Psalm 87. This is a psalm for
the sons of Korah. William Romaine said that this
is a psalm for the sons of the most miserable man on earth. And of course, if you read the
account of Korah, you would realize that with which he speaks. Psalm 87. His foundation is in the holy
mountains. The Lord loveth the gates of
Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are
spoken of thee, O city of God, Selah. I will make mention of
Rahab and Babylon to them that know me. Behold Philistia and
Tyre, with Ethiopia this man was born there. And of Zion it
shall be said, This and that man was born in her, and the
highest himself shall establish her. The Lord shall count, when
he righteth up the people, that this man was born there. Selah. As well the singers as
the players on instruments shall be there, all my springs are
in thee. This is a glorious psalm that
sets forth the glory of the one who is the very foundation of
the kingdom of God. Christ is the foundation stone,
scripture says. Of the foundation can no man
lay than that which is laid, which is Christ the Lord. And
this is that stone which the builders rejected. but the Lord
has made the headstone of the corner. Speaking of Christ, of
course, His foundation, that is, the foundation of the Kingdom
of God is in Jesus Christ. It speaks here of His in the
holy mountains. Now, we know that the Lord has
no more regard for the mountains than He does for the desert or
for the ocean or whatever. I mean, He's not speaking about
here the the earthly mountains, but as men we're amazed and awed
and it's a glorious thing when we see mountains. I can remember
as a child First time I saw the mountains, I was amazed. Of course, I've lived around
here all my life, and of course everything's pretty much flat. But when you go somewhere and
you see the mountains rising up, it's a wondrous thing. And that's often you find in
the scriptures, the description. of wondrous things as being mountains,
and the Lord does indeed set forth the mountains as being
that place of His foundation, that is a glorious place, a place
high above the thinking and ways of men. Now why are there mountains
in the earth? I believe there are mountains
in the earth for the very reason that I just said to you, that
men might see the contrast between that which is the plain and that
which is high. and the Lord is high and lifted
up. So indeed, each time that we
look upon the mountains, our minds should be reminded of the
fact that first off, the Lord made the mountains. Now, you
know, scientists they've got all of these theories as to how
the mountains came to be and you know over time this eroded
and this did that and this that and the other and I don't know
the means whereby God made the mountains but I know one thing
that he made the mountains and there's not a mountain on the
earth that's not exactly where he wanted it to be and there's
none that's made out of anything he didn't want it to be made
out of. And of course, men have a hard time explaining how they
find fossilized remains of sea creatures high up in the mountains. That's just an amazing thing. It couldn't possibly be that
the Lord caused the floods to rise above the mountains. I mean, it's impossible, is it,
in the thinking of men? But you see, with God, He does
according to His will in the army of heaven and among the
inhabitants of the earth, and no man can stay His hand. His
foundation is in the holy mountains. The Lord loveth the gates of
Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob." Now throughout the
Scriptures, the Zion is mentioned. Now the first time that we see
Zion mentioned was when David took the stronghold of Zion,
which was a fortress that the The name escapes me right now,
but there was the Jebusites, I believe it was, occupied a
place near Jerusalem and they opposed David. And so David took
the fortress of Zion. And Zion has throughout the scripture
been that word and that term the Lord has used to describe
his kingdom. And so when we see the word Zion,
it generally has reference to the kingdom of God. The gates,
the Lord loveth the gates of His kingdom. Now, He loves the
gates of His kingdom, and the gates of the Lord's kingdom don't
swing on hinges. They're not some ornate thing. You know, people picture heaven, and the gates of pearl that they
say, and you often see artists try to depict this, but those
things are given to us to cause us to fall in worship to Him
who is the door to the kingdom of God. The gates of God's kingdom
is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the gates of that kingdom.
And no man can come or go in that kingdom apart from his purpose. He says, I am the door of the
sheep by me. A man may enter in and go in
and out and find pasture, but he is the door and no man can
go in that kingdom any other way than through Jesus Christ. Now that's an offensive message
unto the world. The world doesn't want to hear
that. They want to hear that one way is just as good as another.
And if you like one way better than another, that's quite alright. Because your way is just as good.
Well, any way that man picks of his own free will and choice,
he is just as good as another. But you see, only the Lord can
show a man that gate, that door, which is Jesus Christ, and give
Him grace to go through that door. Because otherwise, He will
be as the world says, and any way will do. And I'll serve the
Lord. You often hear people say, oh
well, you know, I don't need to go to church, or I don't need
to do that. I just worship the Lord my own
way. Well, there is a way which seemeth right unto men, but the
end thereof are the ways of death. There is but one way. It's not
a way I devised. It's not something I came up
with. But that one way is Jesus Christ. He said, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. The Lord loveth the gates of
Zion. He loves Christ. Christ is the door of the sheep. Now He loves the sheep. But don't
misunderstand that the only reason that he loves the sheep is because
he sees them in Christ. We have no standing with God
apart from being in Christ. Christ is our righteousness.
He is our sanctification. He is our justification. And
apart from Him, we have no standing with God. Now again, that's a
very offensive message to the world because the world believes
in their heart of hearts. They're convinced that they have
some bit of righteousness which the Lord will take notice of.
Well surely, you know, oh so and so, he was such a good man.
I mean he went about doing good and he did wondrous things. Well
surely the Lord would take some consideration of that. Paul was
a good man as a Pharisee, but Paul was a man who was an enemy
of God and didn't even really know it until the Lord struck
him down on the road to Damascus. And then he went on to say, you
know, all those things that I counted as great accomplishments. I was a Pharisee. I served the
Lord. I knew the Scriptures. I walked
in that way which I thought to be right. But those things which
were gained to me, I counted but lost, and I count them but
done, that I may win Christ. Because Christ is the only hope
of sinners. There is not another one. And
so the Lord loveth the gates of Zion. He loves Christ more
than all the dwellings of Jacob. That is, all the places on the
earth where His people are gathered, Christ is that one who is the
apple of His eye. And we are privileged, dear brethren,
to be in Christ if God, by grace, has put us there. What a great
privilege it is. Because what can a man boast
of? Can a man say, well, I put myself in Christ? Now, the vast
majority of religious folks today believe that. They think that
they are one of God's children because they chose to be. That's
a message that's rung across this land and around the world
for a couple hundred years now without a great rivalry. to stand against it, but it's
a lie. Men don't enter the kingdom of
God by their choice. They enter the kingdom of God
by the grace of God, by the mercy of God that shows them that way
and causes them to believe. How can a man believe except
that the Lord in mercy give him faith? Faith is the gift of God,
not of works, lest any man should boast. And so the Lord loveth
the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious
things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Now, we read in the book
of Hebrews that all of these Old Testament saints, they died,
but they confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims.
and that they look for a city which has foundations, whose
builder and maker is God. They looked for a city which
had foundations. Now what is that foundation?
It's Jesus Christ. What were they looking for? You
know, you speak to a lot of people, especially this happens at funerals,
people get talking about heaven. And to the average person, heaven
is some kind of a A place where they are just going to be happy
doing whatever they were happy doing in this world. I mean that
is how they view heaven. They are going to sit around
in rocking chairs on the front porch and talk with grandma about
old times and things like that. Sentimentality. But dear brethren,
the scripture speaks of the place of heaven as being a place where
Christ alone is magnified. And the only people that could
possibly enjoy that are those whom the Lord has called to love
the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, if you don't love the
Lord Jesus Christ, you certainly would not be happy in heaven,
because He's the center of it. He's that one, he's that city
which has foundations. He's that city which the people
of God look for and will not be turned aside except they find
it. Glorious things are spoken of
thee, O city of God. Selah. I will make mention of
Rahab and Babylon to them that know me. Behold, Philistia and
Tyre with Ethiopia, this man was born there. That's a kind
of a strange scripture because of
the way that it's written. I believe what the gist of what
he's saying here is, is that the gospel of Jesus Christ is
going to be preached throughout the earth. He said, I will make
mention of Rahab, Babylon, to them that know me, behold Philistia
and Tyre and Ethiopia. This man was born there. That
is, the Lord has his people among all of these nations. It's not
just the United States. It's not Israel. It's not, the
Lord doesn't have a favored, you listen to the, our great
politicians talking about somebody, some nation has favored nation
status. and what that means is of course
that we will give them trade breaks and things like that I'm
not sure what all it means but it does mean that at least but
there are no favored nations before God because out of every
kindred tribe and tongue he has his people he has a people who
were born into the kingdom of God out of these nations now
there's no other way that any man in any nation comes unto
the Lord except through Jesus Christ. The only way. And the Lord has called His Word
to be sent into the earth. He said to declare it to everyone
that would hear. And of Zion, it shall be said,
This and that man was born in her, and the highest himself
shall establish her. And Zion, of course, being the
kingdom of God, this and that man is born of her. That is, all of the people who
are born into the kingdom of God are born of God. We don't become a part of the
kingdom of God through natural birth. That's what the Lord told
Nicodemus. He said, Nicodemus, it's not
enough that a man be born. into the world is not enough
that a man be born even into the nation of Israel. He said,
I tell you, except a man be born of water, that is of natural
birth, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of heaven. And so it is, except a man be born again, he cannot
enter the kingdom. Now I've heard men speak about
formulas whereby you can be born again. You just do this and you'll
be born again. No, it doesn't work like that.
There's not a formula that a man can go through and fulfill and
then he'll be born again. No. Thou hearest. You can see
the effects of the wind. You hear it, but you don't know
where it comes from. So is every man that's born of
the Spirit. It's the work of God. It's that
which the Lord is pleased to bring upon a man. cause him to
be born again, and to have faith, and to believe. And men came
back and they boasted. I mean, the only thing that makes
any of us different from another is the grace and mercy of Almighty
God, because we'd never believe the gospel. There's none that
seeketh after Him. There's none righteous, no, not
one, apart from His mercy, His kindness, which indeed He has
shown unto men. And of Zion it shall be said,
this and that man was born in her, and the highest himself
shall establish her. For wherever the people of God
are, it is the work of God to bring to pass the gathering in. As when Peter preached on the
day of Pentecost, he said, the promise is unto you and to your
children and to everyone whom the Lord should call. That's the same way we are. We're just a little more sophisticated
in how we do our whining. The Lord shall count when he
righteth up the people. Now this is a glorious passage
of scripture right here. The Lord shall count when he
righteth up the people. Why is he gonna count? You know,
the scripture says, the Lord knoweth them that are his. He
gave a parable. And he said that a man, a shepherd,
had 99 sheep that was in the fold. But what did he do? How did he know? I mean, this
man had 100 sheep. And how did he know he had 100?
I mean, how did he know that he only had 99 in the fold? What did he do? He counted them.
He said, you know, I'm missing one of my sheep. And the scripture
says that he'll go out, he'll leave the ninety and nine, and
he will not return until he gets that one sheep that's missing. The Lord knoweth them that are
his. And he will indeed call his own unto himself. The Lord
shall count It says, when he writeth up the people. He said,
there come old Joe through the gate. There's Ed. And he writes them down. He knows
who they are. He counts them. When he writeth up the people.
The scripture says that the names of God's children are written
in the Lamb's Book of Life. And it says, from before the
foundation of the world. That's a glorious thought. I
mean, the Lord created the world for His glory, for sure, but
He had His people in mind when He created it. He knew where
everyone was going to be. And in His own time, He called
them out. Now again, that's an offensive
message to some. I don't really understand fully
why it would be an offensive message. Because it ought to
cause men to just rejoice that the Lord would save His sheep. But see, men get mad because
they say, well, He ought to just save everybody. Well, no, the
reality is He ought not to save anybody. But because of His mercy
and kindness, He has chosen to save some. What a glorious thing
to be numbered to be counted when he righteth up the people.
But look at this. It says the Lord shall count
when he righteth up the people. Now, here's what's really important. We talked about the fact that
God's people are born into the kingdom, but listen to this.
It says that this man was born there. Now, who is this man that
was born here but Jesus Christ born of a woman born in the likeness
of sinful flesh he is that one who is the very basis upon which
the kingdom of God rests and he came and walked among men
as a man this man was born here brethren without the incarnation
of Jesus Christ we wouldn't have salvation because the Lord purposed
to save us through the blood of His only begotten Son. And
He has accomplished exactly that. And He said of all the sheep
the Lord has given Him, He would lose how many? I mean, did He
say, and this is what's preached far and wide, is that, well, the Lord's gonna
stand before the Father one day and say, well, Lord, I got as
many of them as I could. Because people say, well the
Lord Jesus Christ, He died for everybody in the world. And we
know that everybody in the world is not going to be saved. So
did the Lord fail? How foolish! The Lord has accomplished
exactly what He came into the world to do, which was to redeem
that people which were given to Him before the foundation
of the world. And He has counted them and He has accomplished
their redemption. and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. He said, all
that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh
to me I'll in no wise cast out. As well the singers as the players
on instruments shall be there. All my springs are in thee. The
rejoicing of God's people is complete in Christ. All of our
springs are in Him. That is, all of our wells of
joy are in Him. We don't have another one. Brethren,
this world doesn't give us any lasting joy. I mean, there's
passing things of happiness. The Lord has blessed us in so
many ways. He's given us many things in
this world to enjoy. But they are passing, and we
understand that. You know, even our families,
as much as we rejoice in glory in them and enjoy their company
most of the time, even that is a passing thing. But the joys
that are found in Christ, they endure forever. And they can't
be taken away. All of my springs are in thee. What a glorious God we have and
a wondrous Savior.