Now, if you take your Bibles
now and turn back with me to Psalm 46. Psalm 46. My text will be found in verse
8 through verse 11. The Scripture says, Come, behold
the works of the Lord, what desolations He hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease under
the end of the earth. He breaketh the bow and cutteth
the spear in sundry. 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. The Lord of hosts is with us.
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Now this psalm written by The
psalmist, it sings of the safety, the safety of everyone who is
in Jesus Christ. The safety of His church. He
begins this psalm and ends this psalm with this same theme. God
is our refuge. Consider that Christ is our refuge. Christ is our ark. He is our refuge and strong tower. He is a mighty fortress for all
the elect of God. Remember, it was God who put
us in Christ. Of God are you in Christ, Paul
said. Who of God is made unto us, what?
All our salvation, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption.
He put us into Christ before the world began. Remember, it
was God who purposed Him to be our surety. God purposed Him to bear the
responsibility of the salvation of our souls. Therefore, all
who are in Him... What does the psalmist here say? We, therefore, will not we fear. Though the earth be removed,
though the mountains be cast in the midst of the sea, though
the waters thereof roar and rage, we will not fear as a result
of what? God is our refuge. God is our
strength, God is our help, Christ is our foundation upon which
the church is built. We will not fear. No matter what
happens in this evil world, no matter the hatred of godless
men, no matter how false religion rises and grows more popular
day by day, we will not fear. We will not fear. And this is
why God's people will not fear. He says this in the midst of
God's city. In the midst of His tabernacles,
He says, there is a river. Verse 4. The streams whereof
make glad the city of God. I like this. It's not a pond.
It's not a puddle. It's a river. a constant, perpetual,
flowing stream of mercy and forgiveness, constantly cleansing and refreshing
God's people. This is why we will not fear.
When we drink of this water by faith, when we drink of the gospel
of Christ, it is then fear is dispatched. Fear is removed. We are refreshed. We will not
fear, for Christ is mercy. are streams of mercy, streams
of grace. Now, consider this. Even though we are chosen, you
who believe, you were chosen, elect of God, precious in His
sight, redeemed by the blood of Christ. We know this by experience. None of us are exempt from troubles. None of us are exempt from sorrows. or temptations. We are not exempt
from the sin nature of the old man that wages war against us. But let this be your solace.
Let this be your comfort. Even to drink of the streams
of mercy. Drink of this by faith. If we confess our sin. He is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and cleanse us from all our unrighteousness. He is
faithful to do that. He is just. Drink from these
streams of mercy. Our God not only made provisions
for our salvation, He not only purposed it, purchased it, He
comes to every one of His elect and He applies it. Isn't this
true? This stream of mercy came to us. It flowed to us. We who
were dead in sins, this stream of life came as a fountain welling
up in us. The Spirit of God gave us life
to hear and believe the truth. Therefore, you have this promise.
Verse five. God is in the midst of her. God is in the midst of her. Do you feel like God is in the
midst of you? He is. He is. Matter of fact, God is in you. God is in you. You have the Holy
Spirit of God as taking up residence in your heart. This is how close
God is to you at all times. He is in you. Paul says in 1
Corinthians 6 19. What? No, you not that your body
is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you. What you have of God and you
are not your own, you've been bought with the price. You've
been bought with the price. Therefore, what are you to do?
Glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which belong
to God. They're His? Jesus said this, Therefore, what
is the result of the Spirit residing in us? We shall not be moved. We shall not be moved. That doesn't
sound ambiguous. That sounds plain. Did anybody
misunderstand that? You shall not be moved. I like when David, he said that.
He was being honest. He said, I shall not be greatly
moved. But the more he encouraged himself in the gospel, he said,
I shall not be moved. And that's exactly what God says
to him. I'm in the midst of you. You
shall not be moved. You shall never perish. Jesus
said that in John 10, 28. He said, I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish. Never perish. You realize that? You will never perish. Never. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. Every believer knows and feels
that if left to ourselves, we could never keep ourselves. Have you ever... I know you've
had times of confidence where you think you're standing on
your own two feet. Faith in you is so strong and so bold and
so courageous. How long that lasts? Until the wind blows. We're like
Peter walking on the water until when? The wind blows and we begin
to sink. I know this, if I had to keep
myself, I wouldn't be. You know, I'm ashamed to say
that. That's just true. It's just true. If our peace and our joy, but our peace and joy is in this,
we are not keeping ourselves. This is my comfort. I am not
keeping myself. He is keeping me. He is carrying
me. Peter says we are kept by the
power of God. Until when? Until Christ comes. Until He returns. We are kept
by the power of God unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the last
time. I like this in Isaiah 46. You
know, in Isaiah 46, God is comparing false gods with Himself. And
He says Baal and Nebo, they've got to be carried. You've got
to put them on a cart, and you've got to have these big animals
to carry them, and those animals get tired, and they bow down,
and their weight of those gods crush the animals, crush the
people working, worshipping them. But listen to what God says.
He said, they stoop and they bow down together, they cannot
deliver, but themselves are going into captivity. You listen to
Me, house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel.
which are born by Me. You're carried by Me. Isn't this
wonderful we don't carry our God? You don't need to carry
your God. God carries you. From the womb,
He said, I have borne thee from the belly and carried thee from
the womb even to old age. I am He even to hoar hairs. Will I carry you? I have made,
and I will bear, and I will carry, and will deliver you." This is the comfort of God's
people. When all we hold most dear in
this life is taken from us, when all our joys are turned to sorrows,
when our sin rages against us and overwhelms us, when Satan's
hordes rise against us to accuse us and withdraw us from Christ. Hold this close. Nothing can
separate you from God. Nothing. Nothing. If you are in Christ,
this is an inseparable bond. And let us find rest, therefore,
in God's Word, that you are safe in Christ. God shall help her
and that right early. Now listen, the heathen will
rage, the kingdom removed, He uttered His voice and the earth
melted. But the Lord of hosts, the God of Jacob, is our refuge. Storms may surround me, tempests
may roar, doubts may assail me, knock at my door. Nothing shall
move me from Jesus' side. Harbored in Jesus, wonderful
God. Harbored in Jesus. safe and secure,
harbored in Jesus, safe evermore. Safe evermore. Now, we come down
to our text here in verse 8. And God here in verse 8, He calls
us, you who are in Christ. Now listen, this is God calling
you Right now, He says to you who are harbored and safe, you
who are in Him, no matter what happens around, no matter what
roars around you, you are in Him, He is in you, you are safe. Now that He calls you to come,
He says, come. Here is His exhortation to you.
Behold the works of the Lord. Draw near. Draw near and behold
the works of God. Now then, I know this, as this
psalmist here is writing, he literally is writing to Israel,
and he could, we could really look at the works of God toward
Israel. I mean, I could go through all
of the events of history, and you could see the marvelous works
of God toward that nation, toward those people, delivering them
from Egypt. delivering them from Babylon,
delivering them from Assyria. He's constantly showing and manifesting
His love and His power toward that people. But we know this,
that that people were only a type and a shadow of the true Israel
of God, which is speaking to you and me. God is saying to
true Israel, to spiritual Israel, come now and behold My work. God is calling us to set before
us His work so that we may admire it, that we may glory in it,
that we may rest in His work. Religion's always trying to rest
in man's work. That's why there's no rest at
all. That's why there's no comfort at all, because they're constantly
changing. They're constantly needing more
work. God says, look at My work. Come and behold My work. that
I have done for you. So, like I said, we could look
at national Israel and see the many things that God has done,
but I know this, that the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit's work
in this Word is to point us to Christ, is it not? The Holy Spirit's work is to
point us to Christ. He says, when the Comforters
come, Whom I will send of you of my Father, even the Spirit
of truth which proceeded from the Father." Listen, He shall
testify of me. He shall testify of me. The Spirit's purpose in the Scripture
is always to point you to Christ. I was talking with a man the
other day and he was telling me about some message he had
heard about the Tower of Babel and how God changed the languages
and why we're all different languages. Did he preach Christ? Was Christ even mentioned in
this? I'll tell you what, that was
not of the Holy Spirit. That was just a silly historical
lesson. You can go to university and
get a historical lesson, go to high school and get a historical
lesson. You don't come to the church for that. You come for
a spiritual message. The spirit will teach us concerning
Christ. Jesus said this, that the scriptures,
he says, search the scriptures. In them you think you have eternal
life. They are they that testify of me. So when we are considering
the work of God this morning, we are considering the work of
God in salvation. The work of God in salvation,
it will point you to Christ. And I'll tell you this, are you
in trouble? Are you perplexed and confused?
Are you fearful by the providences of God? Our Lord sends such troubles
and storms And I'll tell you this, they seem to contradict
his promises of goodness. But in such times, the Holy Spirit,
in that still small voice, says this, in your trouble, come away. Come away and behold my work. Behold the work of God. Paul says, looking unto Jesus. author and finisher of our faith."
He said, consider Him. Consider Him. Consider Him. And so this morning, I desire
to consider Him who has performed the work of God. Now, I want
to say two things and then an exhortation. Two works of God
here are mentioned. Look at this first one. He says,
Come, behold the works of the Lord. Here's the first one. Behold
what desolations the Lord hath made in the earth. And secondly,
we're going to see the work of peace, which is mentioned in
verse 90, maketh wars to cease. a work of desolation and a work
of peace. I was studying desolations, just
looking at the massive desolations of war in this world. Now, I
just pulled these up. The 30-year war between Protestants
and Catholics killed 8 million people. World War I killed 18 million
people. The Mongolian wars killed 60
million people. World War II killed 70 million
people. Those are massive desolations,
aren't they? Make no mistake, God has made
desolations in the earth. He sets up kingdoms and He puts
them down. But as I was thinking about desolation,
what is the greatest desolation that God has made in all the
earth. It is the judgment of sin. It is the judgment of sin. Behold
the ruin that God hath made as a result of man's sin. Adam was made perfect. He was
placed in the midst of a paradise. The world was not ruined. It
was perfect in every way. Have you ever imagined every
tree produce fruit? In that day, every tree had fruit. It yielded its strength. There
was no sickness. There was no death. There was
no sorrow. There was no crying. There was nothing but peace with
God and man. Adam walked with God in harmony,
at perfect peace, at perfect joy. But when our father Adam
saw the sin of Eve, rebellion stirred in his heart. Rebellion
stirred in his heart, fully knowing what he was doing. Now imagine
this. He was not like the heathen think,
some caveman. Adam was the best of us. the
wisest of men. He knew exactly what he was doing. He knew exactly the consequences
of what he would do when he rebelled against God. He knew he would
drag his race into death and did it willingly for the love
of a woman. Consequences he ate. willingly
knowing what God had forbidden him. And now behold the desolation,
the ruin that fell upon man as a just result of his sin. Just think about the world. I
know that this world, even in its falling condition, we see
beautiful things. Our brother just mentioned that. You go down
the road, you can see beautiful things. But consider the desolation
of this world. Thorns infest the ground. There
are few trees that bear fruit, and they are limited. And man
is so full of trouble and toil and sorrow, our joys are fleeting. And see this, that death has
entered into the world, and it's not just limited to the poor
or the peasants, but kings and princes, all men, all men. have been ruined by this fall.
We all are prone to sickness and suffering and sorrow and
death, but the greater ruin is this, spiritual desolation. I want you to behold the spiritual
desolation that the judgment of God has wrought in the earth.
I just told you World War II killed 70 million people. Over a span of a few years, 70
million people. But get this, Adam's sin killed
everyone. Everyone. Can you see the desolation that
judgment has brought in here? All men are ruined. All men are desolate. Wherefore
is by one man sin into the world, and death by sin, and death passed
upon all men. All men. So ruined is the heart of man
that he can by no means do any good at all. You understand that? There is
none that doeth good. No, not one. Not one. God saw the wickedness
of man was greater than the earth, that every imagination of the
thoughts of the hearts of men is only evil continually. Have you known the desolation
of your own heart? Have you known the ruin of your
own nature? That God, the Holy Spirit, has
He convicted you of your sin? That all you do is sin because
all you are is sin? That from the sole of our foot
even to the crown of our head is nothing but sin. Nothing but sin. This is the
just sentence of God upon all men, for in Adam all died. Can you think of a greater desolation? There's not one. That man, that Adam, was the
best of men, perfect, made of God, and he represented the whole
race. But see, even the best of created
men cannot be holy as God. He cannot by works obtain the
holy perfections of God. Therefore, God brought desolation
upon men because of our sin. But we know of the desolation
of our nature. We also know the hope of salvation,
which God has also as his work. The desolations of God upon the
earth testify to us of the holiness of God. You who believe, do you
not understand that this is our just dessert? Our
spiritual death was just a just reward for sin. That God has
made us desolate. And by this desolation, what
do we see? It manifests to us the holiness
of God. The holiness of God, that if
we are to be accepted of God, we must be as holy as God. But this is not possible by the
works or the will of man. It was by sin that we were ruined,
and in our hearts there is only continually a flame of rebellion. Paul says that the carnal mind,
the one we were born with, is at enmity against God. It is not subject to the law
of God, neither indeed can be. What desolation God hath made
in the earth. But now behold, the greater work
of God is to make peace. To make peace. I want you to
read this. Go to Lamentations. Go to Lamentations. I found this quite interesting
as I was reading Lamentations. Lamentations chapter 2. If you
read Lamentations chapter 2, what you're going to see is the ruin of Zion. You're going to read about the
ruin of Zion. He says in verse 1, How hath
the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with the cloud of anger,
and cast down from heaven upon the earth the beauty of Israel,
and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger? The
Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob. He hath
not pitied. He hath thrown down his wrath
the strongholds of the daughter of Judah. He hath brought them
down to the ground. He hath polluted the kingdom
of the princes thereof. He hath cut off in His fierce
anger the horn of Israel. The power. That's what a horn
is. It has power. Is this not what
He's done to us in the ruin of man? Even the elect did not escape
this desolation. Even the house of Israel, speaking
spiritually, did not escape The ruin and desolation of God. He had bent his bow like an enemy. He stood with his right hand
as an adversary and listen, slew all. They were pleasant to the
eye, the tabernacles of the daughter of Zion and poured out his fury
like fire. This is speaking of spiritual
Israel. We did not escape the desolation
of God in the ruin of man. But I want you to see, you're
going to see this in just a minute, I'm going to take you to chapter
3, and I'm going to tell you how God made peace. He made desolation,
but the greater work, the greater work is this, that God hath not
only made desolation because of our sin, hath also made peace. He made peace. Look at your text
again. You can hold your place over in lamentation, but look
back with me in your text. He made desolation in the earth.
But listen, he also make it peace. He make it wars to cease under
the end of the earth. He break at the bow. He cut at
the spear and sunder. He burneth the chariot in the
fire. We know this, it was man who
sinned, it was man who offended the justice of God, it was man
who declared war upon God. Therefore, in justice, God made
a desolation of man. But behold the rich mercy of
God who has also made provisions of peace. Man hath made war. And God's justice rightly brought
desolation upon us. But God says, I also make peace. He makes provisions of peace. How? By the obedience of another
representative. That's how desolation came, wasn't
it? Adam. By Adam, desolation came. How
then shall peace come? By a second Adam. By the obedience
of another man. Now, because God is just, He
cannot just extend peace like we do. We get angry at one another.
Even countries, when they make war with each other, sometimes they just get broke.
They just can't do it anymore and they have to quit. Sometimes it just gets too costly
in human life and they just have to quit. Listen, God can't extend
peace without justice being satisfied. He cannot do it. He will not
do it. He said, I will by no means.
He who is a God of mercy says also, I will by no means clear
the guilty. Payment must be made for sin.
The law of God must be honored. Therefore, God, before the worlds
were made, before sin was committed, the Father who would bring judgment
upon men, yet in love He chose to save a people. He chose in
love to save some of Adam's race. And in love. God in love made
a covenant of mercy. A covenant of peace. And He gave
them to a representative, Christ. He gave them to His Son. Trusted
His Son with the salvation of His elect. that He should come
and make them holy. He should come and reconcile
us to God, make peace. How is that possible? How may a holy God make peace
with those who are not willing to make peace? He does it without you. You know,
God never asked for your consent to make peace. He made peace,
purposed peace, and made peace before you ever experienced peace.
He made peace. Go to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians. See how He reconciled us. See
how He maketh wars to cease, and breaketh the bow, and cutteth
the spear asunder. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Paul says in verse 18, all things
are of God. Who hath, what? Reconciled us. You don't need a scholar in English
to understand that He hath reconciled us. He's already done it. He's
already reconciled us. He reconciled us, made peace,
who is at war with Him, He made peace, reconciled us to Himself,
how? By Jesus Christ. And then what
He had given to us, the ministry of this reconciliation, that's
what I'm preaching to you this morning, the ministry of this
reconciliation, I'm declaring to you His reconciliation that
He had made, to which God was in Christ, reconciling the world
to Himself. Listen, not imputing their trespasses, All that war and desolation that
you have in your heart, God says, I'm not going to charge that
to you. Why? I just won't. He said, I'm not going to charge
that. I'm not going to charge your trespasses to you. And 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
name, be you reconciled to God. Well, preacher, how may I be
reconciled to God? What may I offer to God? Nothing. Consider this. He hath made reconciliation. What doth hinder you from being
reconciled? Be ye reconciled to God. Here's the reason. Here's the cause you may come
and be reconciled. For he hath made Christ to be
sin for us." When He said, I'm not going to impute your sin
to you, He just didn't sweep it under the rug. It just didn't
vanish and disappear. Remember, justice had to be satisfied. Sin could just not be ignored. We do that. We ignore sin. We ignore it. You treat me wrong
and I can probably ignore it because I've probably done worse
to you. God cannot. Sin had to go somewhere. Where did it go? God hath made
Christ to be sin for you. Now then, behold the desolation
God hath made in the earth upon the cross. Behold what desolation
God hath made Him to be. who knew no sin. I know sin, don't you? I know a little about sin. Can you imagine having no sin
and being made sin? The sorrow, the grief, the desolation, for this purpose that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. Behold the work of
peace that God has made. At the cross, He broke the bow
of His justice. He cut the spear of His law in
sunder. He burned the chariot of His
holy wrath in the fires of Calvary. And by the one sacrifice of Jesus
Christ, upon the cross, God hath forever made peace." Made peace. It was there who Christ was forsaken
of God and made desolate. Go to Lamentations and see this.
Go to Lamentations 3 again. Now, chapter 2 was showing the
desolation that He had made in Zion. But here the prophet in
Lamentation 3 is personally speaking. Now, true, I know Jeremiah was
surely a man of great sorrow. But remember, the Holy Spirit's
purpose is always to point you to who? Christ. You cannot read
this without having an eye to Christ and His suffering. Listen
to what he says, I am the man that has seen affliction by the
rod of His wrath. Who has known the wrath of God
more than Christ? He hath led me and brought me
into darkness and not into light. Surely against me has He turned. He turneth His hand against me.
All the day my flesh and my skin are made old. He hath broken
my bones. He hath builded against me and
compassed me about with gall and travail. He hath sent me
in dark places as they that be dead of old. He hath hedged me
about and I cannot get out. He hath made my chain heavy. Verse 12, He hath bent His bow
and set me as the mark of His arrow. He hath caused the arrows
of His quiver to enter into my reins. Do you not see Christ as He is
the mark of God's holy vengeance, bearing our sins in His own body
on the tree? Then the prophet says this, In
verse 21, This I call to mind, therefore I have hope. Where's
your hope? Is it not in the anguish of our
Lord? Is it not in the sufferings of Christ? This is where I have
hope. It is of the Lord's mercy that
we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. Now
then, look in verse 27, and this speaks of Christ. The prophet,
looking, having an eye to Christ, he says, it's good for a man
to bear the yoke in his youth. He's speaking of Christ. It was
good that he bore the yoke in his strength. He sitteth alone
and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him. He
putteth his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope. He giveth his cheek to him that
smiteth him. He is filled with reproach, for
the Lord will not cast off forever. See, this is our hope. I know
this, the Lord will not cast me off forever. Why? He put His
mouth in the dust. He hath made Christ a reproach. Jesus said in the prophecy, He
said, I have borne the reproach. And because of this, the Lord
will not cast off forever, though he cause grief, yet he will have
compassion according to the multitudes of his mercy. I like that hymn. Upon Christ, almighty vengeance
fell that must have sunk the world to hell. For this cause,
that by putting him to grief, listen, the justice of God was
satisfied forever. This is my hope, friend. I know this. When I look within,
what do you see? I still see desolation. I see
barrenness. I see my sin. What is my hope? God has made peace. Justice has been satisfied. Justice has been satisfied. Therefore,
we are given this word to give to you. Comfort ye, comfort ye
my people, saith the Lord. Speak comfortably to her. Why? Her warfare is accomplished. He hath caused the war to cease. Caused the war to cease. That
her iniquity is pardoned. She hath received of the Lord's
hand double for all her sins. That other hymn says, "'Tis done,
the great transaction's done. I am my Lord's, and He is mine."
Jesus, our representative, restored all that our Father had lost.
The Scripture says, He hath made peace by the blood of His cross. Paul says, therefore, being justified
by faith, we have what? Peace with God. Peace with God. Now, when you were born, did
you know you had peace? No, when we were born, we were
born desolate. We had no experience of it until
when? Until He came and conquered our hearts. until He came and
established His throne in our hearts. I like Psalm 45, Psalm
45 and verse 6, it says, Thine arrows are sharp in the heart
of the king's enemies, whereby the people fall under thee. Our Lord Jesus Christ, He says
in that prophecy, that He shall ride prosperously. And part of
His prosperity was the cross. He accomplished our redemption.
But the second half of His prosperity is this, that He conquers His
people. The arrow of the gospel sinks
deep into our hearts. John Gill says of verse 5, it
says, "...the arrows sinking into the hearts of them who are
in a state of unregeneracy are enemies, which appear by our
wicked works, as they were when he died for them, and reconcile
them with God by the means of the arrows, the gospel, they
are pricked in their hearts, wounded, and they fall under
him in submission." Let me ask you this. Have you ever been
struck by the arrow of the gospel? Have you ever been convicted
of your sin and desolation? Have you known something of the
desolation that God made in the earth because of sin? If you have, then you know this.
Christ has made peace. Christ has reconciled us to God. It is the same one who made desolation. Listen, he made peace. He made
peace. God the Holy Spirit comes in
time, in the appointed time, the arrow of the gospel slays
us. We know our ruined estate, but in sweet grace the cross
of Christ comes into view, and we see then how God could be
just and justify the ungodly. And it's that moment, in that
moment, He broke the bow of our warfare. You know, the Romans
used to do that. They would gather up all the
arms and armor and weapons, and when they conquered a people,
they would burn them. They would burn them. Why? So they could
not wage war again. Isn't that what He's done for
us? He broke us. He broke all our resistance. And we gladly now surrender.
Surrender. to God. He has burned our chariots. All those ways we thought we
had to God. All that we thought, well, I
can make it to God this way. We ride in that chariot for a
while. We get another chariot. We say, well, I think you can
go to God this way. You know what God did? He burned all our
chariots. We know this, there's only one way to God. And that's
through Christ. And therefore, We have this promise. You are not only servants of
God, but rather sons. Have you ever heard of a king
doing that in the earth? Have you ever heard of a king conquering
a people and then making them sons? Only God did that. God conquered
us and made us sons. He purposed to make us sons.
He purchased us to be sons. He applied this in our hearts
that we should be sons. And if sons, heirs of God, joint
heirs with Christ, that's what this work of peace is wrought.
It's so deep and so strong that God has given you all that Christ
has earned. Nothing stands between you and
God but Christ. That's it. He's the mediator. Consider this work of God as
desolation, and also consider His work of peace. Now I'm going
to give you a word of exhortation. Now that you know, God did make
desolation. When sin entered the world, all
died. But God has also made peace by
sending His Son into this world and reconciling His people unto
Himself. At the appointed time, that peace
is made manifest to His people, and they all believe. They all
believe. And this is an exhortation. Listen
to what God says. Go back to your text. Look what
God says. He says this, Be still. When you are still, are you working?
You can't be still and work. Be still. It also means this. Stop trying
to figure it out. Stop trying to look at providence
and see how this thing is. I know we spend a lot of time
doing that. How in the world do I know there's peace with
God? Well, is my family well? Am I doing well? Am I healthy? Well, surely God loves me then,
right? You can't tell if God loves you
based on what happens to you. If you want to look at Jeremiah,
that man suffered. God says, I'm going to make you
as a wall to these people, and they're not going to be able
to hurt you. And yet what? They hurt him. They threw him in a
pit. They covered him over. They beat
him. They persecuted him. You see,
God's promises didn't seem to line up with the providence. You're not going to be able to
figure out God's love by looking at... Be still. And listen, just
know this, I'm God. Be still and know that I am God. All that I promised you, I'll
do. You know this, that Jeremiah,
he outlived them all. All those people that beat Him,
all those people that persecuted Him, He outlived them all. Matter
of fact, He lived all the way through to the end of the 70-year
captivity, and He had a piece of property. God said, you buy
a piece of property before you go into captivity. Because when
you come out, I'm going to put you back in that property. God did what He promised to do.
God made peace. Therefore, be still and know
that that peace is forever. It cannot be disannulled. I'm
God. What he said, I'm God. Listen this, I will be exalted
among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth.
What is he doing right now? He says this, I'll be exalted.
That's what I'm doing. I'm exalting myself. So whatever
is happening, what is God doing? Exalting himself. And part of that is this. Well,
the main part of that is he's calling his people. That's what
he's doing. When his economy tanks and everything
goes under, guess what? God's calling his people. Be still. Be still. Isn't that one of the most difficult
things to do? Be still and believe me. Trust
me. I will be exalted among the heathen. Rest in this. God, the God, the
Lord of hosts, is our refuge. Our refuge. I pray God will give
you grace. I pray the Lord will help us
to see the desolation. I like that verse when Isaiah
said that you should behold the pit from which you were digged
and the rock from which you are hewed. The desolation and what? The peace. Behold the desolation
and peace. I pray God will help us in this.
Let's be dismissed in prayer. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer. Father, dismiss us with your
blessing. Pour out your spirit on us. Set the work that you've done
before our eyes. Give us grace to embrace it by
faith. Salvation, purpose accomplished
and applied and kept by you alone. Help us to be still, to rest
in hope that is in Christ alone. Forgive us our sins, I pray in
Christ's name.