The City of the Great King

is a psalm about the city of the great king. You don't have to go very far into the psalm

to realize that it's about something much more than geographical.

There is a lot here to do with the theology of God as the God of his people, as the one who resides

within his church. Yes, it is about Zion. It's about the city of God, literally Mount Zion,

near Jerusalem. It's about Zion's king, literally, kings such as David, Solomon, and so on.

And yes, it's about the defenses of that city in the days of the psalmist himself. But as we say,

as you go on in the psalm, you realize that there's a lot more here than just literal Zion,

a literal geographical location on earth, that it is, in fact, carrying us upward to the residence

of God in his holiness, in his kingship, in the midst of his people. And the psalm actually incorporates

both conflict and victory in the experience of those that are written about in the psalm. The

conflict that is mentioned, as you see the likes of verse 4, all the way through to verse 8,

where you find certain opponents coming to attack Zion and trembling in response to the way that

they came to know of the impregnable nature of Zion and of God's people under the Lord's own direction.

So Zion really here, as so often you find in the Psalms and in the prophecies, is really to do with

God's people, especially as they are presided over by God. Zion itself was, of course, not very significant

to look at, very small hill in comparison to many other hills or mountains. But as we'll see in the psalm,

in the spiritual, theological sense of it, Zion is massive. Zion is impregnable. Zion is,

all the way through what's spoken of here, it is something that's set before us as God's own

residence among his people. And there are two things that we can divide the psalm into two,

really. We're looking at the whole psalm briefly. First of all, it speaks about great praise to the

great king of Zion. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. And then as you go through the psalm,

you come down to the final verses from verse 12 especially, and you find the psalmist speaking

there about inspecting the defenses of Zion. You go around and look at the walls, considering her

ramparts, going through her citadels. And the specific reason for that is that we take stock of

the nature of the church, the nature of God's own place in the church, so that that's passed on to the

succeeding generations. Consider it well, he says, so that you may tell the next generation that this is

God. This is our God forever and ever. He will guide us forever. So it's great praise to the great king,

first of all. As we said, Zion itself literally was not very significant. But here is great praise to

the great king. Zion is significant as the dwelling place of God, as the location of the temple on earth

associated with the presence of God amongst his people, with the gathered people of God to worship

this God. And it's important that we see how the psalm presents the king as actually living in Zion,

being a resident of Zion, being somebody who actually presides over it, but living within

Zion as well. Great he is to be praised in the city of our God, his holy mountain, Mount Zion in the

far north, the city of the great king. It is the greatness of God, the greatness of Zion's God,

that makes Zion great. We can't speak about Zion being great of itself, but by virtue of the great

king being in residence, by virtue of his greatness, Zion is spoken of as being great in that spiritual

theological sense. But it's also, you notice, great is the Lord and greatly to be praised.

The reason the praise of God's people is to be great praise, not just a little thing,

not a little trickle of praise, but great praise, great in the sense of its nature as

ascription of glory and praise and honor to God. Great in its volume, great in its extent,

great in its continuance. And it's the greatness of God that calls forth that greatness of praise.

He is great and greatly to be praised in the city of our God. And we come here tonight,

with that conviction in our own minds, a small group of people compared to the world in which we live.

And yet with God in our midst, we come here tonight, conscious of the fact that because God

has promised to be where his people are gathered, and where in your heart of hearts and in our hearts

together, we seek that we'll know the Lord's presence, that he will speak to us, that he will

come and make himself known to us. But by virtue of the fact, we know it's the great God we're talking

about. We want our praise to be great. We want to have a praise that's great in its quality,

as much as possible, to be a praise that is as perfect as it can be. Whether it's in our singing,

in our dealing with God's word, in our interaction with his truth, the praise of God

is to be a great praise. He is to be greatly praised. And as we come together this evening,

that is surely one of the chief convictions in your heart, that the God you come to worship

is a God who is greatly to be praised. You don't want to go out of this building tonight

thinking of God as worthy only of just a minimum amount of praise on your part,

or an out part as a people. Whether you think of him praised in our lives privately or here together

in formal worship, or praised as we live out our lives in the world, our lives have to reflect that

it is this great God we serve and worship. And therefore, as far as possible, we pray that God

will show through our lives how great he is and how greatly he is to be praised.

You see, he's saying the joy of the whole earth, his holy mountain, beautiful in elevation, is the joy

of all the earth. So often in the Psalms, you find a prophetic note here and there that really stretches

well beyond what you find in the days of the Psalmist himself. Zion, when this was written, was not the joy

of all the earth. It was only known pretty much in its own locality or the immediate surroundings

of Zion or of Jerusalem. But Zion was to be the joy of all the earth. The gospel through the Lord's

people and the Lord's blessing, as it came to touch the lives of millions of people,

that becomes obvious that this is the joy of all the earth. This is the location of true satisfaction

and lasting joy. The worship of God, the praise, the great praise that we owe to God. So here's the great

king and greatly to be praised. And he's also speaking here of Zion being a fortress. Mount Zion in the far

north, the city of the great king, within her citadels, God has made himself known as a fortress.

In those days, every city needed defenses, needed to be a fortress against the many enemies that

threatened to come around and overtake them. And it's no less the case with the church. You're aware

here tonight, you're aware as we're praying to God tonight, that one of the things we pray for is the

Lord's protective care, the Lord taking care of our lives in this world, the Lord taking care of our

witness, the Lord actually himself being our defense, our shield, our citadel, as he comes to

make himself known as a fortress to us. Now, that doesn't, we'll look at the end of the psalm later,

it doesn't displace our responsibility in checking the defenses of Zion, in making sure that the

ramparts, the citadels and all of that represents spiritually are actually in good order.

But it is God himself who is especially known as a fortress. And when it says here that God has made

himself known as a fortress, I think that really, the psalmist is really casting his mind back

to times when God made himself known as the God who gave his people victory over their enemies.

In other words, the psalmist really is reflecting here on times when God had made himself known

as the one who protected his people, who gave them victory, who actually enabled them to overcome

their enemies. And here we are tonight, and that's what we're conscious of. The God who is our citadel,

who is our protector this evening, has made himself known as such down through the ages of the church.

You think of the many times in the Bible's own record, when it seemed that the cause of God,

that the church of God was about to peter out, was about to be annihilated, was about to be destroyed

by their enemies. All the way through from the earliest Old Testament times, through the days of the

psalmist, through the days of the prophets, even right into the New Testament, the days of the apostles,

the opposition they faced, the tiny fragment of people that were there in the upper room with Jesus,

that he was teaching in respect to their responsibility to go out into the world.

Then came Pentecost. Then came the thousands added to the church. It seemed that it was about

just to be destroyed, about to disappear. And what happens? God made himself known

as a fortress. How many times in your own life, to some extent, small or great,

you felt things ebbing away from you. You felt your vulnerability.

You felt that in the presence of all the pressure of the world, and the pressure of within God's

providence of things that you knew were against you, things that you knew were actually setting out

to deflect you from the path of obedience, setting out to trouble you, setting out to displace the

thoughts in your mind that gave the praise to God. How many times God then came and made himself known

to you, and the power of his word brought you back to the conviction of the psalmist here. God has made

himself known as a fortress. God again and again has come to convince his people that this is who he is.

And that's so important for us in today's world, isn't it? Because let's face it, as a believing people

of God in this nation itself, we are vulnerable. We feel vulnerable. We're facing the might of an

unbelieving world. We're facing the might of heresy within the church. We're facing the might of

defections from the church, and all sorts of things that really are a damage to the gospel itself.

We have to come back like a psalmist here, just to remind ourselves of who is our God? What is he like?

And how has he made himself known in the past? He has made himself known within our citadels.

He has made himself known as a fortress. And so he's not just the great king. He's the great king

whose fortress this is, whose citadel this is, who is in fact himself, strictly speaking, her fortress.

And that's why it leads to rejoicing people. We thought upon, he says, we thought upon,

your word. We thought upon these things. And as we thought upon these things, so we came to realize

more and more that this, in fact, is who God is. In verse 9, we thought, especially on your steadfast

love in the midst of your temple, as your name, O God, so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth.

Now, when it's saying here, we thought upon your steadfast love, O God, it doesn't just mean to

think now and again and briefly and in a shallow way about the steadfast love of God. It means to

really ponder this, to really reflect upon this, to keep coming back again and feed our souls with the

great fact of God's own steadfast love. And what is a steadfast love? Well, a steadfast love cuts two ways.

His steadfast love is the love by which he has gathered his people, by which has brought them

to be his own people. The steadfast love that has given so much for them, as especially seen in

that ultimate giving of the Lord Jesus Christ, God's own son. But you know, the steadfast love of

the Lord is not just God's commitment steadfastly in their favor and on their behalf.

It has another side to it. It's a two-sided coin. Because God is as steadfast against his enemies

as he is for his friends. The steadfast love of the Lord is an assurance to God's people that their

enemies will not prevail. It's the steadfast love of the Lord that persuades us tonight that the church

will not be destroyed, however low it may become in its influence in any generation.

And tonight, you're so thankful, and we're so thankful together, that this is, in fact, the conviction of

God's own truth. We have thought upon your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of your temple.

And then he says, as your name, O God, so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth. In other words,

the name of God, God's self-revelation of himself, what he has made clear and known about himself.

Well, as that is the case, so also your praise reaches to the ends of the earth.

In other words, the revelation of God of himself is what precedes his praise, reaching out, just like you

would find perhaps on dry, parched land, another great image from the Bible, the Old Testament

especially, and then in times of refreshment, times of new rains, when you find the parched land suddenly

being covered over with the water that flows in, and then the growth begins, and you get some wonderful

transformations of desert-like conditions. Well, the name of God, the power of God, the way in which God himself

reveals himself as God, it goes before his praise reaching out to the ends of the earth.

The effect of that, the growth that emanates from God, revealing himself through his people.

And of course, it is righteous as well. Your right hand is filled with righteousness.

Let Mount Zion be glad. So it's not really just the mere power of God, the greatness of God and his power

and majesty that's brought before us. He here is speaking about righteousness, the righteousness of God.

God himself as the one who is in his character so perfect, so true to himself, so true to his promises,

so true to his people. Your righteousness, your right hand is filled with righteousness.

This is not a despot. This is not a God who is something of a tyrant, who just sweeps in everybody

and anything out of his way. No, his right hand, the right hand of power, the way in which God's works

is a work filled with righteousness.

Great praise to the great God, to the great king.

And as he speaks there of those that came to assemble themselves in verse 4, came on together.

As soon as they saw the nature of God's protective care, they were in panic.

They took to flight, trembling, took hold of them, their anguish as of a woman in labor by the east wind.

You shattered the ships of Tarshish.

A great God, great in power, great in righteousness, and greatly to be praised.

But he goes on to speak about our responsibility in terms of walk about Zion, verse 12.

Walk about Zion, go round her, number her towers, consider well her ramparts, go through her citadels, and so on.

Here is the psalmist. He's taken all this time to present the greatness of God,

the fact that God is the fortress of his people, that he provides that wonderful security for us.

And yet he comes now to turn the thing towards our responsibilities in reflection and in relation to that.

The fact that God is this great God doesn't devolve us of responsibility in looking after each other and looking after ourselves,

looking after his cause from our point of view.

So what is he saying?

He's saying, walk about Zion, go round her, number her towers, consider well her ramparts, go through her citadels.

In other words, he's saying, like you would especially after a siege or after an attack.

I was speaking, as we said earlier, of those who came to attack and were turned back.

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,

and checking up the walls of the city, checking up where the ramparts were in danger of being breached,

checking up any breaches that had been made so as to provide security against the next attack whenever it came.

You find the same thing in many respects.

It's the first time I ever saw it.

It was quite touching in a sense when after the plane had landed and while we were getting off the plane,

it was one of those turboprop planes.

And the two pilots came outside, went round the plane, started inspecting the propellers,

turning it just by hand, turning it round, looking at it, making sure there are no cracks there,

making sure it's safe for the next flight.

And that's what we're told here about the inhabitants of Zion.

Walk about her, go round her, number her towers, consider well her ramparts,

check out the defences, make sure they're okay against the next attack,

make sure they're kept up in terms of their efficiency,

make sure the defences are in good shape.

And that's what we need to do in regard to ourselves as the church of God in the world.

It's our personal responsibility to ensure as far as possible that my own defences,

your own defences are in place.

And that means that as every individual looks at the defences of their own life,

making sure there are no leaks there as far as possible,

no breaches through which the enemy can gain access to your mind,

to your thoughts, to your actions, to your words.

As everyone does that, so the whole of the people of the citadel of God

are checking the ramparts, checking the defences,

because it's important that any breaches are actually made up.

And of course, we have to remember,

one of the really important things to remember

is that the defences of the church are often breached from the inside,

not just from the outside.

In fact, it's much easier to see the enemy that attacks you from outside,

whether it's another kind of belief or ideology that comes from outside the Christian faith altogether.

You can see that much more easily than the heresy that works from within,

that comes creeping up slowly, as Jude put it,

when he was writing his epistle and appealing to those Christians he was writing to,

to maintain the faith, keep it, that was once delivered once for all to the saints.

For he says, certain men have crept in unawares.

They have crept in unawares, they've not been noticed.

They're already inside.

And as they're inside and not faithful to God

and determined to pursue their own agenda,

so the walls begin to show signs of cracking.

So breaches begin to open up in the walls.

Breaches from bad teaching, from doctrine, from practice.

And how well you're aware of that in our own particular day,

as you look at the state of the church throughout our nation,

and I'm talking here of all churches,

but not leaving aside our own,

because we're all part of the process of examining the walls of the citadel.

But where you find, in certain cases,

that other ideologies are given a place even in the worship of God.

It's a very sad thing to see other so-called faiths involved

in the celebration of King Charles as he came to Scotland,

where you find somebody there who's a professed Buddhist, for example,

appealing to the Buddha and appealing to the idolatry

that is part of all of these systems that are against the gospel itself,

but of course are so persuasive,

because they're not outwardly antagonistic.

And the thinking of our day has, over many, many years now,

come to present this view of all the faiths together,

having a valid place in relation to God, in relation to the truth.

And it's only as you put them all together

and actually just take parts of each of them

and see where there's common ground that you come to realize

more and more what the truth of God is.

Well, Jesus says, I am the truth,

and the way, and the life.

Not a Buddha, not Islam,

not secularism,

not any of those ideologies

that are quite contrary to the gospel.

And it's your responsibility and it's my responsibility

to make sure that the walls of Zion are in good order,

to call out heresy what it is,

to actually show that we care for the truth of God,

that we care for it so much that we realize

and are convinced that without maintaining that truth of God

as it was passed on to us,

we're going to be facing further breaches

in the ramparts and the walls of God's citadel.

And it's not a cursory examination we're called upon to do.

Consider well our ramparts.

Make a good study of it, he's saying.

In other words, he really is saying to us,

know what you believe.

Know why you believe it.

Familiarize yourself with the teachings of the past

that have been true to the gospel

that are now put aside as no longer relevant

for the age that we belong to.

Know why there were so many faithful people of God

that stood out against the idea

that a person was not justified by faith in Christ,

but through works.

Or whatever other defection from the gospel

people had to stand up against.

That's where we stand.

That's what we've actually come all the way through

from the Old Testament,

you know, through the days of the apostles

and the early church after the apostles.

How did the great doctrines of the great creeds

like the Chalcedonian Creed, the Nicene Creed,

all the way through down to the Westminster Confession

and other confessions faithful to the Bible?

How did they come about?

They came about because there were responses to heresies.

There were responses to false teaching

about the person of Christ,

about the Trinity,

about God's work of salvation.

And these great people of God,

as they got together in councils or in meetings,

they came up with these wonderful confessions

of faith

that we benefit from today.

How did they come about?

They came about because they considered well

the ramparts of the church.

They could see where they were being attacked,

where they were being weakened.

They could see where they needed strengthening.

They familiarized themselves with the truth of God

and what the truth of God was

and what truth he had passed on to his people.

Why?

So that as we'll see in a minute,

that we may pass it on to the next generation.

Consider well,

our ramparts and go through our citadels.

Why do we do this?

Well, so that we will pass it on

to the next generation.

Not just for our own security,

not just for our own assurance,

assurance spiritually and so on.

That's part of it, of course.

But it's so that you may tell the next generation

that this is God

and that this God is our God.

This is our God forever and ever.

Why do we make such an effort

to teach our young people?

Why are there so many things in this congregation?

So many wonderful things.

So many people committed to doing things

with our young people,

not just in Sunday school,

but many of the other related activities

that we have throughout the week,

as well as on the Lord's Day.

Why is that?

What's all that about?

It's so that the next generation

will know that this is our God.

That the God of the Bible,

the God of our fathers,

the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,

David, Solomon,

Paul, Peter, John,

John Knox,

Thomas Chalmers,

Martin Lloyd-Jones,

R.C. Sproul.

Their God, this is our God.

And as we consider these,

well, it's so that we will tell

the next generation.

And what are we going to tell them?

Well, the legacy that has been passed on to us

is this,

that this God is God.

This God,

the Bible speaks about,

not the God

that's presented as

just taking bits of the Bible

and leaving out

some other important bits

and saying,

well, this is the God we need today.

We need a God today

who is really

friendly towards certain

ways of thinking

of human behavior,

through human morality,

not the God of

the Old Testament,

not the God of the apostles,

not the God of the reformers,

but the God of

the thinking

that sees

adjustments to the Bible

as necessary.

The thinking that says,

if Paul were

alive today,

he wouldn't have written

as he wrote.

You know what that is?

That's a complete misunderstanding

of what the Word of God is.

Of the fact that this

whole book

is the Word of God.

It doesn't just contain

the Word of God.

It is the Word of God.

The Word of God

that is given

to God's people

for every generation.

And it doesn't matter

what changes take place

from one generation

to the next.

What changes take place

in the succeeding generation

to our own?

What sort of circumstances

our children

and grandchildren

will face

when we're no longer here?

In a sense,

that's not the important thing.

The important thing

is that they consider

this Bible

to be the Word of God

and seek to live accordingly.

this God

is God.

Not the God

of those who

are the revisionists

of the Scriptures,

of the modernists,

of whatever otherists

you might think of.

This is God.

But equally important,

this is our God

forever and ever.

He is not just God

in the sense of being

the true God

and the only God.

He's concerned here

to pass on

to the next generation

that this is our God.

This is the God

not just as our God

in the sense

that we believe in,

but our God

who looks after us.

Our God

who has given us so much

and who promises

to give us more.

He's our God.

And that's why

the likes of

writer to the Hebrews

could say that

he is not ashamed

to be called

our God

for he has prepared

a city for us.

He is true

to his promise.

He is our God.

It wouldn't be right

just to say that

he is possessed

by us,

but he is confessed

by us

and he is himself

committed to us

as his people.

This is our God.

In other words,

the psalmist

really picking up

such an important thread

and theme

all the way

through scripture.

This God

is our covenant God,

a God in covenant

with his people,

a God faithful

to his people

in covenant promises.

This is our God.

This great God

who is greatly

to be praised,

but he's a God

of relationship.

A God who

loves his people

in a spiritual

marriage that will

never end.

This is

our God.

And he says

forever and ever.

The constancy

of God.

And

the words

that are used

there at the end

of the psalm,

where he says

this is our God

forever and ever.

He will guide us

forever.

The repetition

of these words

forever,

forever and ever,

forever.

It's really

in the Hebrew

text of

the Old Testament

and of the psalm

here.

It's putting

in the strongest

possible terms

how reliable

God is.

how true

God is

to himself

and to his

promises to his

people.

He's our God

forever and

ever and ever.

He will not

change and we

don't need to

change anything

about.

And that's

why we inspect

the defenses

so that we

will pass on

that great

conviction and

truth to the

succeeding

generations

that we may

tell the next

generation

this is God

our God

forever

and ever.

May he bless

these thoughts

to us.

Let's pray.

Lord, we

thank you for

all the

assurances we

receive from

your word,

from you in

your word,

of the relation

that you have

to your people.

We bless you,

Lord, that

tonight you have

drawn our minds

to this great

portion of your

word,

that you have

presented yourself

to us as the

great God

who is greatly

to be praised.

Lord, we pray

that our

presentation of

you through our

lives may not

be a God who

is seen to be

small, a God

who is seen to

be weak, a God

who is seen to

be irrelevant for

the needs of the

present day.

Help us truly,

Lord, to present

you as the great

God you are and

to present the

great privilege we

have of being

your people.

help us to be

confident in

your covenant

relationship with

your people and

help us to be

true to you,

O Lord, as we

would seek to

walk faithfully

and embrace the

promises you have

given us.

And help us to

reach out into

the world, O

Lord, as we

already heard in

prayer, a world

that's so needy,

a world that has

so much turned

its back upon

God, a world

that is so given

to opposition to

the gospel, a

world, O Lord,

that is so

proud of

itself, proud

of its own

imagined authority.

O Lord, our

God, grant us

grace, we pray,

that we may

indeed be your

believing and

witnessing people,

and that you

would use us,

Lord, we pray,

for the generation

that has come

upon us to

hold forth the

word of life

and seek by the

gospel and by

your grace to

see many turning

into the ways

of the Lord.

Hear us, we

pray tonight, in

our prayers,

silent and

spoken.

Accept our

thanks, hear

our praise, and

all we ask is for

Jesus' sake.

Amen.

Amen.

Let's sing now to

God bless you,

God.

Let's sing now to

the word of life,

Lord, our

grace to

thank you.

Amen.

Holy

amen.