Latest / Stornoway Free Church of Scotland - Sermons / The City of the Great King

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The City of the Great King · Stornoway Free Church of Scotland - Sermons

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is a psalm about the city of the great king. You don't have to go very far into the psalm
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to realize that it's about something much more than geographical.
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There is a lot here to do with the theology of God as the God of his people, as the one who resides
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within his church. Yes, it is about Zion. It's about the city of God, literally Mount Zion,
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near Jerusalem. It's about Zion's king, literally, kings such as David, Solomon, and so on.
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And yes, it's about the defenses of that city in the days of the psalmist himself. But as we say,
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as you go on in the psalm, you realize that there's a lot more here than just literal Zion,
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a literal geographical location on earth, that it is, in fact, carrying us upward to the residence
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of God in his holiness, in his kingship, in the midst of his people. And the psalm actually incorporates
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both conflict and victory in the experience of those that are written about in the psalm. The
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conflict that is mentioned, as you see the likes of verse 4, all the way through to verse 8,
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where you find certain opponents coming to attack Zion and trembling in response to the way that
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they came to know of the impregnable nature of Zion and of God's people under the Lord's own direction.
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So Zion really here, as so often you find in the Psalms and in the prophecies, is really to do with
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God's people, especially as they are presided over by God. Zion itself was, of course, not very significant
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to look at, very small hill in comparison to many other hills or mountains. But as we'll see in the psalm,
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in the spiritual, theological sense of it, Zion is massive. Zion is impregnable. Zion is,
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all the way through what's spoken of here, it is something that's set before us as God's own
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residence among his people. And there are two things that we can divide the psalm into two,
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really. We're looking at the whole psalm briefly. First of all, it speaks about great praise to the
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great king of Zion. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. And then as you go through the psalm,
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you come down to the final verses from verse 12 especially, and you find the psalmist speaking
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there about inspecting the defenses of Zion. You go around and look at the walls, considering her
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ramparts, going through her citadels. And the specific reason for that is that we take stock of
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the nature of the church, the nature of God's own place in the church, so that that's passed on to the
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succeeding generations. Consider it well, he says, so that you may tell the next generation that this is
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God. This is our God forever and ever. He will guide us forever. So it's great praise to the great king,
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first of all. As we said, Zion itself literally was not very significant. But here is great praise to
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the great king. Zion is significant as the dwelling place of God, as the location of the temple on earth
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associated with the presence of God amongst his people, with the gathered people of God to worship
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this God. And it's important that we see how the psalm presents the king as actually living in Zion,
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being a resident of Zion, being somebody who actually presides over it, but living within
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Zion as well. Great he is to be praised in the city of our God, his holy mountain, Mount Zion in the
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far north, the city of the great king. It is the greatness of God, the greatness of Zion's God,
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that makes Zion great. We can't speak about Zion being great of itself, but by virtue of the great
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king being in residence, by virtue of his greatness, Zion is spoken of as being great in that spiritual
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theological sense. But it's also, you notice, great is the Lord and greatly to be praised.
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The reason the praise of God's people is to be great praise, not just a little thing,
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not a little trickle of praise, but great praise, great in the sense of its nature as
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ascription of glory and praise and honor to God. Great in its volume, great in its extent,
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great in its continuance. And it's the greatness of God that calls forth that greatness of praise.
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He is great and greatly to be praised in the city of our God. And we come here tonight,
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with that conviction in our own minds, a small group of people compared to the world in which we live.
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And yet with God in our midst, we come here tonight, conscious of the fact that because God
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has promised to be where his people are gathered, and where in your heart of hearts and in our hearts
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together, we seek that we'll know the Lord's presence, that he will speak to us, that he will
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come and make himself known to us. But by virtue of the fact, we know it's the great God we're talking
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about. We want our praise to be great. We want to have a praise that's great in its quality,
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as much as possible, to be a praise that is as perfect as it can be. Whether it's in our singing,
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in our dealing with God's word, in our interaction with his truth, the praise of God
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is to be a great praise. He is to be greatly praised. And as we come together this evening,
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that is surely one of the chief convictions in your heart, that the God you come to worship
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is a God who is greatly to be praised. You don't want to go out of this building tonight
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thinking of God as worthy only of just a minimum amount of praise on your part,
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or an out part as a people. Whether you think of him praised in our lives privately or here together
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in formal worship, or praised as we live out our lives in the world, our lives have to reflect that
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it is this great God we serve and worship. And therefore, as far as possible, we pray that God
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will show through our lives how great he is and how greatly he is to be praised.
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You see, he's saying the joy of the whole earth, his holy mountain, beautiful in elevation, is the joy
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of all the earth. So often in the Psalms, you find a prophetic note here and there that really stretches
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well beyond what you find in the days of the Psalmist himself. Zion, when this was written, was not the joy
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of all the earth. It was only known pretty much in its own locality or the immediate surroundings
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of Zion or of Jerusalem. But Zion was to be the joy of all the earth. The gospel through the Lord's
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people and the Lord's blessing, as it came to touch the lives of millions of people,
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that becomes obvious that this is the joy of all the earth. This is the location of true satisfaction
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and lasting joy. The worship of God, the praise, the great praise that we owe to God. So here's the great
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king and greatly to be praised. And he's also speaking here of Zion being a fortress. Mount Zion in the far
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north, the city of the great king, within her citadels, God has made himself known as a fortress.
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In those days, every city needed defenses, needed to be a fortress against the many enemies that
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threatened to come around and overtake them. And it's no less the case with the church. You're aware
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here tonight, you're aware as we're praying to God tonight, that one of the things we pray for is the
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Lord's protective care, the Lord taking care of our lives in this world, the Lord taking care of our
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witness, the Lord actually himself being our defense, our shield, our citadel, as he comes to
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make himself known as a fortress to us. Now, that doesn't, we'll look at the end of the psalm later,
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it doesn't displace our responsibility in checking the defenses of Zion, in making sure that the
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ramparts, the citadels and all of that represents spiritually are actually in good order.
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But it is God himself who is especially known as a fortress. And when it says here that God has made
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himself known as a fortress, I think that really, the psalmist is really casting his mind back
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to times when God made himself known as the God who gave his people victory over their enemies.
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In other words, the psalmist really is reflecting here on times when God had made himself known
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as the one who protected his people, who gave them victory, who actually enabled them to overcome
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their enemies. And here we are tonight, and that's what we're conscious of. The God who is our citadel,
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who is our protector this evening, has made himself known as such down through the ages of the church.
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You think of the many times in the Bible's own record, when it seemed that the cause of God,
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that the church of God was about to peter out, was about to be annihilated, was about to be destroyed
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by their enemies. All the way through from the earliest Old Testament times, through the days of the
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psalmist, through the days of the prophets, even right into the New Testament, the days of the apostles,
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the opposition they faced, the tiny fragment of people that were there in the upper room with Jesus,
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that he was teaching in respect to their responsibility to go out into the world.
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Then came Pentecost. Then came the thousands added to the church. It seemed that it was about
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just to be destroyed, about to disappear. And what happens? God made himself known
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as a fortress. How many times in your own life, to some extent, small or great,
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you felt things ebbing away from you. You felt your vulnerability.
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You felt that in the presence of all the pressure of the world, and the pressure of within God's
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providence of things that you knew were against you, things that you knew were actually setting out
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to deflect you from the path of obedience, setting out to trouble you, setting out to displace the
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thoughts in your mind that gave the praise to God. How many times God then came and made himself known
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to you, and the power of his word brought you back to the conviction of the psalmist here. God has made
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himself known as a fortress. God again and again has come to convince his people that this is who he is.
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And that's so important for us in today's world, isn't it? Because let's face it, as a believing people
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of God in this nation itself, we are vulnerable. We feel vulnerable. We're facing the might of an
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unbelieving world. We're facing the might of heresy within the church. We're facing the might of
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defections from the church, and all sorts of things that really are a damage to the gospel itself.
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We have to come back like a psalmist here, just to remind ourselves of who is our God? What is he like?
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And how has he made himself known in the past? He has made himself known within our citadels.
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He has made himself known as a fortress. And so he's not just the great king. He's the great king
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whose fortress this is, whose citadel this is, who is in fact himself, strictly speaking, her fortress.
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And that's why it leads to rejoicing people. We thought upon, he says, we thought upon,
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your word. We thought upon these things. And as we thought upon these things, so we came to realize
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more and more that this, in fact, is who God is. In verse 9, we thought, especially on your steadfast
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love in the midst of your temple, as your name, O God, so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth.
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Now, when it's saying here, we thought upon your steadfast love, O God, it doesn't just mean to
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think now and again and briefly and in a shallow way about the steadfast love of God. It means to
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really ponder this, to really reflect upon this, to keep coming back again and feed our souls with the
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great fact of God's own steadfast love. And what is a steadfast love? Well, a steadfast love cuts two ways.
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His steadfast love is the love by which he has gathered his people, by which has brought them
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to be his own people. The steadfast love that has given so much for them, as especially seen in
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that ultimate giving of the Lord Jesus Christ, God's own son. But you know, the steadfast love of
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the Lord is not just God's commitment steadfastly in their favor and on their behalf.
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It has another side to it. It's a two-sided coin. Because God is as steadfast against his enemies
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as he is for his friends. The steadfast love of the Lord is an assurance to God's people that their
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enemies will not prevail. It's the steadfast love of the Lord that persuades us tonight that the church
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will not be destroyed, however low it may become in its influence in any generation.
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And tonight, you're so thankful, and we're so thankful together, that this is, in fact, the conviction of
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God's own truth. We have thought upon your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of your temple.
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And then he says, as your name, O God, so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth. In other words,
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the name of God, God's self-revelation of himself, what he has made clear and known about himself.
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Well, as that is the case, so also your praise reaches to the ends of the earth.
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In other words, the revelation of God of himself is what precedes his praise, reaching out, just like you
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would find perhaps on dry, parched land, another great image from the Bible, the Old Testament
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especially, and then in times of refreshment, times of new rains, when you find the parched land suddenly
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being covered over with the water that flows in, and then the growth begins, and you get some wonderful
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transformations of desert-like conditions. Well, the name of God, the power of God, the way in which God himself
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reveals himself as God, it goes before his praise reaching out to the ends of the earth.
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The effect of that, the growth that emanates from God, revealing himself through his people.
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And of course, it is righteous as well. Your right hand is filled with righteousness.
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Let Mount Zion be glad. So it's not really just the mere power of God, the greatness of God and his power
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and majesty that's brought before us. He here is speaking about righteousness, the righteousness of God.
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God himself as the one who is in his character so perfect, so true to himself, so true to his promises,
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so true to his people. Your righteousness, your right hand is filled with righteousness.
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This is not a despot. This is not a God who is something of a tyrant, who just sweeps in everybody
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and anything out of his way. No, his right hand, the right hand of power, the way in which God's works
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is a work filled with righteousness.
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Great praise to the great God, to the great king.
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And as he speaks there of those that came to assemble themselves in verse 4, came on together.
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As soon as they saw the nature of God's protective care, they were in panic.
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They took to flight, trembling, took hold of them, their anguish as of a woman in labor by the east wind.
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You shattered the ships of Tarshish.
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A great God, great in power, great in righteousness, and greatly to be praised.
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But he goes on to speak about our responsibility in terms of walk about Zion, verse 12.
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Walk about Zion, go round her, number her towers, consider well her ramparts, go through her citadels, and so on.
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Here is the psalmist. He's taken all this time to present the greatness of God,
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the fact that God is the fortress of his people, that he provides that wonderful security for us.
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And yet he comes now to turn the thing towards our responsibilities in reflection and in relation to that.
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The fact that God is this great God doesn't devolve us of responsibility in looking after each other and looking after ourselves,
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looking after his cause from our point of view.
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So what is he saying?
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He's saying, walk about Zion, go round her, number her towers, consider well her ramparts, go through her citadels.
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In other words, he's saying, like you would especially after a siege or after an attack.
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I was speaking, as we said earlier, of those who came to attack and were turned back.
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And the people within the citadel that was attacked would have the responsibility then of going back outside and it was safe to do so,
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and checking up the walls of the city, checking up where the ramparts were in danger of being breached,
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checking up any breaches that had been made so as to provide security against the next attack whenever it came.
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You find the same thing in many respects.
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It's the first time I ever saw it.
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It was quite touching in a sense when after the plane had landed and while we were getting off the plane,
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it was one of those turboprop planes.
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And the two pilots came outside, went round the plane, started inspecting the propellers,
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turning it just by hand, turning it round, looking at it, making sure there are no cracks there,
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making sure it's safe for the next flight.
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And that's what we're told here about the inhabitants of Zion.
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Walk about her, go round her, number her towers, consider well her ramparts,
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check out the defences, make sure they're okay against the next attack,
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make sure they're kept up in terms of their efficiency,
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make sure the defences are in good shape.
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And that's what we need to do in regard to ourselves as the church of God in the world.
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It's our personal responsibility to ensure as far as possible that my own defences,
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your own defences are in place.
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And that means that as every individual looks at the defences of their own life,
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making sure there are no leaks there as far as possible,
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no breaches through which the enemy can gain access to your mind,
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to your thoughts, to your actions, to your words.
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As everyone does that, so the whole of the people of the citadel of God
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are checking the ramparts, checking the defences,
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because it's important that any breaches are actually made up.
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And of course, we have to remember,
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one of the really important things to remember
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is that the defences of the church are often breached from the inside,
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not just from the outside.
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In fact, it's much easier to see the enemy that attacks you from outside,
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whether it's another kind of belief or ideology that comes from outside the Christian faith altogether.
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You can see that much more easily than the heresy that works from within,
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that comes creeping up slowly, as Jude put it,
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when he was writing his epistle and appealing to those Christians he was writing to,
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to maintain the faith, keep it, that was once delivered once for all to the saints.
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For he says, certain men have crept in unawares.
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They have crept in unawares, they've not been noticed.
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They're already inside.
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And as they're inside and not faithful to God
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and determined to pursue their own agenda,
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so the walls begin to show signs of cracking.
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So breaches begin to open up in the walls.
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Breaches from bad teaching, from doctrine, from practice.
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And how well you're aware of that in our own particular day,
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as you look at the state of the church throughout our nation,
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and I'm talking here of all churches,
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but not leaving aside our own,
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because we're all part of the process of examining the walls of the citadel.
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But where you find, in certain cases,
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that other ideologies are given a place even in the worship of God.
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It's a very sad thing to see other so-called faiths involved
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in the celebration of King Charles as he came to Scotland,
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where you find somebody there who's a professed Buddhist, for example,
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appealing to the Buddha and appealing to the idolatry
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that is part of all of these systems that are against the gospel itself,
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but of course are so persuasive,
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because they're not outwardly antagonistic.
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And the thinking of our day has, over many, many years now,
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come to present this view of all the faiths together,
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having a valid place in relation to God, in relation to the truth.
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And it's only as you put them all together
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and actually just take parts of each of them
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and see where there's common ground that you come to realize
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more and more what the truth of God is.
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Well, Jesus says, I am the truth,
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and the way, and the life.
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Not a Buddha, not Islam,
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not secularism,
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not any of those ideologies
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that are quite contrary to the gospel.
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And it's your responsibility and it's my responsibility
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to make sure that the walls of Zion are in good order,
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to call out heresy what it is,
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to actually show that we care for the truth of God,
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that we care for it so much that we realize
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and are convinced that without maintaining that truth of God
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as it was passed on to us,
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we're going to be facing further breaches
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in the ramparts and the walls of God's citadel.
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And it's not a cursory examination we're called upon to do.
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Consider well our ramparts.
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Make a good study of it, he's saying.
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In other words, he really is saying to us,
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know what you believe.
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Know why you believe it.
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Familiarize yourself with the teachings of the past
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that have been true to the gospel
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that are now put aside as no longer relevant
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for the age that we belong to.
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Know why there were so many faithful people of God
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that stood out against the idea
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that a person was not justified by faith in Christ,
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but through works.
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Or whatever other defection from the gospel
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people had to stand up against.
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That's where we stand.
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That's what we've actually come all the way through
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from the Old Testament,
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you know, through the days of the apostles
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and the early church after the apostles.
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How did the great doctrines of the great creeds
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like the Chalcedonian Creed, the Nicene Creed,
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all the way through down to the Westminster Confession
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and other confessions faithful to the Bible?
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How did they come about?
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They came about because there were responses to heresies.
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There were responses to false teaching
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about the person of Christ,
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about the Trinity,
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about God's work of salvation.
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And these great people of God,
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as they got together in councils or in meetings,
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they came up with these wonderful confessions
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of faith
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that we benefit from today.
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How did they come about?
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They came about because they considered well
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the ramparts of the church.
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They could see where they were being attacked,
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where they were being weakened.
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They could see where they needed strengthening.
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They familiarized themselves with the truth of God
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and what the truth of God was
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and what truth he had passed on to his people.
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Why?
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So that as we'll see in a minute,
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that we may pass it on to the next generation.
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Consider well,
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our ramparts and go through our citadels.
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Why do we do this?
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Well, so that we will pass it on
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to the next generation.
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Not just for our own security,
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not just for our own assurance,
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assurance spiritually and so on.
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That's part of it, of course.
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But it's so that you may tell the next generation
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that this is God
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and that this God is our God.
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This is our God forever and ever.
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Why do we make such an effort
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to teach our young people?
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Why are there so many things in this congregation?
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So many wonderful things.
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So many people committed to doing things
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with our young people,
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not just in Sunday school,
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but many of the other related activities
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that we have throughout the week,
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as well as on the Lord's Day.
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Why is that?
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What's all that about?
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It's so that the next generation
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will know that this is our God.
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That the God of the Bible,
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the God of our fathers,
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the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
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David, Solomon,
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Paul, Peter, John,
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John Knox,
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Thomas Chalmers,
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Martin Lloyd-Jones,
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R.C. Sproul.
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Their God, this is our God.
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And as we consider these,
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well, it's so that we will tell
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the next generation.
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And what are we going to tell them?
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Well, the legacy that has been passed on to us
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is this,
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that this God is God.
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This God,
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the Bible speaks about,
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not the God
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that's presented as
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just taking bits of the Bible
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and leaving out
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some other important bits
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and saying,
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well, this is the God we need today.
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We need a God today
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who is really
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friendly towards certain
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ways of thinking
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of human behavior,
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through human morality,
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not the God of
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the Old Testament,
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not the God of the apostles,
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not the God of the reformers,
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but the God of
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the thinking
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that sees
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adjustments to the Bible
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as necessary.
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The thinking that says,
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if Paul were
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alive today,
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he wouldn't have written
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as he wrote.
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You know what that is?
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That's a complete misunderstanding
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of what the Word of God is.
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Of the fact that this
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whole book
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is the Word of God.
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It doesn't just contain
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the Word of God.
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It is the Word of God.
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The Word of God
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that is given
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to God's people
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for every generation.
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And it doesn't matter
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what changes take place
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from one generation
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to the next.
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What changes take place
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in the succeeding generation
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to our own?
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What sort of circumstances
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our children
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and grandchildren
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will face
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when we're no longer here?
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In a sense,
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that's not the important thing.
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The important thing
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is that they consider
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this Bible
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to be the Word of God
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and seek to live accordingly.
29:44
this God
29:49
is God.
29:51
Not the God
29:53
of those who
29:54
are the revisionists
29:56
of the Scriptures,
29:59
of the modernists,
30:01
of whatever otherists
30:04
you might think of.
30:06
This is God.
30:09
But equally important,
30:11
this is our God
30:14
forever and ever.
30:17
He is not just God
30:18
in the sense of being
30:19
the true God
30:20
and the only God.
30:22
He's concerned here
30:23
to pass on
30:24
to the next generation
30:25
that this is our God.
30:27
This is the God
30:28
not just as our God
30:30
in the sense
30:30
that we believe in,
30:32
but our God
30:33
who looks after us.
30:35
Our God
30:36
who has given us so much
30:38
and who promises
30:38
to give us more.
30:40
He's our God.
30:43
And that's why
30:44
the likes of
30:45
writer to the Hebrews
30:47
could say that
30:49
he is not ashamed
30:50
to be called
30:51
our God
30:52
for he has prepared
30:54
a city for us.
30:57
He is true
30:58
to his promise.
31:00
He is our God.
31:03
It wouldn't be right
31:04
just to say that
31:05
he is possessed
31:08
by us,
31:09
but he is confessed
31:12
by us
31:12
and he is himself
31:14
committed to us
31:15
as his people.
31:17
This is our God.
31:19
In other words,
31:20
the psalmist
31:21
really picking up
31:22
such an important thread
31:23
and theme
31:24
all the way
31:24
through scripture.
31:25
This God
31:26
is our covenant God,
31:28
a God in covenant
31:29
with his people,
31:30
a God faithful
31:31
to his people
31:32
in covenant promises.
31:33
This is our God.
31:35
This great God
31:37
who is greatly
31:37
to be praised,
31:39
but he's a God
31:40
of relationship.
31:43
A God who
31:44
loves his people
31:46
in a spiritual
31:46
marriage that will
31:47
never end.
31:50
This is
31:50
our God.
31:53
And he says
31:53
forever and ever.
31:56
The constancy
31:57
of God.
32:00
And
32:00
the words
32:02
that are used
32:02
there at the end
32:03
of the psalm,
32:05
where he says
32:05
this is our God
32:06
forever and ever.
32:08
He will guide us
32:09
forever.
32:10
The repetition
32:11
of these words
32:12
forever,
32:13
forever and ever,
32:14
forever.
32:15
It's really
32:16
in the Hebrew
32:17
text of
32:18
the Old Testament
32:20
and of the psalm
32:21
here.
32:21
It's putting
32:22
in the strongest
32:23
possible terms
32:24
how reliable
32:26
God is.
32:27
how true
32:29
God is
32:30
to himself
32:30
and to his
32:32
promises to his
32:32
people.
32:34
He's our God
32:34
forever and
32:36
ever and ever.
32:38
He will not
32:38
change and we
32:39
don't need to
32:40
change anything
32:41
about.
32:44
And that's
32:45
why we inspect
32:45
the defenses
32:46
so that we
32:48
will pass on
32:49
that great
32:49
conviction and
32:50
truth to the
32:51
succeeding
32:52
generations
32:53
that we may
32:55
tell the next
32:56
generation
32:56
this is God
32:58
our God
33:00
forever
33:01
and ever.
33:03
May he bless
33:04
these thoughts
33:04
to us.
33:05
Let's pray.
33:09
Lord, we
33:10
thank you for
33:11
all the
33:11
assurances we
33:12
receive from
33:13
your word,
33:14
from you in
33:14
your word,
33:15
of the relation
33:16
that you have
33:17
to your people.
33:18
We bless you,
33:19
Lord, that
33:20
tonight you have
33:20
drawn our minds
33:21
to this great
33:22
portion of your
33:23
word,
33:24
that you have
33:25
presented yourself
33:26
to us as the
33:27
great God
33:27
who is greatly
33:28
to be praised.
33:30
Lord, we pray
33:31
that our
33:32
presentation of
33:33
you through our
33:33
lives may not
33:35
be a God who
33:36
is seen to be
33:37
small, a God
33:39
who is seen to
33:39
be weak, a God
33:41
who is seen to
33:42
be irrelevant for
33:43
the needs of the
33:44
present day.
33:45
Help us truly,
33:46
Lord, to present
33:47
you as the great
33:48
God you are and
33:50
to present the
33:50
great privilege we
33:51
have of being
33:52
your people.
33:52
help us to be
33:54
confident in
33:55
your covenant
33:56
relationship with
33:57
your people and
33:58
help us to be
33:59
true to you,
34:00
O Lord, as we
34:01
would seek to
34:02
walk faithfully
34:03
and embrace the
34:04
promises you have
34:05
given us.
34:07
And help us to
34:08
reach out into
34:08
the world, O
34:09
Lord, as we
34:10
already heard in
34:11
prayer, a world
34:12
that's so needy,
34:13
a world that has
34:14
so much turned
34:15
its back upon
34:15
God, a world
34:17
that is so given
34:18
to opposition to
34:19
the gospel, a
34:20
world, O Lord,
34:22
that is so
34:24
proud of
34:24
itself, proud
34:26
of its own
34:27
imagined authority.
34:31
O Lord, our
34:32
God, grant us
34:33
grace, we pray,
34:35
that we may
34:36
indeed be your
34:37
believing and
34:37
witnessing people,
34:39
and that you
34:40
would use us,
34:40
Lord, we pray,
34:41
for the generation
34:42
that has come
34:43
upon us to
34:45
hold forth the
34:46
word of life
34:46
and seek by the
34:48
gospel and by
34:49
your grace to
34:50
see many turning
34:51
into the ways
34:52
of the Lord.
34:54
Hear us, we
34:54
pray tonight, in
34:55
our prayers,
34:56
silent and
34:57
spoken.
34:58
Accept our
34:59
thanks, hear
35:00
our praise, and
35:01
all we ask is for
35:02
Jesus' sake.
35:04
Amen.
35:04
Amen.
35:07
Let's sing now to
35:08
God bless you,
35:20
God.
35:21
Let's sing now to
35:23
the word of life,
35:25
Lord, our
35:25
grace to
35:26
thank you.
35:27
Amen.
35:28
Holy
35:29
amen.