That's a great, great hymn. Such beautiful words. Thank you,
Susanna. Let's go back to the book of
Zechariah this morning, Zechariah chapter nine. And I only have
one verse, actually just a statement out of one verse that I want
to share with you this morning as we talk about being called
to the stronghold. And so the statement is found
in Prophecy of Zechariah chapter 9, and look at the first few
words of verse number 12. I've read this verse to you several
times. It'll bear reading again, and
it'll bear preaching again. Here comes the word of the Lord
that he gave to his prophet, turn you to the stronghold, ye
prisoners of hope. And there's only one true stronghold,
one real place of safety, one refuge for perishing sinners,
Like us, that stronghold, that refuge, is our Lord Jesus Christ. Here the prophet of God speaks
the word of the Lord to the people who had come back from Babylonian
captivity, and he gives them this instruction, here is a command,
turn you, to the stronghold. I stand before you this morning
as an ambassador of our Lord, and I would say to each of you
and every person who's watching by way of the internet, I say
it with all the fervency that is in my heart, all the seriousness
of knowing something about eternity the judgment of God, the demands
of God, the perfections of God, and the salvation of God, I say
to all of you, I say, oh God, help you to turn to the only
stronghold, and that is Christ Jesus. You see, the stronghold's
not a church, so I'm not telling you to turn to the church. I'm not saying to you to turn
to your works. Your works are no good. I'm not
saying if you would be received by the Lord, then turn to your
morality. Morality is a good thing, but
that's not the way of salvation. Only stronghold for poor sinners
like you and like me is the Lord Jesus Christ and his substitutionary
death upon the cross of Calvary. We read in the New Testament,
this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation that
Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. And then Paul adds, of whom I'm
chief. If I could find a sinner, if
I could find somebody who's beaten down by the spirit of conviction
in their hearts, somebody who's been stripped of all perceived
goodness that they don't really have, If I could find somebody
who needs a Savior, somebody who is very concerned about going
out into eternity and meeting God, I'd say to them what I'm
saying to you. Oh, turn you to the stronghold,
you prisoners of hope. Yes, we're prisoners. We're prisoners
held by Satan. We're prisoners held by sin.
But we have hope. We're not without hope because
God gives a good hope to us through grace. He gives us a confidence
in Christ. Yes, we're sinful. Yes, we're
unrighteous. There's no question about that.
Preacher, you preach this all the time. I know and I'm hoping
and praying one of these days it'll sink in. We're undone. We're filthy. And the only hope
we've got, the only possibility of acceptance with God is found
in one place. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
Turn you to the stronghold. He's strong. He's mighty. He's mighty to save. One of his
names is the mighty God, the everlasting Father. He is the
savior of sinners. Would you, will you turn to the
stronghold? That stronghold being Christ? Look back earlier in this ninth
chapter of the prophecy of Zechariah. Look at verse number three, verse
three. Zechariah 9, 3, and Tyrus did
build herself a stronghold. That's what everybody does by
nature. They build their own stronghold. Well, where did she find her
stronghold? Where was her refuge? To what did she run to? Was she heaped up silver as the
dust and fine gold as the mire of the streets? She ran to her
wealth. could just as easily have said
that Tyre did build herself a stronghold of wisdom, and she runs to her
wisdom. Or her learning, and she runs
to her learning. Or prosperity, and she ran to
her prosperity. Or she ran to her stronghold
that she built, her own goodness, and she runs to her goodness.
Let me ask you this, as you think about meeting a holy God, what
is the stronghold you run to? What is your hope? Well, let
me tell you something. If your hope is found in anything
that you have or you have done, you're in trouble just like Tyrus,
because look what it says in verse four. Behold, the Lord
will cast her out and he will smite her. Power in the sea. And get this, and she shall be
devoured with fire. You build your own stronghold,
you will have what Isaiah speaks of in Isaiah chapter 28 as a
refuge of lies. Where do you run to? Let's get
serious. Think about, let's think about
when we get down to die. We don't like to think about
it. Preacher, don't remind me of unpleasant things. Well, I
say face reality. You're gonna die. And in the
hour of death, if you're still conscious and
they haven't doped you up with morphine or something of that
nature. And you're thinking to yourself,
I'm about to step out into an unknown, an unknown place that
I've never been before. I'm stepping out into eternity. In that moment, what is going
to be your refuge before God? Do you think it's gonna be okay
with you? You know, most people believe that. I just believe
it'll be all right with me. Do you know what God demands? He demands perfection. Are you
perfect? He demands sinlessness. Are you sinless? He demands righteousness. Are
you righteous? The Bible says all of our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. If you are depending upon anything,
anybody other than the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, you
gonna be in trouble in that time when you meet God. No wonder the prophet of God,
with all of the seriousness that he had in his heart, said, Turn
you, turn you to the stronghold, to the only refuge of sinners. Will you turn? Will you turn
to the stronghold? Will you turn to Christ Jesus? I tell you, any other refuge,
like it says in Isaiah 28, is a refuge lies, and in that day,
your false refuge will just mock you. It promises you safety, but it
can't hide you from the wrath of God. Oh, preacher, would you
tell me where can I hide from the wrath of God? I hope somebody's
asking that question. Where can I hide from the wrath
of God? The only place to hide from the
wrath of God is in God himself, the God-man, the stronghold. That's where we hide. You see,
he has already borne the wrath of his people. The judgment of
God fell upon him. He is our stronghold. He was strong and mighty to endure
all of the judgment of God for all of the sins of all of God's
people of all of the ages. He bore up under that wrath,
the fury of God's vengeance. He's the stronghold. You say,
preacher, will he save me? Can he save me? He saves to the
uttermost all that come unto God by him. You come to God by
Him. I'm telling you on the authority
of God's Word, He'll receive you. He says, turn you to the stronghold. If you turn to the stronghold,
you're going to find safety. You're going to find a refuge
for your poor soul. Your body may get... I was talking
about getting older a while ago to some of the folks that think
they're getting older over here. Well, we're gonna get old, and
we're gonna get more feeble. But I'll tell you what, in our
souls, we're still young. The gospel's fresh to us. On the Friday morning before
the Lord took Brother James into glory, I talked to him. Family was gathered around. And you know, they say, medical
folks, and we got some medical folks in here this morning. It
is said of those who are dying and who are unconscious, that
the last sense to go is hearing. You're still aware, at least
many think that people are still aware of somebody talking to
them. I talked to Brother James just
as if his eyes were wide awake. I talked to him about salvation
by grace. Brother, isn't it wonderful?
I said to him, isn't it wonderful the Lord chose you unto salvation
before the world began? And the Son of God came. He laid
down his life for you. He died, he died. It's like Susanna
sang in that song. This blood is for thy ransom
paid. I died that you may live. I reminded him of the bloody
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I talked to him about the
resurrected savior who's gone back to glory. And I said, his
is gonna be the next face you see. I said, the Spirit of God quickened
you and made you alive. And you turned to Christ. You found in Christ your all
in all. He's your only hope of glory.
I said these things to him, and I said them loud enough so that
the family that was gathered there could all hear. You see, I believe the soul never
loses consciousness. I know that. And the soul responds, the soul
that's been quickened by grace. that's been made alive by the
power of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the gospel.
The soul that has been made spiritually alive rejoices in the gospel
of the grace of God. And the soul says, I have fled,
I have turned to the stronghold. He's all my hope. I believe in his soul, James
rejoiced. He rejoiced to hear one more
time about the Redeemer. And then just a few hours later,
he saw him face to face. He saw the Redeemer. He saw his
stronghold. He saw his refuge. A mighty refuge
is our God. Who is our God? He's the God-man,
Christ Jesus. And he's a mighty refuge. Hold
your place here in Zechariah 9 and turn with me back to the
book of Isaiah. What about let's go to Isaiah
chapter 32. Isaiah chapter 32. I'll tell you what, while you're
locating Isaiah chapter 32, I'll tell you what the prophet Nahum
said In Nahum chapter one in verse seven, he said, the Lord,
the Lord, Jehovah, the great I am, the Lord is good. And then he said, he's a stronghold
in the day of trouble. And he knoweth them that trust
in him. He's a stronghold throughout
our lifetime for the children of God. Is there anybody here who's ever
had days of trouble? You say, are you kidding, Jim?
We've all had days of trouble. I know. I know. But in those
days of trouble, you're not without a stronghold. There's a refuge
that you run to, don't you? Don't you, by faith, flee to
Christ Jesus over and over and over again? You see, faith is
not an isolated act. That's where the Armenians are
wrong. Make your profession of faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ and get saved, then get on with your
life. Let me tell you something. We're
always looking to Him. We're always turning, turning. to this refuge in the time of
storm. We're always turning to the stronghold. Before I stepped up here on this
platform this morning to preach to you, you know what I did?
I turned to the stronghold. I turned to the stronghold. Lord,
help me. Lord, I'm talking to eternity
bound men and women and young people. Oh, stronghold, help
me. Help me to deliver the word of
the Lord to people by the power of the Holy Spirit and do something
for them that I can't do. I can tell you the truth, but
I can't cause you to believe the truth. The Lord's got to do the work.
And I'll get to that in just a little bit, but look here in
Isaiah chapter 32. Here's what Isaiah speaks of.
He speaks of a man who ranks above all other men. Think of
the billions of men who've lived in this world since Adam. Well, Isaiah, the Lord is gonna
have him write about a man who is more than head and shoulders
above all other men. This man he's gonna talk about
is a man who has the highest rank than any man could ever
have. Because he's not only man, he's
God. You say, well, let's see what
Isaiah says about him. All right, let's see. Chapter
32 of Isaiah, verse one. You there? Behold a king, the king, or literally that king,
shall reign in righteousness. He always does. He reigns in righteousness. He
reigns over the spiritual kingdom. He reigns over his people. He's
the head of the church. And he reigns over all the world.
And princes shall rule in judgment. Who's that? I think that's probably
talking about preachers. But get down to the second verse.
And a man, literally that man, that man shall be as a hiding
place. a hiding place from the wind,
and a covert from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place,
as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." He's talking
about a particular man, a man who stands way above all other
men. Who is this man? It's the man
Christ Jesus. Listen, I rejoice to know that
our Savior is altogether God. And He is. He's altogether God. All of the Godhead dwells in
Him bodily. That's what Scripture says. Please
the Father that the Godhead dwell in Him bodily. This is the one
who made all things. This is the one who is omnipresent. He's everywhere. He is omnipotent. He has all power. He's God over
all, blessed forever. And this God came down here and
joined himself to our humanity, the God-man. He's our hiding
place, you see. He's our stronghold. He's our
refuge. It says here, he's the hiding
place from the wind. When the winds of trouble blow,
where you gonna find any comfort? Some people try to find comfort
from a bottle, from pills, from friends. I tell you where the people of
God are to run to and turn to, When the winds of trouble blow,
you turn to the stronghold. I've had people say to me when
they're being severely tried, I said,
preacher, I don't know how people can bear these heavy trials who
don't have the Lord Jesus Christ. They don't have a stronghold. Oh, I tell you, when the winds
blow, and troubles arise, and heartaches
increase, the Lord doesn't spare these
things from his people, but we have a stronghold, and we run
into the stronghold again and again and again. How many times
have you run into him again today? Lord, I need you. I need you. But there's that last wind that's
gonna blow. That's the wind of judgment. And it's gonna blow away everything
that's not attached to Christ Jesus. In that day of judgment, This man, this man, he shall
be a hiding place from the fierce winds of God's wrath. I'm sheltered in the Savior.
I'm in the refuge. He is indeed the shelter in the
time of storm. Let me read the rest of it once
again. Verse 2, and a man shall be as
a hiding place from the wind, and a covert, a shelter from
the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place. Are you thirsty? Thirsty for God? Thirsty for
His salvation? As rivers of water flow, and
Christ is the water of life, as a shadow of a great rock in
a weary land. He's the rock. He's the rock
of ages. I'll tell you, when the sun of
God's judgment shines down on this earth, we're going to be
hidden then like we're hidden now, behind the rock. Behind
the rock! And that sun of vengeance is
never going to shine on us in its wrath. We're safe in Christ
Jesus. Let me show you another passage.
Look over Proverbs. I was looking at this passage
just this morning. Proverbs chapter 18. Look at
Proverbs chapter 18. Look at Proverbs chapter 18.
I got two verses I wanna read to you. First one's Proverbs
chapter 18, verse number 10. The name of the Lord. What is it? It's a strong tower. The righteous runneth into it.
That word runneth, that N-E-T-H, means this is continual. This
isn't something you do one time. We keep on running back to this
strong tower, this stronghold, and we're safe. we're saved. Have you run to Christ Jesus
by faith? Now hear me now, if you have. all who have believed on Him,
all who in their heart of hearts believe Jesus Christ is the Son
of God with power. He's the only Savior of sinners. He redeemed sinners by His bloody
death upon the cross of Calvary. I believe Him, I rest in Him.
My whole eternity, safety and eternity is dependent upon Him
alone. You have run into the stronghold. You're safe. You're safe. Let come what may, you're safe.
But look at the next verse. The rich man's wealth, that's
his strong city. And as a high wall in his own
conceit, a rich man. His wealth, he's
dependent upon his wealth. That's where he finds comfort.
Strong winds blow, I'll go run into my riches. I can endure
this. My bank account's big. I got
stocks and bonds. I got all mutual funds. I got
a big retirement. I don't need to worry about anything.
That's his strong tower. That's his stronghold. And this
could be said about anything else as well. I got my family. I'm surrounded by my family.
Everything's all right, preacher. Well, is your family your stronghold? Is your family that high wall
that you think is going to protect you from the judgment of God?
There's nowhere to hide from the wrath of God except in the
Son of God, the man Christ Jesus. And that's why over here in my
text, it says, Zacharias says, turn you to the stronghold. Now
let me give you two things real quick. Two things. In the Bible, We read of what
theologians call, preachers call, number one, the general, general
call of the gospel, which is what I'm giving out right now.
And what is that? What is that call? Turn you,
turn you to the stronghold. That's a general call. But can my words, can me calling
you to turn to the stronghold, I'm turning to the stronghold,
I want you to turn to the stronghold, but by me preaching to you with
force and with great sincerity, will me preaching to you, turn
to the stronghold, will that cause you to turn to the stronghold? No, that's just a general call. Therefore, there has to be, secondly,
the effectual call of grace. And the effectual call, the word
effectual means gets the job done. That's the call of God. Richard, do you have any examples
of that? Sure. I think about Noah. Built an ark to the saving of
his house. took the animals into the ark. And then the Lord said to Noah,
you come into the ark. That's the effectual call. In
fact, I bet you Noah gave the effectual call to the animals,
don't you? I bet he put a rope around their necks and said,
You're coming in here and they kicked and pawed and tried to
bite him and everything. I mean, you ever dealt with wild
animals? He got them in there, though. And I just think, I don't think I'm wrong about
this, but I just believe that Noah, after they got all them
animals in there, and there's him and his wife, his three sons,
and three daughters-in-law, I believe Noah preached one more time about
righteousness. I just believe he did, because
he had kinfolk, he had neighbors, I believe he said to them, come,
turn ye into the stronghold. There's safety in this ark. Judgment's
coming. Won't you come in with me? Don't
you believe he said? He'd surely preach one more time
because God's preachers want to see people come to salvation
in Christ. aunts and uncles and cousins,
come into the ark, I'm telling you, the heavens are going to
open up, the fountains of the deep are going to open up, the
water is going to come from beneath and from above, and God's going
to send a flood to this world higher than the tallest mountains,
and the only place of safety is right here, turn to the stronghold. I just believe you preach that
one more time, Did they come? Did they turn? Did they say, we're going with
you? I believe he's right. I believe what God says. No. God said, Noah, come into the
ark. That's the effectual call. They
went in and God shut the door. God shut the door. And God unleashed
waters like they'd never seen before. washed everybody outside
the ark into hell. But he gave the effectual call
to Noah and his family, come thou into the ark. Our Lord passed
by, this man sitting at a table collecting taxes, his name was
Matthew. And the Savior said two words,
follow me. He said, was that an effectual
call? Well, let's see, what'd he do? It says, he rose up and
followed Christ. That's the effectual call. Peter, James, and John, perhaps
they passed by and said, follow us, follow us, follow Christ. That didn't get the job done.
But when the master said it, he spoke right to that man's
heart. And I can go on and on and on through the New Testament. There's got to be the effectual
call. Who's gonna turn to the stronghold? Who's gonna turn? Those that God calls by his powerful
grace. And I hope and pray he calls
somebody. I was so burdened when I prepared this message. I thought,
Lord, surely this is for somebody. I just believe he's gonna call
somebody, maybe you, maybe somebody watching, maybe later on, somebody
listening to CD or watching DVD or something like that. I know
this, he's gonna call his people. And when he says, the Spirit
of God says to you in essence, turn you to the stronghold. You say, who is the stronghold?
Christ the God-man. I turn to him. And you'll keep
on turning to him. And then one day, when God calls
you into eternity, you'll see his face. You'll see the face
of your stronghold. That's about as clear as I can
make it right there. I hope and pray God will bless
his word. I want you to get a songbook.
And we're gonna turn to 441. The name of the song is Love
Lifted Me. And we're just gonna sing one
verse, but when we get down there to that chorus, instead of singing
Love Lifted Me, sing Christ Lifted Me. You got that? You can remember
that, can't you? Christ Lifted Me. And then, when
no one else could help, Price lifted me. So let's sing that. Just one stanza, number 477.