We turn to God's word to Psalm 48. Psalm 48. Let's read this entire Psalm. And the text will be those last three verses of the chapter. Psalm 48. Verse one, great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great king. God is known in her palaces for a refuge. For lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together, they saw it, and so they marveled. They were troubled and hasted away. Fear took hold upon them there, and pain as of a woman in travail. Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind. As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God, God will establish it forever. Selah. We have thought of thy loving kindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple. According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth. Thy right hand is full of righteousness. Let Mount Zion rejoice. Let the daughters of Judah be glad because of thy judgments. And now verses 12 through 14 will be the text. Walk about Zion and go round about her. Tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks. Consider her palaces. that ye may tell it to the generation following, for this God is our God forever and ever. He will be our guide even unto death." Thus far we read God's holy and inspired word and the text being those last three verses, 12 and 13 and 14. Beloved congregation in our Lord Jesus Christ, Psalm 48 is a psalm all about the church. The word used here in Psalm 48 would be Zion. That word Zion then is a reference to the church. And this whole Psalm is all about then the beauty and the wonder that God has made to be the church. And you can't help but miss that in verse 1 already. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness, beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. And then in verse 9, we have thought of Thy lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of Thy temple, the temple being the center point, the focal point of Jerusalem, And then in the words of the text, go round about Zion and to admire her beauty. But now the text isn't simply calling us to admire the beauty of the church in general, but to admire and stand in awe of the defenses especially that God has put in place there so that we read of Towers and bulwarks and palaces. And these were all various structures in Jerusalem. Structures that would keep the people safe from the enemy. So that God calls the Old Testament saints to go round about Jerusalem. And to do that very literally, to walk around Jerusalem, but now not to go on a casual walk, but to inspect very carefully the safeguards that God has put in place to protect the people and to defend them from the enemy. And so also for us, we're going to, in this sermon and some following sermons, we're going to take a walk about Zion. We're going to note the strong defenses that God has erected in the Church of Jesus Christ and specifically for us here at Emmanuel PRC. This is the text that the consistory has chosen for family visitation. And it's good that we take time in family visitation to walk about Zion because there's not nearly enough time in one sermon to uncover and explore and expand upon all of the beauty and loveliness as we survey Mount Zion and as we meditate on all that God does for us in the church. So we'll take time and we'll go down in family visitation going down other streets and other avenues as it were and to explore some of these beautiful things that God has done for us. But a good text for family visitation too so that we are ever reminded of the true beauty of the church. The true beauty of the church. of this church, Emmanuel PRC, does not consist in the number of families, whether we have many families or fewer families. The beauty of the church is not due to anything earthly or external. The beauty of the church is that God dwells with us. that God takes care of us and that he preserves us from all our enemies so that we dwell in safety. So this afternoon we have the specific family visitation text, Psalm 48, 12 through 14, and I intend also in the upcoming weeks to preach a few more sermons, more than likely three sermons, on another passage in the Word of God, Psalm 84, another psalm that sets forth the beauty of the church and the refuge that we find there in Jehovah God. The theme for this afternoon's sermon, Appreciating Zion's Beauty. Let's note in the first place, walking about Zion. Secondly, telling it to the generation to come. And finally, enjoying our eternal comfort, appreciating Zion's beauty. The text describes for us Old Testament Jerusalem as it was built upon Mount Zion. Now the temple specifically was one of those peaks on Mount Moriah, but the city in general was built upon Mount Zion. And then here in verses 12 and 13, we have a description of the strong defenses of the city. So let's go back to what it was like in the Old Testament, and let's walk around about Jerusalem and take note of these defenses that God gave to that city. And the first thing you'd notice going back to Old Testament Jerusalem would be the strong walls. Now the text doesn't say walls but it does call our attention in verse 13 using the word bulwarks. This is a very difficult word to translate. It's hard to know exactly what bulwarks refer to. It could refer to a number of different things. It could refer simply to the walls around Jerusalem. Walls designed to keep the people safe from the enemy. And these walls were a critical and vital component for any city in Bible times. If there were no strong walls, then the people would become vulnerable to the enemy. And you remember how important the walls were for Nehemiah. Because King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians came and destroyed the walls of Jerusalem. And Nehemiah came and under the cover of darkness that night, he went and so important to him were the walls of Jerusalem that God used him to restore those walls. So bulwarks could refer to the walls in general. Sometimes a bulwark refers to a kind of a ditch also that was dug around the outside of the walls to prevent the enemy from approaching the wall, making it more difficult for the enemy to breach the walls. And it could also be the case that this word bulwarks refer to certain portions of the wall that were more fortified than other portions of the wall so that there might be areas in the wall from the outside where the enemy would readily approach that portion of the wall and so the people of the city would make sure that that portion of the wall was strong and thick and extra fortified so that the enemy would not be able to advance and to break down that section of the wall. And those strong portions of the wall were the bulwarks. But whatever bulwarks refer to in particular, remember it this way, it's speaking of the strong walls that ran all about the city that kept the people safe from the enemy. In the second place, walking around Jerusalem, we would notice something else. Verse 12, tell the towers thereof. Towers. So that you would survey those strong walls all around Jerusalem and you would also notice that there were also taller structures that would rise up out of those walls. And those taller structures were towers. And these towers were spaced strategically along the walls. and they served two important purposes. In the first place, the soldiers stationed in these towers had a bird's eye view of the landscape outside and they could see way off into the distance so that if the enemy were approaching, the soldiers on the top of the tower would be able to see them, to identify that danger and to go in and to tell the king, for the king to marshal the forces and to go out and fight the enemy. But in the second place, the towers were also helpful in this regard because if an approaching enemy would get close enough, then those soldiers in the tower could shoot arrows down upon them, coupled with the soldiers on top of the walls. along with other soldiers shooting arrows through the slits in the walls, and the enemy would have arrows raining down upon them from all directions. But every city needed high, strong towers. Jerusalem had such towers, towers that were visible to all the inhabitants of the city. Walls, towers, Going around about Jerusalem you would notice something else and that would be her palaces. That's what we have in verse 13. Consider her palaces. Now this particular word palace, that's not telling you to look at that place where the king lived. Usually we call that place the palace. But this word palace refers to an inner fortress within the city. So you might translate this word also a fortress or a citadel that is within the city because sometimes in Bible times it might be the case that the enemy would be able to breach the walls and batter down the gates and rush into the city. And if that did happen, and if the king and his soldiers then felt that they were overwhelmed, then they would retreat into this very strong fortress, or many palaces, depending on how big the city would be, they would retreat into these fortresses to defend themselves then from within. So the palace here refers to an inner fortress or citadel. These would be all the things that you would see walking around about Jerusalem. Now these imposing and impressive structures in Jerusalem are pictures of the spiritual defenses that God has given to the church. And that was true even for the Israelites back in the Old Testament. God was never teaching the Israelites to place their trust in the walls themselves, to place their confidence in the high towers, but rather by giving Jerusalem these strong defenses, God was teaching the people, you must trust in me. And that's something that the Psalm itself teaches. We have that in verse three. God is known in her palaces for a refuge. And that means that insofar as the king and the soldiers and the other inhabitants of the city might seek their refuge in that inner fortress or citadel, God was teaching them by doing so to seek their refuge in God Himself. Another passage of the Bible, Proverbs 18 verse 10, the name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous runneth into it and is saved. And what that means for us is that God is our refuge. God is the one who protects us from the enemy. Our God is the one who is all powerful and preserves us in this life so that when the enemy comes and attacks us, then we cannot ever be overtaken. It's impossible because God is strong and mighty to protect and preserve us. But even as these defenses in Jerusalem picture God Himself who protects us, the Bible also tells us that we must be reminded of other spiritual truths so that these bulwarks and towers and palaces include all the things that God uses as means to protect and to defend us from the enemy. so that the word of God is our defense. God uses his word to preserve us and to ward off the enemy. And that's how Jesus himself used the word. So that when the devil came to him and tempted him immediately after Jesus was baptized and the spirit drove him into the wilderness, every single time Jesus answered and said, It is written. So that devil, you cannot overcome me because this is what God's word says. Jesus turned to the word and that word was a defense for him that defended him against all the attacks of the devil. And that's how we ought to view and to use the word of God. What explains that at times in life we feel so weak and vulnerable when the enemy is approaching and maybe attacking us? because we're not standing behind the walls, we're not up in the high tower, and we're outside the wall right in front of the enemy, which is simply another way of saying that we're not studying God's word as we ought, we're not relying upon God's word to keep us and to protect us. But how important is God's word? And therefore, as families, as individuals, as a church, we ought to be busy in God's Word. But then further, God has also given us the means of the creeds and the confessions. to be a kind of safeguard for Zion. The creeds and confessions which are the work of the Holy Spirit, leading and guiding the church into all truth. Creeds and confessions which are not an authority in and of themselves, but authorities which have an authority that are derivative from scripture itself. the creeds and confessions which in a clear and unmistakable way simply say These are the Bible passages that teach us who God is. These are the Bible passages that teach us total depravity. These are the Bible passages that teach us everything the Bible says about atonement and about the human nature of Jesus Christ, the divine nature of Jesus Christ, and so many of the other doctrines in scripture. Well, these confessions defend us from the enemy. The canons of Dort, in particular, defend us from the heresy of Arminianism. The Heidelberg Catechism defends us, and it does so much more than that. But one of the purposes to defend us from the error of Rome, the Belgic Confession, defending us from, among other things, the error of the Anabaptists. And then even in our own history, as Protestant Reformed churches, the Lord has given to us to expound and to develop rich truths in God's Word. For example, the grace of God. That the grace of God is never common to all men in this world, but that the grace of God is always sovereign. That the grace of God is always particular. And then further, the truth of God's covenant. Again, always sovereign, always particular with God's elect, even in the line of continued generations. It's always with the elect seed that God establishes his covenant, a covenant that belongs to God. God is the one who establishes it. God is the one who maintains that covenant. God keeps us in that covenant, and we never can fall out of that covenant once God establishes it with his people. Well, God uses the creeds and the confessions in our own doctrinal heritage to defend us from the enemy, to keep us safe. And then there's one more reality that's pictured in these bulwarks round about Jerusalem. And here I have my eye now on another passage of Scripture that helps us understand and explains it in the book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 26 verse 1. Isaiah 26 verse 1 and here is one of the reasons why we say bulwarks means walls because walls and bulwarks are referred to in the same breath. But Isaiah 26 verse 1, in that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah. We have a strong city. Salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. What a prophetic passage that is. In that day, that is the day of the Lord, when the Messiah comes, in that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah. We have a strong city. Salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Isaiah is telling the people and prophesying there comes the day when God will no longer appoint physical walls and bulwarks for your defense, but salvation will God appoint. And that means, beloved, that God has appointed salvation for us. in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that salvation means that we belong unto Him. He laid down His life on the cross of Calvary. We have become His property. And that means that we are precious to our Savior. We belong to Him. He owns us. And Jesus in His love for you and for me cares for us and gives us all that we stand in need of. And He preserves us in this life. so that we don't need walls and bulwarks and towers. like they did in Old Testament times. We don't need a strong fortified wall round about the church property here in Lacombe, or whether it's in other churches. We don't need those type of walls as if that's our defense and security, but rather in the place of walls and bulwarks, God has appointed salvation. And that means, beloved, then, that during the heat of warfare. More often than not we find ourselves in that position in this life when your knees buckle because of the attack, because of the circumstances of life and you hear those arrows whiz by your head that the enemy is shooting at you and maybe sometimes even hits you when you are weak and you feel your sins rising up against you and wondering if they will have the mastery over you, then behold the cross of Jesus Christ, you look for safety, you look for a place of shelter, you look for defense amidst all the turmoil outside, well then don't fasten your eyes for hopes of defense on the amount of money in your bank account. Don't fasten your eyes on the size of your insurance policy to give you that type of safety and security, but find your refuge in the shadow of the cross and know that there God has appointed you salvation. And when we, with the eyes of faith, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for me, Then we know that all my sins have been forgiven. I am right with God. I am a child of God. I belong to Him. And as Isaiah 26 then says, salvation from all our sins, that becomes the wall, the defense of the church, our comfort and our security that the Lord Jesus Christ laid down His life for me and has merited for me free salvation. And now the text says, walk about Zion, tell the towers thereof, mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces. What does this mean for the Old Testament saint? Well, it means to do exactly that, to take a walk and go all the way around Jerusalem and to take note of all of these things, to tell the towers thereof. Count how many towers there are and note where they are placed in such perfect position to keep the city safe. Mark ye well her bulwarks. That means set it upon your heart When you note the walls around Jerusalem that God puts there for safety and for a defense, then don't just give a quick glance at those strong walls and mighty bulwarks, but lay it up in your heart, mark them, stop for a moment and consider them and let the truth sink into your hearts, how strong and mighty those walls are. and how safe you are within the confines of the city. Consider her palaces, which means to go inside those palaces, those inner fortresses or citadels, and to note their beauty and to note their strength, and even if they were more than one fortress inside the city, to pass between them. and let the immensity of those fortresses and the safety of those fortresses sink in your hearts as well, that you may know that inside those fortresses you will be safe. And so all of those things, to tell the towers, mark the bulwarks, consider her palaces. What about for us as New Testament saints? What does that mean for us? It doesn't mean that we gonna march around this building and count the towers thereof and the walls and the bulwarks. Well, the reality is that we don't have any towers, don't have any bulwarks, don't have any walls to look at. But it means that we walk around God himself and we see all of the ways that God has been faithful to us here at Emmanuel PRC as a true church of the Lord Jesus Christ. It means that we will make it a matter of the heart to appreciate God's care of us here. that in all our years as a church, God hasn't forgotten us, God hasn't forsaken us, He's brought us through some very hard and difficult times, and in and of ourselves, we are weak to handle those situations, but looking back, God was gracious to us. And I appreciate that. He's kept us safe from the enemy. He's given to us the sound preaching of the gospel. the sacraments faithfully administered, the exercise of Christian discipline, the marks of the true church. Now mark those. Consider those things. Don't give those things a passing glance, but note those marks. Appreciate them and love them. God has given to us his word, that word faithfully proclaimed. God has given to us Bible societies, adult Bible society, young people's society, ladies' Bible study. God has given unto us catechism classes where our children can be instructed according to the level of their understanding. Now, consider those things. Mark them well. Let the beauty of those things sink in your hearts and consider even those Bible societies not far away from beginning this year. Consider them. Consider passing through them and even passing through the doors to attend Wednesday night Bible Society, maybe even for the first time. Appreciate these gifts that God has given to us as a means to build us up in the faith and to strengthen us. Mark them well, consider them. God has given to us the communion of the saints, one another in the body of Jesus Christ. Consider one another, love one another, help one another and encourage one another and build one another up. And so let's stop then and walk about Zion and appreciate, not criticize. We'll have some more to say about that in a bit. Psalm 48 doesn't talk about criticism of the church, but to appreciate what God has given us and how He defends us and preserves us in the church. And that might be something full well that we speak about in family visitation, the towers and the walls, the fortresses and the citadels that God has given unto us here at Emmanuel PRC, yes, even here at Emmanuel Protestant Reformed Church, the faithfulness of God. And after meditating upon them, At the end of the day as we walk about Zion we say we lack nothing, we absolutely lack nothing because God is present and we find a refuge in the shadow of the cross and here we are safe and secure. And after walking about Zion people of God don't neglect to tell it to the generation following. That's the second point of the sermon and that becomes one of the purposes also for us walking about Zion. It's not only for our own personal benefit, yes it is, but it's also that we can rest assured that God will keep and preserve us and the generations to come as verse 13 says, that ye may tell it. to the generation following, that you may tell it. And here is a calling placed upon the parents in the church. Make sure that you've gone through Zion, taking note of all of the strong defenses that God has been pleased to place there in order that you can pass these things down to your children. Now what did that look like from an Old Testament point of view? Well, it presents us with a very beautiful picture of that godly family in Jerusalem, father and mother with their children And now doing exactly what Psalm 48, 12 and following tells them to do, to walk around Zion. To walk around Jerusalem. And perhaps for some of these little children in the family, it would be the first time that they would do so, but as they would be walking around Jerusalem, the father would point the children's attention to the bulwarks and they would stop and the father would say, look at how strong those walls are. Do you think, children, that the enemy can ever get through those walls? And a little while later, mother would say, and now stop children and look on top of those walls. I count that tower and that tower and that one over there and another one off in the distance. And you can see how many towers there are. And as they made their way through Jerusalem, they come to an inner place in Jerusalem, where was the fortress, the citadel, and they pass through the doors of that fortress and they see how well built and how sturdy of a fortress that is. And finally, they make their way home and father rehearses to the children and tells the children, now you've noted all these things. And I've shown you all these things about the city in which we live. Lay them up in your heart. Don't forget these things and consider it a great blessing to live in such a fortified city where we are safe and where we are secure and where we are happy within these walls. And the father would finally say, and it's all due to, it's all because of the faithfulness of Jehovah God. God is our strong refuge. The God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What a touching portrait we have there of that Old Testament Israelite family walking the streets of Jerusalem appreciating Zion's beauty. What about for us in the New Testament church? Well, it means that we as parents teach our children, surveying and appreciating the walls and the towers of Zion. These are not things that come naturally to us, and they're not things that come naturally to our children besides. But we need to teach them to look at the church through the eyes of faith. And that's something that's hard to do. And it's hard to do because sometimes we as parents and we as adults don't always do that. And when we're not looking at the church, the bride of Jesus Christ, even manifest in local instituted church, when we're not looking at the church with the eyes of faith, you know what becomes the object of our focus? Then all we can focus on is that crack in the wall. And then instead of counting the towers and standing in awe of them, we say, well, I only see one or two towers, and they don't really seem that tall or impressive to me. When we're not looking with the eyes of faith at the palaces and the inner fortress, then we say, well, the doors of that inner fortress are pretty creaky. There's all kinds of other things going on with that fortress. I don't know if I'd really be comfortable finding a refuge inside that place. And I wonder how safe I am in this city. that person who isn't looking with the eyes of faith walks halfway around Jerusalem and says, I'm done. I'm done walking. What's the use of it? I'm not getting anything out of this little walk of mine and it's so hot out here. I hear the enemy in the distance. I see them through the cracks in the wall and I wonder how safe I really am in this city after all. And we say to such a person, you're focusing your attention on all the wrong things. Don't let that crack in the wall distract you. Don't become dismayed by what you think is a lack of towers in the number or the lack of families in the directory, but instead see that God provides for us here, that God keeps us safe and secure. See the bulwarks, count the towers, consider her palaces, and do so from the point of view of thankfulness and gratitude. for what God has done for you and what God continues to do for you, preserving the church, preserving your faith, preserving that truth in the line of continued generation. Set all that to your heart and never forget that God is our strength. And that's something we have to teach our children, to look at the church that way, appreciating the beauty of the church and the security that we have within the body of Jesus Christ. And having surveyed the walls of Zion, then counting the towers, considering her palaces, telling it to the generation to come, God gives us the sure knowledge that He alone is our eternal comfort. And that's verse 14. For this God is our God forever and ever. He will be our guide even unto death. So that at bottom, what does the beauty of Zion consist of? Wherein lies the safety and the strength and the preservation of Mount Zion of the church? Why are the tabernacles of Jehovah so amiable and lovely to me using language from Psalm 84? What explains the fact that the walls are so strong, the towers are so high and many in number? What accounts for the fact that here in Zion I am safe and secure and I know that the enemy cannot prevail against me? And the answer is God is our rock. God is our fortress. He has been this stronghold for all of the church in the past. And let that sink into your hearts as well. He's the one who preserved the Israelites in the wilderness. He's the one who led the Israelites and conquered their foes in the land of Canaan. God is the one who dwells in Zion and chooses his people to dwell with him. God is the one who freely grants salvation and preserves his people in the enjoyment of that salvation. God is the one who has done that for all his church in the past. God is faithful, God is true, God is just. And this same God who defended and preserved his church in the past is our God who is faithful, who does not change forever and ever, as the text says. So that even as we look into the future, And we don't know what God has in store for us as a church, as a denomination, as families, the hardships, the trials, the difficulties, the burdens, how many battles we're going to have to face. But don't forget to appreciate the beauty and the strength and the safety of Zion, the strong walls, the high towers, the palaces even that God has given to us here at Emmanuel PRC. And remember that this God will be our guide forever and ever, even unto death. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father which art in heaven, we are Thankful for thy word, apply that word to our hearts. Give us eyes to behold Zion's beauty, the defense of that city, the care of thine over all of thy church, and us in particular. May we know that we are safe in the fold of the flock and that thou art faithful to keep and to preserve us. Give us eyes to appreciate all the means that Thou hast used to care for us, and that we may be a people who go forth here in this church as being very thankful and very humble for all that Thou hast done for us. Forgive our sins, renew us by Thy Spirit day by day, and keep us in all of our life's pathway. We pray this in Jesus' name alone. Amen. We sing Psalter number 134. 134, a versification of Psalm 48. You know what they're in that last stanza, stanza three. Observe her palaces, mark her defenses well that to the sons that follow you, her glories you may tell. Let's sing the three stanzas, Psalter number 134. The wonders of thy grace. The judgment's on them, the judgment's on them. to the sons that follow you, her glories you may tell. ♪ Help me, our faithful brother ♪ His glorious name, long as the ages shall endure, o'er all the earth extend his name, amen, amen. The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace. Amen.