Climbers No.2 Community

Psalm 122 and let's speak out together the words of this great psalm. Now it doesn't really matter what version you've got, you just speak it out and in a moment we're going to sing the psalm to a setting of words, a form of words put together by a man who used to live years ago in Southampton. But let's enjoy this psalm.

I rejoiced with those who said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord. Our feet are standing in your gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem is built like a city that is closely compacted together.

That is where the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, to praise the name of the Lord according to the statute given to Israel. There the thrones for judgment stand, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

May those who love you be secure. May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels. For the sake of my brothers and friends, I will say, peace be within you.

For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your prosperity. Now this man who wrote hymns in Southampton, a place to be inspired to write anything I would think. Number 64 and we go to our supplement, so it's coming up on the overheads as not all of you have these supplements, they're just the extreme areas of the church where the screens cannot be seen.

It's an older hymn, it's from the pen of Isaac Watts and it actually is set, as I say, from this 120 second psalm. We're going to do one or two things a little differently, you don't need to worry about that, the musicians can have their heart attack as they try and follow my instructions, but when we do get to verse 2, ladies I want you singing the first three lines and then the men will come in with the final lines, that's just verse 2, we're splitting it and the rest you sing through and we'll see how we go. Number 64, the psalm 122.

Pray and praise and hear the sacred gospel's joyful sound. There David's prayed the psalm, and it's his royal crown. He sits for grace and judgment day.

He leads the saints behind, he makes the sinners stand, and humble souls rejoice with him. Peace has ended my pain, and joy will give me grace to rest the soul of every guest. The path that seeks thy peace and wishes thy increase, a thousand blessings on him rests.

I shall be peace to us, peace to his sacred cross, for ever I pray, that with us, since my glorious birth, may his peace rest upon my soul for ever. Do be seated. And have your Bibles open please, that's Psalm 122.

The belt that I normally wear, though not today, has on the buckle the word inscribed Jerusalem. I bought it in Israel some years ago, and when I use my belt and put it on in the morning, I'm aware of the fact that in naming the name of Jerusalem, I'm thinking of all that God did through his ancient people yesteryear. I'm also aware of the significance of Jerusalem today as being the center of great controversy and the complex political theater of the Middle East.

Jerusalem was not always controlled by the Jews. It was originally a place called Jebus, which was occupied by primitive people at the time when the Israelites returned to their land of promise. They were not able to take up the possession of the whole territory in one fair swoop, and given some generations, David came on the scene, and he wished to secure this fortress, which seemed impregnable for his own people.

So he put out a challenge to his men. Anyone who had the military genius of being able to penetrate this stronghold and take it for the Hebrews would become his commander-in-chief. And great credit was to David and to his men as eventually the challenge was taken up, and Jebus came into the control of the Israelites.

David immediately saw the need to take this new addition to their territory and to invest it with the sort of authority and influence that, shall we say, London has in the United Kingdom. It would be a place that would unify the disparate, the separate tribes of Israel, and moreover, it would become a suitable place for his own house to be built, his palace, and later on for the temple of God to be erected. And now in those days, in the days of David, there was no temple.

What was particularly of religious significance to the Israelites was the Ark of the Covenant. Many of you will have heard of that because it's made popular, though perhaps in a confusing fashion, by Hollywood. The Ark of the Covenant was taken to the environs of Jerusalem, and eventually all the attention of Hebrew people was centered upon Jerusalem and the Ark, and later on the temple.

And as was brought out so clearly last week in our new series of sermons as we're looking through these songs of the climbers, these psalms of ascent, the Hebrews throughout that very small land of Israel, which is only 120 miles or so from north to south, once a year and perhaps more often, would hit the pilgrim trail and set off towards Jerusalem. It became for the Hebrews a center of great religious importance. The attachment to Israel is something very, very difficult for us to enter into.

Jerusalem is something very difficult for us to enter into. Maybe the nearest we get to it in our jingoistic fashion is perhaps the last night of the proms when we sing some of the old British songs, and there's a thrill of being British that sometimes grips the folks who are assembled in the Albert Hall. Well, it was that sort of thing.

Whenever the Israelites were displaced from Israel, then foremost in their thinking was what was happening to Jerusalem. You remember how one of the captives who was in Babylon reflected nostalgically upon Jerusalem and said, oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, if I forget you, let my right hand lose its cunning. They pleaded for Jerusalem.

They fought for Jerusalem. And when the blessed Christ was on earth, on a high mount overlooking the city, he wept for Jerusalem. Jerusalem has another name in Scripture.

It's the name Zion. And very often Zion is used not just to describe the location of the holy city geographically, but it's used in a more wide sense than that. It's used as a description of the people of God.

When you move into the New Testament and into church history, the concept of Jerusalem, though important geographically, becomes even more important inasmuch as it is embracive of all those who confess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. They are the people of Zion. And as it was the practice of the pilgrims in David's time and during the whole of the Old Testament era to wend their way to Jerusalem and to feel proud of the opportunity of so doing, so for the early church and down the centuries to the 20th century, Christian people have been glad to gather together in the house of the Lord.

So we look at this psalm, which was one of the psalms that was sung by those ancient pilgrims as they made their way up the high land of southern Judah and eventually saw Jerusalem on the crown of the hills. Here, I argue, is the psalmist's pleasure. I was glad.

I rejoiced with those who said to me, Let's go. Let's go to Jerusalem. Let's go to the house of the Lord.

There are four key words in those opening two verses, at least four key words that I can bring to the verses to enable you to understand their meaning. The word anticipation. I well remember the first time I saw Jerusalem.

I well remember as a five-year-old boy the first time my dad told me after the war we were going on holiday to Cleethorpes. If you have never been to Cleethorpes, you have never lived. You poor southern people who do not know the joys of the northern equivalent to the Costa Brava.

I didn't sleep that night. And the first day we were in Cleethorpes, I enjoyed it so much, I spent my money buying a money box to save up for the holiday the next year. As a student with 23 others, I bought a bus from Salford Corporation.

36-seater, never driven anything bigger than a mini before. Driving down Oxford Circus, I tell you, was a challenge to the people on the road. And we made our way across Europe into Turkey, the sort of ridiculous schemes that students get up to.

Through a civil war in Syria, passing Damascus, going into Jordan, and then I can remember the thrill of taking that clapped-out bus, yard by yard almost, up that winding road that led to Jerusalem. Saw the sun just being reflected on the rooftops. Now that, for me, was an experience, I think, the like of which these early pilgrims had, and only even in greater degree.

Let us, let us go to the house of the Lord. Anticipation with association, as Nick brought out. This was not just the individual pilgrim, this was many people going together.

You remember our Savior? He spent his childhood in Nazareth, 12 years of age, the headman of the town, or not much more than a village, really, a large village, Nazareth. He took a party to Jerusalem, and Jesus was amongst the pilgrims. Can you imagine? Because there is a sense in which Jesus was like you, and like me.

Can you imagine the anticipation for him, even more special, of going to the Father's house, of being in the Father's temple? They went, a company of people from Nazareth. I rejoice with those who said to me, let us go. I really find no scriptural foundation for the monastic movement, though it is right for us to practice our spiritual disciplines on our own, but how wonderful to come into the tab with a great congregation of people in order to sing the praises of God.

Oh yes, the Nightingale song is beautiful on its own, but give me the dawn chorus, with many birds taking part. So it is in worship, the reason why we come to the tab together to worship the Lord. And not only was the association important, but of course, the situation of the house of God, it was there in Jerusalem.

Now I admit that buildings are quite secondary. I mean by that, the fact that we meet in one of the best examples of non-conformist architecture at the end of last century is really quite incidental, but we're grateful. And some of us who go down the years, as we come into this church, we can remember past experiences.

Here I was married. Here I was baptized. Here I paid my last respects to my parents.

Here I saw couples wander down that aisle. The building is replete with memories. But you don't, of course, necessarily need a building like this, though we're grateful for the benefits that there are that obtain from meeting in such a place.

And don't you see that increasingly as the years went by, that would be the same for the Israelites. This building, this special building, this place which eventually housed the Ark of the Covenant is where God's presence was felt in such a tangible fashion. And therefore for the people would go expectantly, not just to any old place, but to Jerusalem, to the house of the Lord.

And what a sense of realization when they felt their feet standing by the gates of Jerusalem. Jerusalem, the golden. Jerusalem where God had blessed the people in a peculiar fashion.

Ah, but my friend, however much God blessed those ancient Israelites and thanked Him for His grace yesteryear, even more has God blessed His children by sending into this world the Lord Jesus and making it possible for the likes of you and me gathered together two or three or three or four hundred or five hundred individually, collectively to worship Him. There His presence is felt. The psalmist's pleasure.

Do you feel it? Alright, it's a long time since you came to church. The taxi driver to whom I made reference in notes and news, it was years since he had been in church, but when he was passing Buckingham Palace last Sunday morning, I tell you, no exaggeration at all. He feels the impulse to come into church.

He finds himself there in one of London's larger chapels listening to the Gospel. The Gospel sorts him out. And he confesses Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

And what happens in London happens here, thank God, with some degree of frequency. The psalmist's plea. Let me hasten on.

Here's the psalmist's plug. Have you ever had sympathy for the people who work at the Town Hall? I mean, let me qualify that quickly. Especially as I'm trying to get exemption from rating on our World Third Craft, on our World, I'll get it out soon, our Thrift Cabin Shop.

I mean, the man who has to extol the virtues of coming to Worthing Beach. I mean, have you seen some of the pictures of the postcards? I mean, they do look rather beautiful, don't they? The blue, blue sea and the white, shingly beach. But you and I know the truth.

I mean, Worthing's a good place to come to, but not necessarily for bathing or for building sandcastles. Now here is a psalmist and he's plugging Jerusalem. And the reason why he's plugging Jerusalem, well, he congratulates the town planners.

Jerusalem is built like a city that is closely compacted together. Actually, it wasn't very big. I mean, modern Jerusalem has almost destroyed the character of ancient Jerusalem because now, well, we've got our tower blocks and with the machinery of the 20th century, we've managed to destroy many beautiful spots, actually.

But then, of course, that wasn't possible. You've got the Hinnom Valley and the Kidron Valley and Jerusalem really was boxed in. You know, land there was very precious and houses were joined one against another.

You didn't really have, unless you were exceptional, you really didn't have a garden. If you wanted a garden, you went to the Mount of Olives and you got a plot of land. That's why you find Jesus occasionally in his ministry.

It's said of him, he left Jerusalem and went to a quiet place, the quiet place on the Mount of Olives. Jerusalem's compacted together, surrounded by one wall, two walls, at the best time, three walls in order to make it impregnable. And when the pilgrim came, can you imagine from this little hamlet in the back end of Judea or up there in Galilee and he sees Jerusalem so well laid out.

It's like the villager in the back end of India suddenly seeing Bombay or Calcutta or the old semi-mythical story of Dick Whittington going to London. Compacted together, this city. Ah, but Zion, that also should have a unifying factor.

The Church of Jesus Christ move on into Paul's epistle to the Ephesians. He talks about you and me. He talks about the church.

One faith, one Lord, one baptism, one God and Father of us all. Each member of the church contributing to the welfare of the other. The church is never more strong.

The church is never more unstoppable when she is united. And this is the idea prefigured in this psalm. The compactness of Jerusalem bespeaking the unity of the Church of Jesus Christ.

And so the psalmist congratulates those responsible for the planning of Jerusalem. Secure foundations. A facility for general assemblies.

I was in Birmingham the other day. I always go through quickly. I read when I was in Stratford-on-Avon having a few days holiday with Rowena three or four weeks ago.

I read a brochure from Birmingham and it was delightful. I mean, they've got the National Conference Center there. Pictures of the wonderful parks and the hotels and what have you.

Obviously, tilting towards London and suggesting that London should back off and let Birmingham be the leading city. Now there in Jerusalem was a place for congregations in great numbers to gather. That is where the tribes go up.

The tribes of the Lord. Some years ago in Kenya I was with Daniel Moy in a meeting. And I was addressing the meeting and saying that one of the problems attending Kenya was tribalism.

And Moy, the president, agreed with me and he went to the microphone and joined the people. And we were broadcasting on Kenya television as well. And joined the people that Kenya could only be strong if the people were united.

Now that was the case with Israel, you see. I mean, they were a disparate group of people. Twelve tribes.

Read the book of Judges. They were fighting one another. But when David with his strategy not only as a military man but as a spiritual leader.

When he selects Jerusalem as being the capital he then brings Israel together as a unified force. As one country with one center of attention. There the tribes go up.

And they did. And they went up in their thousands. And because Jerusalem could not contain all the tribes they would pitch their booths their sort of equivalent to our tents.

And they would live on the slopes of Olivet and during the festivities they'd go through the Golden Gate and they'd have a real old ball because worship in those days was anything but quiet and anything but miserable. So I like Isaac Watts when he says him serve with mirth. There's joy in following.

Jesus. A facility for general assemblies. There was the seat of the law.

According to the statutes given to Israel. There is the throne for judgment. The thrones and the house of David.

You see there's the peasants are going to Jerusalem. No they can't go every day. They have their own little miniature judiciary in their villages.

But sometimes they can't work out what is right, what is wrong. Who owns this? Who doesn't own the other? And so when there's a dispute in the villages they serve it. Until the time when they're in Jerusalem.

And then they bring it before the magistrates there. You remember how David enacted this? I mean eventually it worked for his disadvantage when Absalom his son tried to take over took over the judiciary. But that's not the point.

Here I'm emphasizing the fact that in Jerusalem there is the seat of law. There is the facility for general assemblies gathering. There is a secure foundation.

Now don't you understand that when you come together in the Zion of God in the communities around the world of which the tab is just a small evidence. There is the law that is given. The law of God.

The explanation of this holy book. What God expects of you. How you are to live your life.

Alright, so you've broken His law. Well, here is the possibility of restitution. Here is the display of the love of God on Calvary's cross.

Jesus dying there shedding His blood in order that your sins could be forgiven and you could be brought back into alignment with the will of God. You see it's all there. All adumbrated.

All anticipated in this great Old Testament psalm. So we move on from the psalmist's pleasure and the psalmist's plug to finally the psalmist's plea. What does he plea for? Oh, pray.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May those who love you be secure. There is a petition and there is a promise.

The petition is to intercede. The promise is blessing upon the intercessor. You see you are not to take anything for granted, are you? I mean Jerusalem it does seem impregnable but you know something of the history.

Jerusalem fell once, twice, three times. The Jews were displaced from their ancient land for centuries because of their disobedience. They took for granted the security of Jerusalem.

They took for granted their own spiritual health and strength. You are never to do that. You pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

You pray for the ancient people of God. You pray for the church. You pray for its leaders.

Let nothing be taken for granted. You see there is a little bit of play in the Hebrew here. The Hebrew for peace is shalom.

And here you've got Jerusalem, the house of peace. And David is saying pray for peace in the house of peace. Pray for unity in the church of unity.

Pray for accord in the community of those who should always be getting on one with the other. Pray for the leaders. Pray for the people.

But pray, pray, pray. May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels. David we take that for granted.

Then you're a fool. You cannot take these things for granted. You cannot even take your own spiritual stability for granted.

I don't care whether you've been on the road for 20 years or 30 years. Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. We need to pray.

To pray for our church. Sometimes I think my dear friends when God looks down from His heavens and sees us as worthy tabernacle He has a completely different understanding of who is important and who is unimportant. Of who is strong and who is weak.

I had a full day yesterday. From the early morning prayer meeting through to a marriage, through to preaching at a church anniversary, through to reception, through to visiting in the hospitals in Southlands and then back here in Worthing. A full day.

By the time I hit my desk it was 10 o'clock. And I reflected on the day. And the most precious experiences.

Do you know what they were? Oh, I enjoyed the wedding. Two wonderful people married together. But you know I was in the bedside of a little lady.

A young mother. Either side of her were two babies. Twins.

Born miraculously. She can't be more than five stone. To have had twins in her condition was a risk to her life.

And there was an easy way of staunching that risk. You can guess it without going into details. And when the babies were born, when the babies were born, last Thursday, the doctor says, you've been lucky.

She says, no doctor. I've been blessed. You see, sometimes in a hospital ward you've got to minister to them, but you're a fool.

They minister to you. Someone who seems frail, and yet is so strong. From there I saw little Rose Foster.

Some of you will know her. How many of you have ever invited Rose to your home? She could teach you a lot. A simple lady.

She'll never hear this tape, so it doesn't matter. And I pay respect to someone whose mental capacities are not as great as the average person in this town, but by her bed she taught me how you can still be joyful having done three weeks or so in hospital with an operation possibly pending and a change of circumstances in view. You see, the point that I'm trying to make is this, that sometimes strength lies not in what seems to be the obvious place to find it.

And sometimes the strength of the church is in the incidents that I have brought to your attention right now. And it's that strength that is necessary on the part of each individual so that this church shall be a unified agency for the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

And recognize that some of its strength is not obvious. And some of the folks who seem to be the strong and the leaders are actually in the second and third division. Never count unimportant within this fellowship whom God counts special.

And when you're inviting folks to your house, don't always call the specials. You'll get better blessing by inviting the so-called nondescripts. You see, the Church of Jesus Christ, this Zion of which I'm talking, is a most remarkable community.

Jesus brings to His Jerusalem, He brings into His Zion people who you would never think really had any interest in the purposes of God at all. He calls when He's on earth a bunch of eleven disciples who'd never have made the tabernacle elderate. The first interview they would have been resigned to the hopeless situation.

But you see, entry into this Jerusalem, into this company of God's children comes not through what you know intellectually or who you are charismatically or what your influence is as far as this world is concerned. You become a member of the society of Zion as you confess Jesus Christ who is David's greatest Son and you make Him your Lord and your Master. And the Bible here says that for such who have done this, the greatest pleasure is to being in the presence of God.

I was glad when they said to me. For them, the greatest boast is to plug the advantages of being members of God's Jerusalem. And their fervent discipline while here on this earth is to pray.

To pray for themselves. To pray for the so-called leaders of the church. To pray for the security of Zion.

Isn't it a wonderful song? This little song that the pilgrims sang when they got into Jerusalem and entered through its gates. But it can be sung by Christians as the meaning is made even more wonderful as it's widened considerably. May all who've heard my voice this morning find themselves by faith members of this Jerusalem, the golden.

Amen. Amen. Now we go to another hymn which is an old one in our supplement but it's a fast moving one.

It's number 27. Sorry, 26. Come we that love the Lord and let our joys be known.

We're marching to Zion. Beautiful, beautiful Zion. So it's going to take some singing in this one.

The small world is full of life. He had his throne of grace. He lived and never lost his sight.

He lived and never lost his sleep. He had his joys upon the street and his eyes on God. We're marching to Zion.

Beautiful, beautiful Zion. The hill of Zion is full of the sacred seeds. He heard the angels sing his praise and there the blessed see.

And there on the rivers of his praise, and there on the rivers of his praise, The endless pleasure deep, the endless pleasure deep, Will not cease to smile, in honor of the beautiful city of God. When there is one soul to love, and every tear is dry, When heart and soul are one, the beautiful city of God. Number 387 Jesus, we celebrate your victory.

Jesus, we revel in your love. Jesus, we rejoice you settled free. Jesus, we're ever proud of you.

It was for freedom that Christ had set us free, No longer to be subject to your past slavery. So we rejoice in, in God's victory. Our hearts responding to his love.

Jesus, we celebrate your victory. Jesus, we revel in your love. Jesus, we rejoice you settled free.

Jesus, we're ever proud of you. Serenity releases us from fear, For later it is opened with boldness we draw near. Then in his presence our problems disappear.

Jesus, we celebrate your victory. Jesus, we revel in your love. Jesus, we rejoice you settled free.

Jesus, we're ever proud of you. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.

God of Israel. God of Israel.