Go with me if you would back
to Psalm 91. Psalm 91. I want us to dive into
an ocean of good news. All I have tonight is good news. start to finish. That's all I
have. All the message is, is good news. Every word in this song, every
single word is the most comforting, relaxing word of assurance that
a believer could possibly hear. Every single word in this song.
I have been begging the Lord on your behalf all day. The Lord
has blessed me through this, and I beg of Him that He might
bless you like He blessed me. I can't do it. I realize I'm
resolved, I can't do it. But He's able. And my prayer
is that He might bless you like He blessed me. That He might
really cause us to rejoice in this whole Psalm. but especially
verse 1 in a way that we've never rejoiced in it before. Verse
1 says, He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High
shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. He that dwelleth
in the secret place, whoever it is that dwells in the secret
place, whoever it is. He that dwelleth. Anybody. Anybody. I adore it when I have
the opportunity to say anybody. Anybody. That God puts in the
secret place. Any soul. that God puts in the
secret place. What is the secret place? That's
Christ. That's Christ. Anybody, I mean
anybody. That God puts in Christ. That is the only stipulation
for all of this good news. This start to finish good news
we're about to see. There's one stipulation. You've
got to be in Christ. You must be in Christ. But anybody. I'd love to tell
this on TV. Anybody. Anybody. That God puts in Christ. Verse 1 says, He that dwelleth
in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow
of the Almighty. He is going to abide. He is going
to live. He is going to dwell. He is going
to stay. Abide under the shadow of the Almighty. If a soul is in Christ, He is
under the hovering protection. That's what shadow means. He's
under the hovering protection of the Almighty. Verse 2 says,
I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my
God, in Him will I trust. Now let's see if the Lord will
allow us to enter in to something that is absolutely too glorious
for me. It just has slayed me. I am in
awe of it. I pray God will let you be in
awe of it. I beg the Lord on your behalf.
Turn with me if you would to Psalm 27. Now remind us again, verse 1
said, He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High
shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Alright, Psalm
27 verse 5 says, For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in
His pavilion. In the secret of His tabernacle
shall He hide me. He shall set me up upon a rock. He will. He shall. He will. If I am in Christ, He
will. In the time of trouble, He'll
hide me. In the secret place. And that's
where I'll stay because He's going to set me on a rock. He
will. All right, now what does all
this mean? Why does He need to hide me? What is all the trouble? Turn with me to Exodus 33. Exodus 33 verse 19 says, And God said, I will make all
my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom I will
be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. And
watch this, he said, Thou canst not see my face, for there shall
no man see me and live. And the Lord said, Behold, there
is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock, and it shall
come to pass while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a
cliff of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass
by. And I will take away mine hand,
and thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen." My glory is going to pass by.
is going to pass by, and I'm going to put you in the cleft
of the rock, and I'm going to put my hand over you while I
pass by." He said, but no man can see me and live. Now, Monday afternoon, a certain strip of our country
experienced a total eclipse of the sun. We here in Kingsport did not
experience a total eclipse of the sun. We were at 96%. All right? We were not in totality. 100% totality. Because of that, because we were
at 96%, we told our children, we told our girls, you told your
girls, You know, the schools made a big deal out of it. It
was eclipse day and they handed glasses out to all the kids and
they all went out together and they taught them not to look
at the sun. And over and over and over again,
we told our girls, do not look at the sun. Over and over. That was the most important message
of Monday. Do not look at the sun. We said it over and over again,
didn't we? Do not. You will be burned. You will
be. If you look at the sun, it will
burn you. Do not look directly into the
sun. Don't do it. Somebody will say,
well yeah, but it's 96% covered. No, ma'am. can look directly into the sun
without being burned. I don't care if it's 96% covered. You cannot even withstand 4%
of it. Isn't that right? You will be burned. The brightness
of its glory will burn you permanently. This is what we're crying to
religion. Men and women are satisfied with
having a partial mediator between them and the holy justice of
God. They want it that way. They only
need a partial mediator. You just cover most of it. And they believe they're okay.
I don't care if it's 99%. Don't look. Let the warning go
out. Do not look. Do not deem yourself
worthy to look. You will be burned. He said,
no man can see my face and live. You think he meant that? You think He meant that as people
go up and stand before Him? We love the glory of what's going
to happen for God's people as soon as we see Him. We quote
1 John 3 all the time, don't we? As soon as we see Him, what's
going to happen? As soon as we see Him, we're
going to be changed in the moment in the twinkling of an eye, right?
You know what's going to happen for those outside of Christ as
soon as they see Him? They're going to be burned. No
man can see my face and leave. Don't look. Don't look. Don't look. But Monday afternoon, my sister
in Nashville, she was in that strip of totality. She was 100% under the shadow of that gray mediator between
her and the burning glory of the sun. 100%. And for a little over two
minutes, while the glory of the mediator
was passing by, for a little over two minutes, she was able
to take her glasses off. And with these eyes wide open,
look up. Right after she did that, I was
on the phone with her. She told me she took her glasses
off. I thought, Sarah, you can't do that. That scared me to death. I thought, you're burned for
life. You can't do that. I got off the phone. I was so
worried for her, and I Googled it. Can you take your glasses
off during a totality 100% eclipse? And you can. You can. As long as you are 100% under
the shadow. You can with open eyes look straight
into the glory of God's Son. That's amazing, isn't it? Straight
into the glory of the Son and you will not be burned. That
is the one way that with these eyes you can look straight into
the glory of God's Son and you won't be burned. You will not
be burned. Job said, with these eyes, I'm
going to see the Lord. I'm going to see God. How, Job? Under the totality. Under the
100% totality of the shadow of the Almighty. Christ Jesus the Rock. The only
mediator between the burning justice of God and me. 99% won't
do. It will not do if 1%, if a fraction
of 1% of His holy justice and wrath reaches me. If just a fraction
of 1% reaches me, I'll burn. It must be totality. It must be totality. If I'm completely
covered under the shadow of the Almighty, I'm safe. I'm safe. Now go with me back to our text. Every soul that dwells in the
secret place of the Most High Every soul that God puts completely
under the shadow of the Almighty, every soul that can say, as verse
2 did, the Lord is my refuge, my fortress, my God, in Him will
I trust. I'm under Him. For every one
of those souls, the rest of the news is good news. It's all good
news. From that moment, it's all good
news. Now let's just read down through
these verses and let's glory in them and rejoice in them and
let's believe them. The God who cannot lie has to
say to every soul that's in Christ under the shadow, verse 3, surely
he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from
the noisome pestilence. The fowler is the trap setter. That's what the word means, the
trap setter. If God has delivered us from
the burning fury of His holy justice and wrath, then we don't
need to worry about the trap setter. If God has delivered
us from His almighty, all-powerful burn, then we don't have anything
to worry about with the trap setter. And the noisome pestilence
is just that, noisome pestilence. That's all it is. All bark, no
bite, as long as you are under the shadow of the Almighty. That's
all it is. Verse 4 says, He shall cover
thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust. His truth shall be thy shield
and buckler." Our Lord is expounding right here what it is to be under
the shadow of the Almighty. Not only will we be covered,
we won't be seen. We won't even be seen. Hold your
place and look at Matthew 23. Matthew 23 verse 37. Our Lord said, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent
unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together,
even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and you would
not. He told religious, self-righteous
Jerusalem, you don't want me to do for you what I've done
for my little chickens. You've seen a hen gather her
chicks to the nest. She gathers them up under her
wings, and then you can't see them anymore. They're gone. All you see is the hen. They're
under there, but they can't even be seen. Our Lord said, that's
what I'm going to do for you. I'm going to gather you to the
secret place you won't even be seen. And you're going to be
warm in there, you're going to be comfortable, and you're going
to be safe. Go back to our text, Psalm 91. Verse 5 says, Thou shalt not be afraid for
the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flyeth by day,
nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction
that wasteth at noonday." The arrow that flyeth. Is he talking
about physical arrows or spiritual arrows? Is he talking about actual
violence or is he talking about the fiery darts of the adversary?
He's talking about both. Both. Terror, pestilence, destruction. He's not saying the terror won't
be in the night. He's not saying that. He's not
saying terror will not take place in the night. He's not saying
the arrow won't fly. Violence is all around us, isn't
it? The fiery dart of our adversary? We're shot at all the time. He's
not saying pestilence won't be in darkness. He's not saying
destruction won't be at noonday. What he's saying is, I'm going
to make it so that you're not afraid of them. That's what he's
saying. Verse five says, thou shalt not
be afraid. How's he going to do that? Look
with me at Isaiah 43, Isaiah chapter 43. Isaiah 43 verse 1, But now thus
saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee,
O Israel, fear not, fear not, for I have redeemed thee, I have
called thee by thy name, thou art mine. When thou passest through
the waters, I will be with thee. He didn't say we wouldn't pass
through the waters. He said, I'll be with you. I'll be with you. And through
the rivers, they shall not overflow thing. When thou walk us through
the fire, he didn't say we weren't going to walk through the fire.
Matter of fact, he said, you're going to walk through the fire.
When you do walk through the fire. He said, you're not going
to be burned. I'm going to be with you. neither
shall the flame kindle upon thee. Verse five, fear not for I'm
with thee. I will bring thy seed from the
East and gather thee from the West. I will say to the North,
give up and to the South, keep not back. Bring my sons from
far and my daughters from the ends of the earth. Even everyone
that is called by my name, for I have created him for my glory.
I have formed him, yea, I have made him. He said, I will never
leave you. I will never forsake you. Never. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Will terror come? I don't know. Either way, he will be with us. Will pestilence come? Will sickness
come? I don't know. Either way, He'll
be with us. He said, I'll never leave you.
Go back to Psalm 91. Verse 7 says, A thousand shall
fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall
not come nigh thee. Not if you're in Christ. Now
Adam fell in the garden. David fell with Bathsheba. Peter
fell when he denied the Lord. But turn over to Psalm 37. Psalm
37 verse 23 says, The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way, though he fall."
Are we going to fall? You better believe it. But, though
he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down. will not be. Did God redeem Adam? Yes, He
did. Did God redeem David? Yes, He
did. Did God redeem Peter? Yes, He
did. He will not be utterly cast down. For the Lord upholdeth him with
His hand. And while we're here, let's go
ahead and read verses 25 and 26. He said, I've been young,
and now am old, Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken,
nor his seed begging bread. He is ever merciful, and lendeth,
and his seed is blessed." Truly blessed. Go back to Psalm 91. Verse 7 says, A thousand shall
fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall
not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou
behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast
made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most high thy habitation,
there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come
nigh thy dwelling." All right, now, he just said, because I
made him my refuge. Did I make him my refuge? He
made him my refuge. Isn't that right? I didn't make
him anything. He made him my refuge. He made him my dwelling place.
But here is the goodness of the Lord. Here's the amazing news
of the Lord. When God does a good work for
his people, When God does a good work in His people and through
His people, He puts that good work on their account. We don't
do that, do we? We don't do something for somebody
else and then just go put it on somebody else's account. I
wouldn't do something for you and then put it on her account.
I'd like it to be on mine, thank you. not our God. He does something wonderful and
then He declares to the Father, because He put His trust in me,
because He made me His dwelling place, I'm going to bless Him. Abraham
received faith. God just gave him faith. Caused
him to believe God. It was counted to him for righteousness.
Verse 11 says, For he shall give his angels charge over thee to
keep thee in all thy ways. I love that verse and I believe
that verse. I don't believe our Lord is lying
or not meaning what he's saying. I believe right now there are
angels in this room keeping charge over us physically and spiritually. I believe it with all my heart.
I believe that we are in the charge of God the Father, God
the Son, and all of his servants that do his bidding. I believe
we are being well taken care of. If God has put us under the
shadow of the Almighty, then we are being well taken care
of. If He chose to take care of us
eternally, He is taking care of us right now, temporally. Verse 12 says, These angels shall
bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against
a stone. Charge has been given over us. to the point that we're not even
going to dash our foot on a stone. This flesh hears that and says,
I don't know. I feel like I'm dashing my foot
on a stone all the time. I feel like I'm beating my head
against the wall all the time. I don't know. We just read where
David said, I've been young and now I'm old. I've never seen
the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread. I don't know.
I don't know. Well, all right, let's see the
reality of our situation. Do we believe God put us under
the shadow of the Almighty? Here's the reality of our situation.
Do we have shelter today? Do we have a roof over our head
tonight? Well, yeah, I don't know about next month, but I
do tonight. We don't have to worry about next month. God might
return tonight God might be here tonight. What about the food department? Do we have enough food to eat?
Are we literally going house to house begging for bread? Are
we literally struggling, scrounging, dumpster diving, looking for
food? Well, no. I don't know about
next week, but today, no. We don't have to worry about
next week. The Lord might be here tonight. The Lord might
come back tonight. What about clothing? Do we all,
are we all, any of us naked? Well, no, but my clothes are
getting old. Starting to wear out. Well, are
we covered? Yes. We're covered. What that means is we're being
taken care of. Well taken care of. Whether we
realize it or not, God the Father has his hand around God the Son,
and God the Son has his hand around everything. And God the
Son said, and God the Father said, and God the Spirit said,
they are mine, and I will preserve them all the way to the end. Take care of them. Hold them
up in your hands. When they fall down, hold them
up in your hands. Don't let them dash their foot
against the stone. The Almighty is keeping us in
all of our ways, even though we don't know it, even though
we don't believe it. We have a lack of faith. The
Almighty is keeping us in all our ways. Not only that, verse
3 says, Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder, the young
lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet. Every soul
that dwells in the secret place of the Most High, safely under
the shadow of the Almighty, every soul that's in Christ has been
given victory over all of His enemies, every single one. Verse 14 says, Because He hath
set His love upon me, This is what our Lord is saying, because
He set His love upon me. Now do we love Him? Absolutely. Absolutely we do, but only because
He first loved us. Only because. Our love is because
of His love, but in kindness, once again. Verse 14, He said,
because He hath set His love upon me. Therefore will I deliver
him, I will set him on high, because he hath known my name."
What is his name? I am Jehovah, Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 15 says, He shall call
upon me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him. I'll honor him. You know,
we've made that statement so many times, we've heard it. Our
Lord said, Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. And believers
say, you know all the world is saying I don't understand that.
Believers say, neither do I. I totally understand why God
would hate Esau, but what I can't understand is why would God love
Jacob? He said right here, I'm going to honor Him. Why? What
have we done to deserve any honor from Him? Nothing. We're in the secret
of the Almighty, in the secret hiding place of the Almighty.
That's the only reason that we should ever be honored from Him.
Verse 16 says, With long life will I satisfy Him. How long? As long as life can get eternal,
eternal life, will I satisfy Him and show Him my salvation? If we've been tucked up under
God's salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ, we're going to see God's
salvation. We are going to see Him. We're
going to see Him as He is. And the honor of it all is when
we see him, we are going to be like him. Because He protected
us, because He shielded us, because He redeemed us, the moment we
see Him with these eyes, we're going to be just like Him. Thank
God for the shadow. It's all because of that shadow,
that secret hiding place. Thank God for it. All right,
stand together with me. Let's turn to 258.