These things are the experience
of God's people, and we know them to be true. Therefore, we
speak boldly, plainly to you. All who come to Christ alone
by faith shall be saved. That's a bold statement. Very
narrow statement, isn't it? But it's a very true statement.
How can you be so bold? I have heard and I have seen.
So have you. If you've experienced it, you
know that it's true. You say it with confidence. And
so what do we find when we come into this city? Look at this.
Verse 2, he says, "...the city of the great King." We have experienced
this, that Jesus Christ is our King. Monarch. Despot. You know what a despot
is? It's a person that can do anything
and say anything He wants to and get it done. That's what
it is. When these kings ruled the earth, when kings back then
ruled, they just said something and it was done. How much more
greater is Jesus Christ who created all things by the Word of His
power? He is the Great King. He is the Great King. And none
shall be permitted into this city who have not bowed to Christ. Now I want you to understand
this, Christ is my King. He rules. He reigns. And I am subject to
Him. And so is all of His church.
To come to Christ means nothing less than absolute surrender. We who have come to Christ, we
came in the very teeth of our sin. Listen to that hymn. If you tarry till you're better,
you will never come at all. Isn't that right? I've seen and
heard that, experienced that myself. If I waited till I was
better to come to Christ, I would never come. Because I ain't getting
any better, and neither are you. And you stop doing this, start
doing this, and you still ain't getting any better. We come in the teeth of our sin,
in the bondage of our sin. We come confessing our sin. I was the wandering sheep. I
did not love the fold. I did not love my father's house. I preferred to roll. That's what
I've seen and I've heard of my own experience. There was a time that I would
not bow to Christ. Matter of fact, I did everything
I could to get away from Him. I'm so thankful He pursued me. I'm so thankful that this King
in love for me sought me out, exposed me for what I was, and
caused me to bow before His Holy Presence. We come as rebels in need of
peace, without our works and without our religion, which could
never provide what we needed. We come and lay down our arms
of self-righteousness. We lay down ourselves at His
feet, deserving hell and pleading for mercy. Now is that what you
have seen and heard? Have you seen and heard that?
I have. That's my experience. And it
is the experience of every believer in Christ. We come surrendering
all. Is Christ your King? Does He command your heart? Is His decree your delight? Or is it your bane? That'll tell
you whether you're in the city or out, won't it? How many foolishly supposed to
have Christ as their Savior without having Him as their King? Now
listen, I'm being very clear about this. If He is not your
King, He is not your Savior. I don't care how many decisions
you make. I don't care how many times you've been baptized. It
doesn't matter. You are outside if He is not
your King. Some foolishly suppose that they
may bow to Christ in their mind, but keep their sin. Isn't that
something? Well, as long as I acknowledge
Him to be King, then He must be my King. Nope. He's your Judge. He's your God. He's not your King. You haven't bowed down. You'll
see Him as King later. It'll be too late then. Jesus said, No man can serve
two masters. You get that? Anybody? Did anybody
miss that? Is that too hard to understand?
I love Christ's words. He doesn't muddy the water at
all, does He? Very plain. You can't serve your
flesh and Christ. You can't serve this world and
Christ. You can't serve yourself and
Christ. It's either Christ or you. But we who believe on Him, we
gladly surrender. Why? Because everything to us
is done but Him. Now what Paul says, he says,
Yea, doubtless. I count all things but loss. for the excellency
of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, for whom I have experienced,
I have experienced, I have suffered the loss of all things, and what
do I count them as? Done, that I may win Christ,
and be found in Him." Now that's a man who has bowed to Christ.
That's a man who has come into the Kingdom. That's a man who
has come by the way of the North, by the only way. And what have
we who have bowed, what have you found him as? You have found
this king, and you have bowed before this king. What is he
to you? Verse 3, God is known in her palaces for
a refuge. This king of mine is my refuge. My refuge. What is he a refuge
from? The wrath of God. First of all,
the wrath of God. He is my refuge from the wrath
of God. Refuge is the thing that bears
the brunt of the storm in the place of those inside it. And
so those who are in Christ, He is our refuge. Listen to what
He said. Christ said, uh, the reproach of them, the elect,
The reproach of them that reproach thee fell on me. You got that? He's my refuge. God's wrath, I in Christ, and
God's wrath fell on Him instead of me. This is all an
act of grace. Where was I? wasn't around, yet
He did it for me. In my stead, I was in Him. Therefore,
by His one offering, God has received double at His hands
for all our sins. He has accomplished all our warfare,
all our iniquities are pardoned because of His blood offering. And our great God is a refuge
forever. I find this astounding that God
will never punish me for sin. Isn't that strange how the world
say, well God is punishing you for this. Not me. As we'll get to in a minute,
He does chase him. But that's not payment for sin,
that's not punishment. Any chastisement we receive pays
for no sin whatsoever. It only draws us back to Him.
It separates us from the things of the world and draws us back
to Him. But that doesn't pay for sin. My refuge paid for my
sin. My Savior paid for all our sins. And so now then, look at Zion's
experience in the world. Verse 4, For lo, behold this,
the kings of the earth were assembled, and they passed by together. Together. Christ is not only our refuge
from the justice of God, but I want you to see He is a refuge
from all your enemies, a refuge from all those that would hurt
His people. as Zion during the days of Jehoshaphat,
and I believe that's when this psalm was written, during the
reign of Jehoshaphat. I see many things in it, especially
this one. At this time, Jehoshaphat was
surrounded by heathen kings, heathen kings, Moab, the Ammonites,
and the king of Mount Seir. They surrounded Jerusalem. They
besieged it. They set about to destroy it.
And Jehoshaphat prayed to God. He said, You told us not to harm
them. You told us not to do anything
to them. And God said, You're right. I told you not to do it
because I'm going to do it. The battle belongs to God. It
belongs to Me. And you remember what happened
that next? He said, I want you to get ready
for war. I want you to put on your whole
armor. Like you're going to battle, but you're not going to fight.
Tomorrow you go out, and I'm going to show you their dead
bodies. And He did. The next day, God
had them killing each other. Listen, the whole world's after
you, but they're really killing each other. See, the world, wicked men don't
know what true religion is, so they just attack any religion. And any religion doesn't know
what Christ is or sin is, so they attack the world. And they're
fighting each other. And what are we doing? We're
dressed for battle doing nothing. The battle belongs to God. Our
enemies will devour themselves. You can't tell me you can't see
it in Hollywood, them eating each other alive now. I mean, that's the center of
Sodom, and yet, and sexual immorality, and yet they say, well, you can't
be objective against women. They're the king of it. And now
they're just eating each other alive. Well, just sit back and
watch. God will destroy your enemies. Why? You're in a refuge.
Can't get to you. Satan and the world and false
religion, anti-Christian government, wicked men, moral men, they all
hate us, they all hate the Gospel, and they all hate Christ. But
the battle belongs to God. And as He destroyed those enemies
of Joseph, we can be sure of this, He will destroy all of
our enemies. Now, I want you to see something.
Look at the response of the enemies. As they gathered together around,
as they stared up at that city Jerusalem, Ready to besiege it. Hatred in their heart. And yet
what did they do? Look at this in verse 5. They saw it. And what's the first
thing they did? They marveled. You expect that's the first thing
a person that hates you wants to do is marvel at you? But that's
what they do. Wicked men marvel. Like those superstitious Athenians,
when Paul preached the Gospel, what did they do? They never
heard anything like resurrection. They were astonished. They marveled
at it. They said, well, we want to hear
this again. Of course, they never did, but they marveled at it.
When Jesus Christ preached to those people, remember the Jews
sent those men out to get Him and kill Him, and the Scripture
says they were astonished at His doctrine. For he taught them
not as a scribes, but as one having authority." I just told
you about Ben Franklin. He was never a believer, didn't
believe the gospel. What drew him out to hear Whitefield? It was his authority. This man
preached as though he had authority. He was not like the rest of the
preachers. He was not yea and nay. He was
yes and amen. That's the gospel. He was one
that had authority. And so the gospel we preach is
bold and authoritative because it's not of men, but of God.
We preach the divine justice of God, and the divine mercy
of God, of eternal life, and peace, and pardon, and forgiveness
of sins. And what do men do? They marvel
when they first hear it. When men first hear of election,
what is the first thing? They're starting to marvel at
it. They've never heard it before. Sovereignty? Election? Predestination? What is this thing? I think I
need to hear more of this. What is a marvel? I remember when I was a young
I had friends live next door, invited them to church, and their
family came and, you know, they sat under the gospel for one
year. A whole solid year they listened
to my pastor preach the gospel of God's grace. And what they
do, they marveled at it. They never heard anything like
this before. One day, Brother Scott Richardson came and preached
the gospel, and Scott had a way of preaching that the Lord used.
He was very visual. He was very visual in his illustrations. And even as a kid, I was lost
myself. But I remember this saying. He
said, Righteousness. Your righteousness. Let me tell
you what your righteousness is. It's as worthless as a warm bucket
of spit. Now that's what your righteousness
is. And I remember those people being so offended. They marveled
for a year. But when it came in power, they
were no longer marveling, but angry, offended at the truth. These things are marvelous to
our foes for a while. But soon, when they are exposed,
when their religion is exposed, when their God is revealed to
be false and powerless, it is then they haste away. And what
he said? Look, they marveled. What? They are troubled. They first marvel at it, then
they're troubled by it, because if that's what's true, then all
I believe is a lie. I've told you this before, as
I was preaching in the hospital, one man came to me and he said,
Preacher, if what you're saying is true, then all my family's
in hell. And I asked him, why would you go? Why would you follow
them? And he turned and left. He was
troubled. He marveled, and he was troubled. And then he ran away just as
fast as he came. Friends, where are all the major
religions who opposed Jehovah over the centuries? Where are
they? Where is Baal? Where is Astaroth? Where is Zeus? Athena? False gods of men. Where are
they? Where are their worshipers? They're gone. Where is Jehovah? He is in the same place He's
always been. You know, when 9-11 happened,
I remember the message very clearly. Where is God? That was always
the question of men when that happened. Where was God? One
preacher stood up and said, God is where He's always been, on
the throne. And he preached the message,
Deuteronomy 36, 32, I believe. I am God, and there is none else.
I kill, and I make alive. I wound, and I heal. So where
is our God, Jerusalem? Our God is always where He's
been. And when the enemies see our God, they marvel, they're
troubled, and they're gone as soon, as fast as they came. They're gone as fast as they
came. They haste away. And they haste away by changing
their names of their gods. They change. These gods are still
the same. Baal, Astaroth, they're just
around in different names. You know what the name of Baal
and Astaroth is today? Jehovah. The god of modern religion is
no more powerful than Baal and Astaroth. Nothing more than the
idols of men. Now they changed the name and
put Jehovah, put Christ there. Paul said this, that he feared,
he said, lest you be beguiled by the subtlety of Satan, that
you be moved from the simplicity of in Christ. For if he that
cometh preacheth another Jesus, not preached, and you receive
another spirit which you have not received, or another gospel
which you have not accepted. See, there's other Jesuses, aren't
there? What's the difference? Our God reigneth. Whatsoever our God determines
to do, He'll do. Now what is He determined to
do? He's determined to save Jerusalem. He's determined to save Mount
Zion. He's determined to be their refuge
and their key. Now listen, I've seen, and I've
experienced this all. I've seen men come, I've seen
them marvel, and I've seen them go. Have you? And of a truth, when these enemies,
they die, they will surely travail. Now what he says next, fear took
hold on them, and pain as of a woman in travail. Friends, I want you to be very
aware of this. Judgment is coming. Now for us who are in the city,
that is good news. That is good. The end is approaching. And we shall be gathered together
forever in the presence of God, and enjoy Him forever. But all
that are without, shall be cast into the lake of fire that burneth
forever and ever and ever." That's the enemies of God. They shall
break forth and cry and travail. Over what? One preacher said
the memory is the worm that dieth not. If you die in your sins, I guarantee you, you'll hear
this message forever. Always at the door and never
entering in. Always measuring Christ, but
never taking Notice this in verse seven, this
is another experience of God's people, verse seven. Thou breakest
the ships of Tarsus as with an east wind. Now one thing that
God's people all have an experience of is foolishness. We are often
weak and feeble and our unbelief is such a bane to us, but it's
our experience. Often we envy the very people
who oppose us. Isn't that the truth of Asaph?
You remember Asaph, he said, I know God's good to Israel,
but as for me, I don't know. My foot almost slipped, I had
nigh well gone, I envied the wicked and their prosperity.
Now listen, as a believer in Christ, we confess this, that
we have done the same. Often we have looked on the things
of the world, the prosperity of the wicked, and we have envied
them. We look on the prosperity of
false religion, and we envy them. We see their cathedrals, we see
their vast amounts of people, and the church being weak and
small in our generation. We have often envied those things. But how foolish is it to envy?
The things that God has intended for the burning, we envy. And because of our proneness
to wonder, because of the proneness of our sin, God chastens us. Now this is something we have
seen and experienced. We know God's great, we know
His salvation. is in Christ alone. We know our security in Christ.
We know our enemies abound, but they can't get us. But we also
know the weakness of ourselves. And because of this weakness,
God often must chasten His children. He must chasten His sons. Matter
of fact, Paul says, Have you forgotten the exhortation which
speaketh unto you as to children? My son, despise not the chastening
of the Lord, nor faint when thou rebuke. For whom the Lord loveth
he what? Chastening. As is something every
believer seen and heard is the chastising hand of our Father. Now, that's exactly what is mentioned
here in verse 7. Look at verse 7. Thou breakest
the ships of Tarsus. As I've studied this, I've noticed
that this has only reference to one event with King Jehoshaphat. King Jehoshaphat, he allied with
the son of Ahab. Now he did that before with Ahab.
He allied with Ahab one time, and remember God delivered him
and killed Ahab. Well his son, he also didn't
learn his lesson, so he went back and confederated again with
God's enemy. And what they do, they said,
okay, let's get together and we'll build these big ships and
we'll send them out and we'll get gold. These ships of Tarsus,
we'll send them out, we'll get gold and bring them back. You
know what God did to those ships? He sank them with an east wind.
And all their treasure went to the bottom of the ocean. What a lesson it is for Zion
that we should not confederate with false religions. Because all that you think you
gain, God will destroy. All that you think you do for
the glory and honor of God will be for your shame. It was Ahab,
wasn't it? It was to his shame he confederated
with these people instead of trusting God alone. Now look,
if He had sent those ships out by Himself, I guarantee you that
He'd come back with riches beyond measure. Friends, we are God's people. We are God's people. And what
does He say? Come out and be ye separate,
saith the Lord. We're not separate by our hairstyle. We're not separate by our clothes.
How are we separated? We're separated by our gospel. We're separated by our Lord,
whom we serve. And so then Hawker says this,
"...Learn, my soul, in the midst of all the precious things that
this chapter contains, of God's covenant love and mercy, what
corruption still remains in this old nature? May God teach us
the corruption of our own nature. And so when God does, He crosses
all our fair designs I scheme, and casts my feelings out and
lays us low. Isn't that what He does? Have
you seen that? Have you heard that? Have you
experienced that? And so lastly, this is expounded
by the psalmist in that we have heard and seen. Now today, every
one of you heard. I hope that it has been plain
language. There's been simple language
for everyone to understand. But what more important thing
is it not to just hear it, but to actually see it for yourself? This is a work of God. I do not
pretend to have any power to make you see it. It is only God who gives sight
and life. And when He does, you won't even
have to question if you've seen it or heard it. You'll know it. And what do you know? Look at
this last part. We have seen and we have heard,
where? In the city of the Lord of hosts. What is the city of the Lord
of hosts? It's His church. Where have you heard this? You
hear this outside? You hear this where? Where else
could you hear this? But in the city of the Lord of
hosts. And guess what? This Lord, this city, it belongs
to the Lord of hosts. What does that mean? When it
says the Lord of hosts, the Lord of hosts of everything, stars,
moon, sun, creation, providence, Our Lord is the Lord of ALL THINGS. He is the Lord of hosts. And
not only is He the Lord of all things, what does it say? We
know this, He is OUR God. The God who rules everything
is MY OWN PERSONAL God. He's MY God. Is that your God? Is that your
God? and then we have confidence what
we have confidence in he said he will establish this city his
covenant how long? forever when you've seen and heard him
you'll know it's forever May God please even show this
to your heart, that you might have comfort.
If you're in this city, I want you, you should have all the
comfort that there is. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith the Lord. I have a directive, I have a
word from Him. Comfort ye my people. I'm not
here to comfort the lost, not here to comfort you. I'm here
to comfort God's people. But if you are lost, I'm here
to show you the way. Like a pointing dog. All I do
is point. I point you to Christ. Go to
Christ. Get alone with Him. He will show you the way. That
He is the way. Without a doubt, when you hear
Him, you'll enter in. I pray God will bless this to
you. This be dismissed in prayer.