Welcome to Unveiled Faces, a Redeemer Presbyterian Church podcast. Please enjoy our feature presentation. Please turn with me this morning in the Word of God to Psalm 87. While you're turning there, I might mention that about 9.30 yesterday, I received a text from a fellow minister in Reno and said, hey, can you please come preach for me tomorrow? I said, no, I'm gonna be preaching in Sacramento at Covenant Reformed in the evening. I can't make it, but I'll help you find a pastor. And I went and did a funeral and came back home and I received a text from your pastor. I said, hey, can you come preach for me in Elk Grove in the morning? I said, looks like by God's providence, I can make that. Good to be here with you all this morning. I'm gonna invite you to stand with me out of respect for the reading of God's word, Psalm 87. Psalm 87. His foundations 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, Siloam. 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, Siloah. as well the strangers as the players on the instruments shall be there. All my springs are in thee. God in heaven, help us now to reflect on the things that you have written in your inspired word, for we claim the promise that when we think on these things, you will give us understanding in all things. This we ask in Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. Within the space of about five minutes recently, I encountered two different articles on a news feed, which I found utterly dispiriting. First article was about sensitivity and diversity training at the United States Air Force Academy. where team leaders were taught to address the cadets and their social circumstances, not with traditional gendered terminology, but they were to refer to mom and dad as caregivers, boyfriends and girlfriends as partners, and one another, not as the guys, but as the team. And the rationale was absurd and farcical as the policy itself stating that the reason for this is it will train people to be war fighters. The other article which I encountered was the story of a father of seven whose home was recently raided by 25 to 30 Department of Justice agents and he was placed under arrest with guns pointed at him for the crime of allegedly blocking the way of access to an abortuary because he shoved a man who was speaking profanities and absurdities to his 12-year-old son who was standing with him on the sidewalk protesting abortion. Well, I could keep referring to stories like this. It seems like they're all over the headlines these days. And the thing that stories such as this do, at least to me, is they dispirit me. They discourage me. Well, that's the way the people of God felt who are being addressed here in Psalm 87. They were dejected. It's absolutely imperative to understand that social context to this psalm. As Calvin says, attention to the time when this psalm was composed will contribute in no small degree to a clear understanding of its contents. In other words, Calvin says, if you want to understand the meaning and the force and the application of Psalm 87, pay attention to its context. We get a sense of what the context is by a couple of items in this Psalm. One is the word foundation, and two, the repetition of the word Zion throughout Psalm 87. Foundation, obviously, is a reference to the foundation of the temple. And Zion, of course, is a reference to the city of God in Jerusalem, but more specifically to the temple itself. And all of this then points us to historical context, which is that of the late 6th century, as the temple was being rebuilt. As the people of God were returned from Babylonian captivity, they came home, they were returned to the land by God's sovereign grace. And everything we read about this historical era from the prophets and the word of God tells us it was a time of despair. You see, as the people looked through the end of the tunnel, of the darkness of the Babylonian captivity, what they saw based upon the Holy Scriptures and prophecy was the bright light of hope and blessing upon the people of God when they would return to the land. But what they encountered instead was a fractured church, the throne of David lying in ruin, and the people experiencing constant distress at the hands of the local enemies. And to top it all off, the temple was a pitiful facsimile of Solomon's. The people were dispirited and dejected, and the hope which was deferred broke their hearts. This psalm is written to a dejected, dispirited people of God who are counting on the promises on one hand and living in the reality of the other. And so the hope of Psalm 87 is to address this heart sickness by proclaiming two things, the unwavering love and affection of God for his church, and the hope of the people of God that the promises about the future glory will not fail. So it's for our encouragement this morning that we know God loves us and he loves his church and his plans for his people will be fulfilled. So we think first of all of God's love for his church and we can dive into this testimony by noticing how God expresses this love through his identification with the foundations of Zion in verse one. His foundation is in the holy fountains. The psalm begins rather abruptly with a reference to his foundations in the holy mountains. And we receive some insight into the historical context of this from Ezra 3, verse 10, where we read, the builders had laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord. See that? This is the reference to his foundation in the holy mountains. It's very clear here in the very historical testimony of Ezra that they had relayed these foundations and these foundations were the temple of the Lord. But we connect that now into the historical context. If we read on into Ezra 3, 12 and following, here is what we would read. Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of others' households, the old men who had seen the first temple, wept aloud when the foundation of his house was laid before their eyes. So the people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of weeping. You see, as they saw this foundation of the Lord being laid in Jerusalem, the people of God, grew dispirited and soul weary because it was pitiful. It didn't meet their expectations. And so the psalmist proclaimed something to them, that these are not only the Lord's foundations, but his foundations are in the holy mountains. Now here we see that God himself identifies with the place. The point of saying all this to the people of God at the outset of Psalm 87 is to say to them what makes Zion shimmer and sparkle is not its vertical dimensions or its external glamour or the multitude of worshipers. It's the Lord. It's the Lord who identifies with his people and with his church and consecrates it to his glory. Don't look at the physical nature of the thing the psalmist says. Look at the spiritual realities which are represented here to the eyes of faith. This foundation is the place where God is pleased to have his name and his presence dwell. The next testimony or expression of love is found in verse 2. The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than the dwellings. of Jacob, the Lord loves. Notice the great love which is spelled out here. It's a love of great affection and close relation. The verb here is present tense. It's a perpetual love. And it's a comparison that's set up here because it says here that he loves the gates of Zion more than the gates or rather the dwellings of Jacob. What are the dwellings of Jacob but the homes and the tribal territories and the regions of Israel and the people of God? And what he says is God loves something more than the families of Israel. It doesn't say he doesn't love the families. It's not saying that the people and the families and the tribes don't matter to God. It's to say something else. God's love is specific. He loves the gates of Zion. Where are those gates? Well, those gates are the very entry point into the public worship of God. The gates weren't just a military fortification. They weren't just the city center where business was conducted and lawsuits were prosecuted. The gates here in Zion are the very gates that lead the way into the very worship of God. their way appointed on earth for God's people to access the holy sanctuary and to offer up sacrifices of praise unto him and to receive the outpouring of God's mercies upon them. And so what God is saying here about these gates of Zion, no matter how meager or pitiful they may appear, these gates are the best gates in the world and they're more beloved than anything else on earth because they mark the place where you and I have the opportunity to come into the house of God and to offer up anthems of praise and worship and to receive the outpouring of God's grace. He loves the gates of Zion. He loves the entryway, the portal of access where the people of God gather together to worship. And then there's a third thing here. God's word of approbation of Zion speaks of love. Look at verse three. Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God. Let's just fix on that word glorious things there because the key to our verse is understanding what those things are. God's approbation rests upon Zion because of the great things spoken about it. There's some debate here. What is the content of the glorious things? Is it the prophecy that unfolds here in verses four through six? Or is it something else that God has said in scripture? And on one hand we can say certainly it is what follows. The glories are the assertions of the coming working of God where this multinational church will be gathered together into one body in Christ through the preaching of the gospel by the sovereign administration of grace. That's glorious. But in another sense, I think we can say also that the things which have been spoken about Zion are also glorious, and the very form of the word indicates that it is past tense, it's something that's already been said. In other words, the text is saying, Zion, great things have been spoken about you. And indeed, we've already mentioned that was part of the problem. That was the reason for the dejection and the weariness of soul is that the prophecy spoke of this wonderful time of restoration, a new working of God's grace, and that they weren't experiencing it. But here, another way you could take this verse is saying the things that God has said are the things God will yet perform. So our mind would go to texts like Isaiah chapter two, verses two through four, where we learn that the nations will stream to the house of the Lord, and the peoples of the earth will say, let's go up to the mountain of the Lord, and the law of God will go forth from Zion, and the result is massive societal-wide transformation. They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Which one is it? I don't think it matters. The point of this is to say whether it is the things that have been spoken or as you see the things that are being spoken of in verse four through six are virtually identical things that God yet has a plan for his church. And Zion will not be some peripheral outpost on the four corners and fringes of history. And isn't that the truth? That a tiny piece of dirt, which is a little land bridge between continents, has become the most impactful place on earth because of the cross of Jesus Christ. They're probably intertwined, but the point of it all is to say these words will not fail. Remember now the prophet here and God through the prophet is speaking to a dejected church and the purpose of the speaking of these things of divine approbation about the city based upon the work which God has promised to do and he says he will yet do is to confirm them in faith. Calvin puts it this way, attention is called away from the present aspect of things and directed to promises which inspired them with hope of the wonderful glory which should be adorned. Although nothing appeared to the eye of sense and reason, yet the prophet would have them encouraged by the word to stand. See that? Glorious things have been spoken about you, Zion. So you can believe your lying eyes or you can trust the promises of God's word. The problem with us people of God is our lying eyes sometimes win the battle, don't they? In this case, there was a pitiful foundation of a temple. The gates were burned with fire and the walls were toppled down. The enemies of God were more powerful than the people, and they had no leader and no righteous king. And yet God took his people and he said, cast your eyes off of these things and look to the things that you cannot see. The point of contact for application of Psalm 87 to us is located in how the Word of God was used then to address the people of God to quicken and enliven them in hope. They were dejected in heart and small of spirit because the promises didn't seem like they had panned out. And they began to evaluate what God thought of them based upon their circumstances. And they no longer felt like God's special treasure. And so the initial message of Psalm 87 to a dejected church is God loves his people. You see, what God would have us do this morning is to seek to find our encouragement, first of all, in the word of God and not in its circumstances. Again, I read Calvin's comment, nothing appeared to the eye of sense and reason, yet the prophet would have them encouraged by the word to stand. Ever feel that way? Nothing appears to the eye of sense or reason. Reaching for hope feels like grasping at vapors. And yet the opposite is also true. The reasons for sorrow and dejection and hopelessness feel as absolutely as firm as the ground under your feet. So we have the promises in one hand and we have the firmness of the difficulty of our life on the other. The Word of God encourages us and admonishes us to look upon our trials and sufferings and difficulty and our smallness of soul and our being dispirited and discouraged by the evil that prevails around us by looking at those mountains and those trials in a Psalm 121 way, which is to remember that as often as we lift up our eyes and we see the mountains and our soul becomes overwhelmed with the despair and sorrow and discouragement that comes from all the difficulty, we remember what? that the Lord whom we look to is the maker of heaven and earth, and he has promised he will never let our foot slide, and he will always be as near as the shade at our right hand. Here's a simple admonition for all of us here this morning, people of God. When nothing appears to the eye of sense or reason, look to the word. Renew hope by dwelling upon the promises of God. Find consolation in the only bedrock of truth, which is scripture. And then the other application follows now as it is suited to fit us from Psalm 87 in the testimony of the love of God for his church. When things seem to overwhelm us and discourage us, God says, look at what is unseen, his love. Look at what is unseen, His love. You see, the greatest message of hope and encouragement which we can hear as the people of God from the Word of God is the love of God in Christ for us. The love of God is marvelous. It's free, and it's gracious, and it's expensive, and it's sovereign, and it's unfailing, and it's jealous, and it's protecting, and it's providing, and it's the antidote to our fears, and dejection, and sorrows. And the reason why is because what is at the root of this love, and what is at the root of this love is bound up in a memory verse that you learned on your mama's knee. For God so loved the world. B.B. Warfield has a great quote here. It's a classic statement. The world is so bad that it takes a great kind of love to love it at all. God doesn't need us. We have nothing to bring to Him to commend ourselves but our ruin and our corruption and our sin and our failures. You see, the love of God was something that he determined. It's something that he predestined. It's something that he appointed. And so when we get discouraged, what we need to remember is to look to things which are unseen. And one of the greatest unseen things that we can ever experience and find hope and confidence is the love of God in Christ. for his church, for his people, and for you. So the first message to the church this morning is one of love, and now the second is a message of hope. Remember now, this ties into the context of the people wondering, are the promises and the prophecies which were made and spoken ever going to come to pass? And so now the psalm turns at verse four and following to expound upon this hope of the church, which is the gathering and preserving of the people of God and Zion. So notice now in verse four, I shall make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me. Behold, Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia, this one, was born there. I want us to think first of all of the hope and the promise of the sovereign gathering of the church and notice what an expansive gathering it is from verse four. Rahab stands for Egypt, Babylon is a reference to what we call the Middle East, Philistia is a reference to the coastal cities of southwestern Palestine, Tyre represents the Phoenicians to the north, Ethiopia represents eastern Africa, and the word here, Kush, likely means, by way of reference from there to the entire continent of Africa. So all of a sudden what we get is this expanded view of the church. No longer is it a group of people huddled in Palestine, but this great working of God in Zion is an expansive work where the walls of Zion are being expanded over and over again in a ripple effect to the ends of the earth. Notice here, it is the four points of the compass. And so what God, first of all, speaks of here in verse 4 is this expansion of the church. But there's something else here that's utterly marvelous and gets us into the sovereignty of the administration of God in His grace here. Because the nations that are listed are sworn enemies of Christ. You see, noting the nations listed here highlights the improbability of what is being proclaimed. Calvin says, it is therefore said that those who formerly were deadly enemies shall not only become friends, but shall be engrafted into one body. What a glorious distinction of the church that even those who held her in contempt shall come flocking to her from every quarter. The unthinkable marvel is that the enemies of the church have become its members. We're beginning now to think of the glorious things of Zion, that the marvel of it all is that the church is filled now with the former enemies of Christ. And it's done sovereignly if you go on to look at verse five. But Zion has said this one and that one were born in her. And the Most High himself will establish her. Three times in these verses here you come across the phrase this one born here. And the idea here is the psalmist is accenting and highlighting the very means by which this multinational church is going to be built. And obviously you hear the references to the sovereignty of God and regeneration and converting grace. The only way the Philistines and the Gentiles and the Egyptians and the perennial enemies of Christ will ever make it into the body is not by works of righteousness which they have done, but through grace. And so here the psalmist is celebrating this future glory of Zion. The future glory of Zion is that Jesus Christ will subdue and conquer his enemies to himself through the sharp sword of the word which proceeds from his lips. You look around the world today and what do you see? It's a world that's steeped in idolatry, gross intellectual confusion. servitude of false religion, in the grip of vanity and materialism and creature comforts, and the more we think about it, the more we begin to say, what's the use? Will the church ever be bigger than this? It's difficult sometimes to look at the downright radicalness of unbelief that just permeates the culture and the world around us. And we wonder, will Christ ever be victorious? And the answer is we look at the testimony of our text and we begin to realize that the enemies of the church today will be the members of the church tomorrow. because of the sovereignty of God in his grace. And so our prayers change, don't they? Our prayers change to meet the theology of the text, not the circumstances of our experience. And that is that God, by his sovereign power, will drag them to the foot of the cross. that they may be regenerated and saved by grace. One of the great verses of scripture is John 6, 44. No one comes to me unless the father who sent me drags him. So we have a testimony to the sovereign gathering of the multinational church. And right alongside that is another message of confirmation assurance to us. And that's the sovereign preservation of the church. And we find that located at the end of verse five. And under verse six, it says, but of Zion it shall be said, this one and that one were born in her. And. The Most High Himself will establish her. The key word here is this conjunction, and, because it signals to us now that the thought is moving forward from the multinational expansion of the church to something different, and that is to the sovereign preservation of the church. And the key word here is established. But the psalmist is proclaiming now that all those who have been brought into the church and saved by grace will now be sovereignly preserved and sustained by grace. They will be made firm in their Christian walk. They will be fortified against sin and temptation. They will be held in grace by Christ. And notice here that he reaches for this title for God, which is designed to reinforce in our hearts that this is a work of God, because it says here in verse five, the most high himself. And the word is Elyon, which means God's supremacy, his power, his rule. You see, he reaches for this title, Most High, to assure us this morning that the way that we are brought into grace is the same way we are sustained and graced by God's power, by his strength, by his sovereignty. That's what's being said and reinforced again in verse six. The Lord will count when he registers the people. This one was born there. It's just a way of looking over the roster of the membership of the church and to say the one born there is the one member there, the one preserved there, the one whose name is written in stone there. You could say that this is the Old Testament counterpart to John 10 27. I sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My father which gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. I call this the proclamation of the double grip. How glorious is this that Jesus Christ says to you and to me this morning that he holds us in the palm of his hand. How glorious is it to know that he's a hands on savior. that we have been brought into a relationship with a person who bears our flesh, who holds us by the sovereignty which is granted unto him as our mediator and redeemer and savior. And if Jesus had never gone on beyond what he said here, they will never perish and no man will pluck them out of my hand, we would have all of the assurance that we would ever need that our soul is safely sustained and protected by Christ. But then he goes on to add the second hand, and my father, which is greater than all, no man is able to pluck them out of his hand. I think that might even be richer than the thought of grace. It is said that when God goes to redeem and save his people in the Old Testament, he goes out to them with his arm. But here Jesus says when God determines to preserve us, he does it with two hands. Our life is safe with God and Christ. And so whatever the despair, whatever the smallness of soul, whatever the discouragement, whatever the spiritual depression, whatever our fears, The psalmist addresses them this morning and says, nothing and no one is able to pluck us from God's hand. The Most High himself will establish it. I got to thinking about that and I remembered this great verse from the Old Testament, Numbers 23, 19. Hath he said and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken? And shall he not make it good? What do we take away from our text this morning, people of God, as we walk away from Psalm 87? It seems to me that verse seven provides ready-made application at the end of the exposition of great proclamation of love and great proclamation of promises. What do we see the people of God doing in response? Then those who sing as well as those who play the flute shall say, all my springs of joy are in you. What is the response to the powerful and wonderful and encouraging proclamation of the love of God in Christ for you? What is the response to the wonderful and powerful and encouraging note of the proclamation of the sovereignty of God in the expansion of his church unto the ends of the earth? What is the response of you this morning as you hear the testimony of the proclamation of the sovereign sustaining of the people of God and grace? The answer is it's worship. It's to find our place in the long line of worshipers who have a particular song upon their lips, which is a song of gratitude. All my springs of joy are in you. If you have been regenerated, you are to sing. If you have been forgiven, you are to praise. If you have been preserved and are being preserved in grace, then you are to do what? Give thanks. We said in our introduction that the context of Psalm 87 is the awful sense of hope slipping away. And to the dejected and the gloomy and the soul weary, God in heaven wrote us a note of encouragement. And so in response to that, what we do is we sing and we give thanks to the Lord. And so this morning, if you have found yourself drowning in despair and dejection along with its twin cousins, bitterness and malice, heed the call. Reflect on God's mercies. and follow the procession of worshipers and sing together with them. All my springs of joy are in you. And when our hearts are tuned to sing about our springs of joy, in God's grace, we can be sure it will be well with our soul. This has been a presentation of Redeemer Presbyterian Church. For more resources and information, please stop by our website at visitredeemer.org. All material herewithin, unless otherwise noted. Copyright Redeemer Presbyterian Church. Elk Grove, California. Music furnished by Nathan Clark George. Available at nathanclarkgeorge.com.