I was talking to Roy tonight
before service and I said, give me a short message tonight. And
I was reminded of Brother Donnie Bell one time we were at a conference
and Brother Donnie said, there's three lies you hear all the time.
He said, one is we're here from the government or we're from
the government, we're here to help. And the other was the checks
in the mail and the third is A preacher saying it's going
to be a short message tonight. So. So turn, if you would, to
Psalm 48, Psalm 48. And I will try not to keep us
too long tonight. We're going to be on the last
verse. It's amazing how it all fell together. We finished the
glorifying God series this morning. So we started a new Sunday school
lesson in February as Brother Matt's going to be preaching
or teaching next Sunday morning. And then now tonight we're going
to finish Psalm 48. So in February. Because we don't have any evening
service next week, we will start a whole other portion of scripture. We'll have to wait and see where
it is, as the Lord leads. Psalm 48,
though. Let's read the whole Psalm. a
song and psalm for the sons of Korah. Great is the Lord, and
greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain
of His holiness." So we looked at verse 1, how God is great,
and He is greatly to be praised, and we saw that In the city of
our God is Zion, which pictures the church. Beautiful for situation,
the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion on the sides of the
north, the city of the great king. The latter part of that
verse is the main part we keyed on, the city of the great king.
God is known in their palaces for a refuge. For lo, the kings
were assembled, they passed by together, they sawed, and so
they marveled, they were troubled and hastened away. Fear took
hold upon them, and pain is of a woman in travail. Thou breakest
the ships of tarnish with an east wind." We have heard, so
we have seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of
our God, God will establish it forever. In verse 8 there, we
looked at how God is the one who has established the church.
He's established Zion. It's His work. And He keeps her,
and He watches over her. We have thought thy loving kindness,
O God, in the midst of thy temple, according to thy name, O God. So is thy praise until the ends
of the earth. Thy right hand is full of righteousness.
And that latter part of that verse is where we keyed in verse
10. In verse 9, we looked at the
loving kindness of God. But verse 10, we looked at thy right hand
is full of righteousness. And we saw how that pictures
Christ. That's Christ. He is the right
hand of God. He is full of righteousness, full of righteousness. And in
11 to 13, remember, we looked at that. Last week, that's a
survey of the city of Zion and how she's a fortified city, which
pictures how we are fortified and protected by our great God
and King, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the towers upon her and
He is the bulwarks. He is our defense, beloved. We
are a walled city. walled city. Let Mount Zion rejoice. Let the daughters of Judah be
glad because of thy judgments. Walk about Zion and go round
about her. Tell the towers thereof. Mark
ye well her bulwarks. Consider her palaces that ye
may tell it to the generation following." And that's what we
do, don't we? We proclaim the gospel to our
generation. We proclaim the gospel to our
generation. So tonight's verse is going to be verse 14. For
this God is our God forever and ever. He will be our guide even
unto death. And so tonight we will be concluding
our study on this wonderful psalm, the psalm of Zion, the city of
God, which as we've seen through this whole psalm though, it focuses
upon Christ. It focuses upon our great God,
our great God. So with this in mind, let us
consider verse 14 tonight. And we see what a beautiful conclusion
we have here to a triumphant Psalm in our text. For this God
is our God. That's the very God that's spoken
of in the verse one. Great is the Lord and greatly
to be praised. For this God is our God forever
and ever. He will be our guide even unto
death. Now all of God's elect, the generations
which have gone before us, and the generations which are upon
the earth right now, and if the Lord tarries, the generations
which will follow, these words are precious to them. These words
are precious to God's sheep. Jesus Christ is God and our Savior
right now, and He will be forever. He will be forever. And let us
grasp that word, forever. That there's no end. And see,
only God, Brother Neil brought something out today, and I absolutely
loved it. On the way out, he stopped and
he said, only God can say the word never and mean it. And think
of this forever, too. We perish. Upon this earth, we're going
to perish. Now, we who believe are going to be in glory with
the Lord forever. But why? Because of Him. Because
of what He's done. As I said today, we are recipients
of the grace of God in Christ. So Jesus Christ is God and Savior
right now for the saints in glory, and He will be forever. Jesus
Christ is God and Savior right now for we who believe. We who
are living upon this earth, and he will be forever. And Jesus
Christ will be manifest to his lost sheep, following our generation
as the Lord tarries, and he will be their God and their Savior
forever. It's wonderful. It crosses time. It crosses generations. Jesus Christ is Lord. Lord. We don't make him Lord. He's
already Lord. We bow and acknowledge that he's
Lord. We acknowledge his Lordship.
And he is God and Savior to every generation of his seed, his elect. Zion. All the elect of God. all the elect of all the ages,
a number that no man can number. And He is our God forever and
ever. Let's look at our text again.
For this God is our God forever and ever. God's people have been
regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God. In Psalm 16.2 says this,
O my soul, Oh, my soul, we cry out like
David. If you want to turn there, you
can. I'll read the text. Psalm 16, verse 2. And this is
a cry of every regenerated believer. Oh, my soul, thou hast said unto
the Lord, thou art my Lord. My goodness extendeth not to
thee. But this is what we say. Thou
art my Lord. We acknowledge his Lordship,
beloved. Oh my soul, Psalm 16, 2, thou
hast said unto the Lord, thou art my Lord, my goodness extendeth
not to thee. So the psalmist is speaking of
an affliction which had continued and abode in his soul. And it's
true for all the children. We cry, we cry, thou art my Lord. Every redeemed, every regenerated
child of God, Cries out, thou art my Lord. And as I said, we
don't make him Lord. He's already Lord. There was
a whole, years ago, there was a big old thing, just make Jesus
Lord of your life. It's too late. God made him so. God made him so. We acknowledge,
we bow to his Lordship. We bow, we who believe. And we
cry with David. Thou art my Lord. We ascribe
to Him that which He already is. Before we are saved, we do
not ascribe to Him the Lordship of Christ, do we? Not at all.
Not at all. We shake our fist at Him because
we didn't believe in Him. But when He reveals Himself to
us, we join in fellowship with the saints in one accord and
we worship Him by praising and glorifying His mighty name and
crying out, Thou art my Lord. And we who have been regenerated
by the Holy Spirit, we remember where we were. We remember how
we never said that, how we never acknowledged that. But oh, the
Holy Spirit wrought such a change in us, born again by the Holy
Spirit of God, and we cry out, oh Lord, you're my Savior, you're
my Redeemer, you're my Lord. I have no hope but thee, no hope
but thee. Turn, if you would, to Psalm
31.14. Psalm 31.14. God's people trust in the Lord.
He's our Savior and our Redeemer. He's our surety and our God.
Look at 31.14. But I trusted in thee. Who's
your trust in? Who's your trust in right now?
Is your trust in yourself or is your trust in Christ? Oh, the believer cries out. But I trusted in Thee, O Lord.
I trusted in Thee, Jehovah. Jehovah in the Hebrew. I said,
Thou art my God. Do you see the change? The Holy Spirit rots in the believer. I have trusted in every single
saint of God is resting and trusting in Christ alone. That's why I
say, who are you trusting? Who are you trusting for your
salvation? Oh my. But I've trusted in thee, oh
Lord. I said, thou art my God. I've trusted in thee, oh Jehovah.
The one who rules and reigns. The one who has all majesty and
power. Thou art my God. Power of my
God. And who is the one who we trust
in? Think of this, Jehovah incarnate
in the flesh. Jehovah, God incarnate in the
flesh. Oh my. David here before us in Psalm
31, 14, But I trusted in thee, O Lord, I said, Thou art my God. And in these words, he proclaims
that he is entirely persuaded of this precious truth that God
was his God. God was his God. And he will,
by God's grace, not be moved. And it's so with we who believe.
We trust in Him, in Christ, in Him. Look at our text again. For this
God is our God. For this God is our God. Forever and ever. So let us look back on situations
in our lives. and see the presence of the Lord,
whether it be in times of ease, or whether it be in times of
sorrow, or whether it be in times of struggle, whether it be in
times of sadness, whether it be in times of sickness, whether
it be in times of health, we can look back in our lives, every
believer can do this, we can look back in our lives and see
God's providential care at work. And now when we're going through
it, we don't always see it, do we? But we can look back and
see God's providential hand, and we who believe cry out, this
God is our God. This God is our God. Forever and ever, he will be
our guide, even unto death. And remember what we looked at
today? He'll never, never, not ever forsake us. Calvin says this, may we as Calvin
but out say the marks of his grace engraven wherever we turn
ourselves or rather to recognize him as present in those marks
we look back and see the marks of his sovereign grace in our
lives. And we rejoice because our God
is an ever-present help, beloved. He's an ever-present help. And
this brings great comfort to the saints of God. Our God, for
this God, is our God forever. Forever. Turn, if you would,
to Psalm 46. Two psalms over from where we
are. Psalm 46. And I pray this will bring us
great comfort and peace. And think of this in light of
our text. For this God is our God forever
and ever. He will be our guide even unto
death. Look at what's penned here in
Psalm 46, verses 1 to 5. God is our refuge and strength. A very present help in trouble. Therefore, we'll Not we fear,
though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried
into the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be
troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof,
Selah, there is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad
the city of God, that's Zion, the holy place of the tabernacles
of the Most High, God is in her midst. Oh, believer, beloved
of God, God is in your midst. He's a refuge in strength, a
very present help in trouble. God is in her midst. She shall
not be moved because He is our strength, eh? He's our strength. He's our rock. God shall help
her in that right early. Oh, what a great God we have,
beloved. The city mentioned in Psalm 46,
4 is Zion, of which our psalm speaks of tonight in our study. And do you know it's the Lord's
mercy that we are not consumed? It's the Lord's mercy that we
are not consumed because His compassions fail not. They are
new every morning. Great, great is Thy faithfulness. Great is His faithfulness. He
watches over us. He's our God forever and ever. Let's go back to our text. For
this God is our God forever and ever. He will be our guide, even
unto death. He, beloved, is the God of his
people, and his love to us and care for us is constant, unfailing,
unwavering, and unchangeable. because his love is set upon
his people from eternity, from eternity. He has loved us in
eternity. He loves us right now. And he
will love us forever. My, our love can be wavering,
can't it? Not God's, not God's. And then he will be our guide
and protect us even unto death. And then, beloved, here receive
us in glory. What a great God. And there we'll
be with him forever. Here be our God forever and ever. Eternity. I don't think we can
really fathom that, can we? I can't always wrap my mind around
that. But that's what the scripture declares. For this God is our
God forever and ever. But look at the little portion
here. He will be our guide even unto death. God, Jehovah, will
be our guide. The very one who controls all
the universe will be our guide and is our guide. He is our guide. Thy word is what? A light unto
our path. He leads us where? Besides still
waters. Where do we lie down? in the
green pastures of this book right here. Sister Nancy and I was
talking today, this is sheep food, beloved. This is clover
for God's people, for his sheep, and we feast upon it, don't we?
We just feast upon it. It's wonderful. It's wonderful
for us. So the one who is absolutely
sovereign, think of this, the one who is absolutely sovereign,
the one who holds all things together by the word of his power,
scripture declares right here, he will be our guide. That's security. And it's not in us, is it? It's in him. It's in him. The Lord orders the steps. Turn,
if you would, to Psalm 32, or 37, I'm sorry, Psalm 37. The
Lord orders the steps of the righteous. He holds them by thy
right hand. And He guides them with His counsel
and in judgment. Look at Psalm 37, verses 23 to
26. Look at this. The steps of a
good man are ordered by the Lord. How are we good? Only in Christ.
Only in Christ, the steps of a good man are ordered by the
Lord, and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall
not be utterly cast down. The Lord will never cast away
his people, never. For the Lord upholdeth him with
his right hand. Have you ever wondered when you
go through some trials and stuff, you wonder, how did I make it
through that? For the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. That's how
you make it through, beloved. That's how we make it through.
It's all by his grace and mercy. I have been young, and now I'm
old. Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken? That ties
right in with our verse that we looked at this morning when
we closed, Hebrews 13.5. Nor his seed begging bread. He
is ever merciful and lendeth or yeah, and lendeth and his
seed is blessed. I've not seen the righteous forsaken.
Here never forsake his people, never. Others may forsake us. God will never forsake his people,
never, never. The spirit of the Lord leads
God's sheep to the fullness of Christ. He guides us into all
truth. And where is all that truth?
I am the way, the truth, and the life. That's what our king
said. All truth is in Christ. He directs
them. He directs his sheep into his
and his father's love and leads us onto the land of uprightness. The Lord Jesus Christ, the great
shepherd of the flock, feeds his people, feeds his sheep. He guides us. by the skillfulness
of His hands, and He guides our feet in the ways of peace, in
the ways of life, in the ways of salvation, by Himself. He leads us into green pastures,
beside the still waters, and unto the fountain of living water,
which is only found in Him, only found in Christ. And throughout
our life and to our dying, God will graciously lead us, and
then we who are redeemed here bring us home to do. But He is our guide even unto
death. And here in our text, the people
of God are assured that He will be their guide and keeper forever.
He's our resurrection in our life, isn't He? Christ is our
resurrection in our life. We have no hope outside of Him. We were one time, I know me,
at one time, and I'm sure it's with you, at one time we trusted
in ourselves, didn't we? We trusted in what we could do.
We thought, well, I'm not a bad guy. That's how I felt until
God revealed to me what I was, a sinner in desperate, desperate
need of Christ. And the Holy Spirit regenerated
me. And I know he did with some of you too. He regenerated. And
what did we do? I know I say it all the time,
we ran to Christ, didn't we? Oh my, my. He's amazing. And we look back
and we see how he cared for us even before we were saved. And we marvel. And then scripture
here tells us he's gonna be our guide all the way, all the way
through our death, even through our death. And He takes us home
to the Lord. And then we behold His face. We see Him face to face. Oh my. Our faith will become sight.
What a day that'll be. What a day that'll be, beloved.
And He is our guide. Our guide is the everlasting
God. The one who keeps us is the everlasting
God. He guides us through this life
and through our passing through the Jordan of this life and to
the Canaan of glory, where we will be in His presence forever. Forever. This God, Jehovah, will
be our God to all eternity. And it's by that power which
He had already exerted in our protection, in our salvation,
that He will conduct us through this life with safety. By His
power, by His majesty, He keeps us. My, what a God. What a Savior. Let's look at verse 1 again.
Verse 1 of this psalm. Great is the Lord, and greatly
to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of His
holiness. Great is the Lord. He is so great. We can't even comprehend it.
But the psalmist's right. Great is the Lord, and greatly
to be praised. Let us ponder this and meditate
this week upon this. For this God is our God forever
and ever. And what a portion then is that
of the believer in Christ. Think of this, one who owns a
parcel of land cannot say of the land that this is mine forever,
can he? Because we're going to die and
that land will be willed to someone else or become someone else's
property. And it will pass on to someone
else. And the king, an earthly king, cannot say of a crown that's
upon his head, this is mine forever. Because he's gonna die. And his body's gonna mix with
the dust. And another's gonna put that
crown on their head. Either an heir or someone who
takes over. So they cannot say. that it's theirs forever. So
the land over in the king will die one day, and again their
dust will mingle with the earth. But look what our verse here
says and see what joy the believer of Christ has in this fact, this
fact, beloved. Every believer in Christ can
say this, this God is our God forever and ever. Why? Because that precious truth rests
in the One who is everlasting. The One who can only say, forever. And remember, this is penned
by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. Let us marvel at this. This love
of God in Christ to His people. It's undeserved. It's unmerited. And it's all that He might show,
that God might show the exceeding riches of His grace and in His
kindness towards us through Christ Jesus, that that might be manifest. And we praise His name, don't
we? For this God is our God forever and ever. He will be our guide
even unto death. The believer in Christ can say,
this glorious God, with all His divine perfections, is my God
forever. Forever? And even death cannot separate
me from His love. Ponder that. Oh, let us think
upon that. Even death cannot separate the
believer from the love of the Father, because then we're in
His presence. That's why the texts say, for
this God is our God forever. What a beautiful conclusion to
such a triumphant song. Jesus, who is Zion's God and
Savior right now, will be forever in eternity. Our Savior and our
Redeemer. That's why the saints cry, worthy
is the Lamb. And that'll be our cry forever.
He's the one who redeemed us. He's the one who purchased us
by his own precious blood on Calvary's cross. the sinless
one dying for sinners, the great substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. And thank our brothers and sisters
of the past. This God is their God forever
and ever. And He is our Savior right now.
And as the Lord tarries, He will be Savior to His people, who
will be regenerated and saved, following us. And He will be
their God, just as He is our God, forever and ever. What do
we say? What a Redeemer. What a Savior. is Jesus Christ,
my Lord. Ponder, ponder this week the
mercy of God and Christ toward you who believe. It'll fill your
heart with joy. And the believer says, praise
His mighty name. Glory to Him. Gracious Heavenly
Father, we come before Thee. Oh, with such grateful hearts,
there was a time before we were regenerated, that we shook our
fist at Thee, but You sought us, we who believe. You sought
us because You purchased us on Calvary's cross. And now we sing with the psalmist,
Thou art my God, Thou art my Lord, forever and ever, based
upon nothing in us, but all of what you have done. And we just
praise your name. We just praise your name. We
pray, I pray, Lord, too, that you'd be with everyone tonight
as they travel home. Oh, Lord, that you give travel
mercies. We give you all the glory in Jesus' name, amen.