Psalm 46, I felt led to only
look at verse 10 for our message this morning. But in reading
the psalm, it's just so beautiful and encouraging. I wanted to
look at every word of it. So I thought we could do that
for the message tonight. The first line ought to bring
great relief to us. The very first line of this psalm
ought to bring great relief to us. Verse 1 says, God is our
refuge. God is our refuge. Now let me
tell you why that ought to bring great relief to us. The thing that we need refuge
from the most is our sin. All right, the thing that we
need refuge from the most is our sin. The word refuge means
shelter. It means a place of safety, a place to run and hide. And the thing that we need a
place to run and hide from the most is our sin. We commit sin and we don't think
a thing in the world about it. All right, I'm gonna repeat that.
We commit sin and we don't think a thing in the world about it.
We just sin and sin and it just rolls and rolls and we don't
think a thing in the world of it until God convicts us of it.
All right, we are sinners. We are sinners and we commit
sin in the mind, heart, body, word. And we don't think a thing
in the world about it until God convicts us of it. His word on
our conscience says, thou art the man. You're the man. And our sin, which so easily
besets us, we know what that means, don't we? I mean, it's
just right there. It's the easiest thing that comes
to us. Sin. So easy. It so constantly besets us. To the child of God who has fallen
in love with the Lord Jesus Christ, it grieves us. It grieves us
and it haunts us. Do you have sin that haunts you
like I have sin that haunts me? It grieves us, it haunts us,
and it strikes fear into us. It really does. It strikes fear into us because
we know that our God can see it. We have not pulled anything over
on our God. We haven't pulled anything over
on him. We haven't done anything in darkness
or in secret that he can't see nothing, nothing. And we know the same thing that
David knew. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. Just right in plain
sight. Against you and you alone have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. We are constantly
in need. In our conscience, in our mind,
in our heart, in our guilt, in our shame, we are constantly
in need of a refuge. Now I'm going to tell you something
right now that I say probably every time I preach, but I mean
it right now. If we can get a hold of this, we will get a hold of the glory
of the gospel. All right. I feel like I say
that every time. I mean it every time and I really
mean it right now. We are constantly in need of
a refuge for our sin against God. Do we acknowledge that to
be so? All right, listen to this. Our sin is against God. We need a refuge from our sin
against God. And God is our refuge from our sin against God. Can I say that again? Because
that has just, I've just been in awe of this. This is so. Our sin is against God. It's against God. We need a refuge for our sin
against God. And God is our refuge for our sin
against God. That's amazing. That is just
amazing. We need a place to run and hide. Let me tell us what we need.
This is what we need. Before we leave this world and
go stand before the judgment seat of God, the judgment throne
of God Almighty, we need a place to run and hide from the vengeance
of God. He said, vengeance is mine. I
will repay. I'm telling you, so much vengeance
is going to be poured out on the day of judgment. We can't
even fathom it. We just cannot. The world cannot
fathom the amount of vengeance that's going to be poured out.
Enough vengeance that would sink the whole world to hell. Pole
to pole. And we need a place. This is.
I'm as serious. I would say I'm as serious as
a heart attack, but it's so much more serious than that. We need a place to run and hide
from the vengeance of God. And the only place that there
is to run and hide from the vengeance of God is in God. Our just God is our Savior. Our just God is our Savior. God
is our refuge. Jesus Christ is His name. That's
His name. All through the scripture, He
is called the chief cornerstone. And the Lord said in Matthew
21, speaking of himself, and this is the God who does not
lie, cannot lie, will not lie. He said it is so. He said in
Matthew 21, speaking of himself, he said, whoever this stone falls
on, in judgment, in wrath, whoever
this stone falls on, it will grind that man or woman to powder. But he said, whoever falls on
this stone. That's what I want to say to
all of us tonight. Fall on the stone. Fall on the stone. Whoever falls on this stone for
mercy, for refuge, for a place to hide, for a place of safety,
he said, shall be humbly broken. Shall be broken. to receive what
he or she so desperately needs. Whoever falls has been made to
fall. Whoever falls has been lovingly
called to fall. That's in his hands. He said, come unto me, all ye
that labor and are heavy laden, over your sin against me, and
I'll be the one who gives you rest. You're very sin against
me. I will be the one who gives you
rest. I will put you in the cliff of the rock, the place that was
broken for you, and I will hide you there. You come to me and
you'll find rest. You will find safety there from
the judgment on your own soul. That's amazing. That is just
amazing. Our sin is against God. We need
a refuge from our sin against God and in Christ, for Christ's
sake, God is our refuge. That's a glorious gospel. Verse
one says, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help
in trouble. That means not only is he willing,
He is able and he won't put it off. He is willing. He is able and he won't put it
off. When Peter got out of the ship
and started walking on the water to go to the Lord, and then he
took his eyes off of the Lord and he started to sink immediately.
When he cried, Lord, save me. He didn't mean later on. Like so many people think, well,
I have plenty of time for this. I'll get saved someday. Isn't
that what people think? I'll put it off a while. I'll
kind of do my thing. There's time. I still have time. Peter did not mean, Lord, tomorrow. Tomorrow. I think I'll cry out
for salvation tomorrow. He needed it right now. Lord,
save me right now. He got it right now. The Lord was a very present help
for him in his moment of trouble. He's a very present help. The
Lord will be a very present help for every soul who comes to him
for mercy, for grace, for forgiveness, for refuge, for help right now. Right now. I'm so thankful to
know that right now. Listen to this. He will save
you right now. He'll save you right now. If you come to meet Him in your
heart, pleading for refuge and salvation right now, He'll save
you right now. You go to Him right now and He'll
save you right now. I need to be saved right now.
Yesterday is over. It's over. You say, well, I believe he saved
me decades ago. Who cares? I need him to save
me right now. Verse one says, God is our refuge
and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will
not we fear. Though the earth be removed and
though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. What
that means is though all of our foundations are taken out from
under us. Everything on this earth that
we rely on and stand on and believe is a sure footing for us when
obviously it's not. Because it will be taken out
from under us. That's what will happen to every
soul who Has Christ our only refuge revealed? Every other
refuge, every other foundation will be removed. All the false foundations of
false religion will fall out from under that man or woman.
That's a beautiful thing to happen. A beautiful thing to see happen.
Everything we thought we were standing on before God, it'll
just crumble out from under us. Verse three says, though the
waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with
the swelling thereof. And that's what will happen to
the waters of a troubled soul and the mountains of a shaking
false hope. Once God's people see Christ,
their refuge, their refuge, they will not fear. They won't fear. Because they will clearly see,
verse four, There is a river. Thank God. There's a river. There's a river of blood, a river of redemption, a river
of mercy, a river of peace, a river of life, a river of righteousness,
a river of grace, a river of comfort, a river of love. Where does that river flow from? Revelation 22 says it flows directly
from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Christ is the river. Christ is the river. Don't you
love that song? There is a river. Should have had David come here
and sing it tonight. Christ is the river. He changed that line. That's not how it was originally
written. Christ is the river. He is what makes glad the city
of God, the people of God. Verse four, there is a river,
the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God. Oh, and
they do. Don't you love knowing there's
a river of mercy? Don't you love knowing that?
It makes me so glad. There's a river of blood. Wash my sin away. There is a river, the streams
whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the
tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst of her. God is in the midst of the river.
God is in the midst of the city. God is in the midst of his people. Verse 5 says, God is in the midst
of her, she shall not be moved. Don't you love that? Every soul
in the refuge stays in the refuge. Every soul in the refuge stays
in the refuge. Verse 5 says, God is in the midst
of her, she shall not be moved. God shall help her and that right
early, right now. God will help her right now.
Sing that promise over and over again. You can just tell me that
over and over again. I love to tell that story. Tell
it over and over again. God will help you right now.
He's given you a heart to cry, you cry, He will help you right
now. In Christ, you come to Jesus
Christ. Come to the Father, through the
Son, and He will help you right now. Now, I love verse six. This is what man did and what
God did. And that'd be a good title for
a message. What man did and what God did. Look at verse six. It
says the heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved. He uttered his voice,
the earth melted. I absolutely adore that. That's
what man did. And that's what God did. The
heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved. He uttered his voice,
the earth melted. Who is the heathen? That's you
and me. That's you and me. What that
means is he broke us. The heathen raged, but he uttered
his voice and we melted. He broke us from our arrogance
and our pride and thinking that our way was better than God's
way, thinking we had a say in the things of God and a right
to the things of God, from shaking our fist in the things of God.
You say, I've never shaken my fist in the face of God. Well,
that's shaking your fist in the face of God because he said we
have. And that's saying, no, I haven't. All he had to do was utter his
voice and we melted. Thank God. Thank God. I pray more souls will melt.
I pray more souls will break. Pray more souls will just be
plunged into absolute misery before God. And fear, the fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Verse 7 says, The Lord of hosts
is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. How do you know? How do you know
he's with us? You say God has an elect people.
Some people are, some people are not. Many are called, few
are chosen. Straight is the gate, narrow
is the way that leads to life. How do you know God is with us?
How do you know the Lord is with us? Here's how we know. It's
because he uttered his voice and we melted. It's because he
uttered his voice and he broke us. That's how we know. He caused
us to come running to him for refuge. In that he was merciful to us,
he was gracious to us, and he proved to us that he was for
us, he was with us. Oh, verse eight says, come behold
the works of the Lord. What desolations he hath made
in the earth. Come behold the works of the
Lord. Come and behold the works of
the Lord. Come and behold what desolations
He has done in the earth. What desolations He has made
in the earth. Just look at what He's broken.
Look at what He has caused to bow down. Behold everything He has broken
down in His conquering victory. Behold the spoils of His battle. The battle of the cross, the
victory of the cross. Aren't you so glad He led captivity
captive? Aren't you so glad to be captive
to Him? Verse 9 says, He maketh wars
to cease until the end of the earth. He breaketh the bow and
cutteth the spear in sunder. He burneth the chariot in the
fire. Whose war was it? It was our
war. We were the ones who were naturally
at enmity against him. But he broke our bow and he cut
our spear and he burned our rebellious chariot in the fire of his judgment
and wrath. And after he did all that, he
broke down the middle wall of partition between us and him.
After he broke all that, he broke down that middle wall of partition,
so making peace. So making the wars to cease until
the end of the earth. Verse 10, he said, be still and
know that I am God. And I'd love to just preach this
morning's message again right here. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth. Thank God he was. Thank God he
is. Thank God he will forever be
exalted as the judge, the savior, and the king. Thank God. He was, he is, he
will forever be. I love the thought that nobody
will ever take the seat of that throne from him. I just love
that thought. Nobody's taking that throne from
him. He will forever be exalted as
the judge, the savior, and the king. Verse 11 says, the Lord
of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. I love how the last line is the
same as the first line. The God of Jacob is our refuge. The God of sinners is our refuge. We will never get away from that.
We will never get over that. We will never want to. Never. Thank God. Thank God. And the very last word of the
Psalm is Selah. This is what it means. Just be
still and ponder that for a while. Just be still and know that he
is God. Amen. All right.