Let us turn to God's Word in
Psalm 46 and verse 1. Psalm 46 verse 1. God is our refuge and
strength, a very present help in trouble. God is our refuge
and strength, a very present help in trouble. The well-known psalm was of course
a great favourite, as you're probably aware, with Martin Luther. In fact, his well-known hymn,
Ein Festerberg, is in many ways a paraphrase of this psalm. And we're told how he was wont,
on occasions, to turn to his great friend, Philip Melanchthon,
when Melanchthon was in a low place. cast down, fearful, and
Luther would say, come, Philip, let us sing Psalm 46. Doubtless they would sing it
in that version of Luther's, I confess to that. Well, I want
us tonight to, for a short while, just consider the opening verse
of this great Psalm, where we see that God himself is the refuge
of his people. in fact God is really the antitype
of those cities of refuge that we were reading of just now in
Numbers chapter 35 and there at verse 9 following and as God
is the refuge so he is also the strength and the help of his
people and been struck for some time really with what we have
in the second clause of this verse and the beauty really of
our authorized version we see here something of the strength
of what is being said in the Hebrew Bible we see that God
is not just a help nor is he simply a present help but he
is a very present help in time of need. There's certainly an
emphasis there, and Dr. Gill in his commentary makes
the point that the Hebrew has the idea of exceedingly. And
that's really the theme I want to take up tonight, the exceeding
help of God, the exceeding help of God as the refuge of his people
and I want us to consider it in terms simply of those cities
of refuge that we read of and also in terms of the city of
God that the psalmist goes on to speak of here in verses 4
and 5 he speaks of the river the river the streams whereof
he says shall make glad the city of God the holy place of the
tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst of her. She
shall not be moved. God shall help her. And that's
right early. And there, of course, in verse
5, we have this emphasis upon the help that God affords. He is not slow to help his needy
and his fearful people. But first of all, to consider
our text in terms of the city's of refuge that we were reading
of there, and the reason, the purpose why those cities were
appointed in Israel. We read how the Lord God, speaking
unto Moses, says, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say
unto them, When ye become overdrawn into the land of Canaan, then
ye shall appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you that
the slayer may flee thither which killeth any person at unawares
the person who by accident we might say is responsible
for the death of another person an unintentional killing and
there were to be six of these cities we see there in verses
13 and 14 six on either side of the river Jordan because that
was the lands that they came into the possession of when eventually
God brought them through the wilderness wanderings and settled
them in that land of promise and we're told subsequently there
with regards to how this whole business was to stand as they
appointed these various cities it says at verse 22 that if a
man thrust another suddenly without enmity or have cast upon him
anything without laying of weight, and so forth, but the congregation
were to judge between the slayer and the revenger of blood according
to these judgments. And if the person was found to
have been someone who had done this deed merely by accident,
it was unintentional, Verse 25, The congregation shall deliver
the slayer out of the hand of the revenger of blood, and the
congregation shall restore him to the city of refuge whither
he was fled, and he shall abide in it unto the death of the high
priest which was anointed with the holy oil. And there we learn
something really with regards to this provision. He was to
remain in this city of refuge until the death of that particular
high priest. Should he venture out, previous
to the high priest dying, well the revenger could kill him and
not be held responsible, not be guilty of blood, because he
should have remained in that city of refuge. But when the
high priest died, then that person was free to return to his own
dwelling. And in that, surely we see an
association with the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He is the Great
High Priest. He is the one anointed with oil. He is the Christ. He is that one who is a priest
forever, after the order of Melchizedek. Remember the language that we
have there in Hebrews, time and again concerning the priestly
office of the Lord Jesus. Hebrews 7.24, This man, because
he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Christ is there as
that one who is the refuge for every sinner, for all manner
of sinners. God is our refuge. and strength,
a very present help in trouble we read here in the text before
us tonight. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
one of refuge for all who are oppressed with the burden of
their sins those who feel themselves to be debtors to God's holy law,
how they constantly fall short of what God commands, they're
bowed down by temptations, and then the accusations of Satan,
how he is such a subtle foe, he comes one minute to lay his
snares and to draw the sinner out of the way and when the sinner
falls, how quickly he turns and accuses them before God accuses
them in their own consciences. Well, the believer then is often
oppressed also by the strength of persecutions that sometimes
come upon him. And we see time and again in
the book of Psalms these references to God as the refuge of his people. Psalm 9 and verse 9, the Lord
also will be a refuge, he says, for the oppressed. A refuge in
times of trouble. How the believer feels to need
to run to that place of refuge from all his troubles, from all
the assaults of Satan, from all those who would seek to trouble
him and to persecute him. And where does he run? He runs
into the name of the Lord. The name of the Lord is a strong
tower. The righteous runneth into it
and he saves, says the wise man in the book of Proverbs. And
what is the name of the Lord? Well, thou shalt call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. What
a wondrous place of refuge is that then that is laid up. And
as I said, those cities of refuge They direct us to the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is the case, is it not,
with what we read here in the Old Testament. All those things
that happened to the children of Israel, they're in samples
to us. They're written for our admonition,
upon whom the ends of the world are come. And look at the language
that we find in example, for example there, in Psalm 25, Verse 4, Thou hast been a strength
to the poor, it says, a strength to the needy in his distress,
a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat when the blast
of the terrible ones is as a storm against the war. Oh God is here
and he makes provision for the needy He has granted that place
of refuge in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble. Besides this allusion, as it
were, to those cities of refuge, there is also what he's spoken
of subsequently with regards to the city of God. there in verses 4 and 5 the city
of God the holy places of the tabernacles of the Most High
whilst there were those six cities of refuge there was one particular
city that God chose above all the cities there in the promised
land it was that fortress that David took from the Jebusites
the hill Zion. Jerusalem built upon those two
hills of Zion and Moriah. And now in another psalm, Psalm
132, we're told, For the Lord hath chosen Zion, and he hath
desired it for his habitation. This is my rest for forever. Here will I dwell, for I have
desired it, says the Lord God. And this is the city that is
being spoken of, not just cities of refuge, but that that is in
a peculiar fashion the city of God. And what do we read concerning
this city? Well, there is a river. The streams
whereof, it says, shall make glad the city of God. We have the river, singular,
and we have the streams, plural, and this reminds us of God himself,
the Trinity, in unity, the three persons in one God, and it is
this God that is really the refuge of his people. And who is this
God? He is God the Father, he is God
the Son, he is God the Holy Ghost, that great mystery. The first
and the greatest of all mysteries, of course, is the very doctrine
of God. There is a second mystery like
unto it, which is the great mystery of the incarnation, God manifest
in the flesh. But the first of all mysteries,
surely, is the very being of God. Colossians 2, to the mystery
of God, the Holy Ghost, and of the Father, and of Christ. And believers, of course, are
baptized in that name. Singular. The name of God is
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost. And as I say,
this is that place where the child of God finds refuge, and
strength, and help. And now here in verse 4 we have
this imagery of a river and the streams. And to say something
for a while just about the streams, the three persons. Think of God
the Father, and think of that that streams to us by the goodness
and the mercy and the grace of God the Father. How Jeremiah
rebukes the children of Israel of his day for their folly, he
speaks to them as the mouthpiece of God, whatever the message
of the prophets, thus and thus saith the Lord. And thou, there
in Jeremiah 2.13, my people have committed two evils. They have
forsaken me, the fountains of living water, and hewn to themselves
cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. The only place
where we can find refreshment and help is in God. And what a contrast we have here
in the psalm between this stately river and the ragings of the
sea. Here at the beginning of verse
4 there is a river. But what did we read previously?
verses 2 and 3, Therefore will not we fear, though the earth
be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of
the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though
the mountains shake with the swelling thereof, Selah, there
is a river. And you see each side of that
Selah which seems to be some sort of musical direction, it's
reckoned, it's some sort of pause that would come in as they were
using the Psalms there in the temple in the worship of God.
But to us it's significant, we should pause at the scene, we
should stop and consider, and we need to consider the contrast
that is being drawn each side of that word. Previously we have
the roarings of the sea, the troubled waters, and then this
stately river, the streams whereof are making glad the city of God."
What are the waters? What are the waters? Well, we
find the answer in the New Testament. There in Revelation 17, 15, we
read these words, "...the waters are peoples, and multitudes,
and nations, and tongues. So much of the imagery that we
have in the Old Testament, as you know, is taken up there by
John in the book of the Revelation, those things that are shown him. And we have a key, therefore,
where we can unlock what this Shemotah 3 is all about. it's all those who set themselves
against God and oppose Him again Isaiah tells us the wicked are
like the troubled sea when he cannot rest whose waters cast
up mire and dirt there is no peace saith my God to the wicked
evils are all about but there is God the stately river as it
were. There is God and there is the
purpose of God. That purpose must stand. That
eternal purpose must have its accomplishment. It will be fulfilled.
Nothing can frustrate the works of God. Verse 8, Come, behold
the works of the Lord. What desolations He hath made
in the earth! He maketh wars to cease unto
the end of the earth. He breaketh the bow and cutteth
the spear in thunder He burneth the chariot in the fire Be still
and know that I am God I will be exalted among the heathen
I will be exalted in the earth Here is where the child of God finds his refuge
in the sovereignty of God and we see that sovereignty of course
in the electing love of God the Father All that great purpose
of salvation, that great decree that God has made. The wise man
again tells us there are many devices in a man's heart, nevertheless
the counsel of the Lord that shall stand. Our God is in the
heavens. He has done whatsoever He pleased,
we read in another psalm. This is where we find our refuge
then, in the absolute sovereignty of God. Nothing takes Him by
surprise. And even amidst all the confusions
of men, God is working out His own gracious purpose. And He
assures us all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to His purpose. And even such
a great ancient emperor as Nebuchadnezzar was humbled to confess the God
of Israel to be the true God there in Daniel 4.35 all the
inhabitants of the earth he says are refuted as nothing and he
doeth according to his will among the armies of heaven and the
inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say
to him what doest thou or the folly of those children of Israel
two evils they forsook the fountains of living water and they were
hewing to themselves broken cisterns that could hold no water what
can we do for ourselves? we are completely and utterly
dependent upon this great God He is our refuge, He is our strength
He is our very present help in trouble a river, the streams,
the streams whereof. There's not just one stream,
there's not just that that streams, as it were, from God the Father,
but what of God the Son? Again, that statement that we find in the
prophecy of Isaiah, Isaiah full of the Lord Jesus Christ, An
Old Testament gospel really. He says, With joy shall ye draw
water out of the wells of salvation. All what the fullness there is
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not just a well of salvation,
but wells, wells of salvation. And we think of the Lord's own
words in the course of His ministry. John 4, 14, Whosoever drinketh
of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. but the
water that I shall give him shall be in him, a well of water springing
up unto everlasting life." Well, there's a well of salvation. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a river, the streams
whereof shall make glad the city of God. We read, it's there in the city of God,
it's there where God is to be worshipped Manzion first the
tabernacle then the temple and we think of the the vision that
Ezekiel has there in Ezekiel 47 and you can you can read those
words through the opening words of the Ezekiel chapter 47, but
I just direct you to the fact that there we have waters issuing
forth from the temple of the Lord. And initially the water
is to the ankles it says, but then it grows deeper and deeper,
it's to the knees, it's to the loins, and then it's waters to
swimming. And then subsequently we're told
something of the significance of these waters that have issued
forth from the temple. Verse 9 of that 47th chapter,
It shall come to pass that everything that liveth, which moveth with
us, whoever the rivers shall come, shall live. And there shall
be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall
come desert. For they shall be healed, and
everything shall live whither the river cometh. Verse 12, By
the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side
shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither
shall the fruit thereof be consumed. It shall bring forth new fruit
according to his months, because their waters are issued out of
the sanctuary, and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and
the leaf thereof for medicine. And what is it all speaking of
this vision of the waters issuing forth from the temple, it's a
gospel picture. And again, not surprisingly,
it's taken up, isn't it? There, right at the end of Scripture,
in the very last chapter of the book of the Revelation. And He
showed me a pure river of water of life, says John, clear as
crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. in the midst of the street of
it and on either side of the river was there the tree of life
which bear twelve manner of fruits and yielded a fruit every month
and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."
John is clearly being shown something that is rooted in what we have
there in Ezekiel 47. We see it time and again, as
I've said, in the book of Revelation. We go back into the Old Testament
to see what this imagery is, and there in the Revelation we
have the key to unlock so much of what we find back in the Old
Testament. But it's Christ, and it's all
that fullness of salvation that is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh, the river, the waters thereof, for the streams thereof which
make glad the city of God." What a fullness in Christ, wells of
salvation. He pleased the Father, we're
taught, that in Him should all fullness dwell. For in Him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He is God and He is man. He is the God-man. And there's
such an infinity of fullness in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
of His fullness, John says, of all we received. And graceful
grace. All where sin abounds, grace
does so much more abound. God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble. Streams have come from the Father,
and from the Son, and also from God the Holy Ghost." And again, the ministry of the
Lord Jesus, does He not direct us to that truth? John 7 and
verse 38, Christ says, "...he that believeth on me, as the
Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water." And then There's a little parenthesis that follows, isn't
there? A bracketed verse, verse 39, which explains what the Lord
is speaking of. This spake he of the Spirit,
says John, which they that believe on him should receive, because
the Spirit was not yet come, because Jesus was not yet glorified. There was to be such a coming
of the Spirit after Christ had completed His great work when He had finished all that
the Father had given to Him in the eternal covenant when He
made that great sin-atoning sacrifice, His obedience unto death, even
the death of the cross how the Father raises Him from the dead,
how He ascends on high, He has entered into the high courts
of heaven and he sheds abroad the Holy Ghost there on the day
of Pentecost. Oh, the Spirit was there in the
Old Testament, of course he was. David knew that. How he cries
out in his great Penitential Psalm 51, Take not thy Holy Spirit
from me. He felt he had grieved the Spirit
of God. The Spirit is there in the Old Testament, as Christ
time and again is there in the Old Testament. but there was
a fullness of time when God sent forth his Son and subsequently there is a time
when God sends forth the Spirit the day of Pentecost and that's
what's being spoken of there in John 7.38 those rivers of
living water He that believeth on me, as the
scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. That's the ministry of the Holy
Spirit, when he comes as the Spirit of Christ. All Christ
says, verily, verily, except a man be born of water and of
the Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God. What is it that
God does by that gracious ministry of the Spirit, even in the new
birth? Titus 3, 5, according to His
mercy He saved us, it says, by the washing of regeneration.
The washing of regeneration. The renewing of the Holy Ghost.
Oh, it is the Spirit who must make all that Christ has done
a blessed reality in the soul of the sinner. Where are we?
What are we? Except we know that blessed,
that gracious ministry of God. the Holy Ghost when he comes
as the Spirit of the Lord Jesus and he washes away the blindness
from our eyes and washes away all the deafness from our ears
he is that one who comes and reveals Christ to the sinner
and then we see God God is our refuge and strength a very present
help in trouble or therefore will not we fear or whatever calamities whatever
difficulties so the earth be removed though the mountains
be carried into the midst of the sea if God is our refuge
and our strength and our help the believers only refuge then
is in the triune God the Lord the Lord and that's surely what
we See, time and again when we see that blessed name here in
the Old Testament, and we see it so many times in the book
of Psalms, LORD, spelled with capital letters here in our Authorized
Version, it's Jehovah. It's the God of the covenant.
All that eternal covenant of the grace of God, that great
purpose of salvation. Psalm 37 and verse 39, The salvation
of the righteous, it says, is of the Lord, of Jehovah. He is their strength in the time
of trouble. Whatever trials, troubles, tribulations
come, God is our refuge and strength. And then, these words that I
mentioned at the beginning, And the force of what is being said
here with regards to God's help is not just a help or a present
help. He is a very present help in time of trouble. Oh the Lord
grant us that grace then to be such as are looking to him and
trusting in him and encouraging ourselves in the Lord our God
just as dear Luther would encourage Melanchthon in the midst of all
his fears in the singing of this blessed psalm. May the Lord be
pleased to bless his word to us. Amen. Let us now sing the hymn 303,
the tune Aberystwyth, 510. Jesus, lover of my soul, let
me to thy bosom fly, While the raging billows roll, while the
tempest still is high. Hide me, O my Saviour, hide,
till the storm of life is past, Safe into the haven guide, O
receive my soul at last, Other refuge have I none. hangs my
helpless soul on thee. Leave me not alone, still support
and comfort me. All my trust on thee is stayed,
all my help from thee I bring. Cover my defenseless head with
the shadow of thy wing. 303, Tune 510.