We're going to open this morning's
service with, we always want to sing this when Joy comes,
because we both love this hymn. And it's a treat for her to come
and play piano for us. So hopefully she'll come back
with Delphus in July. So we'll see her again there.
Anyway, let's all stand together. We'll sing hymn number 21 from
your spiral hymn book, number 21, The Covenant, Ordered and
Sure. God the Father and the Son and
the Spirit, three in one. In eternal ages past, made a
covenant sure and fast. God my father chose his own in
the person of his son and ordained that I should be one with him
eternally. God the Son agreed to come in
the flesh to bring me home. He would keep God's holy law
and retrieve me from the fall. Christ in love so willingly stood
as my great surety. For my price he offered blood. to appease the wrath of God. God the Spirit, heavenly dove,
promised to come down in love, bringing life and peace and grace
to the chosen, purchased race. He seeks the lost, heals the
lame, And He brings us to the Lamb. By His mighty Sovereign
called, God's elect are gathered all. ? This poor sinner is secure
? For God's covenant will endure ? It is sealed by God's own word
? By his spirit and his blood ? Blessed holy covenant God I
am yours by ties of blood, ties of grace and ties of love. Hold me to my God above. Amen. Please be seated. I'm thankful for that, aren't
you? A covenant is a promise. And man's religion is based on his
promise to God. And the gospel is God's promise
to God. The Lord Jesus Christ promised
to do all that God required for his elect to be saved. And that
was in the covenant of grace before Adam was ever made. Oh,
what hope. That's why the scripture says
it is impossible for our God to lie. We're going to be in the book
of Mark this morning again, Mark chapter 8. And while you turn
there, remind you that Fred and Mary Jane are headed back to
Chicago. this week so we won't see them
for a few months. We love you guys and we're going
to miss you. Max and Katie Hanson have been
listening to our services online for years now and I've had the
privilege of corresponding with them. They live in Texas and
they're here this morning so we're happy that you all are
here. I don't know whether to announce.
I'll wait till the second hour to make some comments about the
Lord's table. We're going to celebrate the
Lord's table this morning, but we'll wait. Okay. All right.
Let's pray together. Our merciful heavenly father, we would not dare approach you
except to come in the name of thy dear son. Our Lord and our Savior, Jesus
Christ. We're so thankful that thy throne
is a throne of grace. And we have the hope of knowing
that that he truly is our surety as we've just sung that he has
accomplished everything that you require for the salvation
of your people. Lord, we confess to you that
we are unable to be discerning about anything spiritual. Lord,
we're so fleshly and so bound to this physical world. We completely depend upon you
for your Holy Spirit to open the eyes of our understanding.
To cause us to set our affections on things above where Christ
is seated at thy right hand. Lord, we're dependent upon you
to turn us from our fleshly ways and cause us, Lord, to have our
hope and our faith in thy son. We pray, Lord, that you would
open the mystery of the gospel to our hearts and reveal to us
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and give to us hope For it's in his name we ask it,
amen. Let me read this text first before
I introduce it. Mark chapter 8 beginning verse
1, in those days the multitude being very great and having nothing
to eat, Jesus calling his disciples unto him and said unto them, There was a multitude of people
that were hungry. Oh, that's our hope this morning,
isn't it? If we're hungry, spiritually hungry, that's a work of grace. The Lord's going to have to cause
that. We won't be hungry by ourselves. No man seeketh after God at any
time. We're just way too fleshly to
have any interest in spiritual things. So the Lord has to create
in us a hunger for Himself. I have compassion on the multitude,
verse two, because they have now been with me three days and
have nothing to eat. And if I send them away fasting
to their own houses, they will faint by the way, for divers
of them came from far. And his disciples answered him,
from whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in
the wilderness? Our souls can never be satisfied
by bread in this wilderness in which we live. The Lord's going
to have to do a miracle. He's going to have to make something
out of nothing in order to satisfy the thirst of our hearts. And
he asked them, how many loaves have ye? And they said seven.
And he commanded the people to sit down on the ground and he
took the seven loaves and gave them and break and gave to his
disciples to set before them and they did set them before
the people. And they had a few small fishes
and he blessed and commanded to set them also before them
so they did eat and were filled. Oh, that I hope this morning.
The Lord will cause us to see the wilderness that we live in
and create in us a hunger for himself and then fill us with
the bread of life. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
bread of life. He said, Moses did not give you
that bread that fell from heaven in the wilderness. My father
gave it to you. And then he went on to say, I
am. the bread of life. I am the bread
of life. If any man hunger, let him come
unto me. So they did eat and were filled,
and they took up the broken meat that was left, seven baskets. And they that had eaten were
about four thousand, and he sent them away. this multitude of people have
been with the Lord for three days they were far away from
their homes they were in a place where there was no food and uh... and and they didn't even they
didn't take notice of the fact that they weren't going to be
able to provide for themselves and now the Lord has compassion
on them and he turns to the disciples and says what are we going to
do for them how are we going to feed them and uh... Then he
did a work of grace in creating bread out of just a few loaves
and a few fishes. This is a gospel story, isn't
it? I've titled this message, There's Only One Safe Place. There's only one safe place to
be. How important is safety to you?
How important is it? If you've got a business or work
in a business where people could be possibly injured, I know what's
on the wall in your business. Big signs that say what? Safety
first, isn't it? That's pretty important, isn't
it? Somebody gets injured, it's going to mess up everything,
isn't it? Safety first. You know, I was
thinking that how much money we spend every year to safeguard
our existence. as far as the national budget
is concerned. And I thought about the TSA and
the FDA and the CDC and those are all designed, but then I
realized, you know what? The $4 trillion that we spend
a year, every bit of it really, every bit of it, military budget,
the safety nets of the entitlements, all $4 trillion that we spend
every year is really designed to provide for us safety. That's what it's about. How important
is safety to you? Last week, the fire marshal came
here and checked all of our exit lights and checked our fire extinguishers,
and he has the authority to shut us down and lock these doors
if this building wasn't safe. It's an important part of our
lives, isn't it? I could ask the women in our
congregation here, what is the most important thing to you in
your relationship with your husband? What do you need most from him?
And I hear a woman thinking, well, I wish he'd listen to me
better. And we ought to. We ought to. We're not real good
at that sometimes. I'll tell you the one thing that's
most important to a woman with her man is to feel safe. To feel safe. Everything else
can be worked on. But if a woman doesn't feel safe,
that's not going to work, is it? Not going to work. Safety. How important is it? We spend
a lot of time and a lot of treasure trying to secure for ourselves
safety. And yet with all these safety
nets, there are no absolute guarantees in this life that we'll be safe. Things happen, don't they? Things
happen. Is there any place, is there
any place that's guaranteed to be perfectly safe all the time? All the time. Now these people
had reason to be concerned, but in fact, they were safe. They
were safe. Why? Because there's only one
safe place to be. Only one safe place to be. And
that's to be in Christ. To be found in Him. not having
any righteousness of our own, which is by the law, but that
righteousness which is by the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's the only safe place to be. All the time and all the
energy and all the effort that we put into trying to create
for ourselves a safe environment, there's only one place that's
truly safe. Listen to what God says in Proverbs
18, verse 10. The name of the Lord is a strong
tower. The righteous runneth to it and
is safe. The righteous run to Christ and
they are safe. The fear of man bringeth a snare,
but whosoever put if his trust in the Lord shall be safe. Shall be safe. Paul said in Philippians chapter
3 sometimes we gospel preachers get accused of just beating the
same drum and the same sound all the time and they hurl those
accusations at us sometimes thinking that they're that they're going
to shame us but they don't realize that they're actually complimenting
us. And here's what Paul said in
Philippians chapter 3, finally brethren rejoice in the Lord
for to write the same thing to you to me is not grievous but
to you it is safe. It is safe. preaching the same
message, lifting the same Christ, the only place of safety that
there is. And then in Psalm chapter 4 verse
7, the scripture says, thou hast put gladness in my heart more
than the time when their corn and wine increaseth. Lord, you've
put a gladness in my heart that exceeds the gladness that the
unbeliever experiences when they're prosperous. I will both lay me
down in peace and sleep, for Lord, thou only, thou only hast
made me safe. When we close our eyes in death,
And we take that final breath, and it is appointed unto man
once to die. There's a specific moment in
time for each one of us to meet God. How are we gonna stand in
the presence of a holy God and be safe? Be safe. These people needed a safety
net, didn't they? They needed someone to provide
for them what they could not provide for themselves. They
were hungry and the Lord performed a miracle and fed them. Man by nature is not satisfied. He's not satisfied with the safety
net that God has provided in Christ. He's always looking for
something else. Turn with me to 1 Samuel chapter
12. 1 Samuel chapter 12. Samuel was the last of the judges. And the children of Israel came
to Samuel And said, we want to be like the other nations that
are around us. We want to have a king. We don't
feel safe. We need a figurehead to look
to for our safety. And the Lord said to Samuel,
he said, go tell them that I'm their king. And they continued
to insist. that they wanted a physical king. They wanted a man set on a throne
that they could look at to secure their safety. And so the Lord
said, okay, I'll give you what you want. And we know the rest
of that story, don't we? The Lord gave them Saul, worst
king. I mean, the things that happened
in Israel as a result of Saul's leadership, Here's the verse I want you to
see. Look at verse 11 in 1 Samuel chapter 12. And the Lord sent
Jerubbabel. That's another name for Samuel. I'm sorry, Jerubbabel is another
name for Gideon. And Bedan and Japheth and Samuel
and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every
side and you dwelled safe. God saying to his people, I gave
you, those were all, all those names that we just read were
names of judges. And the Lord saying, I provided
you with these judges to tell you the truth about who I am.
I was your king and you dwelled safely. I provided for you, but
you weren't satisfied. You had to have something more. The only hope that we have of
being truly safe is to be found in him. To be able to know that
when we stand in the presence of a holy God, we have a righteous
advocate who stands in our stead and presents himself on our behalf.
men want to to pretend that they're safe when they're not safe second
Thessalonians chapter 5 the scripture says and when they say peace
and safety then sudden destruction shall come upon them and they
shall not be delivered what does the false prophet say the false
prophet says peace peace when there is no peace The false prophet
says, just do your best and God will be satisfied. The false
prophet says, you know, you just be a good person. Make a decision. God will allow you into his presence. Peace and safety. And then sudden
destruction shall come upon them. Turn with me to Deuteronomy. chapter 33. There is only one safe place
to be. Only one safe place. Deuteronomy chapter 33, look
with me at verse 27. Well, we begin at verse 26. There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon
the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky. 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. Israel
then shall dwell in safety alone. Now, who is our enemy? Who is
our enemy? Well, as I've said many times
before, your enemy is sitting in the same seat you're sitting
in, isn't he? We really are our own worst enemies. And our sin
nature, our flesh, is so bound to this world. And the Lord says,
I'm going to cast out your enemy. I'm going to put an end to sin.
I'm going to satisfy the demands of God's justice for your sin.
I'm going to present myself on your behalf for all your righteousness. I'm going to fulfill the requirements
of the law. I'm going to cast out the enemy,
cast him out, and I'm going to deliver you so that sin shall
no longer have dominion over you. You say, well, how do I
know when sin had dominion over me? When sin had dominion over
you, it was impossible for you to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. You were blinded by that sin. You were dead in that sin. You were unable to hear the voice
of God because of sin. And the Lord said, you shall
no longer be under the dominion of sin. I'm going to break those
chains and I'm going to set you free. And I'm going to enable
you to believe on me. and so the Lord says here I'm
gonna I'm gonna cast out your enemy and you shall be you shall live in
safety alone look at verse 28 the fountain of Jacob shall be
upon a land of corn and wine also his heavens shall drop down
do now here's the promise of God to open the windows of heaven
and drop down into our hearts the Lord Jesus Christ, to speak
to our hearts the truth about Him, to reveal to us His glory. How did Isaiah say it? Oh God,
rend the heavens and come down. And what did John say in Revelation
when the Lord revealed Himself? He said that the heavens were
open. and I saw him sitting upon his throne. And what did Isaiah
say when he went to the temple that day? I saw the Lord high
and lifted up and his train filled the temple. The seraphims hovered
over him and cried holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts.
Here's the promise that God's making in Deuteronomy. I'm going
to open the windows of heaven and the dew of my grace is going
to come down. Verse 29, happy art thou, O Israel,
who is like unto thee? O people, saved by the Lord,
the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency? And thine enemies shall be found
liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread upon their high places. Now, who is the liar? Well, 2
Thessalonians chapter 2 says, because they had no love for
the truth. And the Lord Jesus Christ said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. So because men by nature
have no love for Christ, God shall send them a strong delusion
that they should believe the lie. What is the lie? The lie
is that I can earn favor with God by something I do, a decision
I make. a choice that I'm able to exercise,
a work that I perform. That's the lie. The lie is that
man has set himself up on the throne of God. And now the Lord
is saying to his people here in Deuteronomy chapter 33, you're
going to find them to be liars and thou shalt tread upon their
high places. you'll discern the truth about
how unable you are to get to heaven. You're unable to do it. If we're going to meet God, he's
going to have to come to us, isn't he? There's just absolutely
no way we can get to him. You know that's what Babylon's
all about, isn't it? That's what the Tower of Babel
was all about. And that's man-made religion. Babylon talk, isn't it? It's
babble, babble, babble. Remember last Sunday we saw that
man who had an impediment of speech and the Lord loosed his
tongue. He spit and touched his tongue
and loosed his tongue. You know how you can tell if
a person's got an impediment of speech when it comes to spiritual
things? Here's how they talk. I, I, I,
I, I, I made a decision. I did this. I came to Christ. I invited Jesus
into my heart. God says, I'm going to expose
those liars to you and you're going to be safe because you're
not going to be trusting yourself for your salvation. You're going
to be looking to the one who did it all and he did it all
by himself. Oh, what safety there is. Turn
with me to the book of Job, right before Psalms, Job chapter 5,
verse 7. Now remember, If you ask the
President of the United States what is the most important part
of your job, what's the primary objective of your job, I'll tell
you what he'll tell you. Keep Americans safe. And the entire four trillion
dollars that we spend every year is to try to avert trouble and
keep us safe, isn't it? And yet there is no permanent,
true, sure safety in all of that. In all of that. Look what God
says in Job chapter 5 at verse 7. Yet man is born unto trouble
as the sparks fly upward I would seek unto God, and unto God would
I commit my cause, which doeth great things and unsearchable,
marvelous things without number, who giveth rain upon the earth
and sendeth water upon the fields, to set up on high those that
be low, and that those which mourn shall be exalted to safety. to safety. Blessed are they who
are poor of spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed
are they which mourn. Now you say, well if I can just
develop a poor spirit then God will bless me. No, the poor spirit
is God's blessing. If I can just mourn enough then
God will bless me. No, being able to mourn over
your sin is the blessing. That is the blessing. That's
the work of grace in the heart. And that's what the Lord's saying
here. He said, those that mourn may be exalted, exalted to safety. He disappointed the devices of
the crafty so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. He taketh the wise in their own
craftiness and the counsel of the forward is carried headlong. They meet with darkness in the
daytime and grope in the noonday as in the night, but he saveth
the poor from the sword. Now, what is the sword that you
and I need to be saved from? It's the wrath of God's justice.
That's the sword we have to be saved from. What happened on
Calvary's cross? God sheathed the sword of his
justice in the heart of his own son. That's what he did. And the Lord Jesus Christ became
our, as the scripture says, propitiation. That means God's been made propitious.
There's no more wrath. There's no more fear of God's
justice. for those for whom Christ died. But he saves the poor, verse
15, from the sword, from their mouth and from the hand of the
mighty, so the poor hath hope and iniquity stoppeth her mouth. Does your iniquity stop your
mouth before God? Scripture says when the law comes,
God gave the law in order to shut the mouths of men. That's
what he came to do. That's what the law does. It
shuts our mouths. It causes us to realize we've
never ever one single time been able to satisfy one of the demands
of God's holy law. Let those who believe the lie
present themselves before God based on something they've done,
based on a decision they've made, a prayer they prayed, a work
that they performed. Our mouths are shut by the law
of God and we realize that everything we've ever done is iniquitous
in the sight of a holy God. We just, what is iniquity? Iniquity. It's that which is not equal. That's what iniquity means. Not
equal. What do you have in your life
produced by you that's equal to the holiness of God? God says
all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. What in
your life measures up to God's glory? You see everything about
us. It's amazing. Well, here's a
miracle of grace. If we ever see ourselves to be
sinners, that's God's work of grace in the heart. Because most
folks don't believe themselves to be sinners. Oh, they believe
themselves to have some sin. I've done some things that, you
know, sin is just a behavioral problem. I've got this and that
that I need to be forgiven for. But to understand that sin is
what we are. We do what we do because we are
what we are. We commit sins because we're
sinners. We're not sinners because we
commit sins. Let me say it again. We commit
sins because we're sinners. We don't become sinners because
we commit sins. A huge difference. Huge difference. Are you safe? We spend a lot of time and treasure
trying to secure our safety, don't we? Safety is very important
to us. How important is the safety of
your soul in the presence of a holy God? These people were
safe because though they were hungry, the disciples could find
nothing for them in the wilderness. The Lord Jesus Christ performed
a miracle and created something out of nothing And that's what
he does when he saves a sinner. He creates something out of nothing,
doesn't he? The Pharisees, what'd they say?
We'd be children of Abraham. What'd the Lord Jesus Christ
say to them? God can raise up children of Abraham from those
stones there on the ground. And that's exactly what he does,
isn't he? Every child of Abraham, every child of God was raised
up from a stone. A lifeless, cold, hard stone
was given life. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we're so very thankful that there is safety in Christ. Know how hopeful we are that
you would cause us to flee to Him our high tower, our righteousness,
and all our justification before thee, and be found safe. For it's in his name we pray,
amen.