As you look at this psalm, right
under the word Psalm 87, it says, a psalm or song for the sons
of Korah. So we need to understand who
this song was directed to. The sons of Korah were musicians,
and they were those who sang praises unto God. David appointed
them to be singers along with a few of the sons of Asaph. And
these were the men who were in charge of the musical worship
of the Lord in the temple of God. They took care of the lyrics,
oftentimes. They took care of the composition
of music. They took care of writing the
music to which these psalms would be sung. And you'll find many
times in the psalms that these words are given, a song or a
psalm for the sons of Korah. It's interesting that they could
trace their lineage to a man by the name of Korah. for he
was a rebel against God. He, along with three Reubenites,
who were malcontents, rose up in rebellion against Moses and
against Aaron. You can read about it in Numbers
chapter 16. They had great opposition to
Moses' authority as the leader of Israel, and they had great
opposition to Aaron being the only high priest. This man, Korah,
he was himself a Levite. The other ringleaders were Reubenites. This man Korah, he did have an
important ministry in Israel. He was one of the ones, being
a Levite, he was not a priest, but he was one of the ones who
carried or helped to carry the vessels of the tabernacle. that put these rods through the
hooks that they made that were made for the table of showbread,
for the golden lampstand, for the golden ark or altar of incense,
and for the altar that was in the Holy of Holies. And he was
one of the ones who was in charge of of transporting, carrying
those vessels. He had an important position.
Now he couldn't touch those things. He couldn't touch the Ark of
the Covenant, he'd die. He couldn't touch the table of
showbread, he'd die. He couldn't touch the golden
altar of incense, he'd die. He couldn't touch the lampstand,
the golden lampstand, he'd die. But nevertheless, using those
things that God provided for them to transport those pieces
of furniture, He was one of the ones who carried them. What an
honor! What a blessing was bestowed
upon Korah! But he wasn't satisfied with
his position. And he rose up in rebellion against
both Moses and Aaron. If you read in the book of Jude,
Jude speaks about the gainsaying of Korah. And that simply means
speaking out against authority. His big issue was he thought
Moses and Aaron had too much authority. Moses being the authority
of the leader of Israel, and Aaron being the authority as
that high priest of Israel, who alone would go into the Holy
of Holies one time a year. On that day, he would burn incense
and then go into the Holy of Holies and he would take the
blood of an animal and he'd sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before
the mercy seat. And Korah, Korah wanted to do
those things himself. His twofold rebellion then was
against the authority of Moses and the priesthood of Aaron. And I'll tell you, that is still
the natural man's rebellion against God today. The absolute authority
of God, first of all. Men don't mind God being in heaven,
dishing out His blessings. Give me all the blessings you
want to, Lord. Lord, bless us. Oh, showers of
blessings. That's what we plead for. Don't
mind God passing out His presence, as it were, but God ruling, God
being sovereign, God being the Lord, God having all authority, God
who says who lives and who dies, God who says who's going to be
saved and who's going to remain lost? God's sovereign in salvation? God's sovereign in grace? The
natural man rises up and says, that's not fair. They have a
problem with the authority of God. That was the problem with Korah. He had an issue with Moses' authority. Here's what he said to Moses,
you take too much on yourself. Let me tell you something, Moses
was the meekest man who lived. That's what God said about him.
He was a meek man. He didn't take these things on
himself. God drafted him. God called him. And this man, this man Korah,
he rebelled against Moses and he rebelled against the authority
of Aaron. You take too much on yourself,
Aaron. We're all the people of God, that's what he said. All
of us. I can burn incense as good as
you can, that's what he said. I can go to God as good as you
can." You see Aaron represented, he
was a picture of our Lord Jesus. You cannot come to God any other
way except through Christ. But this man Korah, he said,
I can. I don't need you Aaron. I don't
need a high priest. I don't even need your sacrifice
that you offer. I pray, I fast, I tithe. I'm interested in the things
of God. What do I need you for? And that's
what the natural man says about the Lord Jesus Christ. I really
don't need him. because I can come to God any
way I want to and I can come to God anytime I want to. That's
what the natural man says, isn't it? I can come anytime I want
to. Anytime I decide. Because I'm
the master of my own fate. Lord, you're talking about the
Lordship of Jesus Christ? Maybe I'll decide to let Him
be my Lord. But I'll tell you, I think my
Bible readings and my praying and my faithfulness and my church
attendance, I believe they count for something with God. And I'll
tell you what, true preachers of the gospel come along and
say, those things count for nothing, not with God. You can only come
to God through the bleeding sacrifice, the Lamb of God. That's the only
way you can come. There's no other way of entrance. And if
you and your arrogance and you and your pride say, well, I can
come any way I want to. In fact, I believe all religions
are good. We all want to get to the same
place. No, we're all going different
roads. That was Korah. Let me tell you something, all
roads don't lead to the same place. Or I could rephrase that
and say all roads except one, they do lead to the same place.
They lead to everlasting perdition. There's only one road that leads
to glory, one road that leads to God. One road that leads to
everlasting life. One road that leads to salvation. Our Lord Jesus is that door. He's that road. He's that way. Okorah. A rebel against God. And he and the Reubenites, Dathan
and Abiram and a man by the name of On. They found out about God's faithful
men of the authority of Moses and the authority of Aaron. Moses, he told the people, he
said, you better get away from these men. And they recruited
250 other famous men in Israel. And Moses said, you better get
away from them. If you want to live, you better
separate yourself from them. And Moses said, if these men
die an ordinary death, then it was something to what they said. But if God kills them in a new
and different way, you'll know that these men are absolutely
opposed to God and to God's way of doing things. And I'll tell you, the earth
opened up and this man Korah and Abiram and Dathan and on,
those three Reubenites, Them and all that appertain to them. It's what the scripture says.
Everything had to do with them. The earth just swaddled them
up and they just went straight to hell. And those 250 famous
men, God sent a lightning bolt from heaven and burned them all
up. And that's found in Numbers chapter
16. And I want you to read just a
little bit about it over here in Numbers chapter 26. Numbers chapter 26. Here's a census in Israel. And so Moses is counting according
to the will of God. And in verse nine, I don't have
time to read it all of course, but in Numbers 26 verse nine,
and the sons of Eliab, Nimuel and, now watch this, Dathan and
Abiram. Well, now those are the ones
spoken of back in number 16. And so, the writer of Scripture here,
the inspired writer, Moses, tells us just a little bit about him.
This is that Dathan and Abiram, which were famous in the congregation,
they strove against Moses and against Aaron in the company
of Korah. which when they strove against
the Lord and the earth opened their mouth and swallowed them
up together with Korah, when that company died, what time
the fire devoured 250 men and they became a sign." But look
at verse 11. Notwithstanding, the children
of Korah died not. He had three sons. According
to Exodus chapter six and verse 24, he had three sons. And God in the absolute sovereignty
of his mercy, in the sovereignty of his grace, he spared those
three boys. When the earth opened up and
they swallowed up, the earth swallowed up his daddy. and his
daddy's tent, and evidently his mama, and other people in the
family, those three boys looked on, and they were spared. And then, many years later, their descendants became singers
in the temple. You see these three sons, I tell
you what they were, they were like, who is it, Zachariah writes
about, these were brands plucked from the burning. That's what
they are. Spared. They were saved, they were delivered.
And here is another instance of God's free and sovereign grace. The Scripture says everything
that pertained to Korah and Abiram and Dathan and on fell into the
pit. There they all go, swallowed
up. The fires of hell just like great
jaws, the Scripture says, just swallowed them. And standing
over there, there are three boys. How come they didn't perish? Who made the difference? Let
me ask you a question. We read of others who perish
in their sins, and the judgment of God takes them away. How come
you didn't perish? How come the judgment of God
doesn't come after you? There's only one reason. Free
and sovereign grace. You were spared. You were spared. These three boys, they were spared
to later on have children of their own, and they would have
children. And then they would be singers
in the temple of God, singing the praises of the God who saved
them. And you'll read so often through
the Psalms that it's a Psalm or a song for the sons of Korah, objects of God's grace. And don't
you know they sang with all of their being If they had had the
song redeemed that is sung at the top of their lungs, redeemed!
How I love to proclaim it! Redeemed by the blood of the
Lamb. Redeemed through His infinite
mercy. God's child and forever I am. Saved by grace. Saved by grace. Isaac Watts wrote, oh, hundreds
and hundreds of songs. And one of the ones that I especially
like, the third and the fourth stanzas, goes something like
this. Why was I made to hear thy voice? Why was I made to hear thy voice
and enter Father's room when thousands made a wretched choice? They'd rather starve than come."
And he said, "'Twas the same love that spread the gospel feast
that sweetly forced me in." I like that. Sweetly forced me in. "'Else I had still refused to
taste. I'd been like Korah. I'd been
like Dathan of Biram or on, else I had refused to taste and perished
in my sin. The reason we live for the glory
of God, the reason we believe Him, the reason we rest in our
Lord Jesus Christ, the reason we love the message of redeeming
love is because of God's free and sovereign grace. No wonder the apostle asks in
the book of 1 Corinthians, who maketh thee to differ from another? What do you have that you didn't
receive? Who gave you this great salvation? And I know you find yourself
asking oftentimes, why me? Why me? Well, I'll give the Savior's
answer. For even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy
sight. So this is very significant who
the psalm is addressed to, these singers. Well, I bet you they
could sing. How'd you like to hear them?
Them voices put together, Joe, don't you reckon? All their voices,
what a melodious song. And they'd sing the various parts,
I'm sure. And they had the instruments.
I praise the name of the Lord. Let me tell you something. Every
time we sing, you all lift up your voice to God in praise. I don't understand people who
won't sing. Let those refuse to sing who
never knew our God, but children of the heavenly King, and shout
their joys abroad. Oh, let's sing his praise. I
want to get used to singing his praise down here. Kind of get
me ready for glory. I'm going to sing praise to him
in glory. So I'm sure going to work on
it down here. We're going to sing in heaven,
salvation to our God and unto the Lamb. I'm learning the words
down here, Ron. That's what I'm learning. I'm
practicing down here. With an imperfect voice, I know,
but I love to sing His praise. We was over at Joy's house for
her mom's birthday a few weeks ago. And we sang. It was enjoyable,
wasn't it? We sang songs of Zion. We sang the praises of the Lord. So delightful. In our last service
over in the Honolulu, we'd sung a couple of songs, and I preached. And then I said, well, let's
close in singing. I don't even remember what song.
We didn't have song books. We just sang the first verse.
They said, well, let's sing another one. So I said, well, let's sing
the first verse for another song. And then we went over one after
another till I couldn't remember anymore. And I had a pretty good
memory of songs. We just kept on singing. And
I thought, isn't it going to be wonderful when we all get
to glory? and we're going to sing absolute
praises to our King, and we'll know all the words. We're not
going to need a songbook. We're not going to need somebody
saying, turn to page 185. No, we're going to know the words
already. And we're going to sing, worthy
is the Lamb that was slain, who has redeemed us to God by His
blood. Well, This is then a song addressed
to the sons of Korah. The word Korah has the meaning
of misery. One of the old Puritans, I found
his brief remarks to be very interesting. He called this a
psalm for the miserable. A Psalm for the miserable. And
that's what we are by nature. We're miserable. Miserable in
our wickedness, miserable in our earthen nature, miserable
in our condition of sinfulness. We're like the church of Laodicea. That's what, look over there
in Revelation chapter three. Revelation chapter 3. Look at
verse 17. The Lord sent letters to the
seven churches of Asia Minor. He says in verse 17, I won't
read the whole part here up to the Laodiceans, He said, verse
17, because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods. I have need of nothing. But here's what you don't know. And knowest not, you're wretched. You're a wretched
people. And miserable. Miserable. You're a people to be pitied.
You think you're a people to be bragged on. You think you're a people to
be complimented. No, you're a people to be pitied and poor. You're poor beggars spiritually. You're in debt to God. Don't
know it. Don't know the only way that the indebtedness could
be removed. And you're blind. You're blind
to who God is. You're blind to your natural
condition. You're blind to Christ Jesus
and His way of saving sinners by His sacrifice. And you're
naked. You don't have the garments of
salvation. You don't wear the robe of righteousness. You got your own filthy self-righteous
rags on, you're naked before God, and just don't know these
things. And I tell you, we're, in many
ways, we're still a miserable people. Let's go back, here's
another reference I wanna give you, Psalm 103. Psalm 103. We're a miserable
people. We're talking about Zion, the
city of God, the city of God, spiritual Zion, spiritual Israel,
the true Jerusalem. We're talking about God's people,
God's church of all the ages. You know who it consists of?
People who are sinful by nature but saved by grace. That's who
we all are. None greater than another. All
of us the children of God. We're children to whom God showed
pity. We're miserable. Look what it
says here, Psalm 103 and verse 13. Like as a father pitieth
his children. He's our Father. We're His children. We're His children by electing
grace. We're His children by adopting
grace through the covenant of grace. were his children by a
sovereign act of his mercy? Like as a father pitieth his
children, so the Lord pities them that fear him. Do you fear
him? Do you reverence him? Do you worship him? This word fear doesn't mean you're
scared to death of him. It means you stand in awe before
God and you reverence Him. The Lord pities such folks. And here's the reason, verse
14. He knows our frame. We're made of dust. And we're
going back to the dust. That's our frame. Not too much to brag about, is
it? He knows we're nothing. There's
nothing to us. And if we could learn that, we'd
rejoice in His grace to us who made us to be His children. He
has adopted us into His family. Us miserable, pitiable sinners. Now are we the sons of God, right
now. And it doth not yet appear what
we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we'll be
like him. For we shall see him as he is. He's our father. He pities his children. He pities
his children. For you see, it's these, the
children of God, that's who Zion is. We're not only the children of
God, we're the city of God. God dwells in us. God dwells
with us. So we go back over here to our
text, In Psalm 87. Glorious things are spoken of
thee, O city of God. It says in verse 2, the Lord
loves the gates of Zion. Zion stands with hills surrounded. What are we surrounded by? The
walls of salvation? and the gates of mercy. This is a city protected. This
is a city of a multitude of people. John said, a multitude which
no man can number. It's a big city now. And the writer of this Psalm
says, glorious things are spoken of thee. You know, what God has glorious
things to say about us. We, you know, we say a lot about
us that we're sinful, we're miserable, we're pitiful, we're wretched.
All of these things we say, and God says, you're a glorious city. You're my people. Well, where'd
that glory come from? From the Lord, glorious things.
How so? Well, we're the chosen of God. He chose us to be His people,
glorious things. He bypassed the wise and the
prudent and He's revealed His gospel to babes. And He sent His Son to die for
us, the darling of His bosom, that One who was with Him from
all eternity. He came and redeemed us. Redeemed
us to God. He came out of love. Here in
His love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and gave
His Son to be the propitiation of our sins. He's the satisfaction
of divine justice. We're the redeemed of the Lord.
What a glorious thing to be spoken about these people. He didn't
redeem everybody. He didn't buy everybody, but
he sure bought his people. God said, release them from going
down to the pit. I found a ransom. And a ransom
was found, oh, Ed Hale wrote. A ransom was found. Christ the
Lord Himself. Glorious things of Thee are spoken. And the Spirit of God takes the
word of the gospel and quickens us. He regenerates us. We're birthed into the kingdom
of God. Glorious things of Thee are spoken,
O city of God. Turn over to Isaiah 62. I'll give you a few things over
here and then I'll quit for this evening. Isaiah chapter 62. Look at all these names for the
city of God here. Look at what the Lord says. Look
at verse three. and thou shalt be a what? A crown of glory in the hand
of the Lord. A royal diadem in the hand of
thy God. That's what this city, that's
what Zion is to the Lord. He says, you're my crown of glory. We are? Oh yeah, because you read in
Ephesians 1, three times to the praise of the glory of His grace. We're a crown of glory to the
Lord. I'm gonna preach the Lord willing
next Sunday morning, Moses said to the Lord, show me your glory.
God said, it's my goodness, it's my grace, it's my sovereign grace,
it's my sovereign mercy. We're a crown of glory in the
hand of the Lord. We're a royal diadem. Notice what he says in verse
four, thou shall no more be termed forsaken. You know why not? Christ
was forsaken for us. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? And God forsook him because he
bore our sins in his own body on the tree. And we're not going
to be forsaken. The Lord said, your mother and your
father might give you up, leave you, forsake you. But he said,
I won't. I won't. He says, and thy land shall be
no more turned desolate, empty. you'll be called Hepzibah, and thy land Beulah, for the
Lord delighteth in thee." Oh, my soul, let me get a hold of
this. My glorious God delights in me,
in Christ Jesus. That ought to help you. The Lord
delights in you. He says, you're my crown of glory.
You'll say, I'm nothing. You're redeemed by the blood
of the lamb. Don't say you're nothing. You're
everything that God intended you to be in Christ Jesus. You're
one of his children. So much so, he says, he that
touches you touches the apple of my eye. That's what God said.
So I thought that's only for preachers. That's all with God's
people. Be careful how you treat God's people, because every one
of God's children are the apple of His eye. And then drop down here toward
the end. Just let's go to the last verse. And they shall call
them the holy people. That don't have anything to do
with how long you wear your hair or how short you wear your hair.
It don't have anything to do with how you dress. Doesn't have
anything to do with how you eat or what you eat, what you put
in your mouth. You're holy in Christ Jesus. He is our sanctification. That's
what the scripture says. How holy is a man gotta be before
the Lord will receive him? as holy as the Lord is. Christ
is our righteousness. And they shall call them, call
Zion, this city of God, the redeemed of the Lord. They've been bought
at what a price, the blood of the Son of God. And thou shall be called sought
out Lord went looking for you. Lost
sheep, lost coin, lost son. He went looking for you. And
he found you. I was lost, but Jesus found me,
found the sheep that went astray. And he drew me back into his
way. You know how he did that? He
put me up on his shoulders. He's carried me all the way home
to glory. Lost sheep, lost coin, lost son. Sought out. He doesn't
seek everybody. But whoever he seeks, he finds. He may find you in a bar, pull
you out of that. He might find you, and pretty
good chance that this will happen, that He'll find you in Babylon. False religion. The Lord says, I'm not going
to destroy Babylon. Well, I say, come out of her,
my people. That's where I was at. I was in Babylon. And you know,
really, all of us were. because we're all false religionists
by nature, because we think somehow or another what we do for God
carries some weight. It carries no weight whatsoever
with regard to our salvation. And he says, a city not forsaken. I said it's going to be the last
reference. It's not the first lie I've told. I didn't mean
to tell it. But I want to give you one other
reference, and that's in Ezekiel, Ezekiel chapter 48. Ezekiel chapter
48. I'll tell you, this is the city
of the King of Kings. Its foundation of the city is
Christ, and He's the founder of this city. The walls and the
bulwarks of this city are God's salvation. Its gates are gates
of praise. There are glorious ordinances
administered within this city. Baptism and the Lord's Supper
and the glorious truth of the gospel is the only message heard
within the walls of this city. It's the only one message. Won't
it be wonderful when the only message that will ever be heard
again is a message of pure, free, and sovereign grace? Oh Lord, bring in that everlasting
day. When righteousness shall go forth
from sea to shining sea. Ezekiel 48. Last chapter of the
book. He's talking about the city of
Jerusalem, but he isn't talking really about a geographical location. He's talking about Zion, the
city of God. And here's what he has to say. It was round about 18,000 measures. And the name of the
city from that day shall be, the Lord is there. Ezekiel 48,
35. The Lord is there. And I direct
your attention over to the very center column. And on this verse,
verse 35, the Lord is there. That's Jehovah Shammah. The Lord is there. And I'll tell you something,
wherever God's people meet in this world, one thing you can be sure of,
the Lord is there. I want you to be here and I grieve,
I weep over people who don't come. Say, well, whoever's supposed
to be here is here. That's true. But all who are
associated with this congregation ought to be here. They ought
to be here. Public worship is so vital. And here's the reason we all
need to be here. The Lord is here. He's not in these goat pastures.
These big mega churches? He's not there. Where is He to be found? Where
can I find the Lord? You'll find Him in the city of
God. You'll find Him in Zion. And I know by nature we're desolate. It means empty by nature. But by grace, we're not empty. By God's grace, He's here. The Lord is there. And I'll tell you, wherever the
Lord is, I sure want to be there. God help me if I'm not sick or
I have to be out of town or something, I want to be there. Thomas, bless
his heart. He sure missed out on a blessing
to see the resurrected Christ. He said, I'm not going to let
that happen again. In the next Lord's Day, you look
at there, there are those apostles there, and there's Thomas. I
bet he's right up on the front row. I ain't missing again. Why are you so anxious to go
and meet Thomas? The Lord is there. That's why. The Lord is there. Zion. It's the city of God. Talk about
this more next Sunday night. If you'll be here, you'll hear
it. Let's sing a closing song.