Turn with me in your Bibles, please, to Psalm 87. There are seven verses in the psalm. We'll read the entirety of it. Psalm 87, verse one, hear now the inerrant, infallible, and inspired word of God. A psalm or song for the sons of Korah. 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. Salaam. I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me. Behold, Philistia and Tyre with 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. Salah. As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there. All my springs are in thee. May God add his blessing to the reading and hearing of his most holy word. The quotation that will help us to begin this afternoon's sermon that will set the tone for where we intend to go is from the Reverend David Clarkson. Listen to what Reverend Clarkson has to say. Get higher thoughts of public ordinances. Get affections answerable to those apprehensions. Manifest both by a frequent affectionate use of these ordinances, by your praises for the enjoyment by your prayers for the continuance of them. A duty this is, which the text requires, a duty which these times call for. When there is so much disrespect cast upon the worship of God, your endeavors should be more for the advancement of it. This is the way to show yourselves faithful to God, steadfast and upright in the midst of a declining generation. This duty always finds acceptance with God, but now he will take it better because there is a stream of temptation of opposition against it. Oh, let not your souls enter into their secret who dishonor God by despising his public worship, who blaspheme God by speaking contemptibly of his name, that name which he records amongst us. and thereby does graciously distinguish us from the neglected world. It's hard to fathom that he wrote that over 300 years ago. It sounds like he's writing about our day, doesn't it? But it was well over 300 years ago that he wrote that. Interesting. So we have been talking about a proper valuation of the public worship. The larger series is profiting from public worship overall. One of the ways we profit from public worship is to put a proper value on it. And to those ends then, we have spoken from Galatians chapter four, we learned that that Jerusalem which is above, that heavenly Jerusalem, that is our mother, right? That there's a sense in which the church is our mother. Now we don't want to overblow that like they do in the Roman Catholic Church, but we do want to say that there is something to be said there. It is that place of spiritual food, isn't it? And that's what Isaiah speaks of in chapter 66, that we might have the breasts of her consolations, that we might be nourished upon that good word of God. So we saw that from Galatians 4. Then we turn to Hebrews chapter 12, and we looked at several particulars about the public ordinances themselves, what obtains among them. We reminded ourselves from Psalm 122, we said that we are to know Zion, we're to mark her bulwarks and tell her towers and so on. It's to be something meaningful to us, in other words. And then we looked at the inhabitants of that heavenly Jerusalem, that Zion. And we said that there is the ministry of the word that's there, there's the church of the firstborn ones, there's the fellow royalty, those who are adopted in Christ with us, we are co-heirs with them. There are those who have gone before us into glory that encourage us by their example even today and so on. We looked at all of that and then last week we turned to Psalm 87. And in Psalm 87 we said if we're going to value the public worship rightly, We're going to need God's perspective on it. So we took the entirety of the psalm and worked through it with one exception, and that is verse 2. And we said we would save verse 2 for this week. And verse 2 is, the Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. We talked about gates last week, probably a little too much about gates, maybe. What are the gates of a city? It's the place of commerce, place of judgment, the place of instruction, and so on. It's that official place. And beloved, in our understanding of Zion, of the visible church, we ought to understand it in that official way. There is an officiality to it. Evangelical or modern Christianity, the modern evangelical church has really downplayed the official nature of the public worship. We don't want to do that. We want to place the valuation that God places on it. It shouldn't become ho-hum to us or we shouldn't be nonplussed by it. The things that God has put, as we have heard, in Zion are for the salvation of sinners. Right? It's through the foolishness of preaching that the Lord says he will save the elect. Through the foolishness of preaching. So, With all of that, this week I'd like to drill into verse two for a while, because all of these things that we have talked about up to this point have been beneficial for ourselves. Why would you want to come to Zion? Because of her beauty, because of her ordinances, because of her people, her citizenry, because of what she is and who she is, and this is all beneficial for you. And beloved, there's nothing wrong with that. but there's something more. Here in verse two we learn that God loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Judah, or as David Clarkson over 300 years ago will say, public worship ought to be preferred before private worship. He loves those gates more. And this is not a Hebrew problem. The Hebrew is exactly translated here in your English versions. God loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. That's a good, a sound translation. So, what do we mean when we say that then? How is it, why is it that God would place a greater value such that he would say that he loves more what goes on here than what goes on in all the dwellings of Jacob at that time in Psalm 87 and the time of its writing, we would say all the rest of the nation, all of their homes, all of their districts. You'll remember that Moses taught them in Leviticus 23.3 that they were to have a holy convocation in all of their districts. Every Sabbath day, they would all come together in a holy meeting, in a public worship ceremony, in their own districts, right? In those days, Zion had even more going on than that. Zion was the public worship of public worship. There were things that took place in Zion that didn't take place anywhere else. No sacrifices could go on in any district, anywhere throughout all of Israel, northern or southern kingdom. All of that was relegated to Jerusalem, Zion. It was there that the Levites stood. It was there that the two supreme courts, the ecclesiastical court and the civil court stood in Zion to make those final judgments of anything that couldn't be decided anywhere else in the nation. But more than all of that, that was the place where God chose to set his name. And he said, there will I meet with thee. And so it is perhaps not a surprise to us to hear that God loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Judah. Sorry, Jacob. All right, so let's go ahead and talk about public worship. What do we mean when we talk about public worship? Well, there are three elements, three things about public worship that we want to remember. That it has a ministry, a people, and ordinances. A ministry, a people, and ordinances. And these things are pretty simple. We don't need to spend a lot of time on this. But there are ordinances that belong to public worship that don't belong to private worship. Right? Now I know that these lines get blurred today, especially because of our electronic capabilities, and I wanna make sure we understand this properly. It may take some time to explain all of these things so that they make sense. Please bear with me as I try. When we talk about the ordinances of public worship, what are the things that are available in public worship that we cannot do in our homes? And let's make sure that we get this straight, because these lines are blurred. Well, can we sing psalms at home? We do. Yeah. Yeah, we should. And we do. So psalm singing is not unique to public worship. That takes place in private worship, too. It also took place in the synagogue. And it also took place in the temple, after the psalms were written and instituted by David in approximately 950 BC. Okay. What are some of the other things that we do? How about the administration of the sacraments? Do we administer the sacraments at home? No, we don't. We don't. That is an ordinance for public worship. How about the preaching of the word? And this is where we have to be a little bit careful because of our electronics, right? What is the element of preaching? And we need to be careful when we define that. Because I know that in our day and age it's very popular for churches simply to give their membership a web address that they type into and they show up to church in their living rooms in their jammies with breakfast in their lap. Right? And so when a minister is preaching to a congregation like that, let's say he's doing the best job he can of it. So what he has is a screen in front of him with, you know, 50 little boxes about that big with people's faces on there that he can see. They're hearing him preach, maybe even live. Is that the element of preaching? And I put it to you that it is not. It's not the element of preaching. The element of preaching is something that is what we're doing here. This is something where people are in person with one another. There's an interaction between the minister and the people of God. And beloved, this is always going on. I tell you often that worship is not a spectator sport, and it's not. When we get to our study of 1 Corinthians 11, 12, and 14, we see those elements that the apostle Paul has laid out for us in the word of God that we are to take up. One of those is a corporate amen, which speaks of a great participation with regard to the congregation, and we'll get to that. We'll get to that. So preaching is not a private element, although you can listen to recorded sermons in your homes, and if you're doing so, Pastor Riddell is not discouraging that, not at all. That can be very edifying, but it's not preaching. It's not the preaching that God has ordained to take place in public worship. It may be a recorded sermon that a congregation heard in public worship, but for the hearers, the auditors of that in their homes, that's not the element of preaching. There's not that kind of interaction. There's not that kind of communication that takes place when we're all in the same room together. Okay, so with all of that said, what do we need then? We need the elements that God has said, the ordinances that God has pressed to us. And so what do we have in our worship service? We have the reading and exposition of scripture, we have the preaching of the word, we have public prayer, we have The singing of Psalms, we have a call to worship, we have a benediction, right? We have proclamations of the law in the Lord's Prayer. We have those kinds of things. And those are all brought to us from the word of God and they are what we participate in when we come together. Not all of those things are open to everyone. No one should be preaching the word unless they have been examined, trained, vetted, ordained, and put into service, and called to that office. And that includes the organizing of an order of worship. It also includes the administration of the sacraments. It includes the preaching and reading of the word, and so on, and these things are Necessary. Does that mean that if a church doesn't have an officer, it's not really a church? No, it doesn't mean that. But we do understand that that is an impoverished condition, and we should never jump into an impoverished condition. So these ordinances then, we need a minister for them, but we also need a congregation. Pastor doesn't show up alone, stand in the pulpit, preach into the air and sing all by himself and then pray and then say, okay, now let me do the benediction and let me go home. All of us are necessary for that. And one of the things that we do, isn't that right, that we acknowledge that when we take our membership vows, we acknowledge that we're going to be here and support that work and that worship of the church. because we want to be of encouragement to our brethren, we want to obey the Lord, we want to profit from the ordinances that God has. set before us. So we have the ordinances. We might look at 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verses 17 through 34. That's the element, the ordinance of the Lord's Supper and how they had misconstrued it and perverted it in Corinth and Paul will correct it. When we turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verses 1 through 40, we'll see such things as public prayer, the preaching of the word, the reading of scripture, the singing of Psalms and so on. All of these things unto edification. First Timothy 4.13, same thing. We'll see that they give heed to reading and to preaching and so on. So the reading and preaching of the word, prayer and praises, the sacraments administered, public oaths and vows of covenanting with the Lord and his people. And we've seen how that in Deuteronomy and Exodus, this is also the business of Zion. This is what we refer to by the gates of Zion. This is where the business of Zion is done. There are public judgments that must take place. Discipline took place in the gates of Zion, right? And so discipline takes place in the gates of Zion even today. So we need a people also to do that, as we said a moment ago. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 10. Beginning in verse 19. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his flesh. And having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering for he is faithful that promised, and let us consider to provoke one another. or to provoke unto love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." So we need a congregation for public worship. We need to meet so that we can exhort one another. How do we exhort one another in a worship service where the pastor talks and we listen? Well, it's not only that going on, is it? In fact, the Apostle Paul will tell us in Colossians chapter three that when we stand together and we sing, we are making melody in our hearts and teaching and instructing one another. We're teaching and admonishing one another. That's right, there's an interaction that is taking place between us all as we stand. Now, as we sing those lyrics, we must focus upon them. You can't sing them without them having passed through your minds, right? What's the goal of lecturing? The goal of lecturing is to make the student's notes and the teacher's notes look exactly the same without it ever having to pass through the minds of either of them. You've heard that old saying. We don't want that. We want those lyrics. We want to sing with understanding. The element as it's set forth in our confession of faith is the singing of psalms with grace in the heart. Paul will say, and the Psalter will say, that we want to sing with understanding. But as a part of that understanding, when we're singing, we're singing with one another and to one another using these inspired words that we might teach and admonish or warn one another. The Psalter was especially constructed for that by God. So it takes a congregation. It takes more than just elements. It takes more than just a minister. It also takes a congregation. But it does take a minister in order for that full orb service to take place. Let's say that something tragic happens and we're coming back from presbytery and there's a tragic accident and all of the elders are wiped out. No more elders at CCRPC. Does that mean we don't have a church anymore? Of course not. Doesn't mean that. Are you going to meet next Lord's Day? Of course you are. We would hope that some of you would rise up, maybe try to get a hold of a minister, apply to our presbytery, try to get things handled so that there would be a steady supply of someone coming. If that could not happen, well then maybe one of you would read a sermon, we'd sing a few songs and then you'd go home. something that is commensurate with a public worship service, that it may not have everything in it, and we're certainly not gonna cross any boundaries into impropriety, but that it might have what it can. We still have a church, of course. And in our denomination, the presbytery owes you something with regard to a situation like that. They will be here. They will be here to help. Okay, so, Still with all of that, we don't want to downplay the ministry of the word. That is something that is important. And in our denomination, we sort of see the entirety of the eldership as that ministry, and that there is one spokesman that's the minister of the word and sacraments. So we see in Romans chapter 10, we see that there is Verse 11, for the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed, for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher And how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. You saw those four questions there. And let's remember, as we learned a number of years ago now, maybe some of you are hearing this for the first time, that Paul puts those things in reverse temporal order. That is, he puts the end at the beginning. Right? So whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How shall they call upon him? in whom they have not believed? What's the answer to that rhetorical question? It's not possible. Second question then. How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? Same answer, it's impossible. How shall they hear without a preacher? Same answer, it's impossible. And how shall one preach except he be sent? Same answer. It's impossible. So the regular order of things is for a minister to be sent to preach the word, people hear, they hear of Christ, they believe in Christ, and in that way, this is God's normal order. This is why Paul will say in 1 Corinthians chapters one and two that God has chosen the base things of the world, the things that the world calls foolishness, to advance his kingdom. And how does the Lord advance his kingdom? With a sword, with tanks, with a machine gun, with preaching. Whoever thought to advance a kingdom with preaching. God did. And he's been doing it now since, if you will, the days of Christ, if we want to talk about Christ's kingdom, since the days of Christ. And we might say that we've gone a little ways from 11 men hiding for fear in an upper room to where we are today. The Lord's method is successful, in other words. In 1 Corinthians chapter 4, verses 1 and following, Let a man so account of us as the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. And then in 2 Corinthians 5, 18 through 20, the Apostle Paul will make it known there that he is an ambassador of Jesus Christ. Notice verse 18. 17, excuse me. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation, to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us, Paul will say, unto us the ministers, the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you, Corinthian church, by us. We pray you, in Christ's stead, be ye, all of you, reconciled to God. And so there is a ministry of reconciliation that is committed to the ministry of the word. Okay, so this is not anything new for any of you, or for most of you, you've heard this before. But in order for us to have what we would call the gates of Zion, we would want something that is ordinarily functioning according to the scriptures, that we have a church that has a ministry in it, that has membership in it, that has the ordinances of God in it, This is what we would call a regular functioning church that we can call, according to Psalm 87, the gates of Zion. This is where all of the business of Zion can be accomplished. And it is said in Psalm 87 that God loves those gates more than all the dwellings of Jacob. So why would that be said? All that we have said thus far is that there are great advantages for the people of God to come to Zion. And there are. We don't contradict any of that with what we're about to say. But now we're going to take the next step and we're going to say, but the other motivation to be here is not just your own personal spiritual benefit, but because God says that he loves those gates better than all the dwellings. And so now we have the added motivation of the love of God for the public worship. That's an added motivation for us to be faithful in our attendance upon Zion and how to profit from it. If we would have the same love in a creaturely way that God has preferring the gates of Zion to the dwellings of Jacob, we would be better equipped to profit from the public worship. So why is it then that God says that he loves the gates of Zion more? How is it that the Lord prefers this worship to private worship? Well, the first thing is that God is about his glory, beloved. God is about his glory and there is a greater manifestation of his glory in public worship than there is in private worship. There's a greater manifestation in faithful public worship than there is in faithful family or private worship. So the assumption is that we're talking about faithful worship here throughout, right? So turn with me to Malachi chapter six. I'm sorry, chapter one, there is no Malachi six. Chapter one, verse six. Sometimes, you know, your eye falls down to the wrong number on the page, doesn't it? Malachi chapter one and verse six. A son honoreth his father and a servant his master. If then I be a father, where is mine honor? And if I be a master, where is my fear, saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests that despise my name? And ye say, wherein have we despised thy name? Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar, and ye say, wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, the table of the Lord is contemptible, and ye offer the blind for a sacrifice, is it not evil? And if ye offer the lame and the sick, is it not evil? Offer it now unto thy governor. Will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person, saith the Lord of hosts? And now I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us. This has been by your means. Will he regard your persons, saith the Lord of hosts? Who is there among you that would shut the doors for naught? Neither do you kindle fire on mine altar for naught. I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts. Will I accept an offering at your hand? For from the rising of the sun, even unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles. And in every place incense shall be offered unto my name and a pure offering for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts. Do you think God is concerned about his glory? He is concerned about his glory. They have profaned his name by their offering polluted bread and broken animals. The Lord even says to them, rather than do that, you should shut it down. Close the doors, the Lord says. So we have the Lord pursuing his own glory, but if there is a greater glory available to be seen in the public worship, God prefers public worship before private. Psalm 29 9 teaches us that it is the duty of the gathered church in public worship to glorify the Lord. Psalm 29 verse 9 The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forest, and in his temple doth everyone speak of his glory. So there is that greater opportunity for the advancement of God's glory in public worship. And so we ought to prefer it like the Lord does. He loves it more because his glory is advanced to that higher degree. In Psalm 22, verse 22. I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. Ye that fear the Lord, praise him, ye seed of Jacob, glorify him, and fear him, all ye seed of Israel, for he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, neither hath he hid his face from him, but when he cried unto him, he heard, my praise shall be of thee in the great congregation. I will pay my vows before them that fear him. So we have this advancement of God's name, of his glory, of his recognition, and of his honor in this public venue. And so the Lord prefers that greatness to a private ceremony, although the Lord does not despise that which is private. And please don't hear us saying anything like that. But is there a comparison to be made? There is a comparison to be made. The Lord has made that comparison by saying that he loves the gates of Zion more than the dwellings of Jacob. The second point, there is more of the Lord's presence in public worship than in private. He is present with his people in the use of public ordinances in a more special manner, more effectually, more constantly, and more intimately. Of course, all these things are true. We can reckon them from, oh, just hundreds of passages of scripture, we're going to look probably next week at Jesus as he is presented to us in Revelation chapters 1 through 3 as he who walks among the candlesticks or who is with the churches in their public attire, if you will, in their public business. And we will see Christ as he is revealed publicly to the church in a much greater way. And it is because why? Because the ordinances are multiplied. It is because the ordinances are more glorious in public than they are in private. So let's turn to Exodus chapter 20 for a moment. The Lord promises his special presence to that public venue that he does not promise anywhere else. 24, Exodus 20, 24, an altar of earth thou shalt make unto me and shalt sacrifice there on thy burnt offerings and thy peace offerings and thy sheep and thine oxen in all places where I record my name, I will come unto thee and I will bless thee. where the Lord chooses to record his name, there he says that he will meet with his people in that, if you will, special or covenantal way. Turn with me to Zechariah chapter two. Verse one. Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired, before the decree. I'm sorry, that's Zephaniah, not Zechariah. I lifted up mine eyes again and looked, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand. Then said I, Whither goest thou? And he said unto me, To measure Jerusalem, and to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof. And behold, the angel that talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him, and said unto him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls, for the multitude of the men and cattle therein. For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her. You hear that? The glory in the midst of her. Now sometimes in scripture when we see measuring going on, sometimes the measuring is for the sake of judgment, right? If a city is measured, you know, weighed, measured in the balances and found wanting and so on. Not in this case and not in some other cases in the scripture. The Lord measures out because it's his. This is a sign of his ownership, a sign of his propriety, a sign of his special presence. And so he says, we're gonna measure Jerusalem to see the breadth and the length thereof. Why? So that I might be a wall of fire around her and the glory in the midst of her. And beloved, I would say that the same thing is true wherever the Lord's name is preached in truth. This is the place in the New Testament where the Lord sets his name and meets with his people. Notice what the Lord Jesus said in Matthew chapter 18. We referenced this scripture a moment ago. We'll go ahead and dive right into it here. verse 15. Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou scain thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, Then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church. But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, And whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, I say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my father, which is in heaven for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. We want to make sure we understand this passage correctly because it's often abused or misused. It's a matter of judgment that is being taken up here. Two brethren are not able to come to a mind on an offense. And so at the end of the day, what they do is they draw in after a first round and a second round with witnesses, then they stand before the church. And the church here, the ecclesia here that is mentioned is one that sits with the authority to bind and loose. That is a church that is able to execute judgment. So that would be like a local church session, it might be a presbytery, it might be a synod, it might be a general assembly, but it is not the congregation itself. Okay, with that said, then what happens is Jesus will tell us that if this court is reduced all the way down to two or three, he is still in the midst with them. he will manifest his special presence unto them. Now, our older divines argued, and I believe this is good divinity, from that particular instance to the statement that the Lord has indeed promised to reveal himself in his special covenantal presence in a larger assembly of a worshiping people. So we have Christ saying that he will be with those who are in judgment in, say, a two- or three-member presbytery or church session. And if there, certainly with his other promises coupled with that, we will see him and his special presence in the great congregation. And beyond that, Jesus will say to his disciples, when they are going about their work throughout the history of the age, by the way, none of those disciples are alive today, no matter what the Mormons say. And so this applies to... the ministers of the word that will come after the apostles in their age, known as teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you all way, even unto the end of the world, I would say that Jesus has coupled his special presence with the teaching to observe all things whatsoever has been commanded by him. And so when a minister of the gospel is standing in the pulpit and he's teaching us, all of us, himself included, all the things that Christ has commanded, Jesus promises his special presence with them. Not just in that, but in the going and in the baptizing and in the instruction. you have the presence of Christ advancing his own kingdom. So in that public worship, there is that greater presence of Christ in communion with his people, and so God prefers that over private worship. because of those greater elements, ordinances, and so on. We might look at several other places, Psalms 63, one through five, Isaiah 25, six. Instead of looking up all of the verses, let's just look up Isaiah chapter 25. This is speaking obviously forward of the days of Messiah. Verse two, for thou hast made of a city an heap, of a defensed city, a ruin, a palace of strangers to be no city. It shall never be built. Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee. The city of the terrible nations shall fear thee. For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy, in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers as the heat in a dry place, even the heat with the shadow of a cloud. the branch of the terrible one shall be brought low. And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, a feast of fat things, full of marrow, of wines on the lees, well refined, and he will destroy In this mountain, the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces, and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken it." What does the Lord say here? Remember that in the ancient Near East, that covenant meal was so very important to them. It was a covenant meal that they ate at the base of Sinai. In reminiscence of such meals as that, the Lord says, and in this mountain, I'm gonna make a feast. You're gonna dine with me. You're gonna enjoy my special presence as we come and feast together. So first point, the glory of God enjoys a greater manifestation. Second point, there is more of the Lord's presence in public worship. Third point, moving on. The clearest understanding and vision of God is seen in his public worship. Therefore, it is to be preferred. The clearest understanding and vision of God is seen. In other words, there is a greater understanding of who God is that is seen in public worship. Again, we're going to remind ourselves we're talking about faithful public worship, obviously not idolatrous or unfaithful public worship. Psalm 27, verse 1. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war should rise up against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the Lord. That will I seek after. that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble, he shall hide me in his pavilion. In the secret of his tabernacle, he shall hide me. He shall set me upon a rock, and now shall mine head be lifted up Above mine enemies round about me, therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy. I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord." There's a greater manifestation of the understanding of who God is. He will lift up our eyes to see him. He will set our feet upon a rock. We will we will gaze upon the beauty of the Lord in inquiring in his temple. Well, this places a burden, doesn't it, on the minister of the word, that he present the beauty of the Lord to his people. and not simply platitudes and those empty phrases that really don't advance the glory and beauty of the Lord among his people. But beloved, when that is done, when the Lord is seen in all of his redemptive regalia, he is here and we are communing with him in that greater knowledge. that cannot be had in other places. There were extraordinary times when God did something like that in private. We'll remember Jacob in chapter 28 of Genesis. He thought he was all alone, and then here comes this vision in the middle of the night, a dream of this ladder going up and down, and the angels of God ascending and descending. And we learn from John 151 that that was actually Christ as that concourse between heaven and earth. That Christ appeared in all of his mediatorial regalia to Jacob when Jacob thought he was all alone. But beloved, Christ appears in his mediatorial regalia. wherever his word and gospel is preached. It is there that we gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. And these things don't rise up out of our own mind. As we said earlier, we need a ministry for that. There is an ordained minister that stands in front of you that has been sent forth, Acts 13, by the Holy Ghost as an ambassador of Christ, who speaks not for himself and not out of his own stock and store, but he speaks the word of God to the people of God, revealing the beauty of the Lord, that he may be beheld by them and worshiped and loved. And in that venue, the Lord says, I love those gates. Number four, there is edification and spiritual advantage here not available in private worship. Of course, we're going to turn to Ephesians chapter four. I have in my notes to read verses 1 through 20. Of course, that's too long of a reading, getting so close to the end of the chapter here. Let me summarize what's going on. The apostle will talk to us first about the worthy walk that belongs to our vocation, or being called as Christians. And there are several things that we need for that worthy walk. Meekness, lowliness of mind, long-suffering, forbearing one another. Endeavoring all of us to keep the unity of the Spirit in the philake, the prison bands of peace. That we keep that peace locked up tight among us and don't let it loose. So then he's going to tell us why we need to do that. What's the theology behind that? Well, there's one body, there's one Lord, there's one faith, there's one baptism, there's one God and Father who's over all, above all, and in you all. So all of that, verses three through six. Then he's going to differentiate. He's going to say, but you're not all the same. As the people of God, not everybody's the same. Because when Christ ascended up on high, he led captivity captive. That is, those who were at one time captive to Satan, to sin, He has freed by his triumph. He will call them to himself in time. And so he's led a host of captives that are now captive to himself that were before captive to the devil. He's victorious. And like a victorious king often does, he gives gifts to his subjects. And so as he is ascending up on high, he's like that king that rides into town after a victory on his chariot with his white horse and his army following him, and he has gifts in his chariot, and he's tossing them out to the adoring crowds as they come and they extol the virtues and victory of their king. As Christ descended up on high, then he gave gifts to men. And what did he give? He gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. And why did he give them? for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edification of the body of Christ, so that we all might learn to speak the language of Zion and learn to speak one to another and edify one another. That's available in the public worship, it's not available in the private worship. It begins here where the teachers of the word of God, it's not just this church, please don't hear me saying that, it's every church where a faithful minister preaches the word of God, he teaches the people of God how to speak to one another so that we can edify one another rather than tearing down one another. And that edification is available here and it's not available in private. Because the ministry is not in the private worship. So that's what Ephesians 4 says in a nutshell. Then beyond verse 16, which is that climax of that mutual edification, to the effectual working of the measure of every part maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. This is a marvelous verse. It doesn't replace the ministry. It augments the need for the ministry, that the ministry may speak in an edifying way that the people of God may learn how to edify one another. And then, beyond that, 17, 18, 19 is a transition piece, speaking of the Ephesians, how they were formerly Gentiles, now they're not. And then 20, 21, 22, you've put off the old man and put on the new man. And the rest of the passage teaches us in several particulars how to put off the old man and put on the new man. And in three, count them, three of those particulars, it has to do with speech. So there is a greater opportunity for edification, or there is edification and spiritual advantage here that is not available in private. Remember the Shunammite in Song of Solomon 1, seven through eight. She asks a question, it's a very pregnant question. Let me find it here for you. I don't want to misquote it. I could quote it, but I would probably not do it justice. And you don't want me to do that. Song of Solomon, chapter one, verse seven. Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon? For why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions? If thou know not, O fairest among women, Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock and feed thy kids by the shepherd's tents. Now, I won't be the first nor the last commentator on this passage to tell you that this is what it means. The woman that is the church in this passage, she speaks to her bridegroom, tell me O thou whom my soul loveth. where thou feedest, not where he goes to feed, but where he is feeding his sheep. Where do you go to feed those who belong to you? Where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon? For why should I be as one that turned aside by the flocks of thy companions? I don't want any other feeding, Jesus, but you. You're my shepherd that feeds me. So where do you feed? Where do you feed your sheep? Where do you make your flock to rest at noon? so that they might feed and rest. So notice verse eight. If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock and feed thy kids by the shepherds' tents. And the shepherds there are taken for the shepherds, those whom God has put in authority of his people. So in the public worship is where that edification rests. Number five, got time for one more, maybe two. We'll see how quickly we can hustle here. Public worship is a better security against apostasy, and so it is to be preferred before private. Was David a private worshiper? Yes, in spades he was a private worshiper, wasn't he? Over and again we see that David worships the Lord as he says it, how? Upon his bed, in the night watches and so on, right? Seven times a day and all of that, okay. But what happens in 1 Samuel 26 verse 19? Notice what happens there. We'll turn back there real quick. 1 Samuel 26 verse 19. Now, therefore, I pray thee, let my Lord the King hear the words of thy servant. If the Lord have stirred thee up against me, let him accept an offering. But if they be the children of men, cursed be they before the Lord, for they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, go serve other gods. David says, you've driven me out from Jerusalem. You've driven me out from Israel. You've driven me into a nation not my own. You have said in effect to me, go serve other gods. Now, we're not suspicious of David that he would fall into that kind of apostasy. But notice what it means to be absent from the place where God has said his name. David says there, you've said unto me, go serve other gods. You've said, go to another country, go away from the Lord, which is tantamount to saying, go serve other gods. The public worship, beloved, is a hedge against apostasy. Reverend Clarkson in his sermon, Wax is quite eloquent and he will say, very pathetically, with much pathos, he will say, how many of us have seen people begin to slip away from the public worship little by little by little by little until they no longer have a competent Christian profession, a believable Christian profession any longer. This is why the writer in Hebrews chapter 10 will tie, as we've read earlier, will tie forsaking the assembling of ourselves together to apostasy. And he will tie them directly together. We'll just read the two verses. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, I'm in verse 25, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another And so much the more, as you see the day approaching, for if we sin willfully after that we've received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries and so on. To neglect the public worship then is to open yourself up for apostasy. Since the public worship then is a better hedge or security against apostasy, then certainly the Lord loves it more than private worship. And the last point here, we have examples of the best saints recorded in scripture who longed for public worship even while partaking of private worship. Even though they were free in private worship and had all of the time, perhaps even more time, being held, oh, perhaps away from their normal calling in some kind of bondage or prison where they had all day to spend with the Lord in private worship, yet they longed for the public worship. Psalm 42. As the heart panteth after the water brook, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me. For I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holy day. Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. O my God, my soul is cast down within me, therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan and of the Hermonites and from the hill Misar. deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts, all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. Yet the Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime and in the night. His song shall be with me and my prayer unto the God of my life. I will say unto God my rock, why hast thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me, while they say daily unto me, where is thy God? Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance and my God. And then Psalm 43 is the answer to that, isn't it? You remember that these are companion psalms. Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation. Notice all through here, the psalmist is involved in secret worship, isn't he? He's praying to the Lord. He's speaking to the Lord out of what he remembers from the word of the Lord and praying in accord with God's word all throughout here. But notice, it's not enough. He desires public worship. So judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation. O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man. For thou art the God of my strength. Why dost thou cast me off? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? O send out thy light and thy truth. Let them lead me and let them bring me unto thy holy hill and to thy tabernacles. Then will I go to the altar of God. Unto God my exceeding joy, yea, upon the harp I will praise thee. O God, my God, why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance and my God. See, we have to consider those two psalms together in order to get that full meaning. Well, I have lots of other places we could turn to to show this last point. I think we'll let it rest here. We're a few minutes after. God loves the gates of Zion more than the dwellings of Jacob because his glory enjoys a greater manifestation here. because his presence is more covenantal with his people in public worship, because the clearest understanding and vision of God is seen here, because there is edification here for the people of God, spiritual advantage not available elsewhere. because it is a better security against apostasy, because the best examples of the godly in scripture preferred public worship before private, and finally because the promises of God are more given in the public worship and in accord with the public worship. And beloved, We cannot follow the spirit of the age in this and take or leave the public worship. We need it as the people of God. We've already seen its advantages for us. Now we have taken it one step farther and we have seen how that the Lord himself places a greater desire upon it. Let's stand and call upon the Lord in prayer. Our dear Heavenly Father, we come unto thee and ask that thou would lift up our hearts to embrace those public ordinances, lift up our hearts to love thee in them and that greater manifestation of thy glory, of thy presence, of thy person, that greater hedge against apostasy, that wondrous edification that takes place. in accord with all of thy promises and the example of the godly in the scripture. Lord, that thou wouldst grant all of these things to us, to our hearts, and that we might rejoice to come to Zion week by week and to meet with thee there. O Lord, we pray, correct where we are yet pinched, either in our affections or in our practice. Lord, lead us, send out thy light and thy truth. Lead us by that to Zion and to thy tabernacles, where we might commune with thee. We remember that name of the tabernacle of old, often called the tent of meeting, by some theologians called the tent of tristing, where thou dost meet intimately with thy people. O Lord, we pray, meet with us here as we desire to meet with Thee week by week. We pray in Christ Jesus' name. Amen.