This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

(upbeat music) - Welcome to our look at Psalm 48. This is day three of our look
at Psalm 46 to 50. Psalm 48 is a Psalm about a place.

It's a Psalm about Jerusalem. Psalm 48 one to two says this, great is the Lord
and most worthy of praise in the city of our God, his holy mountain. It is
beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth, like the utmost heights
of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the great king.

Well, Mount Zion, his holy mountain, that's Jerusalem. And as we talk about this
place, look at this place that the entire Psalm talks about, it's good to remind
ourselves at the beginning that as followers of Jesus, we've come to a different
place. It actually is reflected in the beginning by this place we're going to look
at, but Hebrews 12 makes very clear to us the place that we've come to as
followers of Christ when we come to him.

Hebrews 12 22 to 24 says, but you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly
Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You've come to thousands upon thousands
of angels and joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn whose names are
written in heaven, you come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of
righteous men made perfect, to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant and to the
sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. So here we
have the first few verses of Psalm 48 talking about this Mount Zion, this
beautiful city, this place of Jerusalem, the city of God.

And Hebrews 12 says, we've come to that place too, but just spiritually, not
physically, but spiritually. And so, because we look forward to a spiritual
Jerusalem, a heavenly Jerusalem, what Psalm 48 has to say about this historical
place of Jerusalem points us to the place that we are now in with God and where
we will be for eternity. This Psalm powerfully reminds us of a single truth
about our place with God.

It reminds us that our place with God is a place of security. Listen to verse
eight. As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the Lord Almighty, in
the city of our God, God makes her secure forever, forever.

So when you feel insecure, you go to this place with God, this place of
security, this place of his presence, his power, his love. As you look through
this Psalm, Psalm 48, you see four specific places spiritually that our security
is found. Your circumstances may feel secure right now, they may feel very
insecure.

However they feel, circumstances in this world, they're not secure. But you can
live in security in these four specific ways, no matter what the circumstances.
What do you have security in?

You have security in God's protection, you have security in God's unfailing
love, you have security in God's perfect judgments, and you have security in
God's guidance. Let's look at those just briefly. First, you have security in
God's protection.

Verse three says, God is in her citadels. He has shown himself to be her
fortress. So the security of even the earthly Jerusalem was not in the city, it
was in God, who was in the city, in the citadels, who has shown himself to be
her fortress.

And the truth is, you have that security too in God's protection. As human
beings, we tend to sense that our security is in the things that surround us.
And as we're in a place longer and longer, we feel more secure because we know
how to get to places, we know where we're safe in places.

And we begin to think, if we're not careful, that the security is in those
things. This Psalm reminds us that the security is never in things, it's always
in God. He's always our protection.

And so, it's not saying you should never have a security system in your home,
but you should never feel secure in that security system. You feel your security
in God, that's where it comes from. Have security in God's protection.

You also have security in God's unfailing love. Verse nine, within your temple,
O God, we meditate on your unfailing love. Human love will fail you.

There's no way that human love can't fail you because humans are imperfect. We
fail ourselves, we fail other people. It may fail you in ways that are seemingly
small right now, but they still are hurting you.

They may have failed you, human love may have failed you in ways that have been
totally devastating to you. Have security in God's unfailing love. That's the
love that you hang onto.

In fact, this verse says you meditate on his unfailing love. The idea of
meditate is to picture it in your mind. You have all these pictures in your
mind, maybe, of ways that people haven't loved you, of ways that people have
failed you, and you can go over those again and again and again if you want to.

This verse invites you to instead go over the pictures of God's unfailing love
again and again and again. That's where your security is found. That's where
your security is found.

And even if you feel like you have great security in the love that's around you,
I want to invite you to realize that is not where your security is found. Stop
putting security in what God tells us is insecure and put security in his
unfailing love. You also have security in God's perfect judgments.

Verse 11, Mount Zion rejoices. The villages of Judah are glad because of your
judgments. Let's face it, human judgments, they're not always secure.

They're not always right. We know that they're wrong. But you can have security
in God's perfect judgments.

You may not see it yet, but he will set it all right in the end. Perfectly,
perfectly right. And you can lean on that judgment.

So if you're feeling cheated right now, if you're feeling disappointed right
now, have security in God's perfect judgments. And then finally, have security
in God's guidance. Verse 14 says, for this God is our God forever and ever.

He will be our guide even to the end. When you look for the direction to go in
your life, you can get so many different words of advice and circumstances can
point you in so many different directions. Have security that God will guide you
even to the end.

I understand that in that guidance, we don't always get exactly the news that we
need about what city we should live in or what job we should have or what
decision we should make about this purchase or that purchase, but with the big
things of life, where we're headed, what life's all about, what eternity is all
about. God will be our guide even to the end. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.

As followers of Christ, Psalm 48, it's a powerful reminder that the place that
you live, well, let me say it this way. The place that you're in is not the
place that you live. We say I live in this house, I live in this city.

The truth is, at a deeper level, the truth is you live in Christ. You live in
the place of faith in God. You are a citizen of heaven.

Your place is in this spiritual city of God. Because the circumstances that
surround us are so in our face, they're just in our face, we need to constantly
remind ourselves that we live in a different place spiritually than those
circumstances. There's some advice in Psalm 48 about the physical Jerusalem that
helps us as we think about seeing where we are in our spiritual place.

Verse 12 and 13, "Walk about Zion, go around her, count her towers, consider
well her ramparts, view her citadels that you may tell of them to the next
generation. " Notice this idea of meditating on and then going around, counting
the towers, memorizing almost this place of the city of God. You and I need to
do that when it comes to the place that we are in with God.

Memorizing verses about God's love for us, about our security in God. Letting
those become the focus of where we live. Your security comes from what you focus
on, what you meditate on, what you count on.

So these verses say memorize it so much, put it in your mind so much that you're
able to tell the next generation about it. Because everyone needs to know that
the place of our true security is not in our circumstances, is not in this
world. Our place is with God.

So let's take a few moments in prayer just to focus on where we truly live.
Father, I need this, we all need this. We need to be reminded that the
circumstances that are surrounding us today are not where we live.

We live in you, Christ. We live in eternity, looking forward to being with you
forever. We live as citizens of heaven, not of this earth.

And yes, we have to do things on this planet and we have to bear
responsibilities on this planet and we have to make sure that needs are taken
care of on this planet. But this planet is not where we live. Our home is with
you.

Our place is with you. Our eternity is with you. And we praise you for that.

We pray for the ability to see that today, to spiritually live there today. We
pray for this in Jesus' name, amen. Tomorrow, we're going to look at Psalm 49,
which talks about the great danger of wealth.