in considering psalm 47 recently
we consider the great victory of god the great triumph of god
and the praise of god's people under him in that god has gone
up with a shout victorious over sin victorious over our enemies
victorious at the cross christ died was laid in the grave rose
again and ascended up into glory with a shout leading his people
forth. And we consider this in the light
of that in the Old Testament which is a figure of this victory,
the march of the children of Israel around the city of Jericho. and how they silently marched
around Jericho and how on the seventh day when the Trump was
blown and the people shouted the walls of the city fell down
flat that which pictures this world And the enmity of this
world and the heart of man against God and against his ways and
against his gospel fell down flat when the trump, the sound
of the gospel, the ram's horns were blown. When the gospel comes
in power, When the messengers of God come in across the walls
of the fortress of your heart with the message of the gospel
of grace and bring that message to you who dwell in your fortified
city, a Rahab, a wicked creature dwelling within the hardness
of your heart when the message of the gospel breaks through
the walls of your hard heart and you hear and you receive
the impact, the results, the consequences are tremendous.
The hard wall of your heart comes breaking down, collapsing. The
light of the gospel shines into that which was once dark. The
trumpet sounded. Your hands clap in applause. You're brought to shout and to
praise. For God has delivered you from
the foolishness of your ways, from the captivity of sin, from
the deadness, the death, which sin has brought in, from absolute
destruction. When the walls come crushing
down, and others are destroyed with fire. If you, like Rahab,
have received the messengers and have received their message,
you, like Rahab, will be led forth unto safety. And you will
be led forth with the people of God out of Jericho to another
city. to a city which unlike Jericho
has walls which will never fall, towers which will never be brought
down, palaces which will never be destroyed. You will be brought
to a city and a kingdom wherein dwelleth righteousness. A city
where there is no sin. A city where there is no death.
A city where there is no destruction. A glorious city, an everlasting
city. A city where the people of God
dwell. A city where those like you,
delivered out of Jericho, delivered out of the Egypt of this world.
A city where those like you, saved by grace, washed by the
blood of God, are brought in. And where people like you will
dwell forevermore. You will be brought to a city
called Zion. And that's the focus of the following
psalm, Psalm 48. The glory of Zion. The psalmist writes 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. 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
a refuge. For lo, the kings were assembled,
they passed by together. They saw it and so they marveled. They were troubled and hasted
away. Fear took hold upon them there,
and pain as of a woman in travail. Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish
with an east wind. As we have heard, so have we
seen in the city of the Lord of Hosts, in the city of our
God. God will establish it forever. Selah. We have fought of thy
lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple. According
to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth.
Thy right hand is full of righteousness. Let Mount Zion rejoice. Let the
daughters of Judah be glad because of thy judgments. Walk about
Zion. 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.
For this God is our God, forever and ever. He will be our guide
even unto death. Walk about Zion, 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."
What a contrast with Jericho. Joshua led the children of Israel
around the city of Jericho for six days. They marched silently
around. They walked around Jericho. They looked and beheld. They
beheld this great, this mighty city. They beheld the walls. To the eyes of man it seemed
impenetrable. except God was in their midst. They would have been full of
fear. They walked round the walls. They saw the towers. They heard
the people within. But they did as their God commanded.
They walked silently. They followed the priests. They
followed the Ark of the Covenant. They kept their mouths shut.
They did nothing in their strength or because of their will to attempt
to destroy this great city that they saw. They did as their God
had instructed. They did as Joshua instructed.
They followed silently. And on the seventh day, at the
seventh circuit, at the sound of the trump, the walls of the
city fell flat. And the people beheld They saw
what God did to this great city of this earth. This great city
of man. This great city that man thought
would stand for generations. This example, this monument to
the might and the power of mankind. And his own strength and his
own will and his own glory. They saw what became of it. It
fell down flat. It was utterly destroyed. It
was burnt with fire. It's not there. and having been
given the victory by the almighty power of their God and his gospel. Because of the ark that kept
the judgment of God concealed. that said, I have judged, I have
finished, I have taken away the sins of my people, I have shed
blood and sprinkled it, I've brought in a victory on their
behalf, I've won the battle because of their God and His gospel. This great enemy, this great
city of this world was no more. And the people, the Israelites,
told it to the generations following. There is no Jew. There's no Jew
in the generations that followed. There's no Jew today that does
not know of the victory of Joshua and the people at the hand of
God at Jericho. It's been told to the generations
following. But having been delivered that
people were brought to another city and if you've been delivered
from Jericho spiritually you will have been brought to this
city and you'll be brought to walk about this city and you'll
be brought to go round about her and to tell the towers to
mark well her bulwarks, to consider her palaces, that ye may tell
it to the generation following. Because unlike Jericho, here's
a city which will never fall. It's everlasting. Man hasn't
built Zion, God has. Man didn't build the towers,
God did. Man didn't build the bulwarks,
the walls, God did. Man didn't build these palaces,
God did. Man didn't populate this city,
God did. God delivered his people. God led his people into Zion. God gave them this city and this
kingdom for an inheritance and it will never fall. Tell it to the generation. Follow it. Great is the Lord
and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain
of His holiness. Here's a city upon a mount. It's high up. It reaches under
the heavens. It's set where this world reaches
unto heaven. where time and eternity meet,
where God meets man. He leads his people up to the
height, to touch the sky, to reach up to him. He comes to
them upon the mount. Beautiful, beautiful for situation. What a city. What a place. What a place for it to be. Reaching
into heaven. Reaching out of time into eternity. It's beautiful. When all you've
known is the misery of this world. The misery of Jericho. The misery
of sin. The misery of seeing those things
that you thought might last forever brought to nothing. when you've
discovered that there is nothing that you can do that you can
build that you can follow that you can make that you can glory
in in this world which is not that created, done, and sustained
by God, when you discover that everything in this world comes
to nothing, even the mightiest of cities, even the greatest
of kingdoms, even the greatest of ideals and ideas and influences
when everything you put your hand to comes to nothing and
you see that this world is nothing you see that you can gain nothing
from it you see that it's full of sin and destruction when you
see the futility there is in this world and in a life lived
without regard to God without regard to the creator of this
world without regard to the one who sustains this world without
regard to the very one that gives man his life when you discover
that by turning your back on the one who gives life and sustains
life that all you have as a result is death then you realize that
however great the city of this world might be however great
your Jericho might be One day it's gonna be burnt up with fire.
And then you'll know that this city, where the people of God
dwell, is of a very different order. It's beautiful for its
situation. It reaches under heaven. Nothing that man ever does ever
gets close. Mankind at one day tried to build
a tower at Babel. Oh, this great tower that man
would build to get up into heaven. And God looked down and saw the
wickedness on them. That they did these things without
a love and a regard for him. Oh, they were going to build.
They were going to have the glory. They were so great. And he destroyed
it and scattered them and scattered the people and brought it to
nothing. But here's a city which does
reach to heaven. And God built it. God populates
it. God, by grace, if he brings the
gospel unto you, if he comes to your Jericho with his message
and gives you ears to hear it, he'll lead you here. And here's
a city which will never fall. It's the joy of the whole earth.
The joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion, on the sides of the
north the city of the great king. Well the earth in its folly doesn't
rejoice in this city. The earth by nature in its sinful
ways tries to run away from this city, tries to pretend it doesn't
even exist. It can't see it, it can't find
it, it doesn't care for it. It tries to build its Jerichos
and its Babels and everything else that it builds. The world
by nature and you by nature have no thought for it. It's not a
joyous place to you by nature. But in your folly all you'll
know is pain and sorrow and death in the end. Oh you can eat, you
can drink and you can be merry for a brief moment. But then your life closes. And
there's no joy that you can take from any of these things into
eternity. But this city that man does not
joy in, is an eternal and an everlasting city. It's the only
city which brings real joy to this earth. This is the city
which is the joy of the whole earth. God has built it. He's built in his kingdom. He's
built in his church. and he's been building it in
this earth through the people that he saves from the very first
day when he saved the patriarchs when he saved Jacob, Abraham,
Isaac, David When he saved the apostles, the disciples, John
and Peter, Paul. When he saved his people throughout
all history, every one of them was another child of God that
he brought into this kingdom. Another stone he set in its walls. He's been building this city,
Zion, from the very first day that this world was created.
This world exists because he will build a city which is beautiful
for situation and he will build it using stones which are those
people whom he saves with his gospel. They are the very walls,
the very towers, the very stones of the palaces in its midst.
He populates it. He creates it, he builds it,
and it stands and rises up above everything that man has made.
All the time that he's building this city, stone by stone, tower
by tower, palace by palace, the world around in the darkness
around it. As this city stands in this earth
as a beacon of light, all around in the darkness, man is building
this and building that and building the other. But you can't really
see it because it's dark. In the shadows they build this
and in the shadows they build that. And God comes with his
finger and brushes them down. Up pops a Babel, down it goes. Up pops another Jericho, down
it goes. Up pops a Third Reich, down it
goes. Up pops a Rome, down it goes. On and on and on. Up pops a major
corporation, down it goes. Today up pops a Google, up pops
an apple. One day there'll be history.
Man rejoices in all his building. God brushes it aside. What's
done in the darkness never stands, but this city is the joy of the
whole earth. God is known in her palaces for
a refuge. It's the joy of the whole earth
because those in the Jericho's like Rahab who come to know of
the great might and power of God and of the great salvation
and grace of God and who come to know of the desperate situation
which they are in in Jericho and how this God has won battles
and how this God will destroy her and her city if she remains
there. For people like that who were
delivered This city and its palaces become known as a refuge. It's the only place to run to.
It's the only place to escape the destruction to come. Today,
if you look around in this world, you think you can go to this
place and to that place. You think you can go to this
country and to that country. This country's risen up, that
country's risen up. This city is built, that city's
built. You think you can go here and go there. And for a brief
moment in time, these places stand. But destruction's coming. The clock is ticking. Nothing
stands forever. And if that's all you've got,
if that's all you go to, you'll find a storm brewing one day.
And you'll have to run. You'll have to flee. You'll have
to flee from the wrath to come. And where will you go? Jesus
talks in Matthew's Gospel about such days. About the people fleeing
to the mountains. Hiding, trying to find a place
they can hide. Trying to get under rocks and
things. How can they survive the destruction to come? How
can they face the fires and the wrath of God that come down from
heaven? What are you going to do when the refuges of man won't
protect you? Where will you run? Well there's
a people who found a refuge. a refuge which really delivers
them a refuge that delivers them from all their enemies a refuge
that delivers them from their own sin and their own condemnation
the condemnation against their own sin a refuge from death a
refuge from the wrath of God a refuge from the fair and righteous
judgment of God against them and what they've done they found
a refuge And that refuge is in the palaces of Zion. This is the city of the great
king. That's why it's a refuge. If there's a king who is over
every king, if there's a king who rules over all, if there
is a king who is sovereign, if there's a king who is the lord
of lords, if there's a king who rules, where would you be? In
his city, or in the city of his enemy, where would you rather
dwell? This city is beautiful. This
city is glorious. This city is holy, because it's
the city of the king. It's Christ's city. It's where
Jesus dwells. It's where the Lord is. It's
where he who creates and sustains. It's where he whose love is everlasting
dwells forever. It's where the light is. It's
where Christ is. Below the kings were assembled.
They passed by together. They saw it and so they marveled. Oh, the world may see. It may
see this great city. It looks down through history.
and it sees the Gospel and it sees the effects that the Gospel
has had throughout history and it wonders. It marvels. It marvels that so many people
throughout so many generations should have believed these things,
should have heard of Christ and his coming, should have heard
of the death of Christ, the cross of Christ, the blood of Christ. It marvels. It looks at them. It looks at them collectively.
It says, why have so many? come to believe this it marvels
it's foreign to them they don't understand it the kings were assembled they
passed by together they look at this zion they marveled they
were troubled and they hasted away what's your reaction does
it trouble you Are you hasting away? When this message comes
to a conclusion, when we are done here today, will you haste
away? Will you scuttle off into the
darkness? Will you turn your back upon
Zion once more? Will you run off to the inventions
of the world? Will you run off to the pleasures
and the riches? Will you run off to find solace
somewhere else, when the clock's tick-tocking, tick-tocking on
your life? and you have no answer for your
greatest of need. You have no answer for your sin. You cannot stand before the great
king of Zion and know that you will be found righteous before
him. Do you turn away? Do you haste
away? Fear took hold upon them there and pain as of a woman
in travail. because thou breakest the ships
of Tarshish with an east wind. When men come to know something
of this city, and of its king, and of its people, and of the
Saviour, and of the Gospel, when they come to know something of
it, and they come to know their sin, and how God, the Great King,
will one day judge them, then they fear. Fear may take hold
of them. Fear takes hold of many. You'll
never find a refuge in this place. You may hear to a degree. You
may recognise that you're not one of these. You may recognise
you're not in this city. You're outside. You may be filled
with fear. But you need to hear. You need
to be found within. You need to be found within this
city. Your city won't protect you. However strong it seems,
however thick the walls, the great thick walls of Jericho
fell down. As we have heard, so have we
seen in the city of the Lord of hosts. In the city of our
God, God will establish it forever. Salaam. You see the people of
God are not just those that hear, and are filled with fear and
never see. The people of God found in Zion
have heard. They've heard the gospel. They've
heard of Zion. They've heard of the Saviour.
They've heard of His blood. They've heard of His wondrous
victory upon the cross. They've heard that He went up
with a great shout. They've heard of the triumph.
They've heard of the glories of Zion and the palaces and the
towers. They've heard. But they haven't
just heard. They're not just left with a
message in their heads. It's not just information. They
don't spend their lifetime knowing about it and hoping to be a part
of it but never seeing. They've not just heard but they're
brought to Zion. The Spirit of God brings the
message and when He brings the message it's not just brought
in words. but he brings it in power, he
puts life in their hearts, he puts faith in their hearts, and
he opens their eyes to see, and he leads them. He leads them
to the city of God, he leads them to the mount, he leads them
to Zion, and he leads them in. there before them the gates are
opened and they're led in and they've not just heard they've
seen as we have heard so have we seen in the city of the Lord
of hosts in the city of our God God will establish it forever
it's true And because it's true, those of us who have heard and
those of us who have seen walk about Zion. We go round about
her. We tell the towers thereof. We
mark well her bulwarks. We consider her palaces and we
tell it to the generation following. who just like us when we were
in the darkness, when we were in Jericho, shut their ears,
think it folly, can't be bothered, walk away. But we tell it to
the generation following. And there comes a day where God
sends the message. And when we tell, he speaks. When we speak, he delivers into
the soul an arrow of grace that sticks and no more can you haste
away no more can you simply marvel and be troubled and run away
and run off to your own things and bury your head in the sand
no more can you push it back for another day suddenly an arrow
of grace from God's hand sticks And suddenly you're thankful
for those that told it to your generation. Suddenly you begin
to see that what they heard and what they saw was true. God has established His city. He has saved all these generations
before. He has delivered them. And He
is continuing to build. He's continuing to build Zion.
He's continuing to deliver. His city is the only city that
stands. You begin to see it. Which is
why we tell it to the generation following. God will establish
it forever. Say lah. Pause. Take it in, God will establish
it forever. He has preached his gospel, he's
wrought his gospel. To build this city cost God. It cost God more than you could
ever consider, more than you could ever wonder at, more than
you could ever pay. It cost him a price that you
could never pay. Almighty God, to build his city,
to save his people, offered up his own son as a sacrifice for
their sin. Because he loved them, because
he set his love upon this wicked and this evil and this rebellious
people, People like you, people like me, because he loved them,
despite all that they are and all that they've done, despite
all that they said, because he loved them, he said, I will save
them. I will cleanse them. I will change
them. I will bring them into my city.
But he could only do it by maintaining his righteousness. and saying
yes I will but they have sinned and sin must be judged. The price
of sin must be paid. Sin must be judged. I cannot
save them at the expense of my justice. Righteousness must stand. I love but I am righteous. I will save, but I must be just. I will show them mercy, but I
must hold forth my justice at the same time. Then the only
way I can show them my love, the only way I can be merciful,
the only way I can deliver them whilst being righteous is to
judge their sin. But if I judged it in them, they'd
be dead forevermore. If I asked them to live right,
they would never make it. They can't. then I must take
their sin and I must lay it upon another. I must take their sin
and make another to be it. I must take their sins and lay
it upon him. I must judge that sin and I must
judge those sins and I must bring in righteousness in its place.
Then how can that be? Only if I can find a sacrifice
who's never sinned. Only with a sacrifice a man who's
never sinned. Only with a man who's holy and
perfect. Only with a man who's righteous
through and through. I must find one like that and
lay their sins upon him and judge it. Only then can I deliver them. And the only one, the only man,
the only sacrifice that God could find who was without sin, who
was perfect, who was righteous, was His own Son. And to establish His Kingdom. to establish His righteousness,
to deliver the people that He loved, to show His mercy unto
sinners like you and I, God had to execute His own Son. He had to take the sword of His
justice and spear it through His own Son, Jesus Christ. He
had to take the fires of His wrath and pour them down upon
Him. He had to take the cup of his
wrath and force him to drink it. He had to slay his own son. And he did. But not only did
he do that, but he found that his son was willing. His son took that cup, but he
wasn't forced. He took it willingly. His son
was judged. but he knew the judgment would
come and he went there willingly. His son was struck through with
the sword of God's justice but he took it willingly because
he loved his people and he loved them to the end and he would
deliver them. Oh what it cost Christ to save
his people, what it cost God. He will establish his kingdom
but it's at a price, it's at a cost, it cost him. Do you know
how much it cost him? Can you contemplate the scale,
the vastness, the depth, the breadth of God's love for you,
oh sinner, if you're his? If he did this for you, do you
understand just what it cost him to do it for you? He builds
his kingdom, he's almighty God, but it's hard. Not just hard work, it cost him,
it was painful. He paid the price, his son died,
that sinners like you and I should live. So the psalmist goes on
to say, we are thought of thy loving kindness, O God, in the
midst of thy temple. The temple is Christ. and God's
loving kindness is seen in Christ. When he took his people in his
heart, in himself, to the cross and was slain for them. When
he died for them, the loving kindness of God was seen in the
midst of the temple. The temple was crushed. But the temple on the third day,
as Christ promised, was built again. And he rose, and he ascended,
and he went up with his people in the midst with a shout, O
have you thought of his lovingkindness? According to thy name, O God,
so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth. Thy right hand
is full of righteousness. As I said, he couldn't save,
except he was righteous. He showed his mercy by judging
his own son in righteousness and bringing in for guilty sinners,
whom he washed clean by his blood, the very righteousness of God
in Jesus Christ. In him, they are righteous. If you're his, in Christ, you
are righteous let mount zion rejoice let the daughters of
judah be glad because of thy judgments he judged your sin
O daughter of Judah, if you're His, if He died for you, He judged
your sin. His judgments did you good. There's not one sin that you
can commit, past or present or future, to your dying day that
He's not already taken and taken back in time to the cross and
laid upon His Son and judged and taken away. Rejoice. He will never remember them.
You will be forgiven forever. There will never be a bringing
back to his gaze your sins. In Christ you're righteous. Let
Mount Zion rejoice. Let the daughters of Judah be
glad because of thy judgments. Walk about Zion. 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."
Walk around. See this city. See how everlasting
it is. See its towers, its bulwarks,
its palaces. What are they made of? What are
these towers of Zion made of? What are these walls of Zion
made of? What are the palaces within made of? They're made
of the people of God. They're made of the people of
God. They are stones fitted together,
built up. Therefore ye are no more strangers
and foreigners, you're no more a Rahab in Jericho, but you're
a fellow citizen with the saints and of the household of God and
are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all
the building fitly framed together groweth until and holy temple
in the Lord, in whom ye also are builded together for inhabitation
of God through the Spirit. O have you beheld the walls of
Zion, and what it's built from, built upon the gospel, built
upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, built upon Christ,
built up upon his blood, He's the foundation stone because
He died that they might live, that they might be built as Zion. It's His death which established
Mount Zion. It's His death which established
their righteousness. It's His death upon which they're
built. It's His blood upon which you're
built. Look at the towers, they're towers
that rise from the blood of Christ. Look at the bulwarks, they're
walls, they're bulwarks that rise from the blood of Christ. Look at the palaces, they're
palaces that rise from the blood and the death of Christ. Without
his death they wouldn't be there. Without his death they wouldn't
be the righteous towers, bulwarks and palaces that they are. They're
covered in his blood. They're washed in his blood.
There's the righteousness, there's the holiness. Without him they
wouldn't be there. And what is there? What you see
when you see those towers is you see stones, you see the building
blocks, you see the people of God all built together. as a dwelling place of God amongst
men that makes it the joy of the whole earth. Oh, what a royal
priesthood dwells within these palaces. What princes and kings
are you one of them? For this God is our God forever
and ever. He will be our guide even unto
death. If you're in this place, if you've
been brought to Zion, you will shout with praise that this God
is our God forever and ever and He is our guide even unto death. What a phrase! Not only is he
your guide through this world, through the pilgrimage below,
until your dying day, when you pass from time into eternity,
when you go from this world and rise up into that eternal Zion
above, into that eternal New Jerusalem. Not only is he your
guide until your dying day, but he's also your guide in Christ
in his gospel unto death. He's the one that leads you to
Christ. He's the one that leads you to
his death. He's the one that leads you to
his blood. And he's the one that leads you
through the circumstance, the trial, and the work of God, the
conviction of God, the work of the Spirit. He's the one that
leads you unto your death oh you who think you live you who
think you stand you who think you're so strong without God
oh you don't know God you don't know Christ you hear people speak
of him but you don't know him but you're all right you're so
strong let them have their religion if they will let them have their
gospel if they will you're fine you're so strong well he'll bring
you down if he chooses to have mercy upon you he'll bring you
down he'll bring you down one way or another when the walls
of Jericho come down you'll either be amongst those who were destroyed
by fire and then you will know death which never ends or he'll
bring you down as he brought Rahab down he'll bring his gospel
unto you and he'll bring you to an end of all that you gloried
in, all that you rejoiced in, all that you strived for, all
that you praised yourself over, all your arrogance, all your
pride. He'll bring you down. It will
all die. It will all wither. It will all
be brought to nothing. He'll be your guide unto death. He'll come with his gospel and
that gospel will bring you to nothing that he may pick you
up and make you everything in Christ. He'll bring you to nothing,
he'll take everything away from you that he might give you all. He's your guide unto death. And in guiding you through your
death, He'll lead you to the death of His Son, because you
die with Him. You'll see yourself crucified
with Christ. You'll see yourself slain with
Christ. And you'll see yourself laid
in the grave with Christ. And you'll see yourself rising
again with Christ. And what remains in the grave,
your old man Adam will stay there forever. but you'll rise again
in the new man, Jesus Christ, and you'll live with him forever.
He'll be your guide unto death. and you'll never stop looking
at the place where Christ shed his blood in love for you. You'll never cease to wonder
that he paid such a price to make you live. You'll never cease
to glory and wonder and praise God that Christ's love for you
when you hated him was so great that he paid such a debt to set
you free. You'll never stop glorying in
the blood of Christ. You'll never exhaust its depths. You'll never begin to become
jaded with it. You'll love it. You'll love the
hair of his cross. You'll love the hair of his salvation.
You'll always behold him, the Lamb of God that taketh away
the sin of the world. You'll never cease to rejoice.
You'll walk about Zion. You'll go round about her. You
will tell the towers thereof. You will mark ye well her bulwarks. You'll consider her palaces,
that ye may tell it to the generation following. For this God is our
God forever and ever. He will be our guide even unto
death. You'll never exhaust the glory
of Zion when God has led you out of Jericho. and led you through
Zion's gates and led you to his son and shown you his love for
you a wretched sinner oh may you be given the grace the given
the grace to be led in and to be led to walk about Zion oh
tell it to the generation following