Turn back with me to Psalm 91. Brother Tony just read Psalm
91, and I want to tell you a course of events and
lead you into why we're looking at this today, okay? While I was on vacation a few
weeks ago, I read one of the most interesting articles I've
ever read on World War II. Sammy read it too. He was there. The whole time I was reading
that article, I couldn't help but think of Brother Henry Mahan
because he was in the Navy during World War II. I was reading about
all these things and these places and just thinking about him the
whole time I was reading it. He was a signalman on a ship. That was his job. He sat in the
highest part of the ship, the lookout, and he signaled a light
to other ships in the fleet. That's what he did. He was at Iwo Jima. You know
that battle. You've seen the monument, the
photograph, and the statue of those soldiers raising that flag
up. They're all leaning into it together.
You've seen that. Well, Brother Henry watched that
happen. He rode home that day and told
his parents, sent a picture, and he said, Mom, we took the
island today. I watched the American flag go
up. I thought about the Lord is my banner. Well, I knew all that, I'd heard
that story before, so I couldn't help but think about him the
whole time I read that article. And I cut it out and I mailed
it to him. I said, I thought you'd find
this interesting, you know, so I mailed it to him. Well, we
had to be in Rocky Mount this last Monday, so we went by and
we saw Henry and Doris, and I asked him, did you get that article
that I mailed you? And he said, oh yeah, I got it.
And he said, that was great. I enjoyed it. And that opened
up the door, the conversation. He started telling us about his
experiences in World War II, because the article had different
islands. And I said, did you go to those places? Oh yeah,
I went to them all. And he said, the battle that
made the biggest impression on me was Okinawa. He said, we were there for one
month fighting. A solid month. They endured 70
air raids. The planes coming over, dropping
bombs on the ships. One every single morning and
every single night for 35 days. Can you imagine how scary that
would be? Honestly. What if they were flying over
right now, dropping bombs on these buildings? He said the Kamikazes were flying
their planes right into our ships, blowing them up, sinking the
ships. He said in this massive fleet, ship, ship, ship, ship,
ship everywhere, the ship right in front of his sank. Can you
imagine that? You know all these boys, they
leave home and they go overseas and we got an ocean full of ships
and we feel so strong and powerful in all our ships and then boom!
And that thing just starts to sink in the water. There's men
on that ship. The ship directly in front of
his sank and the ship directly behind his sank. They both went
down. He said during the course of
that battle, 10,000 American sailors were pronounced either
dead or missing. 10,000. And when he said that, Brother Paul
Mahan quoted this verse. Psalm 91 verse 7. It says, A thousand shall fall
at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall
not come nigh thee. Aren't you so thankful for the
Gospel's sake that His ship didn't get hit? That right there is a promise
from our God. Verse 8 says, "...only with thine
eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked." Are
you saying we won't die? No. It's appointed unto men once
to die. But verse 9 says, 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. Because you are the property
of your God, the God, every single thing that happens to you in
this life It's going to be good, it's going to be right, and it's
going to be safe. Every single thing. Well then,
should you lock your doors? Well, sure you should. Should you wear your seatbelt?
Well, sure you should. Satan told our Lord one time
when he was tempting him, he said, if you jump off of this
pinnacle, this building, the whole kingdom can be yours. And
you know what he said? Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. And
I always thought he was saying, Satan, I'm God, you keep your
mouth shut. That's not what he was saying.
He was saying, the reason I'm not going to jump is because
thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, and I will obey his
word. So wear your seatbelt. The Lord
gave them to us. Lock your door. That's fine. But here's the thing. Don't worry about those things. Don't worry about them. Until
the Lord's purposes come upon you, nothing can touch you. Nothing. I pray this message might be
a true encouragement to God's people this morning. Now let's
look at Psalm 91 together. Verse 1 says, He that dwelleth in the secret
place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the
Almighty. That word dwelleth means to sit
down. It means to remain. It means
to be settled. Settled. He that is settled in the secret
place of the Most High. Where is that? You know most people don't know. When we hear, where's the secret
place of the Most High, believers say, well, there's only one answer
to that. That's the most obvious question that could possibly
be asked. The Lord told a man named Manoah,
why do you want to know what my name is, seeing that it's
secret? The Lord God told Moses, if you
see my face, you're going to die. No man can look at me and
live. But there is a place where I
can put you. There is a cliff in this rock. And if I stick you in there,
As long as you're inside there, you're going to live. That word secret means hiding
place. He that dwelleth in the hiding
place of the Most High. Where's that? Go to Psalm 32. Psalm chapter 32. Look at verse 7. It says, Thou
art my hiding place. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble. Thou shalt compass me about with
songs of deliverance. And Selah just means stop there
for a while and think about that. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the
secret place of the Most High. Now let's ask this question.
Does everybody dwell in the secret place? Sadly, no they don't. Only God knows who He has chosen But how awful would it be to
go meet God and find out I don't dwell in the secret place? Boy,
how terrible would that be? I'm not in the secret place. All those outside of this hiding
place are going to be burned up in the furnace of God's fiery
wrath. He's plainly said He's going
to physically send fire to the world, to burn up this world. He's going to be judged. And all those who are outside
of this hiding place are going to suffer this fiery wrath. But if God the Father put you
inside His Son for safekeeping, And if His Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, has covered you with the shadow of His wings, covered you with the shadow of
His cross, covered you in His blood and
in His righteousness, if you dwell in the secret place of
the Most High, then when the fiery furnace of God's wrath
comes, Our text in Psalm 91 verse 1 says, You shall abide under
the shadow of the Almighty. Rain comes down. During our Bible
study, I was watching it rain out of these windows. I don't
know if you saw it. Rain comes down. And somebody opens up an
umbrella. And it's still coming down all
over the place. But there's a little safety spot where I'm not going
to get wet. Well, Christ is my shelter from
this fiery blast. And as the wrath of God beats
down on everything, He is suffering the fire of God. And I'm safe
under the shadow of His wing. I need Christ to stand between
me and the judgment of God. That's what I need. All who do can and will say with
David, our text in verse 2 says, I will say of the Lord, He is
my refuge and my fortress, my God, In Him will I trust. He is my place of safety. He's my refuge. I'm a refugee. He's my refuge. I'm running for help. He's my
hiding place, my place of safety. And He's my defense, my fortress. The Lord, verse 2 says, is my
God. Jesus Christ is my God. In Him will I trust, not in anybody
else. Clearly, those soldiers couldn't
trust in those ships. They couldn't trust in their
guns. They couldn't trust in their wit. I will trust in Him by God's
grace, not in anybody else. Whatever they say are lies. Whatever
He says is true. We have a good God to trust. And this is what he said. Verse
3, Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler,
and from the noisome pestilence. Do you ever feel like you're
trapped by your sin? The snare. People hear that and
everybody can just go, oh yeah, sure I do. But you let somebody
really get a good glimpse of their own sin, You let somebody
really start to hate themselves. I hate me. I hate what I do. And I hate what I think. And
I'm just trapped by my own filthy self. He shall deliver thee from the
snare and from the noisome pestilence. A pestilence is something that
comes through and it just destroys everything. There's a song that
says, abide with me, fast falls the even tide. The end is coming.
The darkness deepens, Lord with me abide. When other helpers
fail and comforts flee, help of the helpless, oh abide with
me. It goes on to say, change and
decay in all around I see. O thou who changest not, abide
with me. Please abide with me. Surely
He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from
the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with His
feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust. His truth shall
be thy shield and buckler. Could you think of any greater,
safer place to be than under His wings? Under His wings. You know, you go somewhere and
somebody who's older and wiser than you says, well, I'm going
to take you under my wing. Can you imagine any greater wing
to be tucked up under? His truth, His Word shall be
thy shield and buckler. In battle, that shield was something
in front. And the word buckler means something
that surrounds you. All the way around. Our Lord
said, I am the way, I am the truth, and His truth, Christ
Himself, shall be thy shield and buckler. Now the God who
cannot lie said that. I am protecting you. I am surrounding
you. We think one day it's going to
all be okay. One day when this world is over,
we're going to be there and it's going to be all okay. One day. But we'll just have to watch
our back till then, you know. That is not true. It's not true. for our spiritual comfort and
for our physical comfort right now, I want us to think about
how they used to do battle back then. They had swords and they
had a bow and arrow. A whole army would line up and
fire an arrow. Now on the receiving side, can
you imagine all those arrows coming at you? Look at verse 4. It says, His
truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Verse 5 says, Thou shalt not
be afraid. 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, a thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten
thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee." What he's saying is, don't be
afraid. Our God is in control of all
the evil in this world. Our God is in control of all
the evil in this world. Verse 5 says, "...the terror
by night." Should you lock your doors? Well, sure you should.
But don't be afraid. Our God is in control of the
terror by night. Don't be afraid. Our God is in
control of the flight path of every single arrow that flyeth
by day. Every one of them. Whatever that
arrow may be. Our God is in control. There are no accidents with God. There are only on purposes. Two cars collide. They just had
a car on purpose. He's in control of every single
thing that happens. Don't be afraid. Our God is in
control of every single germ that you cannot see. Now this
really hits home to the nurses. They know about germs. Our God is in control of every
single germ that you cannot see. Isn't that amazing? The pestilence that walketh in
darkness, it says. Verse 6. Don't be afraid. Our God is in control of all
the horror that is right in front of our eyes. We turn the news
on and it's nothing but bad news. Don't be afraid. Our God is in
control of every single thing that's going on right before
our eyes. Verse 6 says, "...the destruction that wasteth at noonday."
If our God has purposed it, there is no escaping it. None. Turn with me over to 1 Kings
chapter 22, back towards Genesis. 1 Kings chapter 22. We're going
to read a few verses in this chapter. And this is the story of two
kings, Ahab and Jehoshaphat. Okay? 1 Kings 22, verse 1 says,
And they continued three years without war between Syria and
Israel. Syria is Israel's enemy. And
it came to pass in the third year that Jehoshaphat the king
of Judah came down to the king of Israel, that's Ahab, and the
king of Israel said unto his servants, Know ye that Ramoth
and Gilead is ours, and we will be still and take it not out
of the hand of the king of Syria. And he said unto Jehoshaphat,
Will thou go with me to battle to Ramoth Gilead? And Jehoshaphat
said to the king of Israel, I am as thou art, my people as thy
people, my horses as thy horses. So Ahab asked Jehoshaphat, I'm
going to war, will you ally with me? And he said, Yes, everything
I have is yours. Now verse 5 says, Jehoshaphat
said unto the king of Israel, Inquire, I pray thee, at the
word of the Lord today. Then the king of Israel gathered
the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said unto
them, Shall I go against Ramoth Gilead to battle, or shall I
forbear? And they said, Go up, for the
Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king. So Jehoshaphat
asked him, before we do this, pray to God and see what He says. So he had his preachers, 400
of them, asked them what did they think, and they said, yeah,
go up, it'll be great. Everything's good. God loves you. Verse 12. and all the prophets prophesied. So saying, Go up to Ramoth-Gilead
and prosper, for the Lord shall deliver it into the king's hand.
And the messenger that was gone to call Micaiah spake unto him,
saying, Behold now, the words of the prophets declare good
unto the king with one mouth. Let thy word, I pray thee, be
like the word of one of them, and speak that which is good.
There was this one prophet, Micaiah. Actually, go back and look at
verse 8. It says, And the king of Israel
said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah, the
son of Imla, by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him.
For he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. He never
has anything good to say about me. Every time he stands up to
preach, it's just bad. He just talks about my sin, and
he talks about how I'm worthless and I can't do anything. Jehoshaphat
said, Let not the king say so. Alright, so now, verse 13, The
messenger that was gone to call Micaiah spake unto him, saying,
Behold now, the words of the prophets, all those other four
hundred prophets, declare good unto the king with one mouth.
Let Thy Word, I pray Thee, be like the Word of one of them,
and speak that which is good." Just tell the king it's going
to be okay. Just tell him good. And Micaiah said, as the Lord
liveth what the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak. I'm only
going to speak God's Word. Verse 17, and he said, I saw
all Israel scattered upon the hills as sheep that have not
a shepherd. And the Lord said, These have
no master. Let them return every man to
his house in peace. And the king of Israel said unto
Jehoshaphat, Did not I tell thee that he would prophesy no good
thing concerning me, but evil? What Micaiah said is, this is
what I see. Israel is going to be scattered
on this hill with no king. And then they're all going to
say, Let's just go on home. Ahab, if you do this battle,
you're going to die. Now go to verse 29. So the king
of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, went up to Ramoth-Gilead. And the king of Israel, Ahab,
said to Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself and enter into the battle. But put thou on thy robes, And
the king of Israel disguised himself and went into the battle.
He said, I'm just going to blend in like everybody else, just
in case. But you put your robes on and look like the king. You
be the king. Verse 31, But the king of Syria
commanded his thirty and two captains that had rule over his
chariots, saying, Fight neither with small nor great, save only
with the king of Israel. And it came to pass, when the
captains of the chariot saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, Surely it is
the king of Israel. And they turned aside to fight
against him, and Jehoshaphat cried out." Now here's what happened.
Syria told their whole army, You don't worry about anybody
but that king. You kill that king. I want the
whole army against one man. I want everybody's arrows aimed
at this one man. Verse 32, It came to pass, when
the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said,
Surely it is the king of Israel. And they turned aside to fight
against him. And Jehoshaphat cried out. And
it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots perceived that
it was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing
him. They just stopped. Verse 34 says, And a certain
man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel,
that's Ahab, between the joints of the harness. Wherefore he
said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand, and carry me
out of the host, for I am wounded. A certain man took a bow and
an arrow, and he was aiming at nothing, And that arrow stuck
Ahab right in the chest. Verse 35 says, And the
battle increased that day, and the king was stayed up in his
chariot against the Syrians, and died at even. And the blood
ran out of the wound into the midst of the chariot. And there
went a proclamation throughout the host about the going down
of the sun, saying, Every man to his city, and every man to
his own country. So the king died and was brought
to Samaria, and they buried the king in Samaria." If our God has purposed it, there
is no escaping it. But if He has not purposed it,
then it cannot touch you. It cannot touch you. Our Lord
asked our enemy, Satan, have you considered My servant Job?
And he said, Yes. But I can't touch Him. You've
hedged Him about. Go back to our text, 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. That's a promise from our God.
Are you saying that we're not even going to get sick? No. My mother died of cancer. But
if you could have asked her before she died, is this evil that you're
going through? She would have said, no. This
is good. She did tell me that. This is
good. Has a plague come upon you? No. God's sovereign purpose has. You see, if I dwell in the secret
place, bad is not really bad. It's only good in a mysterious
way. That's all it is. Brother Scott
Richardson used to say all the time, I haven't heard one ounce
of bad news since I heard the good news. Not one ounce. If I dwell inside the secret
place, if I'm in Christ, reproach is actually honor. Death is actually
gain. That's what Paul said. For me
to live is Christ, to die is gain. Our Lord says don't be afraid.
Don't be afraid. Psalm 91 verse 11 He says, For
He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all
thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their
hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Now angels are
beings that we don't know much about. We don't know much about them.
But they are all through the Scripture. All through the Scripture. Genesis to Revelation, they're
all through the Scripture. All times. I know that they're real beings.
I know that they're under the orders of God to protect us. I want you to go to Hebrews chapter
1. Hebrews 1 verse 13 says, But
to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right
hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Are they not all
ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall
be heirs of salvation? That's the purpose of God's angels.
They're ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who
shall be heirs of salvation. Now don't turn, just listen to
Matthew chapter 18 verse 10. Our Lord says, Take heed that
you despise not one of these little ones, his children. For
I say unto you that in heaven their angels do always behold
the face of my Father which is in heaven. Their angels have
permission directly from the throne of God to protect them
at all cost. So our Lord says, be careful,
take heed. Now go to Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13 verse 2 says, Be not
forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained
angels unaware. One of these days I will enjoy
having the opportunity to personally thank the angel that my God stationed
with me all the days of my life. My Father stationed protection,
which if I could, I would. I would. Psalm 91 verse 11 says,
For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee
in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their
hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Think about
a baby being born in a hospital. And the nurse picks up this little
baby and she takes it over here to the spot where they put the
little stocking cap on his head. And then she takes it to the
nursery. And then she takes it back to the mother. That's exactly
what God's angels do for His children. Exactly. Exactly. They shall bear thee up in their
hands. Verse 13 says, Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder,
The young lion and the dragon thou shalt trample under feet.
How can I do that? Only dwelling in the secret place
of the Most High. He shall tread upon the lion
and adder. The young lion and the dragon
shall he trample under feet. When our Lord Jesus Christ crushed
death and sin on the cross, Satan bruised his heel, but our
Lord crushed his head. The serpent, the dragon, who
has a roaring lion, seeks whom he may devour. Our Lord did the work, but if
I'm in Him, as He is what He does, so do
I. But He gets all the glory for
it. He did it all. Verse 14, 14 through 16, our
Lord promises us six I wills. Six I wills. Verse 14 says, because
He hath set His love upon me. If we love our God, it's only
because He first loved us. But verse 14 says, because He
hath set His love upon me, therefore will I deliver him." That's a promise from our God.
I will deliver him from sin. I will take it off of him. I
will put it on me. I'll take it to the grave and
he'll go free. I will deliver him from sin,
from Satan, from wrath. Verse 14 says, I will set him
on high because he hath known My name. Where's that? That's in Christ. The secret
place of the Most High. I will be seated with Him, in
Him. The third one is in verse 15.
It says, He shall call upon me and I will answer Him. What a blessing that is. Our
Lord says, when He calls, I'll hear and I'll answer Him. Sometimes
we need Him. Let me say this. I'm trying to
get through my notes, but let me stop and say something. Sometimes
we need Him. You know what I'm talking about? We always need Him, but sometimes
we need Him. Here's a promise from your God.
When they call, not only will He hear us, I'll answer you. Have you ever had a fork in the
road where you just need to know God's will? I just want to hear
your voice. Just speak to me, Lord. Here's a promise from your God.
I will answer you. Isn't that wonderful? I will
answer you. Here's the fourth one. Verse
15, he says, I will be with him in trouble. We have that all
the time. So what that means is, he's never
going to leave our side. Never. David said in Psalm 27,
in the time of trouble, he will hide me in the secret of his tabernacle. That's in Christ. The fifth one
in verse 15. He says, I will deliver him and
honor him. What is that honor? What is our
greatest honor? Just listen to this. John 12
verse 26 says this. Here's our greatest honor. If
any man will serve me, let him follow me, that where I am, there
shall also my servant be. If any man serve me, him will
my Father honor. You know what our greatest honor
is? We get to be with Him. We get to be in His presence. Number six is in verse 16. It says, With long life I will,
will I satisfy Him and show Him my salvation. How long of a life? Eternal. Eternal. Never ending. For all eternity
I will show Him my salvation. That's a promise from our God. He cannot lie and not one word
will return void. Alright, stand together with
me.