them out of the country. And other nations
were astonished and said, how in the world is this gonna happen? Well, the answer is given in
verse 32. What shall one then answer the
messengers of the nation? That is when they ask, how in
the world this happened? Well, here's the answer, that
the Lord hath founded Zion. Ah, there's the answer. The Lord
hath founded Zion and the poor of his people shall trust in
it. Yes, Israel conquered her enemies. But back behind their
victories was the originator of Israel and his purpose that
they go on because the Redeemer, the Messiah is going to come
through Israel. They can't be swallowed up by
foreign countries. They can't lose any identity. The Lord has purpose. The Lord
has originated that out of Zion would Messiah come forth, the
Lord Jesus Christ. So the Lord hath founded Zion. That's why they conquered. That's
why they prospered. That's why they grew. And the
poor of his people shall trust in it. Poor sinners, poor sinners
can trust this God who did this. An insignificant country, weak compared to all other nations. And yet look at her. She's conqueror
over the other nations. Well, who did this? The God who
founded them. And I'll tell you why the church
is gonna be victorious. I can tell you right now. We're
not gonna lose. We're more than conquerors, Romans
8, through him who loved us. And the reason we're victorious,
the reason the church can't be eradicated, the reason we're
safe and sound in the Lord Jesus Christ is because who originated
Zion? The Lord himself. He is our protector. He is our defender. He has redeemed
us. He has bought us. He has paid
our indebtedness. He has satisfied divine justice
for us. He has put our sins away. He's
established righteousness for us, and no power in heaven, earth,
or hell can defeat those whom God has founded. And I'll tell you how safe you
are, child of God, You're as safe as the saints
in heaven are safe. That's right. Oh, I'm not saying
you're not going to have problems down here. I'm not saying that
there won't be persecution. We're talking about the Catholic
Church. Why, they're guilty of butchering millions of true believers. Don't you ever forget that. They put a nice face on it today. But popes and bishops, these
folks, over the years, well, you read in the book of Revelation
chapter 17 and 18, the blood of the martyrs is found in them.
That's exactly right. I know this new pope, he seemed
to be a nice fella, didn't he? He's a devil in disguise. He's
a wolf in sheep's clothing. And I'll tell you why he got
elected, because God put him in office. And perhaps to further deceive
those who don't know the truth. I'll tell you this. Verse 32,
when it says the Lord hath founded Zion, that's another way of saying
salvations of the Lord. Isn't it? That's just another
way of saying salvations of the Lord. The Lord hath founded Zion. And the poor of his people, the
poorest of all of us, we're poor in spirit, we find refuge. in the city of
God because it's God's city. We find refuge in our Lord Jesus
Christ. So this idea of foundation, the
original word founded, it sets forth the idea of the origin. And the origin of salvation,
it's of God. And don't you worry, the eternal
decree of God can't be changed. Let all the forces of evil rise
up against the purpose of God. He'll cast them all into hell
one of these days. So founded sets forth the idea
of origin. Secondly, this word founded,
which is a root word of foundation, also sets forth that upon which
Zion is founded. This foundation in our text,
and you don't have to turn back over there if you don't want
to, but in Psalm 87, his foundation is in the holy mountains. I like to read from the Amplified
every once in a while. And the Amplified reads, on the
holy hills or mountains stands the city God founded. On the
holy hills or mountains stands the city God founded. Let's see if this isn't right
now. The holy mountains are, number
one, the purpose of God. That's a holy mountain upon which
is his founded, his purpose. You know, with you men, you're
gonna build something. Would not you agree that the more expensive, the more precious
something is to be built, the more detail you're going to pay
attention to? An architect, he's going to build
a building. Everything's laid out. I mean,
nothing is left what we would call chance. When it comes to Zion, the city
of God, let me tell you something. The architect was God. And before the world was ever
created, every last detail of the church, of the family of
God, of Zion, was itemized by God. so that
he purposed every single thing. You see, the greater the value,
the more important the project, the greater the detail. Do you
know how valuable the church, do you know how valuable Zion
is to God? His heart is set upon Zion. We're precious in His sight.
We're the beloved of the Lord. How much you love your children.
So I love them with all my heart. I just love them totally. Well,
your love and God's love can't even be compared. God loves us
with an everlasting love. And can we say it this way? He
loves us with all of his heart. How much love then is in the
heart of God that he would give his only begotten son to lay
down his life for us? The only way to save us was to
give us the best, to give us the most valuable. And you see,
God took care of that before the world began. When he drew up the blueprints,
I'll say, for Zion, everything that was necessary according
to the wisdom of God was taken care of and put into play, put
into the plan, put into the purpose. Even the most important part.
Because you see, the church is built upon the foundation of
Christ himself. Other foundation can no man lay
than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus. I tell you,
the holy mountains, the first is the purpose of God. There's
an innumerable company of believers. precious to God, have to be saved. Have to be
saved. You see, I'll tell you what Zion
is all about. Number one, it's all about giving
Jehovah all the glory. It's about the exaltation of
the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us. And it's
about the eternal welfare and salvation of Zion. Every detail of this project
I'll call it a project if you would permit me to call it that.
Every detail of the project of saving the church, saving Zion,
every detail, every little iota, every T was crossed and every
I was dotted in the eternal council of grace. And it all must come
to pass exactly as God has purposed. And nothing can frustrate that. What's the foundation of it? Well, I'll tell you secondly,
God's unchangeable grace. Do you know 2 Timothy 1, 9 says
grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the world ever began? And you thought it was only given
to you at your conversion? Oh, you were converted on account
of grace. on account of the grace it was
given you in Christ Jesus eternally. As long as God has been God,
that's how long ago he gave you grace. Now, put that in your memory banks and just dwell on
that. God's unchangeable grace. Grace
can't change. Grace can't be defeated. Grace
can't be overcome. And the grace of God cannot be
resisted. The grace of God is all powerful
to obtain that which God has purposed to have. The great building
of Zion. is built upon the foundation
of unchanging grace. And number three, it's built
upon God's immutable will and purpose. I said his decree, his
purposes predate creation. God said I'm the Lord, I change
not. Whatever happens in this world,
Whatever has happened, whatever's gonna happen. And I'm not a prognosticator. I'm not a prophet. A lot of things
gonna happen for the incomes unless the income's here next
few seconds. But I know this. God's will can't
be altered, frustrated, or defeated. That's impossible. My will is puny, yours too. What we purpose to do may or
may not come to pass. But what God has willed, that's
gonna be. That's gonna happen. And I'll tell you another hill
that the church is founded on, that Zion is founded on, God's
unlimited power. No power greater than God's power. Turn to Isaiah 28. Isaiah 28. Let's look at this foundation.
Look at this foundation. Isaiah 28. Look at verses 14 and 15, and
you've looked at this before, we have. Wherefore, hear the
word of the Lord, ye scornful men, you boasters, you braggers,
that rule this people which is in Jerusalem, because ye have
said, we've made a covenant with death, we're all right, and with
hell we're at agreement. When the overflowing scourge
shall pass through, it shall not come to us, we're okay, we're
safe. For we've made lies our refuge,
and under falsehood have we hid ourselves. Isaiah speaks to those
who have established for themselves a refuge of lies. I tell you what, unless your
hope's built on Jesus Christ, the rock of ages, whatever else
you build on is a refuge of lies. I don't care what it is. Could
be good works, could be baptism, could be looking back to an old
experience, I don't know. I don't know. But I do know this. People have
their own refuge of lies. And they'll argue with you about
it, too. They'll say, don't you tell me
I'm not saved. I made my decision for Jesus
40 years ago in a little white church building. And I went down
to the altar and I prayed through. I got myself right with God.
And that's their refuge, but it's a refuge of lies. See, the
only place to hide from God, hear me now, the only place to
hide from God is to hide in God, in God the Son. There's a safe
refuge, but anywhere else, that's not a safe refuge, that's just
a refuge of lies. Now listen to this, verse 16,
let's get some Good news here. Therefore, thus saith the Lord
God, behold, be amazed, stand amazed. Listen up now. I lay in Zion. I lay in the church for a foundation,
a stone. Who is this stone? It's the one
that Jacob wrote about and spoke about in Genesis chapter 49,
verse 24, where Jacob on his deathbed, spoke and talked about
the shepherd, the stone of Israel. That's what he said. The stone
of Israel. You want a foundation? The stone
of Israel is the foundation for you. Build on the rock, Christ
Jesus. Anything else is sand. Behold,
I lay in Zion. Who lays? God laid the foundation. Remember,
it all originated with him. For a foundation stone, a tri-stone. The devil tried him, couldn't
defeat him. The religious crowd tried him.
Oh, they found him guilty and crucified him, but in crucifying
him, they fulfilled the eternal purpose of God. And God tried him. God put him
to the test. He's a triad stone. And all the
saints in the Old Testament, they say, we went to Christ,
He never let us down. He never let any of us fall.
He's a triad stone. I tell you, thousands upon thousands
of sinners have built their hopes upon the Lord Jesus Christ, His
blood and His righteousness, and they stand in glory right
now as proof He's a good foundation, good foundation. I tried a precious cornerstone. I tell you, he's precious to
the Father, and he's precious to the church. He's the cornerstone
that brings the whole thing together. He's a sure foundation. And he that believeth shall not
make case. Can't be moved. Can't be moved. The winds of trouble may blow.
The waves of hardship and tribulation may beat upon you. But you're
not gonna be moved. Because you found it on a rock. You see, the Lord who originated
this great salvation for sinners in Christ Jesus, he has us on
such a firm foundation that when the heavens and the earth melt
with fervent heat, when everything is shaken across all of the universe,
Zion stands firm. Because you can't move our foundation.
Because our foundation is somebody. And he's the son of God. Oh, we have a firm foundation.
Probably should have sung that song next, How Firm a Foundation. I know it's too late to get Matt
to change the words, but why don't we just sing How Firm a
Foundation? 268, is that right? I think that's
it, I'm pretty sure. 268, how firm a foundation, ye saints
of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent word.
Look at 268, see if I'm not right about that. I'm right about that
song. Sometimes my mind plays tricks
on me, but not right now. 268, how firm a foundation, Zion's
on a firm foundation. God founded it. God keeps us
safe in Christ Jesus. Let's stand.