All right, take your Bibles now
and turn with me to Psalm Psalm 46. Psalm chapter 46. Tonight, we'll
be looking at verses eight through verse 11. And I've titled this
message God's work of desolation and peace. God's work of desolation
and peace. Verse 8 says, come, behold the
works of the Lord. And here's the first one, what
desolations he hath made in the earth. That's the first work
that we are to consider tonight. The desolation that he hath made. And secondly, this work of peace. He maketh wars to cease unto
the end of the earth. He breaketh the bow and cutteth
the spear in sunder. He burneth the chariot in the
fire. This is his work of peace. And this third thing here is
this, an exhortation. As we consider the work of God's
desolation and the work of God's peace, He says this to us, Be
still. Stop working. Stop trying. Be still and know that I am God. Know this, I will be exalted
among the heathens. I will be exalted in the earth.
What a comfort that is, isn't it? You look around you, and
this world has no concern for God, no care, no love. They hate the gospel, they hate
His Christ, and yet God testifies to us, be still, it's alright. I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth.
Don't fret about that. Don't fret, because men don't
care or don't like me. Don't fret about that. I will
be exalted. The Lord of hosts, here's our
comfort, the Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is
our refuge. Now, as we have gone through
this psalm, I know I've done this, spaced it out quite a bit,
and I've not done it in succession, but we've covered this psalm
in past weeks. And as the psalmist sings this
song, he has this thought, this motive concerning the safety
of God's people. You who are in Jesus Christ,
this is the message of the psalm. You are safe. You're safe. You are safe because
you are in a refuge. He mentions this three times. In verse one, he says, look at
this in verse one, he says, God is our refuge. In verse seven,
he says, God is in the midst of, I'm sorry, verse seven, he
says, the Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. And in the last verse, he said,
the Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our Refuge
don't you think he's trying to get a point across? Lord words
the word of God says something once you pay attention It says
it three times in the same chapter. You might want to really consider
that. This is the point of the psalm
God is our refuge Christ is our refuge and we were by God's grace
put into Christ before the world began and And God has purposed
that we should be, He should be our surety. God has purposed
that He should be responsible for our salvation. Therefore,
all who are in Him are not to fear. You see that in verse 2,
He says, He says, Therefore, we will not
fear. We will not fear, no matter the
troubles, no matter if the earth is removed from under our feet.
Why? Because the earth is not our
foundation. The earth is not the foundation
for our souls. The rock of ages is the foundation
of our souls. The rock of ages is our refuge. And so, no matter what takes
place in this world, we will not fear. Though the waters roar,
no matter, this speaks of the world and their raging against
the gospel of Christ. No matter how the false religion
swells in its numbers, we will not fear. For there is,
in verse 4, a river. A river, the streams whereof
make glad the city of God. This river is the same as the
refuge. It's Christ. He is the river. And the streams of His mercy,
the streams of His salvation make the people of God glad. But even though these things
come to us, believers, we were chosen. You consider that. What
a wonderful blessing. You have been chosen of God.
You have been redeemed by the blood of Christ. You've been
called by the Spirit of God to receive this water of life freely. But because we were chosen, because
we were redeemed, we are not exempt from trouble, are we? We're not exempt from trouble.
We're not exempt from the hatred of the world. We're not exempt
from the temptations of sin of the old man. We're not exempt
from the warfare that rages within our own breast. But let this be our solace, let
this be our comfort, even as we drink from this eternal stream
of His blood. You know, when John said this,
He cleanseth us. I like that, don't you? Because that's a constant cleansing,
perpetual cleansing. You know that's what I need?
I don't need a one time, I need a constant stream of cleansing. That's what this river of water
speaks of, this stream that makes glad the city of God. This is
the stream of His blood that cleanses us from our sins. And our God not only made provisions
for our salvation, He not only purposed it, He not only purchased
it, but He comes to every one of His elect and He applies this
truth. And therefore you read in verse
5, God is in the midst of her. God is in the midst of her. May
God be pleased to show us this blessed truth that everyone who
is called of God, everyone who believes on Lord Jesus Christ,
you know this, that the Holy Spirit resides in you. I'm not talking a mythical thing. This is a very real thing. You
have a real body. It is in this real body that
the Spirit of God resides. Paul says that in 1 Corinthians
6, 19, he says what? What? Know you not that the body
is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you? Don't you know
that? He was surprised he didn't know
that. Which you have of God and you
are not your own. Don't you know that? You were bought with a price.
Therefore glorify God, listen, in your body and in your spirit,
which are God's. Why? Because God is abiding in
us. God is in the midst of us. Tonight,
Christ does walk through the church. Wherever the gospel is
preached, wherever two or three are gathered together, the Lord
Jesus Christ is really in our midst. But there's something more close
than that. It is the spirit of God that
dwells in us. Dwells in us. He is in the midst
of us. Therefore, here's the result.
Verse five, she shall not be moved. In this safety, in this
comforting, you shall not be moved. How often do you think
you're going to be moved? Daily we doubt daily we fear
surely. I'll be moved Surely my circumstances
are way too far gone, and I'm going to be moved no She shall
not be moved why God is in the midst of her. She shall not be
moved Everyone born again of the Spirit
of God will endure in faith and none of them shall perish But
every one of them shall inherit the kingdom that God has prepared
for them John 10, 28, I give unto them
eternal life. And they shall never perish.
Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Every believer
knows and feels that if left to ourselves, could you keep
yourself? This is the difference between a believer and someone
who's just religious. Religious people believe they
can keep themselves. If they just determine hard enough. If they just follow the religious
exercises, if they just do this and stop doing this, they are
able to keep themselves. What believers know is this,
we could not put ourselves in Christ and we cannot keep ourselves
in Christ. This is a work of God. Peter
tells us that, that this is the work of God, that you are kept,
kept. By the power of God, what does
it take to keep a man believing in Christ until the end? What
kind of power does it take? Scripture tells me the power
of God. The power of God. You are kept by the power of
God unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the last time. Friends, we worship a God that
We don't carry our God, our God carries us. Matter of fact, in
Isaiah 46, this is a great I love this. He he's talking about Baal
and Nebo. And he said, look, you know,
these big old gods, they were so huge, they carried around on
these big carts and the animals that carry them, these big ox
and these they carried around. And pretty soon the ox just fell
down. They were too heavy. They had
to be carried wherever they went. And God says the difference between
a false god and the true God is, look, you carry a false god. But the true God carries you.
The true God carries you. He said, Baal and Nebo bow, they
stoop. Their idols were upon beasts
and upon cattle and on carriages heavy laden. They are burdened
and weary the beasts. They stoop and bow down together.
They could not deliver the burden but themselves have gone into
captivity. Where are these false gods that
these men worship? They are gone. Gone. Hearken to me, house of Jacob,
and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are born by
me, carried by me. From the belly. When were you
carried by God? At what point were you not carried
by God? Have you considered that? At what point have you not been
carried by God? He said, I carried you from the belly. I carried
you from the womb. Even to old age I am He. Even to whore hairs will I carry
you. I have made and I will bear and
I will carry and I will deliver you. See the difference? See
the difference? She shall not be moved. Why?
Godís carrying me. Godís carrying me. Godís in the
midst of us. And lay this to heart. when all
your world crumbles, when all we hold dear in this life is
taken from us, when all the joys are turned to sorrows, when all
our sins rage within us, overwhelm us, when Satan's hordes ride
hard to accuse us and seek to remove us from Christ. Listen
to this, nothing can separate you from the love of God that's
in Christ Jesus. Nothing. You get down to it. Nothing is going to separate
you from him. That's what the text is telling us there. He
says you shall not be moved. I tell you this, we feel like
we're moved, but what does that have to do with anything? Not
a thing. Not a thing. Nothing can separate
us from Christ. And then let us find rest. Let
us find rest. God shall help thee and that
right early. God shall help thee and that
right early. We are safe in Christ. And in verse 11 again he tells
us we're, why? Because we're in a refuge. We're
in a refuge. That's why we're safe. That's
why we're not going to be moved. We're in a refuge. I like this hymn. Storms may
surround me. Tempests may roar. Doubts may
assail me and knock at my door. Nothing shall move me from Jesus'
side. Harbored in Jesus. Wonderful
guide. Nothing shall move us. And so
now we come to verse 8. Now we come to verse 8. And the
Lord, our refuge here, He is the river of our salvation. The
Holy Spirit dwells in us. And now the Spirit of God calls
us to something. He calls us to something. He
says, come, draw near. Come here. Come here, you that
are in the refuge, you that have the streams of salvation, you
who have the Spirit of God dwelling in you, come here, come here,
and I want you to see something. You know what he told Daniel?
We read that at the beginning, Daniel chapter 9. He said, I
came to show you something. I'm going to show you something.
The Spirit of God wants to show you something here. He's telling
you, come here, come and behold what? Listen, the works of the
Lord. The works of the Lord. Now, surely we can look at the
physical works of God toward the nation of Israel. This in
its origination was written to the nation of Israel. And we
can look to the physical works of God toward the nation of Israel.
We can see His wonderful deliverances, we can see His compassion, we
can see His chastening hand, we can see... But what is Israel
really? Israel is only a type of the
church. It's only a picture of the church. And so then the Spirit of God
has really one intent, always. If you ever get to a past scripture
and you don't know what's going on, listen to this. The Spirit
of God has written this. He moved men of old to write
what is written here. What was His intent throughout
the whole writing of this book? One intent. to testify of Jesus
Christ. When Christ came into the world,
he says, search the scriptures. I don't don't you think those
those self-righteous Jesus search the scriptures? That's all I've
done. I've searched the scriptures.
He said, well, you missed it. You search the scripture, but
you missed the whole point. Search the scriptures in them.
You think you have eternal life. But they are they that testify
of me, this book, has one theme, Jesus Christ and His work of
salvation. That's the theme. That's the
theme of the whole book. The Spirit of God has one intent
and that is to show Christ. In John 15, He said, When the
Spirit shall come, He shall testify of me. John 16 and verse 13 and 14,
He says, Howbeit when the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide
you into all truth, for He shall not speak of Himself. You see
all these churches talking about the Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit,
Holy Spirit. Well, the Holy Spirit is not
glorifying Himself. You can just count them out.
Anybody that spends their time magnifying the Holy Spirit, is
not of God, because the Holy Spirit has a purpose. And He
said He shall not glorify Himself. Surely He is worthy of glory.
He is God as well as Christ. But yet, listen, He shall not
testify of Himself. But whatsoever you shall hear
and He shall speak, He will show unto you the things to come.
He shall glorify Me. That's the Spirit's work. So in our text, when the Spirit
says, Come, Behold the works of the Lord. What is he going
to testify of? He's going to testify of Christ. Testify of
Christ. The apostle says, looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. The author and
finisher of our faith. Who for the joy set before him
endured the cross. despising the shame is set down
at the right hand of God. 4. Consider Him. Now that's what
we're here to do tonight. Consider Him. Look to Him. And by doing so, the Spirit of
God directs us to two points. In order to testify of Jesus
Christ, what God does first is He shows forth His work of desolation
in our text. He says, Come Behold the works
of the Lord, what desolation he hath made in the earth. You
see, by this he's setting the stage. You know, you set up a
story, you've got to start from the beginning. You start where
you are. That's what God's going to do. He's going to show us
where man is. And then the second work he's
going to show us is a work of peace, a work of peace. First of all, let's see this
work of desolation. I looked up. I looked up wars,
you know, when I thought of desolation, because he's talking about warfare
in this text, because he's going to say he's going to break the
bow. He's desolation. This desolation means one of
war, you know, in. I read about the 30 years war. There was eight million people
killed in that war. What a desolation that was. World War I, 18 million people
died. In Mongolian wars, there were 60
million people that died. 60 million people died. In World War II, what a desolation
this was. 70 million people died in that
war. It's staggering to think about
that. What a desolation. But I'm going to tell you about
a warfare where there was a 100% casualty rate. That war was at the fall. That war of desolation. Behold
the ruin that God has made in the earth as a result of man's
sin. As a result of man's sin, there
is a 100% casualty rate. All died. All died. What a desolation God hath made
in the earth. When Adam was made, he was made
in the midst of paradise. Adam was made upright. The world
was not ruined. It was perfect in every way.
Consider this. Every tree grew fruit. We go out here and what if every
tree in this this whole I mean, you got pine trees now, pine
trees in Texas are horrible. Nobody wants a pine tree. Now
they had those pine needles that fall down every year in the big
pine cones. But consider one day that that tree actually produced
fruit. Every tree produced fruit. There
were no troubles. There was no death, no separation
from God or man. He walked in harmony and peace
with God. But one day, when our father
Adam saw that Eve had sinned, when he saw that our mother had
sinned, it is then rebellion stirred in the heart of Adam,
and in open rebellion, willing rebellion, fully knowing what
he was doing. Adam, knowing the consequences,
ate of that which God forbid him to eat. and behold the desolation
and ruin that fell upon all man. God justly and rightly brought
desolation because of sin. Thorns infested the ground, few
trees now bear fruit. There's only toil and trouble
and sorrow in the earth. And see, this is not limited
to just the poor or peasants, but kings and princes are not
exempt from these troubles and sorrows. We are all prone to
sicknesses, disease, suffering, pain, tears, sorrow, and death. But the greater ruin that God
hath made upon the earth is not physical, it's spiritual. The
desolation that God hath wrought is spiritual death in the hearts
of men. Who killed Adam? Adam sinned,
but who did the desolation? Who did it? God killed him. God killed him. In the day thou
eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. And he did. He died spiritually. So ruined is the heart of man
Scripture says wherefore as by one man sin entered in the world
You know Satan was a sinner, and he was in the world, but
Satan didn't bring sin into the world Adam did By one man's sin
entered into the world, and the result, death by sin, so death
passed. Desolation passed upon all men. Consider the work of God in desolation. His work of desolation in the
earth. And so ruined is the heart of
man, listen, that every thought, imagination of the thought of
the heart of man is evil continually. How ruined is this? That man,
that even before it becomes a thought, it's already sin. Your best thought of God, of
Christ, If it's held in the light of God's holy perfection is nothing
but sin. So ruined is man. Listen, in Ecclesiastes nine
in verse three, it says there's an evil among all things that
is done under the sun, that there is one event unto all. What what happens to every one
of us? What are we what we all going to have in common? Death. We're all going to die. There's
one thing that happens to us all. It is a calamity that has
been brought into this world, and it is death. And in spite
of this desolation, listen, he says, yea, also the heart of
the sons of men are full of evil. And madness. Madness is in their
heart while they live. And they go, and after that they
go to the dead. Madness! Isn't it madness to
war against God? Isn't it madness to rebel against
your maker? To shake your fist in the face
of God and say, I will not have that man to rule over me! It's
madness! It's insanity! Yet this is in the heart of us
all. Have you felt this desolation? Do you know of this desolation
within your own heart? Your ruined nature? That all
we do is sin? That all we are is sin? From
the sole of our foot to the crown of our head, there is no soundness. Do you know that? I'm not talking
about a theology. You know, there's a lot of people
know a lot about total depravity. You may know every scripture
of total depravity. You may be able to prove it.
You can write a thesis on it. You can do it. Do you know you're
depraved? Have you experienced the desolation
that God hath wrought in yourself? If God is ever going to save
a man, He has to know this. He has to know that in himself
dwelleth no good thing. This is the just sentence of
God, in Adam all died. That man Adam was the best of
us and yet God made him a representative of all his race. Therefore, when
he sinned, God brought desolation upon us all. We who know of the desolation
of our nature. You who know the desolation of
your nature. Listen, you also know the hope. You know the hope. We who know the desolation of
our nature know also the hope of salvation, which is also the
work of God. This desolation that God has
brought in the earth because of sin, we also know that God
has brought another work. Another work. A work of peace, a work of hope.
The desolation of God upon the earth testifies to us of the
holiness of God, that man, if man is to be accepted, he must
be as holy as God is. But that's not possible by works,
is it? Isn't that what you found? It's
not possible to go to God by your works. By our will or determination
or religious exercise. It was by sin we were ruined
and in our hearts there was a flame of rebellion. The natural man. Scripture says concerning the
natural man. Over in Romans chapter. Eight. In verse seven, he says,
because the carnal mind is enmity against God, carnal minds at
warfare. This is because of the desolation.
There's a warfare. that it can, for it is not subject
to the law of God, neither indeed can be. But behold, the greater
work of God is not the work of desolation. It's the work of
peace. It's the work of peace. Before the world began, God purposed
a work of peace. Before there was desolation,
there was a covenant of peace. God had chosen a people. God
had purposed that these elect people should have peace with
Him. But was this our experience when
we came into the world? You that have peace with God
now, you that know your desolation, you know this peace that I'm
speaking of. This is not how it began, right? We were born
just like everyone else. We were in desolation just like
everyone else. In Lamentations chapter 2 and
verse 1 it says, How hath the Lord covered the daughter of
Zion with a cloud of anger, and cast down from heaven unto the
earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool
in the day of his anger? In other words, Israel was cast
down like everyone else. We by nature were born dead in
sins like everyone else, but God promised to His people, to
Israel, that He would work not just a work of desolation, but
a work of peace. In Jeremiah chapter 30, God says
this of His people, He says, Thy bruise is incurable, thy
wound is grievous. You that know your desolation,
isn't this how God found you? With an incurable wound. incurable
wound. There was none to plead thy cause,
that thou mayest be bound up. There was no healing medicines.
All thy lovers had forgotten thee, they seek thee not. I have
wounded thee with the wound of an enemy. with the chastisement
of a cruel one, with the multitude of iniquity. Listen, because
thy sins were increased. Because of sin we were wounded
with an incurable wound. But in Jeremiah 30 verse 7 he
promises this to Israel. I will restore health unto thee. I will heal thy wound. The desolation
that God had caused the work of God. In desolation, God had
also swore to remedy that with a work of peace. Look back at
your text. He says, Consider the work what desolations God
has made in the earth. And now then he talks about peace.
He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth. See, it
was man It was man who sinned. It was
man who offended the justice of God. It was man who declared
war upon God. Therefore God in just judgment
made him desolate. Made him desolate. But God also
promised that He would make wars to cease. This war that rages
in the heart of man, this war between God and man, he promises
to make peace. And listen, the only way this
war between man and God should be made peace is only one way. By another representative man. This war was started by a representative
man. This desolation came by a representative
man. This desolation has covered the
whole face of the earth that every one of us were made and
born desolate. Therefore the only hope is that
God would send another man to represent us. A representative
man to restore peace. Peace. And listen, that man is
Jesus Christ. That man is Jesus Christ. Go
to 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians chapter five. 2 Corinthians chapter
five. And look at verse 18. Scripture says, and all things
are of God, who hath reconciled us, reconciled us. To Himself. Now how did He reconcile? In other words, this word reconciliation
means to bring together. Two parties are at war. Two parties
are in opposition. And here, this says, it's all
of God. All this reconciliation is going
to be of God. Paul says, it's all of God. Listen.
And this is how He did it. He reconciled us to Himself by
Jesus Christ. By Jesus Christ. This is the
only way peace could be made. And listen, He's given to us
the word of reconciliation to wit. To explain reconciliation, He's
given us this word of reconciliation. That's what I'm explaining to
you. To wit, that's what it's for. that God was in Christ reconciling
the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses to them. Now,
your trespasses, are they not really yours? You confess that your trespasses
are yours? You confess the guilt of your
trespasses. Yet, in spite of that being true,
God says, I'm not going to charge you with your trespasses. How's it going to do that? Well,
that's what Christ was doing. God was in Christ reconciling
the world to himself. He was doing it, not. Charging you with what was really
yours. He said that that's not going
to be yours. What did he do with it? What did he do with your
guilt? What did he do with your sin?
Had to do something with it. He couldn't be just and sweep
it under the rug. No. Look what He did with it. He
committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now we are ambassadors for Christ
as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's
stead be you reconciled to God. Now what's the grounds for your
reconciliation? Here. For he hath made him to
be sin for us. God made him a desolation. Consider he who knew no sin bore
our sin in his own body. God did not overlook or wink
at our sins. No. To reconcile us, sin had
to be punished. Therefore, He made Him to be
sin for us who knew no sin for this purpose, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in Him. Behold the work of Christ. It's a greater work than the
work of Adam. Adam's work, what did that bring?
Desolation. What did Christ's work bring?
It brought peace. He maketh wars to cease unto
the end of the earth. Do you realize that God made
peace by Christ before you knew it? You came into this world
a rebel. You were still at enmity against
God when you and I came in this world. Still, we were at enmity
against God. We were born that way. But peace
had already been made. We just didn't know it yet. Christ
made peace. He bore our sins. The wrath of
God was made to meet on Him. And in full measure, He endured
the wrath of God by Himself for us. For us. Holy Son of God endured the wrath
of God and suffered the just reward of our sin. So by doing
he made peace. In the midst of my difficult
troubles and trial. I do not often feel at peace
with God. Because of the old man of sin
that rages in me, often I feel that rebellion. I feel the flames
of rebellion still stirring in my soul. And often I think there
is no peace. But my hope is this, He made
peace. You hear that stupid saying,
make your peace with God. What moron came up with that? Anybody says that, they do not
know the word of God at all. Make your peace with God. You
fool. You can't make peace with God. My hope is this, Christ has made
peace. Colossians chapter 1 and verse
20 tells us He hath made peace by the blood of His cross. He has made peace. It is done! The great transaction is done. Our Lord, our representative
has restored all that our father Adam had lost. This peace was
not by our work, by our will or merits. It was by the blood
of Jesus Christ. And yet, I told you before, we
didn't know about this peace until he had. Raw peace in our
hearts. When God makes peace, God has
made peace by Christ long before we knew it. But for everyone,
he made peace, everyone he died for. He will come to them. And
He will make peace in the heart of that man. In other words,
to do that, God must put down the rebel. To make peace, God
must put down the rebel. You know what God's terms of
peace are? Absolute surrender. Absolute surrender. You know,
no man's going to do that except God come in and do it. And you
that have this, you know this, He did that. Listen to what He
said in Psalm 45 verse 3, He said, Gird upon thy sword, thy
thigh, thy sword, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty,
and thy majesty ride prosperously. Isn't that what Christ did? He
rode prosperously. because of truth and meekness
and righteousness, and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible
things. Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies,
whereby the people fall under thee. When God is made peace
by Christ, He's going to come and He's going to make peace
in the heart by striking you with His arrow. This Word of God will pierce
the heart of the sinner And that sinner will fall under Christ. Now what happened to you? I like that when Paul says, when
sin revived, I died. You died. What did you do? You fell under his feet. You
sought for mercy. We fall under his feet. He strikes
his people. in their state of unregeneracy,
by the means of His arrows fixed in them, and their hearts are
pricked and wounded, they submit to Him, they fall under Him,
acknowledge themselves to be sinners, and look to Him alone
for their salvation. And so as we consider the works
of God, We're to consider the desolation, we're to consider
the peace. He breaketh the bow. You know,
God used that bow to strike you down, but after it was done,
He broke it. He broke the bow. That spear
of His justice, cut in half, done. The chariots of His wrath
are no longer after you. He burned them. Where'd He do
that? He did that at the cross. And
he does that in our hearts. He does it in our hearts. In sweet grace, the cross came
to us in view, and we saw how God could be just and justify
the ungodly. And we fall under him. Now, look, go back to your text.
I'm gonna close with this. Look at this. And because of this peace that
he hath made, this is his exhortation now to you and me, who have believed
on him. This is our exhortation. Be still. Is that not one of the most difficult
things to do? Yet it requires no effort. To be still requires no work.
And yet why is it the most difficult thing for us to do? Be still. Know this, I'm God. You're not. I'm God. I'm the one that brought this
desolation and I'm the one that made peace. Now rest in Christ. Rest. You know what it is to
rest? I remember Donnie Bell preaching
this one time. Donnie Bell, he was a little bit more enthusiastic
at that time. He he come down the front front.
He said, I'm going to show you what is rest. He just laid down
the front view. He said, This is what it is to rest. Put all
your weight on Christ. Yes, be still. Stop trying to
earn it. And look to Christ. Look to Christ. Rest. Be still and know that I am God.
And know this. I will be exalted among the heathen.
I will be exalted in the earth. I know this. This world seems
as though evil is rampant. It seems as though that we've
lost. I mean, you look around, it just
kind of seems we've lost. No, we haven't. It's not lost
because God doesn't lose. He says this, I will be exalted
among the heathen. Weren't we among the heathen?
Do we not exalt him? You know what he's going to do?
He's going to take his people from among the heathen and they
will exalt him. They will exalt him. And I will
be exalted in the earth. And I'll tell you this, it doesn't
matter. God will be exalted by those
who believe in Him and He will be exalted by those who don't.
God will be magnified by all men. Mark that down. Those who will not bow now will
bow hereafter. I will be exalted in the earth.
Take comfort in that. Everything these wicked men are
doing is for the purpose of God calling His elect to Don't be
afraid about what they're doing. If this nation crumbles, so what?
So what? God will be exalted. His people
will be saved. They'll hear the gospel. They'll
believe on him. He'll keep them and they'll worship
him. Why? God said it. I will be exalted. You just be still. Don't worry
about that. You be still. The Lord of Hosts
is with us. Listen, here's our safety. The
God of Jacob is our refuge. Our refuge. Friends, we are safe. We are safe. As we consider him
tonight, consider the desolation he made. 100% desolation in the earth.
All men died in Adam. But here's hope. God has made
peace in one man, Jesus Christ. And He not only made peace, He
brought peace in us by causing us to submit, to believe on Him. And now that we have believed,
be still. Be still. Know I'm God. And all men are
going to bow. I pray God will comfort you,
strengthen you. I know the times are hard. I
know that trials are, the way is rough and painful. But we must through much tribulation
enter into the kingdom of God. I pray God will help you and
strengthen you. Let's stand and be dismissed in prayer. Father dismiss us with your blessing
and pour out your spirit to us. magnify Christ in our hearts
and our minds to consider what great things he has done, the
great work of salvation that he accomplished, that he finished.
You have wrought desolation, but you have also wrought peace.
We give you thanks and praise for it in Jesus name.