Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number 28 in your spiral hymnal. Hymn number
28. And let's all stand. God has mercy on whom he will,
and whom he will, he art instill. Whom he will, he gives his grace,
and when he will, he hides his face. Let none despise God's
sovereign throne. He does what he will with his
own. It is his right to save or kill
according to his sovereign will. Yes, God saved some and others'
lives to reap the fruit of their own ways. In the eternal ages
past, God made his choice and it stands past. Aware that I'm
a guilty man and that I'm in God's sovereign hand, Prostrate
I fall before his throne, A wretched, helpless, guilty one. Lord, if
you will, you can, I say, take all my guilt and sin away. A guilty sinner at your throne,
I beg for mercy through your Son. Now trusting Jesus Christ,
God's Son, I know that I'm his chosen one. And God's eternal,
sovereign choice makes this poor sinner's heart rejoice. Please be seated. We're going to read from Psalm
143 for our call to worship. Psalm 143. It's good to have Sarah's dad, Mark, here
with us from Katie Baptist Church up in Fairmont, where Marv and
Sonic are pastors. There's a couple of verses in
this psalm toward the end that I want to take special notice
of that will encourage us in our message from Psalm 83 tonight. So let's read together. Hear
my prayer, O Lord. Give ear to my supplications.
In thy faithfulness, answer me, and in thy righteousness. And
enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in thy sight
shall no man living be justified. If God should mark iniquity,
who should stand? How am I going to stand in the
presence of a holy God if he gives me justice? For the enemy hath persecuted
my soul. He hath smitten my life down
to the ground. He hath made me to dwell in darkness
as those that have been long dead. Therefore is my spirit
overwhelmed within me. My heart within me is desolate. I remember the days of old. I
meditate on all thy works. I muse on the work of thy hands."
Now there's my hope. There's my hope. We look back
to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and know that we are justified
in him. I stretch forth my hands unto
thee, my soul thirsteth after thee as a thirsty lamb. Selah. Hear me speedily, O Lord. My spirit faileth. Hide not thy
face from me, lest I be like them that go down into the pit.
Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning, for in thee do
I trust. Cause me to know the way wherein
I should walk. for I lift up my soul unto thee. Deliver me, O Lord, from mine
enemies. I flee unto thee to hide me. O Lord, hide me. Christ is our
hiding place. If we're hid in him, we're safe. Teach me to do thy will, for
thou art my God and thy spirit is good. Lead me into the land
of uprightness. Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name's
sake. For thy righteousness' sake,
bring my soul out of trouble. And of thy mercy, cut off my
enemies and destroy all them that afflict my soul. For I am
thy servant. God bless the reading of his
word to our hearts. Let's pray together. our merciful
Heavenly Father, how desperate we are for you
to hide us in Christ, for you to look to Him for all that you
require from us, and how much we need for you to make Him known
to us tonight. We know that this song that we
just read can be first and foremost spoken of him. Lord, how we need
to be hid. We ask that Christ to be lifted
up. She would draw us into thy presence. She will comfort our hearts with
the hope of our salvation. Lord, we continue to pray for
Deanna, and we ask that your hand of healing would be upon
her, and that you would give her full recovery and quick strength. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. Number 327 in the hardback, 327. Let's stand
together once again. Oh, for a faith that will not
shrink, though pressed by many a foe, that will not tremble
on the break of any earthly woe. That will not murmur nor complain
Beneath the chastening rod, But in the hour of grief or pain
Will lean upon its God. A faith that shines more bright
and clear when tempests rage without, that when in danger
knows no fear, in darkness feels no doubt. Lord, give me such a faith as
this, and then whate'er may come, I'll taste even now the hallowed
bliss of an eternal home. Please be seated. We're going to be in Psalm 83
tonight. By way of introduction, I'd like
to read a few verses from 1 Corinthians chapter 13, if you'd like to
turn with me there in your Bibles. As a matter of fact, the title
of this message comes from 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Begin reading at verse nine.
For we know in part and we prophesy in part. What we know right now is very,
very small of what we shall know. But when that which is perfect
is come, When the eastern sky splits and the trump of God sounds
and the dead in Christ are raised and those of us which are alive
are caught up together with them in the air to ever be with the
Lord, when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall
be done away. The fullness of His glory is
going to be seen in that day. That's what every believing heart
longs for, to see Him in His fullness. We have on our wall
at the back of our auditorium, sir, we would see Jesus. And
we see Him darkly now, don't we, as this verse is going to
go on to say. Let's read the rest of this. Now Paul's going
to illustrate this point with an example from life. He says
when I was a child, I speak as a child. I understood as a child
and I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away
childish things. Now what Paul saying is I'm but
a child where we're but children right now. Just beginning to
understand glimpses of his glory, but one day will be full grown.
And in that day, for now, we see through a glass darkly. That's a mirror, but mirrors
in this day were not made out of glass and whatever we have
on the back of our mirrors that reflect our, they were polished
metal is what they were. They were polished steel and
so you could just imagine how dim those mirrors would become
very quickly from the moisture in the air. They had to be polished
regularly, wouldn't they? And even then, when they were
polished, the reflection was somewhat distorted. And that's
the picture here. He says, we look through, we
look into a mirror and there's a mystery. That's what the word
darkly means. We just see in part. We're only
seeing little glimpses of who he is. But now we see through
a glass darkly, but then But then, when that which is perfect
is come, but then, face to face, now I know in part, but then
shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith,
hope, and charity, love, these three. But the greatest of these
is love. You ever thought about the fact
that we try to imagine what heaven's going to be like and the best
we can do is compare it to our current circumstances and it's
not going to be anything like this. The best way we can understand
heaven is by what's not going to be there. And one of the things that's
not going to be in heaven is faith. Faith's not gonna be in heaven. Standing in the presence of the
Lord Jesus Christ is going to be our full sight, our full experience. We'll have no need for faith,
no need for hope. The only thing we'll have is
perfect love, perfect love. Now faith is necessary right
now in order to be able to see what we do see about Him. In
order to see the glimpses of His grace and of His glory, we've
got to have faith and God's got to give us that. But with faith
comes unbelief, doesn't it? I mean, we see as a result of
our faith how much unbelief we have. And that's another thing
that's not gonna be in heaven. Not only will there be no faith
in heaven, but there'll be no unbelief in heaven. There'll
be no sin in heaven. Terminator. Wasn't gonna read
this right now, but we will. Revelation chapter 21. Title of this message is, But
Then, Face to Face. But Then, Face to Face. The one
thing every child of God longs for is for this veiled mystery,
revelation, this looking through a glass darkly that we now have,
that it gets taken away and we see him in the fullness of his
glory. And that's what the Lord's encouraging
us to know then. And here he says in Revelation
chapter 21, In verse 1, and I saw a new heaven
and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were
passed away and there was no more sea, no more turbulence,
no more separation, no more trouble. And I, John, saw the holy city,
New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven prepared. Who
prepared her? He did. He prepared her. I was listening to an old CD
that I had in my car the other day and and and and in the it
was a it was a religious song and the song was the the chorus
to the song was he's been working on heaven for 2,000 years that
was the course of the song and and I just you know I've listened
to it years ago and I just had to delete it I thought no he
hasn't no he hasn't Everything necessary for the preparation
of his people was made as soon as the Lord Jesus Christ entered
back into glory and took his rightful place at the right hand
of the Majesty on high. He took with him the names of
everyone that he lived and died for, and he ever lives to make
intercession for us. He is our preparation. Everything
necessary for us to enter into glory went before us in our forerunner,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what he's saying here.
The bride is adorned for her husband. She's been prepared
by him. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men.
When the scripture says that God was made flesh and dwelt
among us, that word dwelt is the word tabernacle. He tabernacled
among us. And we beheld His glory as the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and full of truth. But the glory that we behold
of Him is so small compared to what we're going to see of Him.
What we're going to see of him in heaven is the fullness of
his glory. The tabernacle of God is now
with men. We look through a glass darkly
now, but when that which is perfect has come. Then face to face. Face to face. The tabernacle of God is with
men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people
and God himself shall be with them and be their God. I will
and they shall. And God, here's something that's
not going to be in heaven. No tears in heaven. God shall
wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more
death. Neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more
pain, for the former things are all passed away. And he that
sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. All things are new. Heaven's not gonna be anything
like what we have here. Other than we're gonna see the
fullness of what we only see a part of now. in terms of who
he is. And he said unto me, write, for
these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, it is done.
It's done. It's finished. The work of redemption
is accomplished. When the Lord Jesus Christ bowed
his head on Calvary's cross and said, it is finished. Father,
into thy hands I commend my spirit is done. is done. Everything
necessary for us to go to heaven was done right then, right then. We're just waiting for that day
when the Lord takes us and receives us unto himself. I am Alpha,
and omega. Somebody asked me recently, do
I understand that omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet?
And I said, yeah, it is. It is. When the scripture says
I am alpha and omega, it's just like saying I'm A to Z. I'm the
one that you were chosen in in the covenant of grace before
the foundation of the world, and I'm the one that you're going
to sit and worship in glory, and I'm going to bring you into
glory and everything in between. your regeneration, your sanctification,
your justification, everything necessary for you to spend eternity
with me. I am. I am. That's what his name is, Jehovah.
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto
him that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
Freely. He that overcometh. What is it
to overcome? It's to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ to the end. That's what it is to overcome.
To be overcome is to quit, is to turn your back on Christ,
is to turn away from the gospel. That's what it is. He that overcometh. How are we gonna overcome? We're
not overcome by the blood of the lamb. That's what the scripture
says. Everyone that Christ died for
is gonna overcome. He's gonna see to it. He that
overcometh shall inherit all things and I will be his God
and he shall be my son. All right, now turn with me to
Psalm 83. Psalm 83. We want to know him, don't we?
The Lord Jesus Christ in John chapter 17 said, and this is
life eternal. I'm glad the spirit of God put
it in the word that way. This is life. This is life. And this is life that is eternal.
That they shall know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent. That's what Paul said in Philippians.
He said, I've not yet apprehended that which has apprehended me.
I'm still seeking to know him, but that I might know him and
the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of this suffering.
I press towards the prize for the mark of the high calling
to know Christ. And here's the question that
I have for tonight. The Psalm 83 talks about the enemies of
God, the enemies of the church. And all these nations that are
mentioned in Psalm 83 are the predecessors, if you will, of
the nations that are surrounding Israel today. And I'm sure that
if a Jew today, and I know they do, read Psalm 83, look at verse
four. They have said, come, let us
cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be
no more in remembrance, for they have consulted together with
one consent, they have confederate against thee. And then he mentions
all these nations. And these nations were - are
the same nations that Lebanon and Syria and Iraq and Iran and
Egypt, and these are all the nations that are surrounding
Israel today. And men would say, well, these
are the - this is a prophecy of those enemies that are trying
to take Israel off the map. And I don't doubt that they want
that to happen. But what good is that to me and
you? What encouragement is that to
me and you to read this Psalm and think of it in terms of the
physical enemies of national Israel? These are spiritual enemies. Who is it that's keeping us from
knowing Christ in the fullness of his glory? If that's the end, then there's some enemies that
we have and they're all confederate together to keep us from knowing
him. Look how this Psalm ends. Verse 17, that men may know that
thou whose name alone is Jehovah are the most high over all the
earth. Lord, that's what I wanna know.
I wanna know you more fully. And I long for that day. I want
each day of my life here to know you better so that one day, one
day, we'll see you face to face and be made like you, be made
like you in the fullness of your glory. Jehovah, won't you love
that name? The scripture says, the Lord
said to Moses, said, Moses, I did not give my name to Abraham. To Abraham, all Abraham knew
about God was that it was God Almighty. God Almighty. He was all powerful. He was sovereign. He was creator and sustainer
of all, of everything. But now when Moses meets the
Lord at the burning bush, and that's none other than Christ
that he's speaking to, whom shall I say sent me? Tell them, I am
Hasemte. I am that I am. I save in the
manner in which I save. I'm not like you in any way.
I'm not created. I'm not dependent. I've never
asked anyone a question for the sake of learning anything. If
I was hungry, I wouldn't ask you. I've never changed my mind. I've never learned anything. I'm the same. Yesterday, today,
and forever, I am the Lord, Jehovah, I am. And I change not. And therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. That's my name. I want to know
him in the fullness of his name, Jehovah. I am, I am." The Lord
Jesus Christ took that name to himself, didn't he? We just read
it in Revelation 21 where he said, I am Alpha and Omega. You remember the story of the
woman in the well in John chapter 4 when The Lord was saying to
her, oh, if you only knew who it was that saith unto thee,
give me to drink, you would ask of him and he would give you
everlasting water. He'd give you, he'd give you
the water that would last forever. And, uh, and she, then they,
the conversation went on and she said, you know, I know that
when Messiah comes, he'll lead us into all things. And, and,
uh, turn, turn me to that, that passage, John chapter four. Verse 25, I know that Messiah
cometh. I know the Christ is coming. That's what John was saying.
When John said, anyone that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in
the flesh is of God. And anyone that confesses not
that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not coming to flesh
and not of God. You say, well, the free-willer,
the religionist would say that Jesus Christ has come in the
flesh. No, they won't. They deny the very essence. They've
changed the definition of Christ, haven't they? This woman said,
I know that when Messiah comes, He's going to set everything
in order. The whole point of Christ is the anointed one, the
one sent of God in the power, in the full power of the Spirit
of God to accomplish the purpose of God, which is the full salvation
of God's people. That's what Christ always has
meant. That's what every Jew has ever
anticipated the Messiah to do, save all Israel, all Israel. So for someone to say, well,
yes, Jesus is the Christ, and then say that he didn't save
everybody that he wanted to save, well, that's just changing the
definition of Christ, isn't it? They don't believe that Jesus
Christ has come in the flesh. To believe that Jesus Christ
has come in the flesh is to believe that Jesus of Nazareth 2,000
years ago is the Christ, the Christ, Son of God. to fulfill
all the purposes of God in saving all of God's people. And now
this woman, she was only a half Jew and she knew that. She knew
that, she said, I know that when Messiah comes, he's gonna, which
is called the Christ, when he has come, he will tell us all
things. We can trust every word that
he has to say. We know that when he comes, he's
gonna come of God, and he's gonna set everything right. And all
this confusion and controversy about who to worship and where
to worship and when to worship, that's the conversation she had
with the Lord, isn't it? It's all gonna be set straight.
Oh, she had no idea she was actually talking to him, did she? Until
he said, in the next verse, Jesus said unto her, I that speak unto
thee, am he. Now, that is not a good translation
of that verse. A better translation of that
verse is, I am speaketh unto thee. That's what that verse said.
The translator just put it like this and put it in better English
for us to understand what the Lord said. But that's the literal
translation of what the Lord said. I know that when the Christ
comes, He's going to set everything straight. And the Lord Jesus
Christ looked at her and said, I am speaketh unto thee. I'm Jehovah. And her eyes were still were
still open and her mouth was open as the disciples in the
next verse. And upon this, upon this came
the disciples and marveled that he talked with the woman. Yet
no man said, what seeketh thou? Or why talketh thou with her?
And the woman then left her water pot and went back down into Sychar
and said, come, meet a man who told me everything I ever did.
Is this not the Christ? She knew when the Lord Jesus
said, I am speaketh unto thee, that he was telling her, I am
the Christ. I'm Jehovah. I'm that one. Is this not the Christ? Oh, and
they came back. The men of Sychar came up to
the well to meet him, didn't they? And they believed. They believed. Not because of
the testimony of the woman, but because they heard it from Him.
You know, that's true now, isn't it? Scott, we were talking about
the Lord preaching. You're not going to believe on
Christ because you hear it from another man. You're going to
believe on Christ when you hear His voice. And He calls you. And you know. He's the Christ,
He's the Messiah, and He's revealed to me everything I've ever done,
and I want to know Him, and I want to be with Him. I want to be
with Him. And I can only trust Him to defeat
the enemies that are keeping me from Him. Now that's what
Psalm 83 is all about. David, or Asaph, I mean, is praying
for the Lord to take the enemies out of the way so that Israel
can know Jehovah. Now that's our prayer. Our prayer
to God is, Lord, there's so many things that are in the way for
me to know you as I want to know you and as one day I will know
you. One day I'm going to... I look
through a glass darkly now. I'm looking at this mirror. It's
dirty. I've made it dirty. The atmosphere
has made it dirty. It's constantly having to be
polished, but even then it's a distorted view that I have
of you. Lord, I want to know You. The
power of Your resurrection, the fellowship of Your suffering.
That's my... You're my hope. You're my life. That's why the Lord Jesus Christ
said in John chapter 14, when he told the disciples, he said,
he said, let not your heart be troubled. Let not your heart
be troubled. Our fear is because of our unbelief,
isn't it? That's something that's not gonna
be it. That's the sin that does so easily beset us, it's unbelief.
It's what causes all our other problems. And the Lord speaks
comfort to our hearts when he says, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my father's house, there's plenty of room, many
mansions, lots of dwelling places for all God's people. If it were
not so, I would have told you. I go and prepare a place for
you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that
where I am, there you may be also. There's our hope. The amazing
thing is that the Lord spoke those words to the disciples
right after he told Peter, Peter, before the cock crows three times,
you're gonna deny me. Before the cock crows, you're
gonna deny me three times. Satan has asked to sift you,
but let not your heart be troubled. I prayed for you. And I'm gonna
go before my Father and provide everything necessary for your
salvation. And Thomas said, Lord, we don't
know where you're going, and we don't know how to get there. And the Lord said, Thomas, I
am the way, the truth, and the life. No man can come to the
Father but by me. And Philip said, show us the
Father and it sufficeth us. Lord, just show us the Father.
Philip, Philip. This is all right there in the
first part of John chapter 14. Philip, have I been with you so long
that you don't know by now that if you've seen me, you've seen
the Father? For I and the Father are one. Everything that you
and I are gonna know about God, we're going to discover in the
Lord Jesus Christ as He reveals Himself to us. that men may know that thou whose
name alone is Jehovah." No, these enemies are spiritual enemies. You know, we live in a victim
society, don't we? Nobody's responsible for anything.
It's all somebody else's fault. And, you know, we could read
Psalm 83 and we could say, oh, what victims we are. What victims
we are. The biggest reason we don't know
him as we ought is because of our own sin, our own unbelief. Yep, that's... Psalm 83, verse one. Keep not
thou silent, O God, hold not thy peace, and be not still,
O God. Lord, if I'm gonna know you,
you're gonna have to speak to me. Don't be silent, don't leave
me to myself. I can hear the voices of men
easily. I can hear the voices of entertainment. I can hear the voices of levity. I can hear all these other voices
easily, Lord, but to hear your voice? Mark and I were talking
about preaching before the service and discussing the the responsibility
that preachers have in preparing messages. And here's the biggest,
Lord, you're going to have to speak to me. What am I going
to say if you don't speak to me? If God speaks, he's going
to speak to his word. And there's so much flesh getting
in the way of hearing the voice of God, isn't there? We come
here to hear the voice of God, and we have a hard time giving
our full attention. even for a short period of time,
don't we? Those are the enemies. Those
are the enemies. Fear, flesh, unbelief. Those things aren't
going to be in heaven. Those are the things that are
keeping us. Sin? Scripture says that in heaven
dwelleth righteousness. No sin, no flesh, not going to
be there. We're not going to take this
flesh with us. Now we're like little children. Then we'll be fully grown. Now
we look through a glass darkly. Then we'll see him face to face.
Now we have trials and troubles and tears, many of which we bring
upon our own selves. but then there'll be no more
sea and we'll see him face to face in the fullness of his glory. What's that gonna be like? Who
are we gonna see? We're gonna see I am. We're gonna
see Christ who is our life and who is the way to heaven and
who is the fullness of the truth, the truth. Men, because they
have no love for the truth, God will send them a strong delusion
that they should believe the lie, won't they? Oh, that God
would give us a love for Christ, a desire to know Him. That's
what David's praying for. Asaph, I'm sorry, is praying
for here. Look at verse three. For lo, thine enemies make a
tumult, and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. Or it
just seems like it every turn there. There's nothing but tumultuous
confusion about. About you and about. Or there's
so many there's so many foes. There's this world that I live
in. That's why you want to talk about a Confederacy. And I'm not talking about just
the religions of this world. They're all in confederacy against
the gospel. It's clear every religion of
the world is the same. It's all based on something that
man does in order to earn favor with God, based on his works
or his will or his wisdom. The gospel of God's free grace
in the finished work of Christ is the only message of salvation
That's different from everything else. But not just religion,
the whole system, isn't it? The whole system. The philosophies
of this world, the religions of this world, the values of
this world. They're all in confederacy against
the gospel. And they're all a distraction
to us. It's not just our unbelief. It's not just our flesh. in our sin and the foes of the
satanic, we're in a spiritual battle here. What the Lord's saying to me
and you in this psalm is, don't be surprised that you're out
of sorts with everything in this world. Don't be surprised that
you can't find a home of comfort and peace in this world. You're
not of this world. You're not of this world. Everything
in this world is contrary to everything you believe. Everything you love, everything
you hope for, everything in this world is contrary to that. That's
what the Lord's not making victims out of us, saying, well, you
know, woe is me. Isaiah said woe is me when he
saw the Lord. He's standing in the presence
of a holy God, but woe is me. Well, we live in a world where
everybody's saying woe is me because they think that somebody
else is responsible for their situation, their circumstances,
don't they? You know, everything's got a,
every addiction's got a disease, and you know, it's just, Everybody's
a victim. God's people aren't victims.
Now, we're conquerors. We're more than conquerors. We're
overcomers. By the blood of Christ, we're
overcomers. But what the Lord's saying to us here is the whole
world is in confederacy against me. And if they hated the master,
how much more are they going to hate the servant? They express their hatred for
me, they're going to hate you. You're not going to fit in. You're
not going to fit in. And the attempts that you make
to fit in are the very things that are keeping you from knowing
me as you really want to know me, aren't they? You see the
conflict we're in. Look at verse 3. They have taken crafty counsel
against Thy people and consulted against Thy hidden ones. Oh, I'm so thankful for that
verse. I'm so thankful for that verse, Thy hidden ones. The Lord
Jesus Christ is spoken of in Isaiah 49 verse 2, like a sharp
sword in the shadow of his hand, he hath hid me. Like a polished shaft or arrow
in the quiver, he hath hid me. The Lord Jesus Christ is hid
from the world. Isaiah in another place said,
who hath believed, I'll report. to them whom the arm of the Lord
has been revealed. Lord, don't hide yourself from
me. I want to be hid in you. There's my safety. There's my
only hope is to be hid in Christ. Christ is hid from the world as he would be hid from us. Turn
to me to Isaiah chapter 32, but for his grace, He's been pleased to make himself
known. Isaiah 32, verse one. Behold, and you know
what that word means. Give their full undivided attention
to this. You're about to see something
you've never seen before. And I hope every time we see
the things that we've seen before, we're so fresh that it's like
we never saw it before. Behold, a king shall reign in
righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. And a man shall
be as a hiding place from the wind, a covert from the tempest,
as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock
in a weary land. A man shall be a hiding place. Now in Revelation chapter 16,
the scripture says that the unbelievers are going to hide in the rocks
and in the mountains, and they're going to call upon those rocks
and mountains to fall on them in order to hide them from the
wrath of God. Now when the Lord said to us,
if you had faith as a mustard seed, you could say unto this
mountain, be ye cast into the sea, and it would be removed. What do the mountains represent?
What do they do? They're the barriers between
us and God. When the unbeliever in Revelation
chapter 16 calls upon the mountains to fall upon him in order to
protect him from the wrath of God, what he's doing is he's
saying, Lord, we've done many wonderful works in thy name.
We prophesied in thy name. You see, it's just another way
for the unbeliever to present his mountains to God, his righteousness
to God for the hope of his salvation. And he's saying, fall on us to
protect us from the wrath of God. Whereas the child of God
when looking to the Lord Jesus Christ as all his righteousness
has those mountains cast into the, and the wrath of God has
been, well, Christ is our propitiation, isn't he? He's been put away. A man shall be their hiding place. That's why the Lord gave those
cities of refuge in the Old Testament for the children of Israel that
were guilty of manslaughter. And the law said that the next
of kin could take life for life. It was eye for an eye, tooth
for a tooth, life for a life. So even if you killed someone
accidentally, the law gave the next of kin the right to take
your life in retribution of the one that you killed. The Lord provided cities of refuge,
didn't he? A hiding place for that man. So the manslayer, the next of
kin who was gonna take your life in order to get justice for the
life that you took, you get to flee from him, don't you? And
you get to hide in the city of refuge. until the death of the
high priest. And then everything's settled
then. Well, the high priest has died
and he's been risen again. He has a beautiful picture in Exodus
chapter two. One of the very first times that
being hidden is mentioned in the scriptures is when Moses'
mother kept Moses for six months after
he was born. Pharaoh had already sent out
a decree that all the boy babies were to be cast into the river
to drown. And Moses' mother saw that Moses
was, as scripture says, a fair child and she kept him. until
she could not hide him any longer, and then she made an ark out
of reeds, and she pitched that ark. She pitched it with pitch,
just like Noah's ark. And she put Moses in the ark,
and she put him in the river, where the other babies were being
drowned. Now this baby's in a pitched ark. And she put him in a place
where she knew that Pharaoh's daughter would come and bathe.
And Pharaoh's daughter came and heard the baby crying and opened
up the ark. And she had compassion for the
child, the scripture says. And at that time, Moses's sister,
who was left in the bushes watching everything, went and said, shall
I go get the baby a nurse for you? And Pharaoh's daughter said,
yes, go get the baby a nurse. Who do you think she went and
got? Moses' mother. So now Moses' mother got her
baby back. She nurses the child, raises
the child. That picture, that's a picture
of Christ. The very river that everybody's, Christ was put in
there. He's brought forth. He was in that ark. And it's a picture of his church
too, isn't it? It's a picture of us in Christ, hid in Christ. The scripture says she hid him
in the ark. We've been hid in Christ and
God has provided everything through his church. He's brought us out
of the river. And that's what Asaph's praying
here. He says, Lord, hide me. They have taken crafty counsel
against thy people and consulted against thy hidden ones. Thou art my hiding place. Thou shalt provide me, or preserve
me, I'm sorry, from trouble. Thou shalt come pass me about
with songs of deliverance. in contrast to we being hid in
Christ. Turn with me to Colossians chapter
one. Well, let's just go on to Colossians
chapter three. Colossians chapter three. Verse one. if ye then be risen
with Christ." If you're looking to the death,
burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ as your death,
burial, and resurrection, you're believing on Christ for all of
your All of your justification before God, the putting away
of your sin, all of your righteousness. If he that be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right
hand of God. Set your affections on things
above, not on things of the earth. That's our problem. The reason
we don't know him as we ought is because our affections are
so often set on the things of this earth, aren't they? That's
why we come to hear the gospel, isn't it? to have our affections
set back on Christ. For you are dead. You are dead. Reckon yourselves to be dead
indeed unto God. You're dead. or unto sin, but alive unto God. Reckon yourselves to be dead
indeed unto sin, for you are dead and your life is hid with
Christ in God. When Christ who is our life shall
appear, then shall you also appear with him in glory. But then, face to face, brethren,
you and I have a lot of things in this world that are just as
much an enemy against us as those nations were against Israel. They have confederated themselves
together against us. And the Lord's called on us to
set our affections on things above. where Christ is seated
at the right hand of God. We look through a glass darkly
now, don't we? The image is distorted. But then, face to face, it doth
not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when he
shall appear, that which is perfect shall appear. then we shall see him as he is
and be made like him. That's what heaven is. Our merciful heavenly Father,
we're thankful for the encouragement of your word and how we're hopeful that we have an
advocate, Lord, So much, so much sin and distraction in this life,
keeping us from knowing you as we ought. Lord, we thank you
for the preaching of your word and for the declaration of your
gospel and ask that you would turn us again, oh God, and cause
your face to shine upon us and we shall be saved. We ask it
in Christ's name, amen. 311, number 311, let's stand. Just the first three verses. We would see Jesus for the shadows
lengthen across the little landscape of our life. We would see Jesus. weak faith to strengthen, for
the last weariness, the final strife. We would see Jesus, the
great rock foundation, where on our feet were set by sovereign
grace. Not life nor death, with all
their agitation, can thence remove us if we see His face. We would see Jesus, other lights
are paling, which for long years we have rejoiced to see. The blessings of our pilgrimage
are failing, We would not mourn them, for we go to thee. Okay.