Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Deuteronomy chapter 33. Deuteronomy chapter 33, the name
of the messages held in everlasting arms. Deuteronomy chapter 33,
this is where we'll find our text today. And these are some
of the final words of Moses to the people of Israel. These are
part of Moses final blessing on the people of Israel. And
we know from our studies in the scriptures that Israel is a picture
of the church, a picture of the born again, blood washed people
of God. a purchased people, a separated
people, a chosen people from all the others in the world.
And so as we look at these words, as we go through this scripture,
what great comfort we can find is God's people in these wonderful
words, these wonderful words that Moses speaks to the people
of Israel. Now we live in times of uncertainty
right now. In these times of uncertainty,
we who are the people of God, we need comfort, beloved. In
texting and talking to several grace preachers this week, well,
actually in the last month, this is something that we've all had
laid upon our hearts, that during these uncertain times, God's
people need to be comforted, and we need to be comforted as
well as preachers. The scriptures declare to us,
so as preachers, it commands us, comfort ye, comfort ye my
people, saith the Lord. And this is true in all times,
isn't it? This is not just true in these times of uncertainty,
but this is also true in all times, all times, because we
know that the Lord reigns and we know that whatever events
occur that we see unfolding in this world unfold due to the
will and providence of our great God, all according to his purpose
and all according to his will. And so God's people are told
in the scriptures to comfort the Lord's people. Now, the only
way we can comfort you, and the only way we can be comforted
as God's sheep as well, is through the preaching of the Word of
God, the preaching of the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace.
And to listen to the preaching of the gospel of salvation in
Christ alone, and to listen to a message about the atonement,
that is complete, finished. by the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation
that is absolutely complete, finished, finished. And we are
complete in Christ, Paul wrote to the Colossian believers. Oh,
what a wondrous truth that is for we who are the people of
God. The only way for, again, the people of God to be comforted
is listen to the preaching of the gospel of God's free and
sovereign grace and salvation in Him and Him alone. The only
way for us to be refreshed and revived, as I mentioned in Wednesday
night, in the message on Wednesday night, to have a steady diet
of the preaching of God's sovereign grace. This will turn our eyes
to Christ, the preaching of the gospel. This will turn our eyes
away from the world and point us to Christ. All the circumstances
that are occurring in the world right now, all the different
things that are occurring, we are told by Paul, what we looked
at a few weeks ago, set your mind on things above, set your
affection on things above, and that's speaking of Christ. were
to set our minds and our hearts upon Christ. So with this in
our minds, let's read Deuteronomy chapter 33. We'll read verses
26 to 29. And again, these are some of
the final words of Moses in blessing the people of Israel. Scripture
says in Deuteronomy 33 verse 26, there is none like unto the
God of Jeshua. who rideth upon the heaven in
thy help and in his excellency on the sky. So right off the
bat, we're told there's none like our God, none, none. The
scripture declares there's none like him. His ways are not our
ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts. And think of this,
the only thing that we know about our great God is what he's revealed
to us in scripture. There's so much more about him
that we don't even know. He's so magnificent. He's so
great. He's so holy. He's so righteous. Oh, he's infinite, beloved. He's
infinite. And then it says, look at this
in verse 27, in what comfort the believer can glean here in
these words, right? The eternal God, is thy refuge."
Look how it's personalized, thy. The eternal God is thy refuge. And underneath are the everlasting
arms. Oh my. And he shall thrust out
the enemy from before thee and shall say, destroy them. Israel
then shall dwell in safety alone. The fountain of Jacob shall be
upon a land of corn and wine. and his heaven shall drop down
due. And in verse 29, happy art thou,
O Israel, who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord. Oh, what a wonderful statement
there. The shield of thy help, who is the sword of thy excellency,
and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee. Thou shalt tread
upon their high places. So what wonderful words we see
here in this passage, the words that I'd like us to really focus
in on today will be, the words found in verse 27, where it says,
and underneath are the everlasting arms. We'll be considering that
today, but let's look first, before we do that, let's look
first at some other gems that are sprinkled through these verses,
through this portion of scripture. Note that we see in verse 26,
Moses has been blessing the people of God, again, under the Spirit
of God, my God, the Holy Spirit. And note how he breaks out in
adoration and praise to our great God in verse 26. It says, there
is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the
heaven in thy help and in his excellency on the sky. Oh my,
in the midst of blessing the people of God, Moses breaks out
and prays to the God who's blessing Israel, the one true God. And
there is none like him. He's the living God. All those
other idols, all those other supposed gods are just dead idols,
beloved. Just dead idols. Our great God,
he's the one true and living God. The one true and living
God. The scriptures declare that dying Jacob in the midst of blessing
his children cries out, I have waited for thy salvation, oh
Lord. And isn't that not true? We wait
for his salvation. We wait the salvation of this
body, don't we? When we will be absent from this
body and to be present with the Lord with a new body. We're saved. We who are the people of God,
but do we not wait until the Lord delivers us from this body
of death? Oh my, what a glorious day that'll
be. What a glorious day that'll be. And here also Moses breaks
out in praise to the God of Jethron. And we will see how sweet and
striking this verse is in the following three verses of Moses. They're so sweet and striking
in praising the God of Israel and then telling the Israel of
God, the people of God, that they are a blessed people in
the Lord. That's what we need to be reminded of that, don't
we? I know we know that, but I need to be told that all the
time. Oh my, he's our shield, he's our helper. I remember getting
a text from Brother Matt when the whole thing first started
and he's just, the Lord is my shepherd, the Lord is my shield,
the Lord is my protection, my hiding place. Oh, it was wonderful
to receive and just to see that trust and rest amidst all the
things that he was seeing in the front lines in the ER room.
mind and what a blessed people we are. We see in verse 27, for
the people of God, God is our refuge and we are protected from
our enemies, not by just anyone, right? The enemies of our country
were protected by the armed forces here in this country, right?
But we are protected, beloved, by our physical enemies and by
our spiritual enemies, by the great I am, by the great I am. Look what it says in Deuteronomy
33 verse 27. The eternal God is thy refuge
and underneath are the everlasting arms and he shall thrust out
the enemy from before thee and shall say, destroy them. So we
see then in verse 28 as a result of our great God protecting us,
his people. Look, we see a result brought
forth in verse 28. A result of God protecting us
is that we will dwell In safety? We're dwelling in safety, beloved.
Now, we go through things in this world, let me tell you.
We all know that. But this scripture says we dwell
in safety, beloved. Now, they can kill the body,
but they can't kill the soul, right? Oh, look what it says
here in Deuteronomy 33, verse 28. This is wonderful. Israel,
then shall dwell in safety alone. The fountain of Jacob shall be
upon a land of corn and wine. In his heavens shall drop down
dew. Then we see the manifold blessings unfolding for the born-again
blood-washed believer of God as we are a people saved by the
Lord. In him alone, look at verse 29,
look at this. It's so clear, isn't it? Salvation's
not by anything we do. If we're saved, we're saved by
the Lord alone. That's what the scripture even
declares here. Look what it says, Deuteronomy 33, 29. See these
nuggets just spread through this text. Happy art thou, O Israel,
who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord. The scriptures
declare this. This is not my opinion or any
other grace preacher's opinion. The scriptures declare, A people
saved by the Lord. This is wonderful. This is marvelous. So as Jonah 2, 9 said, salvation
is of the Lord. Look at this. I'm going to read
that part again. It's so wondrous. I'm going to read it again. Happy
art thou, O Israel, who is like unto thee, O people saved by
the Lord, the shield of thy help. He's a shield about us, beloved.
He's the shield of our help. And who is the sword of thy excellency? And thine enemies shall be found
liars unto thee, and thou shall tread upon their high places.
Oh my, what manifold blessings come forth just from this verse
alone. A people saved by the Lord. Who is like unto thee?
No one. It's God who's done this wondrous
thing for us. Just like God separated the nation
of Israel from all, all the other nations of the world. So God
separates his people from amongst all the people of the world.
And they are a people, beloved, saved by the Lord. They are a
people saved by the Lord. And he is the shield of our help,
isn't he? And we declare that. He's our hiding place. He's our
pavilion. He's our city of refuge, isn't
he? Oh my. My, we see the salvation
in Christ alone proclaimed so clearly here in the Old Testament,
don't we? Look at this, with these words,
O people saved by the Lord. So let this wonderful truth just
sink in, beloved, sink in deep into your souls. Beloved, the
people of God have the eternal God as their refuge. We have
the eternal God as our refuge. Jehovah is engaged in all his
covenant relations for our defense. It is he, Jehovah, the self-existent
one, God, who will protect the people of God, just as it is
he who governs all the affairs of this world, even right now
in the midst of what we're going through. You ever heard this
stuff I've been hearing on TV? It just makes me sick. Science
will save us. No, God saves. God saves. God's the only one who could
save. And when this trial and this pandemic that we're going
through, when the Lord has determined it to end, It will end at that
exact second and that by His almighty power. He governs this
world and it's He who we are to give praise to, isn't it?
It's He who we are to give praise to because He's the almighty
and He alone He alone is worthy of all praise. He alone is worthy
of all glory, our great God. That's why we praise our Lord
Jesus Christ, because He alone is worthy, and He is God incarnate
in the flesh. The Word of God became a man,
humbled himself, and became a man who was obedient to God's law
in our place, the perfect substitute. Then he goes to Calvary's cross
and he dies, the perfect, sinless, spotless Lamb of God, satisfying
the justice of God in the place of his people. Hallelujah, what
a Savior. Then he's raised for our justification,
and right now, right now, right this second now, in the ones
that'll come, He rules and reigns and governs and majesty at the
right hand of the Father right now. So think upon this, God's
people dwell securely and safely in their God. How can we say
that? Well, because we're in Christ. He's the head and we're
the body and we dwell safely in him. Again, you've heard me
mention this before. The ark is a beautiful picture
of God's people being safe in Christ. Not a drop of rain, fell
upon those who were in the ark, just as not a drop of God's wrath
will fall upon God's born-again blood-washed people, because
we are safe in Christ, in Christ alone. He alone is the refuge
of our souls. He alone He alone is the eternal
Son of God. It is He who has purchased us,
purchased us, purchased our eternal souls with His precious, precious
blood. So read these truths that we
looked at in these verses here with an eye to the gospel church
of the Lord Jesus Christ and what comfort this will bring
to the people of God. What comfort this will bring
to the elect of God. And look at the gospel church
of the Lord Jesus Christ and see the Israel of God in Christ. We are in him and we are safe
in him. Oh, he shed his precious blood.
The God-man shed his precious blood on Calvary's cross. In
our place, beloved. in our place. And he did it before
God, because that's who we've offended. That's who we've offended
in our sinfulness. And we know we're sinners from
the top of our head to the bottom of our feet. We know that. But
the Lord Jesus Christ, when he died on that cross, he died in
the room and place of every single one of his sheep, every one of
them. And you know what the wonderful news is? He put away the sins
of every one of his sheep. And all our sins, for we who
live today, we're all future. And our Lord Jesus Christ put
them away, paid for it all. Hallelujah, what a Savior. What
a Savior is Jesus Christ our Lord. And now, we as believers,
we sin more than we want to, don't we? We desire to not sin
at all, but we're just sinners still in this body of flesh.
And we struggle with sin, but praise be to God, the scriptures
declare for us in Christ, there is therefore now no condemnation
to those in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but
after the spirit. What wonderful words those are.
And Christ did this all by shedding his precious blood on Calvary's
cross to redeem, to purchase our eternal souls. And then the
believer is clothed in Christ's righteousness. And it's Christ
and Christ alone. It's in Him alone that we have
eternal security, beloved. All according to the everlasting
covenant, which cannot be broken and which secures the people
of God in Christ. God, the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit made an eternal, everlasting covenant in eternity
past. Oh my. And God gave a people
to Christ and Christ said, I'll redeem them. And the Holy Spirit
said, I'll fetch them. They'll be born again. Oh my.
And he'll not lose one. And we don't know who they are?
So keep praying for your family, keep praying for your friends,
keep praying for your coworkers, keep praying for people you know
in the community, because we have no idea who the sheep of
God are. So you just keep praying for
them until they breathe their last breath, beloved. That's
what I do, that's what I do. Just keep praying for them, just
keep lifting them up. Oh my, what a great God we have.
And God is not only the support and security of his people, But
He is our refuge, beloved. He's our refuge. He's our hiding
place. Turn, if you would, to Psalm
46. Psalm 46. Actually, first go to Psalm 37,
7, and then we'll go through. It'll be easier that way. We'll
go through as we progress through these few verses here that I
want to bring out. Psalm 37, verse 7. Our Lord God
is not only our Savior, but He's our support and He's our security.
He's our refuge, beloved. He's our hiding place. He's our
everlasting and eternal city of refuge. Psalm 37.7, it says,
rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Rest in the Lord, just
repose in Him. Don't do anything, just rest
in Him, right? Because the work's finished,
right? We're to rest in the fact that Christ has completed the
work of salvation, and we are to just repose in our Savior. Rest in Him, it says. Rest in
the Lord and wait patiently for Himself. Fret not thyself because
of Him who prospereth in His way. Don't fret because evildoers
are prospering. Now we know their end, don't
we, if the Lord doesn't save them. Oh my. Vengeance is mine,
saith the Lord. Look at the nugget in this verse.
Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him and fret not thyself. My, that's the hardest thing
for a believer to do is just rest, isn't it? Isn't it? Jotaro
said that once before and I will amen him. The hardest thing for
us to do is just rest. But the scripture here declares
in Psalm 37, 7, beautiful. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently
for him. Fret not thyself. Lord, give
us grace, give us strength to do that. Then turn, if you would,
to Psalm 46, verse one, going along with our verses that we
looked at in Deuteronomy chapter 33. Look at this in Psalm 46,
verse one. God, God, Jehovah, Elohim, Jehovah-Jireh,
God is our refuge. and strength. He's our refuge
that we run to. He's our strength because we
know, we've been taught that we are weak, but He is strong.
And look what it says here, a very present help in trouble. Have
you ever thought, you who are the people of God, that all the
things you went through in your life The Lord had his eye upon
you during all those times. I was talking to Sister Betty
about this. All the times in our lives, even
before we were saved, he had his eye upon us, watching over
us, taking care of us, even when we had shaken our fist at him. And how much more now do we,
who are the people of God, see that in our lives, when we can
look back and go, my oh my, look Look at all that the Lord took
me through. I had no care for him. Oh, what
a gracious God. What a loving God our great God
is. And it says here in Psalm 46
verse one, God is our refuge. He's our hiding place at all
times, not just during this time of uncertainty, but all times
for the believer, all times. And he's our strength. a very
present help in trouble. He's ever with us. He's never
left us. Have you ever thought of that?
Even when we're alone, He has never, ever left us. Even when
we were off in rebellion, He never left us. His eye was ever
upon us. My, and then turn, if you would,
to Psalm 90, verse one. This is a prayer of Moses, the
man of God. And look what he writes in verse
one of Psalm 90. He says this, and think of this.
This is true for all. We know that we are. chosen generation. God's people are chosen out of
every generation, right? We know that. Peter brings that
forth very clearly in scriptures. We saw that when we studied the
two books of Peter. Look what's brought forth here
in Psalm 90 verse 1. You know, set apart. This means
we've been set apart. Lord thou has been our dwelling
place in all generations. My! God is the dwelling place
of his people in all generations, in our generation right now,
and then if the Lord tarries, even the next generations. My
oh my. And then turn to Psalm 116 verse
7. The scripture declares here,
return until I rest. Oh my soul, for the Lord hath
dealt bountifully with thee. Look at that. Return unto thy
rest, O my soul. Who's our rest? Who's the rest
of every single believer? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
our Sabbath. He's our rest. And it says, return
unto thy rest, O my soul. We wander off, don't we? We get
doing things on our own strength, and the scripture tells us, return
unto thy rest. Just keep going back to Christ.
Return unto the rest of your soul. For the Lord hath dealt
bountifully with thee. Oh my, how he has dealt bountifully
for us. All spiritual blessings are in
Christ for we who are the believer. All our sins are forgiven, washed
in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, clothed in
his perfect spotless righteousness. and not a drop of God's wrath
will fall upon us because it fell upon Christ in our place. I ask you then, you who are born
again blood-washed child of God, has the Lord not dealt bountifully
with you? Oh, we say amen and amen. Now one may ask, how is the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ provided for? Every individual believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ has all spiritual blessings in Christ. individual believer has all spiritual
blessings in Christ, in the Lord Jesus Christ. All the promises
of God are what? Yay and amen. Christ. Therefore all the promises of
God apply to the believer in Christ. Now that would make your
heart sing. For every individual believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ all the blessings of God are secured
to us all through the everlasting covenant through the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's Jesus Christ our Lord
who ratified the everlasting covenant with the shedding of
his precious, precious blood. Turn, if you would, to Hebrews
chapter nine, with the shedding of his precious blood. We'll
see this wonderful truth brought forth. And rejoice, child of
God, you have all you need and all you will ever need in Jesus
Christ our Lord. All you will ever need. and all
you do need is found in Christ. Look at this in Hebrews 9, verses
11 to 17. But Christ being come and high
priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, verse 11, not made with hands, that is to say, not
of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves,
but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place,
having obtained, oh, praise God, having obtained eternal redemption
for us. He purchased eternal redemption
for us with the shedding of his precious, precious blood. For
if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of an heifer, sprinkling
the unclean sanctified to the purifying of the flesh, how much
more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit
offered himself, look at this, without spot to God. He offered
himself up at Calvary's cross without spot before God. Perfect,
sinless, spotless. Oh, my. purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God and notice notice
that the blood of goats and calves there they can't take away sin
we know that but the blood of Christ is the only thing that
can take away our sin put away our sin before God and then look
at verse 15 and for this cause he is the mediator of the new
testament that by the means of death for the redemption of the
transgressions that were Under the first testament, they which
are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the
death of the testator. So Christ had to die. He had
to die to ratify the everlasting covenant, to shed his precious
blood for the redemption of his people, to obtain eternal redemption
for his people. His blood had to be shed, beloved.
Again, for where a testament is, there must also have a necessity
be the death of a testator. For a testament is a force after
men are dead. Otherwise it is of no strength
at all while the testator live it. Christ had to die. He came
to this world knowing that he had to die for his people. Knowing,
that was his whole mission, beloved, was to live the perfect life,
to fulfill God's law in our place, and then to die the sacrificial
lamb of God on Calvary's cross to ratify the everlasting covenant
with his precious, precious blood. And this is not the blood of
just anybody. This is the blood of the God-man, beloved. This
is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the blood of
God incarnate in the flesh. my seed of the woman the scripture
declares him we get our sin from our daddies don't we we get our
sin nature from our dad but he is the seed of the woman my oh
my he is perfect he's sinless he's spotless beloved he's conceived
of the holy spirit of god god prepared a body for him the Word
of God, the second person of the Trinity. He became flesh
and dwelt among us. Oh, glory, glory, glory. This
is wondrous. This is wondrous, beloved. So
these precious truths of all the blessings we have in Christ,
salvation from our sins, redemption by his precious blood, sanctification,
justification, eternal security, an eternal hiding place, these
precious truths will make the people of God very happy, joyful. No wonder Moses said in verse
29, happy art thou, O Israel, who, look what he writes, happy
art thou, O Israel, who is like unto thee, O people saved by
the Lord. No wonder he penned those words.
Now let us consider the words in verse 27 of this chapter. After looking at some of those
nuggets that were just cast within that passage, let's look now
and consider these words in verse 27. The eternal God is thy refuge,
and underneath are the everlasting arms. Now, do you remember when
you were little, when you were scared or when you had hurt yourself,
that your mom or your dad would take you into their arms and
tell you, everything's gonna be okay. Everything's gonna be
okay. Do you remember the comfort that this bought to your soul?
We may have a tear streaming down our face and they'd wipe
away our tears and tell us it's going to be OK. You're going
to be all right. And what comfort we felt just
from those words. Oh, what comfort this bought
to our hearts when this occurred. And do you remember when you
got older and had children and how they would snuggle into your
arms and when they were scared or hurt and how you would say
the same words to them that your mom and dad said to you? It's
OK, sweetie. Daddy has you now. or mama has
you now, you're going to be okay. As a father or mother, you did
this because you love your children. You wanted to comfort them. You
wanted to take away their fear. Now think of this on a far larger
scale, beloved of God. Our text proclaims here that
the eternal God is thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting
harms. Now we sought refuge, didn't
we, in our parents' arms. That's what we were seeking.
We were seeking rescue or comfort or refuge within our parents'
arms. And our children sought refuge
in our arms. But rejoice, child of God, the
eternal God, Jehovah, is your refuge. And underneath you, wrapped
around you, are the everlasting arms of God. God's arms are arms
where the embrace can never be broken because they are the everlasting
arms of God. They can never be broken. That
embrace can never be broken, beloved. Here is an arm that
can never be broken. These arms, they are arms of
he who upholds all things by the word of his name. And we
who are the people of God are secured in his arms by his almighty
power, embraced in the arms of our great God who lovingly upholds
us, who lovingly upholds us by his everlasting arms, which are
full of all power and might. Again, let's read it again. Thy,
the eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting
arms, Deuteronomy 33, 27. So what a beautiful figure we
have bought forth here before we who are the people of God.
We know that we lack the strength to keep ourselves, but rejoice,
weak and weary, pilgrim of the Lord. Rejoice, weak and weary,
Christian, brother and sister in Christ. You and I have the
everlasting arms of God upholding us. Caringness to all things
in this life. These embracing arms, they are
the arms. of the everlasting God. Brother
John and I were talking yesterday about today's message and he
brought forth that the arms of God which uphold us are the same
everlasting arms that reached out and pulled Peter up when
he was sinking after walking on the water. Remember he got
his eyes off Christ and he started to sink. Well these same everlasting
arms that hold you and I are the same everlasting arms that
reach down and pull Peter up. Oh my, beloved, beloved of God,
these everlasting arms are the same everlasting arms which pull
us up when we fall, when the waters and trials and tribulations
of life are about to overwhelm us. It is He who lifts us up,
beloved, out of those waters. And it is the everlasting arms
of God which embrace us and are underneath us, upholding us during
all times and keeping us in the way and again these everlasting
arms are arms of protection as a father puts his arms around
his child or a mother puts their arms around their child when
they are in danger so God protects his children when trials and
tribulations on every side come and they come fast don't they
and a lot of times they come unexpected know that the everlasting
God has us in his arms even while we're going through the trial
and tribulation Even when we think we're far away from God,
He's ever with us, ever watching over us, ever keeping us. And
life comes fast with various perils. And we who are the sheep
of God, we need much protection, don't we? We need much protection.
Behold the Great Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate
in the flesh. It is He who upholds us in His
everlasting arms. My, what a savior we have. Also
think of the love which is manifest in these verses here before us. What love is bought forth. What
affection God has for his children, for his people. The father's
arms around the child means love. Our parents used to lovingly
embrace us when they would tell us everything's going to be okay.
That's why we felt safe. And the father's arms around
the child means love. The child is held in his bosom,
right? Near the heart, just as Christ,
he was laying down, John laid his head upon the bosom of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Oh my, what a savior, what comfort
we can glean from this. Behold, the shepherd gathers
the lambs with his arms. and carries them in his bosom."
Again, what a preacher of God embracing his children with his
arms. This proclaims the love that
he has for them. And this also tells of the intimacy
and closeness of our relation to our great God. We've been
reconciled to our God through Christ and Christ alone. It's
Christ who purchased us with his precious blood. It's Christ
who carries us and upholds us. He does that for every single
one of his born-again, blood-washed children, beloved. So what a
tender truth is brought forth here before us. In times of danger
and suffering, the mother or father carries the child in their
arms. They take the child up when they
are fallen and hurt. they comfort them by unfolding
their loving arms around them when they are sick they nuzzle
them into their bosom so what a picture we have here then of
the constant care and tenderness of our great heavenly father
for his children no matter what we're going through pain tribulation
trials no matter what we go through all the constant care and tenderness
of our great heavenly father this is one of the blessings
of suffering it causes us what does What does suffering cause
us to do? It causes us to lay our head
upon Christ, doesn't it? It causes us to lay our head
upon Christ. I remember a dear sister telling
me one time that she was thankful for the cancer which the Lord
had given her because it drew her closer to Christ. That was
Sister Marge. And she said, it drew me closer
to Christ, Brother Wayne. My, oh my, that's grace. That's
grace given to a believer. My, so contrast how a mother
and father's arm may be holding us in embrace, but they eventually
become frail, don't they? But that love that they have
for you makes it strong still. But think of this, the strong
arm of the Lord Jesus Christ, the strong arm of God is all
powerful. It will never become frail. And
think of this, the very one who holds us in his arms, is the
very one who supports the world and this divine arm of God encircles
every one of his feeble children and all the power of the universe
cannot tear it away from them. Now how that truth is comforting
to God's people is comforting to us isn't it? The eternal God
is thy refuge the scripture declares and underneath are the everlasting
arms. Turn, if you would, to Isaiah
26. Isaiah 26. Oh, our scripture says, the eternal
God is our refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms, all
powerful arms, beloved. His arms are all powerful arms,
secure arms, protecting arms. They're the everlasting arms
of God. And this is where believers find
comfort. This is where believers find
comfort and joy. Consider these words in Isaiah
in light of our text today. Isaiah 26, verses one to four. In that day, in the gospel day,
shall this song be sung in the land of Judah. We have a strong
city. Salvation will God appoint for
walls and bulwarks. "'Open ye the gates that the
righteous nation, "'which keepeth the truth, may enter in. "'Thou
shalt keep him in perfect peace, "'whose mind is stayed on thee,
"'because he trusts in thee.'" And that's who we're to trust
in is Christ, right? No matter what goes on in this world. Look
at verse four, "'Trust ye in the Lord forever, "'for the Lord
Jehovah, the self-existent one, "'is everlasting strength.'"
Oh, those everlasting arms wrapped around his people. Oh my goodness. So the truth of the all-powerful
arms of God upholding us is bought forth in verse 4 there in Isaiah
26. Trust ye in the Lord forever
for the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. Oh what power here. The arms, the everlasting arms
of God can never be broken. They can never be unclasped from
beneath God's people. We can never be torn away from
His grace. And remember the words of our
Lord in the Gospel of John when He proclaims that no man can
pluck us out of the Father's hand and no man can pluck us
out of His hands. Why? Because His hands are the
everlasting hands of God. And we see that this truth is
being brought forth both in Deuteronomy 33 and there in Isaiah 26. Think
also of the endurance of the everlasting
arms of God, embracing us and upholding us. Arms of our loved
ones, they grow weary as they age, even in love's embrace,
but the arms of our great God are everlasting arms. They shall
never grow weary. and we are embraced with the
everlasting arms of God. Beloved, I ask you, is this not
the highest blessedness of divine affection and care that God has
for his people? Here is an embrace that knows
no separation. Think of that. Here's an embrace
that knows no separation. We are embraced by our great
God while we are here on earth, and we will see him face to face
in glory. Oh my, knows no separation, never
unclass. You know, an embrace of a loved
one, if they're dying, it'll unclass. But our God, he is eternal
and he ever watches over us. And think of this blessed word
here underneath. A story is told of a father who
tried to save his child in the waves, clasping his arms around
his beloved son. But his arms were too weak, and
the child slipped from them and sank away into the deep, dark
waters and perished. Beloved of God, the arms of God
are underneath his children and none can sink out of his embrace. None can slip out of his embrace. And his arms are always underneath
people of God. Now the waves of life and the
waves of sorrow are very, very deep, aren't they? Very, very
deep, but still and forever underneath the deepest floods of life are
the everlasting arms of God upholding we who are his people. Human
friendships may be stripped away and we may stand alone in our
sorrows, yet we are never alone, beloved, because underneath us
are the everlasting arms of God. God remains and God suffices
at all times abundantly for his people. when death comes and
at will for every believer, when all our earthly things fade away,
when every hand unclasps from ours, and when every face of
love fades from our eyes, and we sink away into what seems
like darkness, beloved of God, rejoice as we are embraced in
the everlasting arms of God. for the born again blood-washed
child of God departing from this world is to depart from earth's
weariness, to depart from earth's pain, to depart from earth's
sorrow, to depart from our sinfulness, and to be forever in the presence
of our great God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let the truth of
these scriptures that we looked at today just flood into your
souls. You who are the beloved of God,
God, the eternal God, is your refuge and mine. And his everlasting
arms are underneath us. So what joy this will bring to
the people of God, it will cause us to rest in Christ, won't it?
With a deeper, trustful settling down upon him and upon his atoning
work, just to totally rest in Christ. And if we do this when
we are troubled, if we do this when we are tried, we will find
a well of strength outside of ourselves that we can continuously
draw from. And that well is the Lord Jesus
Christ. We will find that when we are
in Saul, we can rejoice because of Christ. When we are in temptation,
we will find that we have victory in Christ, in Christ alone, in
life, in all the things of life. If we draw from this well, the
well of the Lord Jesus Christ, oh, we will find that in life
we will find strength in knowing that the everlasting arms of
God are underneath us and upholding us at all times, and he will
never, never, never leave his people, nor forsake us, never. Oh, what peace that can bring
the child of God. There'll be times of sorrow and
times of tears, we know that. But oh, underneath, to know that
underneath us, upholding us, are the everlasting arms of God.
Oh my, what peace we can have. God himself has ordained that
each believer in Christ is chosen from their generation. Let us
consider this lastly, that God is the father of his people and
we are a chosen generation. As God the father chose his people
in Christ before the foundation of the world. And God himself
has ordained every believer in Christ to be of the chosen in
each generation. And he did this in eternity.
So it has nothing to do with us. We are but receivers of this
mercy and grace. Receivers and rejoiced beloved
of God, we are purchased by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We are born again by the power
of the Holy Spirit of God and we've been given faith to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. And we shall dwell in safety
if we are in the everlasting arms of God. We dwell in safety
amidst all the things that go on in this world. We dwell in
safety in the everlasting arms of our great God. Oh my, Moses
told the children of Israel that they dwell in safety. And they're
a picture of the church, beloved. We dwell safely in the everlasting
arms of God. Rejoice, the scriptures declare
that our God will thrust out our enemy from before us, and
will say, destroy them. Rejoice, beloved of God, the
eternal, everlasting arms of our great God are underneath
us, and God himself is our refuge. Jehovah, the self-existent one,
is our refuge. And underneath are the everlasting
arms of God, upholding us and keeping us. Praise his mighty
name, amen.