It is an honor and privilege
to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to you, and good to see
friends I haven't seen in a while, and it is an amazing thing to
preach to two different wings. I've never done that before,
so. I don't know which way to look. Okay, the right way, okay. Pharisees,
Sadducees, what? You're getting this on tape,
right? But it is good to be here. And
I covet your prayers. I covet your prayers. As I preach,
I pray you'd pray for me, and that for yourselves, that
God would comfort you, that God would strengthen you, that Christ
would be magnified and honored. If you take your Bibles and turn
with me to Psalm 48. Psalm 48. We'll look at the first three
verses this evening. The Lord willing. I've entitled this, The Great
God and a Great Situation. A Great God and a Great Situation. The scripture says, Great is
the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the
mountain of his holiness, beautiful for situation. The joy of the
whole earth is Mount Zion. On the sides of the north, the
city of the great king, God is known in her palaces for refuge. Now the prophet here desires
to set forth the beautiful situation of his people, of God's people.
The beautiful situation later on he says in verse 13, Mark
well her bulwark consider her palaces that you may tell it
to the generations following. He is wanting to set forth the
safety and the security of God's great city, of God's church. But in order to do that, he must
first cast his eye upon the greatness of God. Believer, there is no safety
and security without a great God. Without our God, there is
no security. He is the founder. He is the
maker. He is the defender and the sustainer
of this city. And this city we will see is
a literal Jerusalem. It is talking about the literal
Jerusalem. But more importantly, this is
speaking of spiritual Jerusalem. That Jerusalem that John mentions
in Revelation. That city that came down from
heaven. Whose builder and maker is God.
That city in whom was no sin. Whose walls were four square. Perfect in every way. And the
most important thing about this city is God dwelt in the midst
of her. And she worshipped Him. This is the city of God. This
beautiful city. What a beautiful situation. What
a beautiful place is this city. So then, we who are believers,
I want you to see that this city is you. You are the city of God. We all make up this city, this
heavenly Jerusalem. And therefore, I desire it is
my intent by the Holy Spirit then tonight to show you your
safety, to show you how secure you are in your great God, your
great God. Now listen, our city, this salvation,
this city of Jerusalem is only as great as our God. We're only
as safe as our God can make us. Our God has, He's designed this
city, He's purchased it, He's built it. Our God is greater
than all men, our God is greater than all false gods, because
our God in the very essence of His nature is this, Great is
our God, and that's how the psalmist begins. He begins with an essential
truth, a self-evident truth. Great is Jehovah. That's just self-evident, isn't
it? It's just reasonable. To us who know him, it is the
most obvious thing in the world. Great is the Lord. Great is the Lord Jehovah. I
want you to behold the greatness of our God in the essence of
His person and in His power. Consider His power. How great
is His power? Isaiah said this, Who hath measured
the waters in the hollow of His hand? You imagine that? He measured the waters in the
hollow of His hand. He spanned the heavens as you would open
a curtain. He spanned the heavens. Absolute power. He said, Behold,
the nations are as a drop in the bucket, and are counted as
a small dust in the balance. All nations are as nothing to
him. How great. They are counted as less than
nothing in vanity. So then, whom shall you liken
God? You know, they're trying to make God out of little bitty
idols. And he said, How are you going to liken God to a little bitty
idol? That's not God. No, God is great. And look at
the sun. Every morning it comes up in
the same place. Runs its course and sits in the
same place. See the stars and the moon? Who
holds these things in His hand? These things move according to
His Word. The only reason the sun and the
stars exist is by His continual power. He didn't hang them out
there and leave them. No, without Him they couldn't
even be. They couldn't even maintain their
being. Now all men know this, there is a God. But because of
spiritual blindness, because of the ruined nature of man,
they liken God to be like themselves. Men by nature think God much
like Himself. And I'm going to tell you this,
we're not great at all. And if a man thinks God's like himself,
his God's not great at all. He's not great at all. The God
of this generation, one man said, no more resembles the God of
Holy Scripture than a candle resembles a noonday sun. The
God of this generation is not great. He's not worthy to be
praised. For He is a God altogether like
His worshipers. The God of this generation is
supposed to have created the world, supposed to have made
salvation possible, but either lacks the will or the power to
do it. And such is the false God we
know of free will works religion. He's not great. Matter of fact,
the God of free will works religion is to be pitied, mocked. He's worthless. He's useless.
He's not great. He's not great at all. But I'm not here to talk
about that God. I want to talk about the great
God of Zion, the only true and living God who is greatly to
be praised because our God, our God is omnipotent in power. Our
God is absolutely, completely sovereign in every aspect of
His character and His providence. He does exactly according to
His will in everything. You realize nothing is running
amok? Everything is moving exactly
determined as God determined before the world began to move.
The wheels of providence move straight forward. They don't
turn to the right. They don't move to the left.
And listen, you look at the spokes of providence, you're going to
get dizzy. You ever seen a wheel spin, you look at the spokes,
you get dizzy? You look at God's providence and try to trace it
back to Him, you'll get dizzy. Don't worry about that. Just
know everything's well. Everything's well. Our great God is omnipotent
in power. Our God is great. Jehovah is
great in power and His creation. Yet I tell you this, there's
only one group of people that praise Him. The city of our God. Isn't that what our text says?
Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. Where? In the
city of Our God. Even because we who are the city
of God have seen and witnessed his greatness. I'm here to testify
of something I know. I don't like to preach anything
I don't know. I know this, God is great. Now
I can't tell you how great. I can't get that high. Because
whatever you think great is, God is infinitely greater than
that. So what do you do? You just, we'll wade out in the
water a little bit and swim around a little bit in God's greatness
just a minute, because we know some things about His greatness.
First of all, we know God is great in holiness, isn't He?
God is holy, holy. Angels, every single moment of
every day, cry holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, holy. What is it to be holy? It means
that God is absolutely, completely spotless and perfect. In every
attribute, in every characteristic, He is perfect. By nature, He
is holy and pure and sinless. Have you ever considered the
standard of God? What is God's standard for man?
What does He require of you? What does He require of me to
enter into His presence, to be accepted? I'll tell you what,
that's what I want to know. I need to be accepted of God.
Everybody in this building, you need to be accepted. And there's
not a way you can be accepted in yourself. If you know anything
at all about His holiness, you know this, you can't be accepted
in yourself. God is absolutely perfect, and justice, and holy,
and righteous, and every spot, every sin of iniquity shall be
forever punished. It must be. God is holy. God is just and He must punish
sin. We know this. We know He's great in power also.
That means this, no man could escape Him. I tell you what,
men running from God. Men run from God today. Naturally,
it's natural. Didn't Adam run from God? First
thing he did, he heard God, he ran. Men run from God. You run
as far, run as long, run as fast as you can, God will catch you.
He will. He's going to get you. Matter
of fact, He's just letting you run. You're only running because
He's letting you. But you ain't getting very far.
You're like the hamster in the wheel. You just run into your
own death. I had a sniper friend in Desert
Storm. He said, they may run. They'll
just die tired. That's right. You'll just die
tired. Men run around in the vanity
of their works, running in religion, trying to be accepted. All the
while thinking, God's going to accept me because I'm sincere.
How many times have you heard that? Well, I'm just sincere. That and your sin will get you
hell. That's it. Nothing else. Men run around trying to be accepted,
thinking God will accept their works. They don't have any clue
who God is, of His greatness. I desire you to not see how holy
God is because of one thing. If you ever see how holy God
is, you'll see this, how sinful you really are. The more I grow in grace and
knowledge of Christ, the more I see his holiness, you know,
the more I see my sin. I never lost sight of that, have
you? Man see his sin, we know then
our impotence, we know his greatness, but we know our worthlessness. when we see God as he is. The
worthlessness of our works, the sincerity of our religion is
empty, it's vain, it won't ever help. We know this, that all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God, but not only this, it's
not that I know all men have sinned, I know this, I have sinned. The privacy is not a doctrine
to be learned, it is something we experience. I know depravity because I know
me. God showed me. When He showed
me Himself, He showed me my depraved nature. But I'm here to tell
you there's hope. I wouldn't be here if there were
no sins. If that's it, I'd close the book.
I wouldn't even stood up and told you that. But there is hope. There is mercy because God is
not only holy, He's not only powerful, He's not only sovereign,
He is merciful. And just as He is holy, He is
also merciful. How can God be just and justify
the ungodly? It's a miracle, isn't it? It's
something man cannot ever put together. God does. God does. And we see the mercy of love
of God only in one place. His Son. You're never going to
find out if God loves you. It's going to be in His Son.
You know His Son, you'll know that. God sent His Son into the
world to save sinners. Is that not an astounding thing?
A holy God who is just, yet merciful, sends His Son into the world
to save one class of people. One group of people. Sinners. Sinners. Those that have no goodness. Those that have no merit, those
who cannot and will not ever be able to please or satisfy
the justice of God. That's the ones Christ came to
save. He came to save sinners. I'm going to ask you, is this
you? Do you know those things? Do you know the holiness of God,
the justice of God, the greatness of God? Do you know yourself?
Do you know God's goodness and mercy? Do you know you're incapable
of meriting His favor by any works of religion, then there's
one message for you, and that's the greatness of His salvation.
The greatness of His salvation. If there's any hope for safety
and security, any hope of acceptance, it rests in the greatness of
God's salvation. And this salvation is by one
Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord, for He alone has accomplished
salvation. This separates true religion
from false, isn't it? Accomplished salvation. Finished
salvation. That's the message of the gospel.
The message of the gospel is great because it is done. That's a good thing for a sinner
who can't do anything. This is a message for people
who are impotent, can't do anything, won't do anything. This is a
message for you. I'm teaching you, I'm showing you a Savior
that's done it all. He's accomplished salvation for
all His people. Now, in all religion, you know
there's religions always, false religion is always a copycat
of the truth, isn't it? It's always a counterfeit. In every religion
there's always a priest, you know that? You ever seen that?
You read history and religion, there's always a priest, there's
always somebody mediating. There's always a sacrifice. There's
always a sacrifice. You know the difference between
true and false religion is? False religion, their priests
are never finished. Their sacrifices are never sufficient. They're never sufficient. Which
shows us the vanity and weakness of their God to save. It shows
the uselessness of their priest to intercede, because they're
always working. Therefore, they must continue
to work and are never finished with their worship. This is even
true of the Jewish religion, isn't it? That religion that
God appointed. Those priests. God appointed
those priests. And God ordained those sacrifices. But yet we
know this, that those sacrifices never removed sin. Those priests
even were never finished. Why? Because those priests were
only a picture. They were only a type of the
true high priest. the great High Priest, Paul calls
Him. Those sacrifices were only a
picture of the great sacrifice, the Lord Jesus Christ. Go to
Hebrews chapter 9. The greatness of His salvation.
This is the greatness of His salvation. The greatness of His
mercy displayed. Hebrews chapter 9 and look at
verse 6. He said, now when these things
were thus ordained, the priest went always into the first tabernacle,
accomplishing the service of God. See, they were ordained.
They accomplished the service of God. But into the second went
the high priest alone, once every year, not without blood, which
he offered for himself and the heirs of the people. The Holy
Ghost, this signifying by this, that the way into the holiest
was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was yet
standing, which was what? figure. It was only a figure. That's it. That was its purpose.
For a time, then present, in which they offer both gifts and
sacrifices that could not make him, that did the service perfect,
it didn't make those priests perfect, and it didn't make the
worshipers perfect, as pertaining to their conscience, which stood
only in meats and drinks and divers washing and carnal ordinances
imposed on them until the time of reformation. Here it is. But
Christ being come, on high priest, being come. Now this is the high
priest, the only one that matters. No other priest matters. No other
priest matters. This is the only one. He became.
He was that was ordained of the great God to be the great high
priest. He is now come on high priest
of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle.
What's that? It's his body. What a wonderful tabernacle.
His body is better than that building over there. But neither
by the blood of goats or calves, nor by His own blood, He entered
once into the holy place. And what did He do? What did
He do? Having a date. This is very deep. Here, I'm going to give you a
definition. Very deep. He got it. He got it. He done it. It's done. It's finished. Salvation
accomplished. Mission accomplished. Work done. Father, I have finished the work
Thou gave me to do. It ain't clearer than that. What
does he say on the cross? It is finished. It's done. It's done. The great high priest
in the greatness of his sacrifice redeemed us. Redeemed us. What
kind of redemption? Partial? Temporal? Eternal redemption. And when
does eternal redemption begin? It has never had a beginning,
did it? That lamb was slain before the foundation of the world.
It was accomplished in time. It was made manifest in time.
But it was always as done. In the eyes of God, it was done.
It was done before it was done. And then it was done. And now I just see it's done.
Now by grace of God I see it's done. So now then this sacrifice,
this salvation, it was a type, but this city now, this city
that praises God is also a type. This is a type of those who are
born again of the Spirit of God. These are the ones that actually
praise God. You who believe in Jesus Christ,
I know this, you want to praise Him. And then you bow your head
and say, When have I ever done that? You never did in yourself. You always did in Christ. He read it a minute ago, I waited
patiently for the Lord. When did you ever wait patiently
for the Lord? I did it when He did it. I did
it when He did it. That's the only way that can
be effectual. That whole scripture can be effectual to me only as
I'm in Him. Only as He's my representative. This is this great city. They're
the only one that praises God. Now, as you see this city of
Jerusalem, The prophet here desires you to see the safety and security
of all who are in this great God. All who are in the midst
of this great God, who serve this great God. He desires you
to see Jerusalem. Now if you were to walk up to
Jerusalem at this time, you would have to standing underneath,
you would be looking up at Jerusalem. Jerusalem was high, it was lifted
up. That's what that word situation
means. It is beautiful for elevation. It is high. Now, a city in that
day, that was a key factor of safety. You didn't want a city
in a plain. You didn't want it in a valley.
You wanted high because that's the arrows or the catapult, those
things that could go over the city. You needed something safe.
And that was only in a high city. Jerusalem here is this high and
elevated city. Now listen, you who believe in
Christ, I want you to see this. As Jerusalem was surrounded naturally
by mountains, it was a natural fortress, impenetrable fortress,
this city of Zion. There was only really one way
in and one way out. And he says it in verse 2. He
says the sides of the north. That's the only way in and out.
If you were to come to that city, you'd see on the sides of the
north these bulwarks and these defensive man-made structures
and an entryway. This was the only way in and
out of this city is in the sides of the north. And this is to
show us that the city of God, those who are in Christ, I want
you to see your surety, the safety of you who are in Christ. Look
at this second part of those who are the city of God. He says,
in the mountain of His holiness. In the mountain of His holiness. As those mountains surrounded
Jerusalem, I want you to know this. the righteousness of Christ
surrounds you. The Lord Jesus Christ, when He
came into this world, He came as our federal head to obtain
righteousness for His people. And as those mountains surrounded
and protected them from all their enemies, even so the righteousness
of Christ envelops us and surrounds us. These mountains They were
high mountains. They were mountains that they're
used to show their size and immutability. Don't you realize this? That
this righteousness that Christ has procured for His city is
immutable. It's immutable. It's unchangeable. This is good for me because I
can't foul it. I can't taint it with my sin. It surrounds me. It envelops
me. It protects me from what? Wrath
of God. It protects me from all the enemies
of the church. All of my enemies. My flesh. The world. Satan are those kings
in this text that surround Jerusalem, casting their arrows, but they
can't reach over these mountains. the mountain of His holiness.
Don't you know this, that you have His name? In Jeremiah it
says, He in that day, He shall be called what? Jehovah Tizkanu,
the Lord our righteousness. And down in chapter 33 of 16
of Jeremiah it says this, And they that shall be saved, they
shall be called, she shall be called, the Lord our righteousness. Don't you know this? God requires
you to be holy. and you are holy. Oh God, let's get a hold of that.
And you just sit down and just breathe. You can rest in that,
can't you? You can kick your feet up in
that while you're surrounded by His righteousness. The mountains
of His holiness surround you. Look at this, you have a beautiful
situation. You have a beautiful situation.
Believer, you have a beautiful standing before God. Beautiful
for situation. The joy of the whole earth is
Mount Zion. You know why you have a beautiful
situation? Because you're sitting in Him. Can you get any higher? And if you're that high, who
can reach you? Jesus said, no man can pluck them out of My
hands. That's as though he dared. He said, my sheep, he feeds them
where? In the midst of their enemies.
As though he puts sheep out in the middle there and wolves all
around. He said, try it, try it. How dare you? Yeah, ain't
getting to them. Oh, he ain't getting to you.
You're in the mountains of his holiness. You have a beautiful
situation. And you know this, you're the joy of the whole earth. I don't feel that way, do you?
If you're the joy of the whole earth, why ain't everybody here,
huh? Is that what you said? No, I didn't mean it that way.
You're gonna be hated, you're gonna be despised, your gospel
is hated, Christ was hated, you will be too. That's not what
it means. You are the joy of the whole
earth because you have the only thing men need. The gospel of
Jesus Christ. God has given us this treasure
where? In the earthen vessels. He set
this light on a hill, and your light, and just because they're
blind, doesn't diminish the light. Doesn't negate our responsibility
to be the light. And what are you when men see
the light? Are you not the joy of the whole
earth? How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the
gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. When
you heard the gospel, what did you think of that man when you
heard the gospel? Oh, how beautiful his feet. And
we say, how beautiful is our Savior. How beautiful is our
Savior. You are the joy of the whole
earth. And listen, the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion
on the sides of the north. What does this mean? As there
was only one way in Jerusalem, guess what? There's only one
way into glory. Only one way. You can't climb
up, you can't climb under. There's only one way. Jesus said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to God
but by me. That's the side of the north.
Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that wonderful? He's the
side of the north. He's the only way in. His sheep,
he calls us by that way and we come in and we rejoice. We rejoice in this way. And this
is the city of the great king. Friends, you ain't a member of
this city unless you've bowed to the king. And no partial members here. You're either subject to this
king or you're not. How I wish I could bow Lord. If I could just stay at His feet.
How sweet would life be? He is my King. This is my city. That's my God. Is that yours? And guess what? It even gets
better. He says, God is known in her
palaces for refuge. Not only is He the foundation
of this city, not only is He the walls of this city, He is
also the roof. He surrounds you with protection. A refuge. I always think of Noah. I can't help but think of Noah
in that red ark. You know, Noah endured the justice
of God just like everybody else. He suffered under the justice
of God just like everybody else. It's just that the ark took the
blow. Ark took the blow. Christ took
the blow. And I know that's my God. That's
my refuge. I was listening to Darwin, and
Darwin said a man was having problems with his assurance.
He said, brother, I just can't, I'm not sure that my salvation. And he said, what do you mean?
Are you not sure that Jesus Christ come in the flesh? Oh no, no,
I'm sure, I'm sure of that. Well, are you sure that, are
you not sure that when he died that he actually satisfied the
justice of God? He said, oh no, I'm sure he did
that. Well, you're not sure that he
rose again from the dead. He said, oh, no, I'm sure he
rose from the dead. He said, well, what's your problem? You've got no assurance. You
trust in that. Rest in that. Great is our God. Greatly to be praised. We're
in the city of Zion, his church. And what a beautiful situation
we have. What a beautiful elevation wrapped in his holiness. firm
on the rock of Christ, surrounded by the refuge, great is our God.