Well, we've been talking about
the city of God. And it has the name in the Word
of God, Zion. Zion. Here in Psalm 87 verse
1, his foundation is in the holy mountains. And in the second
verse, the Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings
of Jacob. Glorious things. of Zion are
spoken. They're spoken of Zion in the
Word of God. And we're called the City of
God. We're God's habitation. We're
God's dwelling. Well might verse 3 end with the
word, Amen or Selah. So be it. Verily, that's the
truth. That's the truth. Zion is another name given to
what I would call the universal church of our Lord Jesus. That
is not to say the local assembly, the local church is unimportant. It is very important. But all
of the saints of God are members of one church. the church of
our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the church that he loved,
the people he loved, the people he gave himself for, the people
in whose stead he suffered and bled and died under the wrath
of God, bearing our sins. These are the people that he
himself has purchased with his own blood. and He has redeemed
us unto God. Every demand of God's justice,
our Lord satisfied on behalf of this church, His people. The redemption of our Savior
was not a shot in the dark. It wasn't an effort to save everybody. It wasn't to open the floodgates
of salvation and then the Savior stand back and watch to see who
it would be that would believe him and thereby make his purchase
effectual. It's not that at all. He bought
us from God's justice. Justice is fully satisfied and
can demand no more. The grace of God demands our
salvation and now the justice of God demands our salvation
because our indebtedness unto God has been retired. We owe
God nothing. What a blissful condition that
is. We have no transgression, for
which we must answer to a holy God. Our Redeemer has already
answered for us. He it was who took all of our
sins unto himself. God laid on him the iniquity
of us all. Who's the us? Zion, all the church. All the iniquities of all of
God's elect were laid upon the head of our scapegoat. And like that scapegoat set forth
in Leviticus chapter 16, the scapegoat goes out into the
wilderness led by fit man. having had all the sins, all
of the iniquities of Israel confessed upon that scapegoat and symbolically
transferred to him. But that which was symbolic in
the scapegoat was not symbolic in the death of our Lord Jesus.
He really, he really accepted full responsibility to deal with
God's very severe justice. and therefore he must die. And
in his death, he took our sins away into a land uninhabited. And when he died and came back
from the grave, our sins had no more existence as far as God
was concerned. I'm very much aware of my sin,
I say, very much aware of my sin, though I'm not aware of
all of my sins. And you aren't either. But though my sins are real to
me, and though I weep over them, and I'm thankful for the forgiveness
of them, in the books of God, in the record that God keeps,
There is no transgression listed beside my name. Only righteousness. Only perfection. Only holiness through that One
who is the Lord, our righteousness. And that's another name for the
Lord's church. That's another name for Zion. the Lord, our righteousness. In Isaiah 60 and verse 14, Zion
is called the city of the Lord. And we're the citizens of that
city. Let me tell you something about
this city, tell you something about Zion. This city did not
come into being by accident. There are some things that seem
to come into existence or that even grow that haven't been
planted. Weeds. They grow. But not a city. A city doesn't
just suddenly appear on its own. A city has a founder. You'll often see as you entered
into a city, going to the city limits, you'll see a sign maybe
that says founded in 1850 or whatever. Well, this city of
God, Zion, it had a founder. The founder is God. And the date
of its foundation is before the foundation of the world. What
do you know about that? This is an old city. It's an
ancient city. And yet the city itself, it's
ever new. And the citizenship of this city
have all been appointed to dwell in this city by its founder,
the Lord, our God. This city did not pop up on its
own. Zion is a living body. It's constructed
by the wisdom of God. It's raised up by sovereign grace
and by almighty power. It was designed by the genius
and the wisdom and the purpose and the forethought of God Almighty. He established it, He founded
it, and He laid out the blueprints for this city. It was ordained
by God. She didn't just come into existence
because salvation is of the Lord. That's what Brandon read back
in the office to us from the book of Jonah chapter 2. Salvation
is of the Lord. Zion existed in the mind and
heart of God forever. Go back into eternity as far
as your feeble mind will allow you to go. And when you go back
as far as you can go in your mind as you contemplate eternity,
remember, you haven't touched the surface yet. Eternal, that's our God, and
eternal, that's how long Zion has existed. And that one who purchased us,
that one who bought us, the Bible says he's the lamb who was slaughtered
before the foundation of the world. It was all settled back
in the covenant of peace, the council of grace, in that legal
binding Trinitarian contract. Everything was, I put it this
way, signed, sealed, and delivered. It was done. It was done. of creation, we read God spake
and it was done. Well, way back yonder, in the
eternity past, God originated salvation and it was done. There is no changing it. There is no changing the citizenship
of Zion. There are no new names being
written down in glory. Our names were written down.
The name of every citizen of the city of God was written down
before God made this old world. I think I've shared this with
you, but my daddy used to sing. My daddy had a good voice. He
used to sing in a quartet. And of course they were four
Armenian, well-meaning, but Armenian gospel ignorant men singing. And one of the songs I loved
to hear them sing was, There's a New Name Written Down in Glory. And it's mine, and it's mine.
Oh, yes, it's mine. Yes, it's mine. And the white-robed
angels sing the story. Well, I love the music of it,
but that's just false. It's false gospel. God wrote our names down. And it isn't that God would forget
our names, and I don't suppose there's a literal book, though
maybe there is, it doesn't matter to me. It's written down in the
heart of God, my name is. My name's written on the hands
of the Lord Jesus. Our names are engraved on His
hands. He said, I'll never forget you. You're Zion. You're my people. This city is being built according
to the divine blueprint. There never was a blueprint so
faultless, so complete, and so wonderful for its beauty and
for its grandeur. Because everything necessary
for our full salvation was in those original blueprints. Everything, nothing was left
out. From our election and predestination
unto our glorification, it was all settled in the divine blueprints
about this city. Everything was done in such a
way as to the so that the honor and the praise of the architect
would be just magnified. This city originated in the eternal
counsel of God. And it was built at great cost. Great cost to its architect and
to its builder. The blood of Christ Jesus. The Savior said, I will build
my church. Not I might build it, I'm trying
to build it. I'm endeavoring to build it.
I hope I'll build it. No, I will build my church. Because of old eternity, it was
ordained he'd build his church. Isaiah 1, 27 says, Zion shall
be redeemed. You gotta love the shalls of
God. Zion shall be, she shall be redeemed. And I'll tell you, he who builds
the house is worthy of more honor than the house itself. Hebrews
chapter three. Oh, Zion is magnificent. Magnificent and glorious. Magnificent, glorious and honored
above all. But if she is so magnificent
and wonderful and magnified above all, how great must be the builder
of the church. Oh, Christ our Lord. He's the builder. And I'll tell
you this, this city, this city is built on a very firm foundation. Other foundation can no man lay
than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. We're built
on Him. We're built on the exact same
one that all the apostles were built on. We're not built on
the apostles. We're built upon the one upon
whom they built. Christ Jesus, our Lord. And I'll
tell you something else about this city. It's a glorious city
for it has everlasting, everlasting protection. It has glorious defenses. Look
with me in Isaiah 26, Isaiah chapter 26. Look at verse one, Isaiah 26
and verse one. In that day, in that eternal
day, In that day shall this song be
sung in the land of Judah, that is, among the people of God."
What are we going to sing? We have a strong city. And salvation will God appoint
for walls and bulwarks. You see, this city has walls
that cannot be penetrated by the enemy. Now, the local church,
The enemy may very well penetrate the local church, because our
Lord Jesus says that in the local church, in the visible local
church, there can be sheep and goats, wheat and tares, but not
in the true Zion of God, because we've got walls around us. What are those walls? It's salvation. There's the purpose of God. There's
God's predestination. There's God's election. There's
Christ's redemption. There's the Spirit of God's regeneration. There's the promise of everlasting
life. These walls. Oh, how safe we
are in the walls of Zion. and let all hell rise up against
this city. She shall not be destroyed. She can't be. This city is glorious. She's
protected by the salvation, which is of the Lord. Who is our protector? Who is our defender? Our almighty
Savior. And I'll tell you something else,
this city is marvelous, it's glorious, because it's made up
of many, many people. And you know what? They come
from everywhere. Out of every nation, kindred,
tribe, and tongue. And the voice of the shepherd
goes forth, that's the gospel. and His sheep scattered throughout
the world, when they hear the gospel by the power of the Spirit
of God, His sheep will hear His voice and they'll follow Him. This is a city made up of people
from every language, state, every country, all around
the world. And they're born throughout all
the time of God's creation, from the beginning, from Adam to the
very last person who'll be born in this world, who's one of the
children of God. All kinds of people, all ages, And this city, I'll tell you,
it's glorious because it has an abundant, abundant amount
of supplies. It's got everything you need.
Everything, everything any sinner needs to get from here to glory
is in this city. This is where the word of God
goes forth. The water of life. Well, you
gotta have, you gotta have water, don't you? Christ said on that
last day of the feast, if any man thirsts, let him come unto
me and drink. He said, I'm the true bread that
came down from heaven. He that eateth my body, he that
drinketh my blood and eateth my body hath everlasting life. Oh, there's an abundance of provision
for the people of God. boundless supplies. And this
city is unusual because it doesn't have a mayor. It doesn't have
a governor. It has a king. It has a king
and he's the king of all kings. And he's the Lord of all lords. And this city, this city has
watchmen. watchman that God sends to the
city. Look with me in Isaiah chapter
62. Let me show you several things here.
Isaiah chapter 62. Look at verses six and seven. This is what God says. I have
set watchman on thy walls, O Jerusalem, which
shall never hold their peace day nor night. Ye that make mention
of the Lord, keep not silence. And then give him no rest till
he establish, until he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. These watchmen, they're set by
the Lord Himself. No denomination sets them. They don't set themselves. They're not set by mom and dad. They're not set by a church.
They're set by the Lord. And He sets them exactly where
He will. And they minister for exactly
the length of time that they minister. They're His watchmen. Well, they do. They watch out. They watch out for danger. They
watch out for error. They watch out for those who
would slip in unawares and try to sow some discord among the
brethren. They watch out for those who
try to come into the local church and then begin to sow little
seeds of error. These are watchmen. These are
men who watch for the welfare of your soul. That's why in Hebrews
chapter 13 it says, to obey those who have the rule over you for
they watch for your souls. Those preachers of the gospel,
true preachers that God has called, they don't settle around playing
games all week. They labor in the Word. And they
watch. They observe. They set forth the truth of God. They're set by the Lord. We read
in Romans chapter 10, Paul says, How shall they call on Him of
whom they've not believed? And how shall they believe on
Him of whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? I love that passage of Scripture
in John where it says there was a man sent from God whose name
was John. Oh, that's the man I want to
listen to. Not a man sent by some denominational
committee. I want to listen to that guy.
I want to listen to the man God sends. How can he be identified? He tells the truth about God in all of his attributes as best
he can. And he's honest with you about
your condition before God. And He'll be honest with you
and tell you, salvations of God, salvations of the Lord. Christ
is all. He'll come forth preaching Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. And it says here, they never
hold their peace. They're never to hold their peace. And they don't hold their peace. They continue preaching night
and day. They preach in the daytime when
people are loving what's being preached. And I'm thankful you
do. But they also preach in the nighttime
when it seems like the powers of darkness are very fierce.
And the enemy comes in and he seems to make great opposition. Preach in the night too. Or,
to put it the way the apostles said it in 2 Timothy chapter
4, he told Timothy, preach the Word. Be instant, in season,
and out of season. When they like what you're saying,
when they don't like what you're saying. You see, the preacher
of God, The watchman that God has set upon the walls of Zion,
they do not choose their subject. That's already chosen for them. Preach the word. They say, my
preacher, preacher down the road, he preaches out of the Bible. Well, most false prophets carry
a Bible with them and they can, Take a verse of
Scripture and twist it and turn it to such a point that you won't
even recognize it. God's preachers, they glorify
God. That's how you tell God's preachers.
He's exalting Christ and Him crucified. Don't hold their peace. Don't
hold their peace, day or night. Paul said, do I now persuade
men or God? Do I seek to please men? For if I yet please men, I should
not be the servant of Christ, for I certify you, brethren,
that the gospel which was preached to me is not after men. I'm not here to please anybody. I'm here as the servant of the
Lord. You preach there because you're the servant of the Lord.
I pray that you love the message. But if you don't, I'm not going
to change the message. A dear lady told me she'd sat
under error for many, many years. She went and told her pastor,
She said, I've been here for 40 years, and you hadn't been
preaching to me the truth. And he said, what do you mean?
And she began to lay out for him as best she could God's free
and sovereign grace. You know what the preacher said? If I changed my message, would
you stay? She said, is that all it's going
to take? you'll change your message because
I'm going to leave if you don't." Well, he wasn't going to change
his message. Because he's false prophet, he can't start suddenly
preaching the truth. And neither can a man who preaches
the truth suddenly, in order to make people happy, start preaching
error. It don't go that way either.
We're not trying to please men. Not trying to make people happy.
People say, well, boy, at the end of our service, we're all
happy. Well, if you're happy in Christ, that's great. I don't
have any opposition to that. But I'm not here to make you
feel good about yourself. I'm here to make you feel bad
about yourself and good about Christ Jesus, the Lord who redeemed
His people. And notice what it says here. Ye that make mention of the Lord,
keep not silence. Keep not silence. Just keep preaching. Preach the
Trinity's purpose of grace, the Father's election of grace, the
Son's redemption of grace, the Spirit of God's call of grace. The Lord is our message. We won't
change it. And then it says they give him
no rest, they give the Lord no rest. What does that mean? They pray. Preacher has two responsibilities,
grave responsibilities, awesome responsibilities. Preaching,
praying. The preaching come with that
goes the study, seeking a message from God, and then being prayerful
for those to whom you preach. I don't know how this is gonna
sound. I don't want to sound arrogant or anything like that.
I'll just be honest with you, and this is true of every pastor
that's worth his salt. He'll often fall asleep at night
praying for people to whom he preaches. That's true, isn't
it, Alan? That's the way it is. And I can say to you, to all
of you, your names are known in glory. We call our people's names, don't
we, Alan? And if I can't remember your
name, I say, Lord, I pray for so-and-so's family, asked you
to teach the children the gospel. There's not anybody in here that
I don't have a heavy heart for and pray for. We give the Lord no rest. I was telling somebody before
the service started, I was reading one writer today and he said,
He said here, I'd like to die. If I had my choice, I'd like
to die either preaching or praying. That's pretty good. Preaching
or praying. Give the Lord no rest. Go back over that passage in
Isaiah 52, Terry read to us. Isaiah chapter 52. Look at verse seven. How beautiful
upon the mountains are the feet of Him that bringeth good tidings.
Their feet are shod with the shoes of grace. That publishes peace. Our message
is not make your peace with God. Our message is peace has been
made with God. For Zion, through the blood of
the Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus, We publish, we bring good tidings,
we publish peace. Good news. That's not good news
to everybody. I know that. And if it's not
good news to you, well, I'm sorry. But it's good news to some people.
Well, who's it good news to? Everybody in the city. Everybody in the city, they hear
the watchman say, Good news! Peace is established! And all
the people in the city say, Amen. Oh, bless the name of God! And we publish salvation. We
tell people about God's salvation. I don't ever get tired of telling
people about God's salvation. I hope you don't ever get weary
of hearing it. And we say to Zion, good news,
Zion, in all your troubles, in all your trials, in all your
sickness, in all your diseases, good news, thy God reigneth. Oh, that's good news to this
poor sinner. mom and dad down at the hospital,
their son in intensive care, I say to them, here's some good
news for you. Thy God reigneth. Thy God reigneth. People in our congregation who
are sick, Joe, Faye, others, good news! Thy God reigneth. To those who are feeble and aged
and very, very near stepping out into eternity, I got some
good news for you. Thy God reigneth. It says in verse 8, watch it.
Thy watchman. Thy watchman shall lift up the
voice. With the voice together shall
they sing, for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall
bring again Zion." All of God's true preachers see eye to eye,
not on every single thing. They don't all see eye to eye
on prophecy. They don't all see eye to eye
when it comes to church government, things of that nature. And I'll
tell you, they all see eye to eye when it comes to the way
the God of the Bible saves sinners. They all see eye to eye. They
all see eye to eye when it comes to the wretchedness of all men
and man's inability. They all see eye to eye. And they all see eye to eye in
the absolute necessity and the successfulness of the substitutionary
death of our Lord Jesus Christ. They all see I die. And we'll hear one another preach
and say amen. Amen. Oh, what a privilege it is to
be in this city. To be a member of Zion. To be
a citizen of this great city. And we say, thank you, Lord.
Thank you, Lord, for writing my name down. Thank you, Lord,
for inscribing my worthless name in that glorious book, the Lamb's
Book of Life. Thank you for choosing me. I'd
never have chosen Him if He hadn't chosen me. this dear lady whose funeral
I preached a week ago this past Friday. Her family shared a few
things with me about her. And one dear lady said, I asked
her, have you accepted Jesus as your personal Savior? And
she said, I didn't choose him. He chose me. And I thought, boy,
I love that. I love that. I never had an opportunity
to meet her. She watched me a lot on the internet. And then she went to hear one
of their preachers. And she told him, she said, I'll
never go back. I said, why not, Mom? Your preacher's lying to you.
Oh, if I could just give her a hug. And then one said, and these
are well-meaning people and I'm not making fun of them. They
just don't know the gospel. They don't know God. And then one of the sons, told
me, he said, you know, Mom picked out her dress. She's a lovely
elderly lady, full head of white hair. We were looking in the
casket over at the funeral home. And he said, Mom picked out her
dress. He said, Mom, I'm going to get
you a necklace with a little cross on it. She said, don't
you put a cross around my neck. I hope I can see her in glory.
If the Lord would so ordain it, I'd just like to give her a hug
and say, Sister, I'm thankful for the honor of ministering
the gospel of God's grace to you. That's just wonderful. It's like she being dead yet
speaketh. If only God would give them ears
to hear. That's what's got to happen.
Oh, may He do it for His glory. Let's sing a closing song, 184.
Number 184. I also had an opportunity then preaching to a man who had been pastoring 35 years, representing the Southern Baptist
Convention Missions Board. He's over several counties. I was thankful for the opportunity
to preach the gospel to him, too. When I found out who he
was, I thought, thank you, Lord. He's going to be a captive audience.
He's going to have to hear me. I hope God will enable him to
hear the gospel. That's what I pray. 184 Glorious
Church.