Verse one, 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. meditate. I will make mention of Rahab
or Egypt and Babylon to them that know me. Behold Philistia
and Tyre and 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 writeth 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. Let's pray. Lord, how we. Thank you that
your God and beside thee is none else. And Lord, we pray for your
blessing. Upon this service, we pray that
you would be pleased to speak. Deliver us from hearing the words
of a man and Lord. Accept our thanksgiving through
your son. We. Are so grateful that everything
you require of us, you look to him for and we ask that we might
be found in him. Now bless us for the Lord's sake,
meet with us, forgive us of our sins and be with all your people
wherever they meet together. In Christ's name we pray, amen. His foundation is in the holy
mountains and that is a reference to Mount Zion. In Jerusalem,
that's another name for Zion, Jerusalem, there are seven mountains. And this is a reference to this
being founded in the holy mountains. Turn with me for a moment to
Isaiah 28. Verse 16. Therefore, thus saith the Lord,
behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a
tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make
haste." Now here is God's description of Him laying this stone in Zion. He calls Christ the foundation. That's what He's talking about.
No other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid,
which is Christ Jesus the Lord. He is the foundation stone that
God has laid in Zion. A tried stone, a tested stone. And I love what he calls him,
a precious corner stone. Precious. The blood of Christ
is most precious. A sure foundation. And he that believeth shall not
make haste. He's not gonna be in a hurry. He's at peace. He's
calm. He that believeth shall not make
haste. Now, verse two, Psalm 87, his
foundation is in the holy mountains. That's talking about the mountains
of Zion. The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the
dwellings of Jacob. Now, I looked at that verse and
I thought, what does that mean? The Lord loveth the gates of
Zion more than the dwellings of Jacob. I look the word gates
up and it means the public gathering. What we're doing right now. The
public gathering. The gate into a wide and large
place is what that's a reference to. The gates of Zion. And the
dwellings are the individual dwellings of God. God's people. And here it says that God loves
the gates of Zion more. Now, that's not saying he loves
one more than another as far as individual believers. But
what this is a reference to actually is public worship, the gathering
of God's people. This is where the Lord speaks.
And understand this, the best private worship where the Lord
speaks to me, to my heart privately, is in public worship. And if
I, I hope I'm gonna have the same attitude of public worship
that the Lord does. The Lord loveth the gates of
Zion more than the private dwellings. There's something special about
public worship. The Lord promises where two or
three are gathered together in my name. There I am in their
midst. That is public worship. The Lord
walks in the seven churches. Zion. Now, notice he says the
Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of
Jacob. Now, Zion represents the church. Let me show you this.
Turn to Hebrews chapter 12. Verse 18, For you are not come unto the
mount that might be touched, talking about Mount Sinai, that
burned with fire, nor into blackness and darkness and tempest. And
the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, which voice they
that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to
them anymore, for they could not endure that which was commanded.
And if so much as a beast touched the mountain, it should be stoned
or thrust through with a dart." Now this is talking about Mount
Sinai, where the law is, the giving of God's holy law. Verse 21, and so terrible was
the sight that Moses said, I exceeding fear and quake, but you are come
unto Mount Zion. And what is Mount Zion? Unto
the city of the living God. That's what was referred to in
Psalm 87. As a matter of fact, John Newton's,
um, Him, glorious things of the year spoken, Zion city of our
God and Augustine or Augustine, however you pronounce his name,
his, the city of God were inspired from this Psalm 87. Now look
at this description of Zion. You're coming to Mount Zion under
the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. Uh, the Jerusalem
that's from above, not that physical city known as Jerusalem, but
the heavenly Jerusalem where there should be peace. You've
come to this heavenly Jerusalem to an innumerable company of
angels. I love thinking about that. I
can't see any angels right now. Can you, I can't see any, but
they're here. They're here. Verse 23. to the general assembly and church
of the firstborn, which are written in heaven. Now the firstborn,
I love the way Christ is called the firstborn. He's the eternal,
only begotten Son of God. This begetting is not a thing
of time. It's eternal. The only begotten,
eternally begotten Son of God. And the church of the firstborn. Ephesians 5.25 says Christ loved
the church and gave himself for it. The church of the firstborn,
the general assembly whose names are written in heaven. Now here's
the church role I want my name in. Somebody quite often has asked,
well, how do you become a member of this church? How do you get
your name on the roll? You know, we don't have a roll.
Don't have one. If you believe the gospel, you're
a member. That's all I know. Where's it
say anything about the church role in the Bible as far as you
need to have a church role? I mean, people purge them and
then they make their decisions. We need to get this one off.
They haven't been here in so long. We need to, that's not
in the Bible, but this church role is in the Bible. The General
Assembly and Church of the Firstborn whose names are written in heaven. That's talking about the Lamb's
Book of Life from the Lamb slain, the Book of Life of the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. Now I want you to
think about that. If you're a believer, your name has been recorded eternally
in the Lamb's Book of Life. Now, I know your mom and dad
named you, but your name was named before then. Your name
was given by God, and your name was inscribed in the Book of
Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Now,
this is taught in the Old Testament, in Daniel chapter 12, Revelation
chapter 20. Don't you want to be having your
name on that roll? I thought about this. If I could
look in the Lamb's Book of Life, I know whose name I'd be looking
for first. I'd look at you guys after that, but I'd be looking
for my name first to see if I'm there. But you know what? You
can know if your name's there. And you know how you know your
name's there? You look to Christ only. Do you? Do you look to
Christ only? I mean, everything God requires
of you, He looks to His Son for. Everything God requires of you,
you look to His Son for. And you trust and rest in Him. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus name. If I do, my name was written
in that book before time began. I love thinking of eternity in
that sense. The General Assembly and Church
of the Firstborn whose names are written in heaven. Now let's go on reading. And to God, verse 23, the judge
of all. Now remember this is Mount Zion.
To God, the judge of all. Now I love thinking about this.
God is judge. And you know what His judgment
of every believer is? You've never sinned. You're justified. Your sins were blotted out. You
stand before God without guilt. God the judge of all. I'm not
afraid of the judgment of God. I'm afraid of God. Don't let
me. I fear God. I fear Him. I'm afraid to look
anywhere but Christ, but I'll tell you this, I know his judgment
is absolutely just. And when I'm brought into heaven,
the justice of God, the judgment of God will demand me being there
because of what Christ did. Not because of what I've done,
but because of what Christ has accomplished. We come to the
judge of all, and look at this description of believers, and
to the spirits of just men made perfect. Every believer is a
just man. And when they enter heaven, they
will be made perfect without sin, without guilt. And right
now we're perfect in Christ Jesus. The spirit of just men made perfect. Verse 24, and to Jesus, the mediator
of the new covenant. Now let me remind you, when we
think of a mediator, we think of somebody trying to get two
parties to make concessions to agree. Lord's not a mediator
like that. He doesn't negotiate. He doesn't
try to meet conditions or make consent. No, he brings his people
into eternal glory as the mediator of the new covenant. He brings
us to God and makes us accepted. He's the mediator. There's one
God and one mediator between God and me and the man, Christ
Jesus. and to the blood of sprinkling
that speaketh better things than that of Abel." Now this is the
description of the new Jerusalem, Zion, and I want you to think
about the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than
that of Abel. Remember when Cain murdered Abel and God said, your
brother's blood cries to me from the ground. What does it say? Vengeance. Get him. What does the blood of Christ
say? Save him. Absolute, complete justification. I go back to Psalm 27. 87, I'm sorry. Glorious things, verse three. Glorious things are spoken of
thee, O city of God. Hold your finger there and turn
to Psalm 50, verse two. Out of Zion, the perfection of
beauty, God hath shined. Now those are glorious things,
aren't they? Zion's called the perfection of beauty and glorious
things of thee are spoken, and out of this perfection of beauty
God has shined." Now, what does that mean? Zion is the church. The church of the living God.
And God speaks through the church. The spirit and the bride say,
come. The spirit and the bride. The spirit works through the
bride. The bride has the same word as
the spirit. And I love this summary of gospel
preaching. Come, not go and do, not make
yourself better, not make yourself ready, not do any, come right
now as you are to the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the message of
the church. That's the message of Christ.
Don't wait for something to happen. Don't wait till you get better.
Come right now. That is the message of the church. Now, glorious things are spoken
of Zion. The perfection of beauty. Perfect
in Christ Jesus. Perfectly righteous. Perfectly
holy. All the things, you don't feel
that way. You feel dirty. You feel ugly. You know something
about the sinfulness of your own heart. But here's what God
says of you. You're holy and without blame
and unreprovable in his sight. That's God's description of every
believer because of Christ Jesus. Glorious things are spoken of
thee, O city of God. Now, all these are enemies of
Israel. I will make mention of Rahab
and Babylon to them that know me. Behold, Philistia and Tyre
and Ethiopia. This man was born there. Now
you'll notice quite a few references to where you're born, where you're
born. Now this is not talking about
born in the USA. This is not talking about being
born in a geographical place. I am thankful I was born in the
United States of America. I love our country and I'm thankful
for that. But this has nothing to do with
being born in a country. This is talking about being born
of God. And when I'm born of God, it's
through being born through God using Zion. Where were you born? Where were you born? Now you'll
notice in verse four, five different places are mentioned that were
enemies. Rahab is actually Egypt. It's
translated that several times. Egypt, Babylon, Philistia, the
Philistines, their continual enemies, Tyre, Ethiopia. I'm going to say to those that
know me, this man was born there. Now out of all these enemies
of Israel, somebody's going to be born of God. Somebody will. And they're going to be born
through the gospel Zion believes, the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. They were born there. Somebody is going to be born
of God. Now, this thing of being born of God, why is it necessary? I mean, the Lord said, you must
be born again. You must be born again. There's
no salvation apart from being born of the spirit, being born
of God. You must be born again. Now,
why? In Genesis chapter two, verse
17, God said to Adam, in the day you eat thereof, you shall
surely die. Now his body didn't die that
day, did it? His soul didn't die that day, but his spirit
died. That's what worships God, the
spirit, it died. That's why I must be born from
above. I must be given spiritual life. If I'm not given spiritual life,
I can't hear the gospel, I can't believe, I can't worship. This
is all necessary as far as God the Spirit birthing us into the
kingdom of heaven. We can't believe unless we're
given spiritual life. And you hath he quickened who
were dead. Graveyard dead. No life. The natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, for there are foolishness
unto him, neither indeed can he know them, because they're
spiritually discerned. I must be given a heart, a spirit,
born again. That's what that is a reference
to, being birthed. Verse five, and of Zion, the
church, it should be said, this man and that man was born in
her. And the highest himself shall establish her. Now, every
believer somehow, and I can't put all this together. I don't
need to, but every believer somehow has something to do with being
born in the church. I'm not talking about being physically
born, but somehow. In some connection of Zion, you've
heard the gospel. And I can't get all that together
as far as how. I know that there was a book
written called The Trail of Blood. And in it, it said that every
Baptist church, and I don't believe in denominations at all, but
in this book, it says every Baptist church can trace their heritage
all the way to John the Baptist. They can trace all the way through
the centuries. Well, that's impossible. That's
impossible. But God has always had a witness. God has always had Zion from
the first all the way to now. He's always had a witness. You
know, that's another reason why I dislike the very idea that
this is a reformed church. The truth never needed reform.
God's always had a witness. He's always had a people, and
he's always had a people preaching the gospel, and somebody's gonna
hear. That's the point. This man was born in Zion. This
man was born in Zion. If you're birthed, you're a part
of this Zion. That's the church, the general
assembly and church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven.
The spirit of just men made perfect. You were born. And a Zion, it
shall be said that this and that man was born in her and the highest
himself shall establish her. The Lord shall count. When he
rideth up the people, this is that role, that role, the general
assembly in the church of the firstborn who are written in
heaven. Now let me, before I go on, turn to Revelation 20 real
quick. Verse 11, And I saw a great white
throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and
the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them.
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. And the books, plural, were opened. And another book was opened,
which is the book of life. And the dead, those who are dead
in sins, were judged out of those things which were written in
the books, plural, according to their works. And the sea gave
up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered
up the dead which were in them, and they were judged every man
according to their works. And death and hell were cast
into the lake of fire, this is the second death, and whosoever
was not found written in the book of life. There it is. The book of life was cast into
the lake of fire. Now the Lord, back to our text
in Psalm 87, the Lord shall count when he writeth up the people
that this man was born there, Selah, as well as the singers,
as the players on instruments, this is a festive place, shall
be in all my springs. Now springs are fountains, fountains. I've got a fountain springing
up in me that every believer has, the Holy Spirit. That's why I believe. And all
my springs, they don't come from this natural heart, they're in
thee. And that's why Paul said, oh,
that I may win Christ and be found in him. All my springs. are in Thee. Everything God requires of me,
He looks to Jesus Christ for. My salvation is in Him. All my springs are in Thee. Well, I hope I get my notes back
for the sermon.