I invite your attention to Psalm
91, the 91st Psalm. My text will be found in verses 14 and 16. And my subject is seven promises
from God to believers in Jesus Christ. But let me first say that I am
so blessed to be here. I recall my first time here. your Easter conference, 1984.
And I believe that's 34 years ago. And a lot of us were a whole lot younger
then, were we not? But it's a blessing to be here
with you again this night and appreciate all your kindnesses
to me and my wife and to the ministry the Lord has given unto
us there in the Virgin Islands. Our text is Psalm 91, verse number
14, 15, and 16. In these words, because or for
this reason, he has set his love upon me. This is Jehovah speaking. Therefore, I will. I want you to be looking at the
I wills. There are seven of them here.
It's stated six times and one is implied. I will deliver him. I will set him on high or exalt
him because he has known my name. He shall call upon me and I will,
third time, deliver him, answer him. Fourth, I will be with him
in time of trouble. Fifth, I will deliver him and
honor him. Sixth, with long life, I will
satisfy him and the seventh, I will show him my salvation. I will. I love it when God says, I will. How many times do we hear men
say, I will? Or how many times do we hear
men say, God will if I will to let him. God will save me if I will to
let him. God will bless me if I will let
him. Now that's the language of fools,
my friends, to tell God he cannot do his will unless you're willing
to let your will be done and let him do so. Jehovah does not seek your permission
to do what he endeavors to do. I will. None will withstand me. None will aid me. None will stop
me. I will. I love it when God says,
I will do something, and he says it to his people. I love that.
Seven promises. Psalm 91, observe that The author
is not identified at the beginning of the psalm. Usually, the author
is identified. But among our ancient Jewish
forefathers, there was a rule of thumb that was used in the
psalms that stated that if a psalm is not identified with regard
to the writer, it was written by the one who wrote the psalm
preceding it. If that be the case, Psalm 90
was written by Moses, and we would assume that he also wrote
Psalm number 91. Moses wrote this psalm evidently,
the man of God. And I want you to note that this
psalm may be divided into these divisions regarding the believer
in God. First, consider his state. Look in verse 1. He who dwells,
he who lives, he who abides in the secret place of the Most
High, that would be to dwell in Jehovah's heart and in his
bosom and in himself. He shall abide under the shadow
of the Almighty. That is the state of the believer. Second, consider the believer's
confession, verse two. I will say of Jehovah, he is
my refuge and my fortress. He is my God and him I will trust. That's my confession. It's all
about what he is. Third, consider the believer's
safety. In verses three through eight,
surely he shall deliver you. from the snare of the fowler
or the trapper of birds. And he shall deliver you from
the perilous pestilence. He shall, I love this, when God
says, I will, and then believers are convinced, he shall, he shall
do this. He shall cover you with his feathers. And under his wings, you shall
take refuge. His truth shall be your shield
and buckler. The shield here was a large shield. The buckler was a smaller shield. And God uses both. He's got both
of them. You shall not be afraid of the
terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by
day. nor of the pestilence that walks
in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. That is such good news. In the
middle of the day, when you can see all around you, bear this
in mind. God's watching over you. When
you lay your head upon your pillow tonight, and you've gone to sleep,
and you're perhaps completely unaware of all that is going
on around you, he is not unaware. He's watching. The same God who
watches over you when you can see what is around you is the
same God who watches over you when you cannot see around you. Consider furthermore, the believers'
protectors in verses 9 through 13. Actually, I need to continue
on with his safety to believers in verse 7. A thousand may fall
at your side, and 10,000 may fall at your right hand, but
it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you
look and see the reward of the wicked. God preserves his children,
does he not? Watches over them by day and
by night. Their enemies fall all around
them, and the Lord tells his people, just continue to stand.
I'm watching over you. Now we come to consider, in verses
9 through 13, the believers' protectors because, or for this
reason, Because you have made Jehovah who is my refuge, assuming
this is Moses saying this, I made him my refuge. And since you
have made him your habitation, your living place, the place
where you dwell, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague
come near your dwelling because He shall give his angels charge
over you to keep you in all your ways. Are you aware of that? That there
are angels around you right now? No, you're not aware of that.
You had to be told that. You would not have known had
you not here read it, but it's here. Are not his angels ministering
spirits sent to minister to the heirs of salvation? And the Lord
sends his angels down to watch over his children. Angels carried
Lazarus to Abraham's bosom when he died, and they were watching
over him the whole time he was there at the rich man's gate.
Angels watching over us. He'll give his angels charge
over you. He charges them. with our protection
and with our safety. They shall bear you up. They
shall lift you up in their hands, lest you dash your foot against
the stone. What stone? Well, sometimes the
devil puts rocks in your pathway. Did you ever notice when you
stub your toe how the rest of your body aches? You never noticed how many times
you touched that toe during the day until you do. You hit it
once real hard and for the rest of the day, I just did not know
my toe came in contact with so many things during the day. Now
it hurts every time. Well, the Lord's going to give
his angels charge to say that when the devil puts his stones
in front of you, you do not trip over them or they are there to
protect you against the stone of offense and stone of stumbling
that is put in the way of unbelievers. His angels lift you up and carry
you over it. You shall tread upon the lion,
the lion. Do you not know that your adversary
is an angry, roaring lion seeking whom he may devour? Well, these
angels are gonna let you tread upon him. Paul writes in Romans
chapter 16 God shall tread Satan under your
feet shortly. Jesus stomped Satan's head on
Calvary, and then he says, aren't you children, come along. I'm
going to let you walk on him too. You shall tread upon the
lion and the cobra, the venomous serpent of old. And the young
lion, I suppose that would be the demons and the rest of Satan's
minions in false religion. and the serpent you shall trample
them under your feet because the Lord gives his people
victory. Now we come to the promises in
verses 14 through 16. We're going to consider them
directly, but I want you to see furthermore that these promises
from God are given for a threefold reasons. Three reasons why God
gives these blessings. First, He gives them to those
who love him. He loves God. Observe that. For
God says, because he has said his love on me. Now I'm going
to do something for him. That's the first reason. He said
his love on me. Here is the one who has obeyed
the first commandment to love Jehovah with all your heart and
soul and mind and strength. He loves Jehovah with every fiber
of his being and Jehovah says, And because you did so, I'm going
to bless you. Second, he knows God. For God
says, because he has known my name. Now, what is God's name? Well, they say some, his name
is Jehovah, and it's Aaronai, and it's Elohim, and many names. But that's not what it means.
That's not what it means. The policeman says, stop in the
name of the law. He's not telling you that the
law has a name. Rather, the name of the law is
the law. The name of the law is the law
itself. The name of Jehovah is Jehovah
himself. The name of Jehovah is a strong
tower. The righteous run into it and
are safe. Jehovah's name is a strong tower. The righteous run into him and
they're safe. His name is himself. He knows
my name. He knows who I am. If you know
who Jehovah is, he's got some blessings for you. And third,
He blesses his people because they beseech him. He says, because
he calls upon me, I'll do something for him. Believers in God look
to him alone for help. Do not look to anyone else. Do
not look to your pastor. He cannot even help himself.
Do not look to me. I cannot help myself. Do not
look to the church. It never saved anyone. Do not look to a sacrament, a
baptism, an ordinance. They are of no avail for the
salvation of your soul. None. Look to him. He alone can save you. These believers in God are believers
in Jesus Christ. He's not named by that name in
this text, but this passage is all about him. Jesus Christ is God. His name
is Emmanuel, meaning God with us. If Jesus is with you, God
is with you because Jesus is God. Jehovah said, when I send
him, you shall call him by his name Jehovah our righteousness. That's what Jehovah said to call
him. Jehovah said to call Jesus Christ Jehovah our righteousness. Jehovah said that Jesus Christ
is Jehovah. That suits me if he says so. It must be true. Furthermore. God called Jesus
Christ God. The father said of him, your
throne, oh God, is forever and ever. Now, if the father calls
Jesus Christ God, I'm not arguing. I'm going to believe it. I accept
what that says. God calls Jesus Christ God, and
there's only one God. And Jehovah is God and Jesus
Christ is God. Now to explain that, don't have
to, because I do not know that, I do not think I can. But I believe
it, because it says so. We confess Jesus Christ as the
mighty God, Isaiah 9, verse 6. The eternal father, Isaiah 9,
verse 6. The eternally blessed God, Romans
9, verse 5. Our great God and savior, Jesus
Christ, Titus 2, 13. The true God and eternal life,
verse John 5, 20. My Lord and my God, John 20,
28. I mean, throughout the scriptures, we're told Jesus Christ is God
by so many people. We testify that in the person
of Jesus Christ, God was manifested in the flesh and that in him
dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Now, folks, the point I make
here is that When God makes these promises, he does it in the person
of Jesus Christ. This is Jesus Christ speaking
to his people in this passage. Seven promises. Now, seven is
a number of completion, as in the seven days of creation. Seven churches of Asia Minor
signify the entire church of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This means that God is saying,
I'm going to bless you perfectly and completely with a sevenfold
blessing. What are they? First, verse 14,
I will deliver him. That's the first thing Jehovah
says he will do. Now notice that he also says
in verse 15, I will deliver him. He says it twice, however, The Hebrew word for deliver in
14 is not the same word translated deliver in verse 15. Two different
words. That signifies to us that God
delivers his people many, many times and in different ways and
from all kinds of circumstances. Matters not what the circumstance
is. If you need deliverance, he'll deliver you. He delivers
us from Satan's snare, verse three, from perilous pestilences,
in verse three. He delivers us from wicked men.
He delivers us from doctrinal errors and sinful practices.
He delivers us. We read in Psalm 18, verse 19,
that Jesus delivers believers because he delights in them. I delight in them, therefore
I will deliver them. I marveled that Jesus Christ
could delight in anyone in this world. I marvel at that. And particularly that he should
delight in me. Why should he delight in me?
But he does. And he says, because I delight
in you, I will deliver you. We read in Psalm 60 verse 5 that
he delivers with his right hand, the hand of authority, and the
hand of might and strength. We read in Psalm 60 verse four
that Jesus delivers believers for his mercy's sake. He does it because he's merciful
and not because they deserve it. And furthermore, Jesus delivers
believers as the angel of Jehovah who encamps around all those
who fear him and delivers them, Psalm 34 verse seven. Now watch
this. There are angels around us guarding
us. He shall give his angels a charge
over thee, but there is one angel that is always encamped around
us, the angel of Jehovah. He's encamped around God's people,
and therefore, I feel rather safe. Not only are his angels
there to minister to my needs, but Jesus Christ himself has
encircled me as the angel of Jehovah and delivers me from
my troubles. I delight in that. I delight
in that. I will deliver him. That's why
we call him Jesus. He's the deliverer. Second promise,
I will set him on high. Believers have been set on high
in two different ways. First, they are set on high through
being set on Jesus Christ. God has set us on his son and
set us in his son, and there is no place higher than Jesus
Christ. The scriptures declare that he
is higher than the heavens, Hebrews 7 verse 26. If I am on him who is higher
than the heavens, there's no one higher than me. No one higher. Jesus has been exalted by God
the Father, far above all principality and power and might and dominion
and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also
in that which is to come. I have been set on high. In Christ, I am higher than the
President of the United States of America. I am higher than
the leader of the United Nations. I'm higher than all the leaders
of the world put together because I'm in Christ and he's above
them all. And furthermore, We have been
set on high through the Father's love to us in our regeneration. But God, who is rich in mercy
because of his great love with which he loved us, consider great
love, great love. Even when we were dead in trespasses,
that took a lot of love. That took more love than any
of us can fathom. That God would love us when we
were stinking dead sinners in the maggot holes and piles of
excrement of our sin. God loved us then. That took
a whole lot of love, folks. Great love. He made us alive
together with Christ and raised us up and made us sit together
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Do you want to know where
I am right now? Right now, I am standing behind
a pulpit in Fairmont, West Virginia, and I am also at God's throne
seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus at the same time. There's no one higher than that,
folks. No mortal higher than that. We have been set on high. in Jesus Christ. Third blessing,
I will answer him. Verse 15, when he shall call
upon me. Jesus Christ does what no man
made God can do. The psalmist says they have ears,
but they do not hear. They have mouths, but they do
not speak. Go ahead. Cry out to your God. He won't hear. Tell him to speak. He cannot. It's impossible. But here we have a God who answers
us even before we call upon him. His ears are never shut. His
mouth is never shut. He says, you shall call, and
I will answer. You shall cry, and I will say,
here I am. More than that, before they call. Do you realize that many times
you have asked for a blessing and the blessing was on its way
before you even prayed for it? The Lord put that prayer in your
heart and had you to pray it. But before he did so, he had
the answer already coming. He was sending the blessing before
you even asked for it. Lord, I need, I know what you
need, it's right there besides you right now. I've already sent
it, there it is. There he is. I delight in that. I delight
in knowing that he will answer me regardless
of how far I am from him. The first time I cried unto him,
I was as far from him as I could be estranged from God. He heard
me, and he was there. He was there immediately. Matters not how far you are from
him geographically. He's going to hear me tonight
in Fairmont, West Virginia. Two nights from now, he's going
to hear me in Ewing, New Jersey. A couple of days after that, he's
going to hear me in Rocky Mount, Virginia. In a few days afterward, he's
going to hear me on St. Croix, Virgin Islands. Matters
not where I am. He says, just wherever you are,
go ahead and cry. I'll hear you. I'll hear you.
That's good to know, is it not? Fourth, I will be with him in
trouble, verse 15. We acknowledge this when we sing
that blessed hymn, How Firm a Foundation, Ye Saints of the Lord. comes
from the text of Isaiah 41 verse 10. Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your
God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I
will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous
right hand. And then if you'll look at that
hymn, Have Firm a Foundation, you'll
note that every verse begins with a quotation mark. There's
a reason for that. Every verse. begins with a quotation
mark because every verse in that hymn is taken from a verse in
the prophecy of Isaiah. You know that verse that says,
when through the deep waters I call thee to go, the rivers
of sorrow shall not thee overflow? Jehovah said that in Isaiah 43
verse two. He says, when you pass through
the deep waters of obstacles, you're not drowned in them. Look at Israel. Coming to the
Red Sea. They can't go that way because
that's the mountain. Can't go forward, that's a sea.
Can't go behind them, that's Pharaoh coming. They're caught.
They're caught. Oh, Lord, what shall we do? Well,
let's cry out unto him. And the Lord said, stand back
and see my salvation. And the Lord opened the Red Sea,
and every Israelite walked across on dry ground, and no one of
them was drowned. Their enemy was drowned, but
they were not. He brought them to the border of the promised
land, and he did it He arranged that when they reached
the banks of the Jordan, it would be flooded. The Lord timed the flood to occur
at the very moment they reached the Jordan River. What shall
we do now? We'll just step into the water. We'll drown. It's flood season. We'll drown. I said, step into
the water. And when their feet came down
to touch the water, there was no water. It was dry ground.
They walked across on dry ground. Now listen, folks. If he has
done that for others, don't you suppose he can do it for you?
Do you reckon? Do you suppose that in the waters
of your troubles, he can deliver you? I will deliver you. There
is a verse that says, when through fire trials thy pathway shall
lie, my grace all sufficient shall be thy supply. That comes
from Isaiah 43, verse 2. When you pass through the fiery
trials of afflictions, Nebuchadnezzar says, Everyone
will bow to me when the musical instruments sound. Everyone bowed
except three Hebrew men who stood there, young men. They just stood.
And everyone's bowing. Oh, they're sticking out like
a sore thumb. Who are they? They're three Hebrews. Heat my furnace seven times hotter
than it has ever been heated before. They did. Throw them in. They went up to
the place where they were to be thrown in. And the men who
were to throw them in burned to a crisp. And the three Hebrew
children who believed in God landed on their feet down in
the flame and then There's somebody else in there
with him. We did not throw him in. Who is that? Looks like the
Son of Man. I believe it is. It is the Son
of Man. What's he doing? They're taking
a leisurely stroll inside Nebuchadnezzar's furnace of affliction and he
finally tells them to come out Jesus tells him, go ahead and
go. I've done my work. I've delivered you. I'm going
home now. So he went home, and the three Hebrew children walked
out, and you could not even smell smoke on their clothes. Their
beards were still intact. Their clothes were not singed. Do you suppose he can do that
for you? Do you suppose that There are furnaces of affliction
that you must go through, and do you suppose that he can do
for you what he did for the three Hebrew children? I reckon he
can. I reckon he can. He said he would. I'm going to believe him. There's a verse in that hymn
that says, even down to old age, all my people shall prove my
sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love. And when hoary hares shall
their temples adorn like lambs, they shall still in my bosom
be born, even down to gray hares. Now, I'm looking out at some
folks I've known for many years. I'm seeing a lot of hoary hares
heads tonight, gray hares, a lot of them. And I'm seeing some folk who
look like you're getting to be rather feeble in your elderly
years. Do you remember when you first
became a child of God and you were one of the Lord's lambs
and you could not keep up with the shepherd? Remember how he
would pick you up and carry you when you were a wee small lamb?
Remember how the Lord carried you? And then when you got to
the place where you could walk, he let you down, and you followed
him. And now some of you are getting
to be very, very old, and you can't keep up with him anymore.
Now what do you reckon he'll do? Do you suppose he'll just
walk off and leave you? No. The same shepherd that picked
you up when you were a lamb and carried you in his bosom will
look back and say, what's the matter? Lord, I can't keep up.
My legs are feeble. I can't walk. I can't keep up.
Well, don't you worry about it. I carried you when you were a
lamb, and I can carry you now. And he'll pick you up and carry
you. Even down to old age, all my people shall prove. They shall still in my bosom
be born. I'm so glad that when I'm unable
to walk with him, he picks me up and carries me. There's a
verse that says the soul that on Jesus has been set. I'll never, no,
never, no, never forget. That comes from Isaiah 41, 17. Well, we find that our Emmanuel
is always God with us. He says, I will never leave you
nor forsake you. How many times have I wondered
from him, prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it. I'm so glad he's never
prone to leave me. He says, I will deliver you.
I'll never forsake you. And when I come to the end of
my pilgrimage and I'm looking into that valley of the shadow
of death, when I see all the uncertainty of what is beyond,
he comes and stands beside me and says, let's go. You just
lean on me. I will lead you through. And
yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Even as I walk through
death, he's going to walk with me. He said, I will never leave
you. And as he walks through that
valley, the shadow of death with me, I'm going to remind him,
Lord, you said you would never leave me, and you kept your word.
Here you are. Let's walk through. Fifth, I
will honor him. They who honor God will be honored
by him. How are we honored? Many ways,
but here's one. Behold, what manner of love the
Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children
of God. Behold! You realize, what an
honor! One of the greatest honors the
Lord ever let me have in this earthly life was to be the son
of Ernest and Louise Parks, my parents. They loved Christ. They loved
the gospel. They led me to Christ. My father
was the first preacher of the gospel I ever heard. And my mother
prayed with us. That was an honor to be their
child. It's an even greater honor to be the child of God. He adopted
me. When I was unlovely, unlovable,
and unloving, he adopted me. Oh, what love. I have been honored,
folks. We who are believers, we are
honored. We are God's children. He says,
I'll make you heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. What's Jesus Christ going to
inherit? Everything. What am I going to
inherit? Everything. Because whatever
he inherits, I inherit. I'm a joint heir with him and
an heir of God. It's all mine, folks. We who
are believers, all ours. Look around you. Everything God
has made, and particularly in the new creation, it's ours.
It's ours. Sixth, the blessing. I will satisfy
him with long life. Verse 16. One may live a long
life on earth but find no satisfaction in it. We read in one place that the
wicked shall be chased out of the earth because they don't
want to go. They're still trying to find
something to satisfy them. Many people come to the end of
their life and they die defeated and dejected because happiness
has eluded them all the way. God says, not so with my children.
I shall satisfy him with long life. How long is it? It's endless. It's eternal. It never ends. My body will die,
but my soul will not. My life is hidden Christ. I'm
going to live forever, folks, forever. Think of that. As long
as Christ is alive, I shall live because he is my life. He's living
forever. He is the eternal God. Number seven and last, I will
show him my salvation, verse 16. Notice, he does not say,
I will show you your savior. He does not say that, though
he does. He does show us our Savior. He says, I will show
you my salvation. And it just so happens that my
Savior and his salvation are one and the same. There's an old man named Simeon
living in Jerusalem. And he's been faithful to the
Lord for many years. And the Lord said, Simeon, I've
got a special blessing for you. You will not die until you have
seen Messiah. You're going to see him. Now
Simeon knows that when Messiah comes, he must be circumcised
and he must be presented in the temple. His mother must make
an offering. She must come to Jerusalem for that offering. So every day,
Simeon's there. Mothers are coming in to make
their offerings for their newborns. And he's looking at every child
that comes in. Mother, may I see your little
child? Yes, here, take a look. Cute little child. And he does
that. He's been there for days and
days. Finally, a young woman comes walking in. He says, Mother,
may I see your little child? Yes, and he looks into the face
of that little child and he says, Mother, may I hold your child? Yes, yes. baby Jesus in his arms and Simeon
looks at baby Jesus and then he says, Lord, you may now let
me come home because my eyes have seen your salvation, your
salvation. He's looking at his salvation.
Not only is Jesus his savior, Jesus is Jehovah's salvation. and therefore my salvation. I
will show him my salvation. He does it by showing unto us
Jesus Christ. And God does so to all believers
today. For Jehovah has made bare his
holy arm in the eyes of all the nations. And all the ends of
the earth shall see the salvation of our God. His name is Jesus. And every one of us tonight,
if we are believers, we can look to heaven and say, father, you
may now let your servant come home. For my eyes have seen your
salvation. I'm ready to go home. I've seen
all I need to see. If I see nothing else, I do not
need to see it. I've seen Jesus Christ. I have
seen Jehovah's salvation and my savior. Lord, I'm ready to
go home. I'm ready to go home. These blessings,
they everyone belong to believers in God. I'm saying to you that
if you love God, If you know God, and if you beseech God in
the person of Jesus Christ, every one of these blessings belongs
to you. And if you've never believed
on him before, do so now. Do not walk out that door without
believing in him, trusting in him. Because they who refuse to believe
receive none of these blessings and all of God's curses. And
I hope that will be the lot of none of you.