Come on, brother. If you will,
let's turn to Psalm 46. Psalm 46. I'd sent out the link. I was
thankful they had uploaded quickly. Brother D Parks' funeral service. And I prayed for Chris all week.
That's a hard thing. And though it's a joyful occasion,
there's still a heavy weight on him. And the Lord blessed
him. And I was, I was thankful. That
was encouraging to me. Here in Psalm 46, we're just
going to look at the first verse, and I hope to spend the next
couple of weeks here. We can deal with these three
Selahs. Here in verse 10, where the Lord
speaks too, but we'll read the whole Psalm here in Psalm 46,
verse one. God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble. Therefore. We will not fear,
though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried
into the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be
troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof,
Selah. 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. She
shall not be moved. God shall help her and that right
early. A heathen raged. Kingdoms were moved. He uttered
his voice. The earth melted. The Lord of
hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge,
Selah. Come, behold the works of the
Lord. What desolations he hath made
in the earth. 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. And here the Lord speaks. His
servant's been writing this the whole time. Now he speaks. Be
still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth. Now the writer picks up again.
The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Throughout this whole Psalm,
it's kind of repeated. It begins with the Lord is God
is our refuge and it ends with the God of Jacob is our refuge.
This is a psalm of refuge, of strength, of help in time of
trouble. It says in verse one, this is
to the chief musician for the sons of Korah. These are wicked
people. Are you wicked? A song upon Alamoth. That's as high as you can sing. Scream it and make it a piercing
noise that those evil wicked people's going to hear. That's
good, isn't it? God is our refuge. God is our
refuge. We find refuge in a whole bunch
of different things, don't we? Natural man find them in things
which is unbelievable. When he pierces the heart with
that sound, he says, God is our refuge and strength and a very
present help in trouble. He is. Not something else, not
a system of doctrine, not the right church, not the right preacher,
the man that you're following. He is. I don't understand. I've thought about this for two
or three days now. If any bit of truth has been revealed by
God into somebody, how in the world could they stand up and
preach anything else? If I didn't have good news to
tell, we're going to lie? You can do it. No, you can't. I don't see how people stand
up and preach because they don't know any better. A man will preach
what he believes. That's so, well, we believe those
doctrines of grace, always plural, isn't it? We believe those doctrines
of grace, we just don't, you know, that can offend people,
and so-and-so don't like hearing that, or, you know, we've got
that, we can move on to bigger things. That's not good news. God's, I'm a son of Cork. I'm
a wicked, good-for-nothing sinner that was a rebel against God,
and with a piercing high pitch, like a laser beam, it hit me
in the heart, revealed into me, God is my refuge. Not my location,
not my family, not all those other things. He's my strength. And we'll look at the wording
of this at the very end, but very present, present help in
trouble. He's there. He's present and
a help in trouble. He's our refuge. It's not a what
is our refuge, it's a who is our refuge. Turn over to Isaiah
28. There's a couple of books there
to your right, Isaiah 28. Without the Lord speaking to
us that he is our refuge, natural man comes into this world thinking
they already have refuge. We build up our own buildings.
We do our own, set up our own perimeters and defenses, don't
we? Here in Isaiah 28, look at verse 14. Isaiah 28, 14. Wherefore hear the word of the
Lord, ye scornful men that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Primarily, the Lord's speaking
to preachers, that's what he's talking to. All the scornfuls,
preachers that's out there. But also all us scornful people
too. That's everybody. He said, because ye have said,
we have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at
agreement. I made my peace. I've made a
covenant. When it's the end that's appointed
to all men, I'm good. I've made a covenant. I've decided.
I just woke up this morning, I wanted to go to heaven. You
don't say. Natural man, the scornful, they
make a covenant with death. With hell, they are at agreement.
When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall
not come unto us. We're fine, for we have made
lies our refuge. And under falsehood, we have
hid ourselves. Who does natural man make a covenant
with? Death, so we can do something
whenever we die. It ain't got nothing to do with
the ever-living God, does it? Nothing to do with his son that
he sent. Nothing to do with his merit
and his person making a deal with death. Who
made this covenant, this refuge? Many people say, I've made my
peace with God. I have a refuge, I've made my peace with God.
The Lord said, Here in our text, it says God's our refuge. What'd
he say when he walked this earth? When God walked this earth, he
said, these things have I spoken unto you that in me, you might
have peace. In me, you might have a refuge.
You might have safety and perseverance and preservation. In me, in him,
in God, he's our refuge. Look at verse 16, Isaiah 28,
16. Therefore, thus saith the Lord
God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone. You've
made these covenants with death and all this nonsense is gonna
burn. I've laid in Zion a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious
cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make
haste. Judgment also will I lay to the
line and righteousness to the plummet. And the hail shall sweep
away all the refuge of lies. and the water shall overflow
the hiding places. Whenever the Lord lays, when
he comes as our refuge and he lays Christ that cornerstone,
all of a sudden, here's what's gonna happen, you're gonna turn
from your idols. You don't say, I was still saved back then underneath
that false gospel and all this nonsense of delusion. You'll say, that was wrong, I
was gonna die. But God, he came to me and he
revealed Christ to me. And that's the only rock worth
standing on. I have to have him. He's got to be the refuge, doesn't
he? Everything else is lies. It's a lie, isn't it? How can
a person know if they're trusting in a refuge of lies? First thing
that comes to my mind, who made the covenant? If you have a refuge,
a covenant that is what makes you happy and lets you sleep
at night, who made it? He said all the scornful, all
the heathen, they made it themselves, didn't they? What about that
sweet psalmist of Israel? What did David say whenever he
laid on his deathbed? He said, I've sorted these things
out with the big man upstairs. Hogwash. What blasphemy. What irreverence. He said, although
my house be not so with God, I'm a son of Korah. That's all
I am, I'm a wicked wretch, it's nothing. Yet he hath made with
me a everlasting covenant. He did it. Ordered in all things
and sure, that's every jot, every tittle from the beginning, the
continuance and the culmination, it's all, he did it. He did it,
he's my refuge. For this is all my salvation
and all my desire, although he make it not to grow. I wanna
be found in him, in my refuge, isn't it? to have the saving
covenant and not have a refuge of lies, where is it? The Lord
came to Moses, didn't he? Moses said, Lord, show me your
glory. I want to see your glory. And
as the Lord grows us in grace and shows us who he is, we get
the little words he says and we stand on them. Well, the Lord's
glory is that he'll be gracious to whom will be gracious and
he'll have mercy on who have mercy and be compassionate to
whom be compassionate. And that's true. As we go a little further,
he's more of our refuge, and we learn more about the city
of refuge that he is. We see his glory in that he put
Moses in the cleft of the rock, that shore foundation, that triad
cornerstone. You want to see God be glorious? He's going to take wicked sinners
and put them in his son, and he's going to be just and a justifier.
That's amazing. Amen. We're going to worship
him. We're going to thank him for that. That's a refuge, isn't
it? Sure. He said, I'll put thee
in the cleft of the rock, and I'll cover thee with my hand
while I pass by. Because if you look on my face,
you're going to die. And I'm going to keep you alive.
I gave you life, and I'm going to preserve that life. Because
she in my son. You're in Christ. Look over at
Isaiah 32. The Lord called Christ the chief
cornerstone, the rock. And he told Moses, I'll put you
in the cleft of the rock. And he said, God's my refuge.
Look here in Isaiah 32, verse one. Behold, a king shall reign
in righteousness and princes shall rule in judgment. And a
man, a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind and a covert
from the tempest. as rivers of water in a dry place,
as a shadow of a great rock in a weary land." What is this stone? What is this cleft of the rock?
What is this city of refuge? It's a person, it's a man, the
God-man, Almighty God, the triune God. And manifold wisdom and
glory was manifested in a human body born of a woman. That's
a great mystery. That's a great mystery. He's
the ark, that's our refuge for Noah. And those great waters
come to be in him. He's that city of refuge for
the manslayer. You ever killed anybody? Maybe
not with your trigger finger, but with your mind. You ever
been angry? We had to run to him, flee to him. He's the cleft,
he's our refuge, isn't he? Look here in our text, it's Psalm
46, verse one. To the chief musician for the
Sons of Korah, thong upon Alamoth, God is our refuge. That's who
he is. Safe in him. And strength. Was a refuge enough? That's good
news, isn't it? It gets better. He's our strength. He's our strength. I thought
a lot about strength this week. I was thinking of Brother Andre.
I went to the gym with some of my friends in the Army one time
and I never lifted weights. And they said, well, let's see
how you do. And I did the bench press. I said, how was that?
And they said, well, you know, we need to work on some things. And I did a squat. And they said, how was that?
And I said, well, we need to work on some things. I did that
row. You grab it and pull. And I said,
do that again. They moved the thing. I did it.
And they moved the thing again. I did it. And they said, that's
pretty good. And I said, is it? Is that a
lot? They go, yeah, that's a whole lot. We only know what strength
is. Anytime we think we're strong,
we're not. Anytime we think we're weak, it's like, oh, this is
easy. I can pull this all day long. Ain't nothing to that. I'm gonna
end up looking like a hunchback in Notre Dame someday, just that
one little muscle getting strong. We understand what strong is
with the strength of the body, don't we? With the muscles, we
pick things up, put things down. But this is speaking more of
the power. God's our strength. He can move mountains and do
things naturally. But speaking of His power, that's
the source of strength, His power, isn't it? He's the first cause
of everything that's our strength. His power is. He's the cause
of us being alive. any strength that we have in
our bodies because we're physically alive. He did that. He is the
power that we move by. It's his strength that I breathe
in and out, that the heart beats, that the blood pumps, that we
take one step in front of the other, don't we? That's his doing.
He's the strength. He's the strength by which we
are sustained. So I read Acts 17, for in him, God who is our
refuge, the Lord Jesus Christ, in him we live. That's where
life is. We move. Is that me walking from
here to the door? Yeah, that too. And have our
being. That means right now and to come. And all that strength, it's not
just for physical needs and actions. We're alive spiritually because
Christ is our strength. Paul spoke several times throughout
2 Corinthians about that, about being weak and Lord being our
strength. He said in 2 Corinthians 12, therefore I take pleasure
in infirmities. When I'm sick and this body's
weak, and in reproaches and in necessities, in persecutions
and distresses for Christ's sake, for when I'm weak and I'm brought
to my wits end and I say, I can't do this. I can't. And that's a long trip. We think
we're there, don't we? You know, that's six miles to
go. Brought to nothing. Now I'm strong. Why? God is my
refuge and my strength. He's gonna train his child up.
He's a good and faithful father. And because he loves a people,
he's gonna send trials and afflictions and those things to bring us
to nothing. He's just a jellyfish laying
on the floor. And you say, he's my strength. That's true. He
said that, he's telling the truth. That's so. And a child of God
don't go around bragging and put on a bumper sticker. Oh,
well, the Lord strengthens me. No, if you learn what that means,
you say, God's my strength. God's my strength. Before Paul
tells us about putting on that whole armor of God, he said,
finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power
of his might. Before you're put on a helmet,
before you're put on a vest, before you're put on a sword,
gird up your loins, you be strong in him. He's our strength. God's
our strength in this world, in providence, in our moving through
this life, isn't it? That's what Paul was writing
there in Romans 13. He said, let every soul be subject to
the higher powers. The Lord's put them there. For
there is no power, but of God. Nobody has strength. Nobody has
power unless it comes from him. He's the one that did it. The
powers that be are ordained of God. Paul said, I got a thorn
in my flesh. And that great apostle used to
write the bulk of the New Testament. labored more than them all, wasn't
around preaching more than them all. And he said, Lord, I have
this thorn. I'm glad he didn't tell us what
it was. We'd worship the thorn. And he
said, take this from me. He asked three times. In perfection,
he asked. I mean, physically three times
or probably kept asking, asking, asking, asking. And the Lord
said, my strength, my grace, my power, can you separate them? Okay. He said, it's sufficient. I'm your refuge, I'm your strength. Through the power of the Lord
Jesus Christ, we live, we move, and we have our being. That's
our physical life, we learn from that, and our spiritual life,
and our physical walk in this world, and our spiritual walk
in this world, and our physical and spiritual continuation in
either one. It's Him. He said, my sheep hear
my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto
them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand. There's people in churches all
over this world today. Billions of them going to church.
How strong is your God's hand? You got a pinky finger in it?
You got to sanctify yourself? You got, well, I'll just, I'll
hang on to the good parts of the hand. He says, they're in my hand,
no man's gonna pluck them out of, that's it. It's not that
God said it, I believe it, and it's so. He said it, it's so. We'll come to believe it, we'll
come to thank you for it, but it's so. He said, my father which
gave them me, those sheep that hear his voice, that come to
him, that follow him, he's greater than all, no man's able to pluck
them out of my father's hand. Well, how do you say we're in
his hand and we're in the father's hand? He said, me and the father's
one. That's two hands. That's good hands, isn't it?
He's our strength. It says here in verse one, God
is our refuge and strength. He's our place of salvation for
eternity. He's our being. He's our life. Our life. He's our strength.
And a very present help in trouble. People keep, we keep changing
our language as time goes on. People want to be heard. And
well, if you tell me, I want, I want you to hear me. Well,
then I had to hear you to hear, I don't know what that means.
Right. And then all these documents, well, what's a woman? What is
a woman? That's all going around. You
ever seen what God says about it? That's a thought, isn't it? I don't hear that blasting on
the airwaves on the internet wires. What's God say? Well,
we don't want to talk about that. That offends our precious little
lives, doesn't it? People say, I want you to be present. And
I want to be, I know what that means in our time, to be present,
to be there, to be in it, to be engaged with people, right?
God, our refuge, our strength for his people, a very present
help in trouble. You know, that's his name. Jehovah
Shema, Jehovah Shema, the Lord is there. We looked at that a
couple of years ago there in Ezekiel 48, and it said about
the name of the city from that day shall be the Lord is there.
That's the name of that wonderful city he has. He's there. That's glory, isn't it? Where
he is. It doesn't mean he's just there
and he's gonna govern or he's gonna just monitor everything.
He's there in a way of grace. This one who's our refuge, our
strength, he's present with his people in help and trouble. Very present in a way of grace,
in a way of mercy, in a way of salvation, in a way of love and
tenderness and kindness and in leadership and in healing. He's very present. He's our life. Jehovah Shema means the Lord
is there to make himself known to his people and to dwell with
them in unity for eternity. I want the child of God to see
proof that Jehovah Shema, the Lord's there in the past and
present and forever. He's omnipresent. We know that
he's everywhere, but he's with his people, always has been.
and looking for them and looking and that love that he had for
them before the world was. That's what Revelation 13 says.
He's the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. This
refuge, this strength always has been. Always everlasting
love. We can't enter into those things.
It's really long. That's about the best we can
come up with, isn't it? It's everlasting. He's present throughout
our lives. Remember Jacob, he fell asleep
on those pillows of stone and he dreamed that ladder went up
to heaven and the Lord stood above it and he gave word to
Jacob that the land he was on, he's gonna give to him and his
seed and the Lord was gonna bless it. Why? He said in Genesis 28,
15, he said, and behold, I'm with thee. I'm very present. Is he just there? He's very present.
I'm very with thee. I don't see him. He said so. He's with his people. The Lord
was there in every sacrifice, throughout these prophets that
we read through, isn't it? And throughout the Psalms, Old
Testament. He's in every picture, He's in
every top, He's in the tabernacle, in every feast. He's the Passover,
He's the high priest, He was there, that's Him. That smitten
rock that followed Israel through the wilderness, gave them living
water, that's Him, He was there. That brazen serpent lifted up
on a pole, that's Him. There he is. You read it, there
he is. We'll see something next hour too. Be like, that is him,
there he is. Very present on every page. Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego. Nebuchadnezzar threw him in that
furnace, heated it up seven times, hotter than it was designed to
handle. The people that threw him in died. And Nebuchadnezzar looked
in and said, there's a refuge in there. Gotta be around them
people, they ain't burning. There must be some strength in
there. Looks like a son of God. He's there. He came and he was
present on this earth as our substitute. He lived a perfect
life. He died bearing our sin and he rose from that grave victorious
over all things that are against us. What's against us? You name it. That's what he took
care of. and very present with each one of them. In person,
he handled it. Where is he now? This omnipresent
God is on his throne. This one who is our refuge, this
one who is our strength, and he dwells in the heart of his
people. That's where he abides. Where's our present Lord and
God now? He said, lo, I'm with you always,
even to the end of the world. My brother preached that the
other day. Behold, lo, I'm with you always. How long's that? Until the end of the world, until
you're with me. Fear thou not, for I'm with thee.
Oh, be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee.
Yea, I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with
the right hand of my righteousness. Every trial, every joy, every
moment of loneliness, Jehovah Shema is there. He's there, very
present. Why? Hebrews 7 says, wherefore
he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God
by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. That's a good refuge. That's
the only strength that they're ever gonna be. And he's with
us, with us. He hasn't left us to ourselves.
Or in Psalm 46 verse one, who's this to again? To the chief musician
for the sons of Korah. Nobody earned this. He did it. Nothing in us that merited this. We're just sons of Cora. A song
upon Alamoth, scream this from my heels. It's high pitched as
you can get it. God is our refuge. He's the only
refuge. The only refuge from a holy God
we offended is the holy God. It's him. He's the strength,
and he's a very present help in trouble. I highlighted the
word help. You give a gospel principle,
and you explain the meaning of things in light of the gospel
of Christ and him crucified, and then somebody have a one-off.
Well, now, he did say, oh, and justify whatever it is, nonsense
they're standing on by one thing. Or Nashville, Mississippi, now
he's gonna help us. We won't have to do a lot of
the lifting. No, you know what that word help is? That's tenderness. That's compassion. That's an
approachable God. Do you know that? He does lots
to show mercy. And his son, who's our refuge
and our strength, he said, I'm gonna help you. didn't help,
you did it all. That's what you did. When the
Lord said, he said, come, let us reason together. Well, you're
going to sit down and argue with God and maybe have a chance of
winning? No. He's speaking in terms we can
understand. That's a compassionate God. He said, I'll help you.
I'll be right there with you. You in trouble? You'll call on
me. And that's going to work in reverse.
I have no strength. You have to be my refuge. He's
my refuge. I'm strengthening. He's with
me always. Just keep flowing back and forth. I pray the Lord
will reveal himself as the only refuge and the only strength
and that he'd be present with his people in time of trouble
as our only help. Let's pray together. Father, we're thankful for your
word. We're thankful for Christ, your word, our God, and our Lord,
who's our refuge, our strength, our everything. All we bring is trouble. How patient, tender, and kind
he is to us. That's rebellious children. Lord,
thank you for this salvation. Make your praise be ever on our
lips. Give us gracious things to come
across our lips. What a blessing it is. Thank
you for our brethren that you've worked this in and you've revealed
yourself to. I'll be with those that are suffering
right now with the trouble that you've seen, that you've allowed
and show them Christ is their strength and refuge and be present
with them. The Parks family is a weep with sorrow for themselves,
but thankfulness for our brother who's with you. Comfort them,
Lord, as only you can. Forgive us for what we are. Be
with us this morning. It's in Christ's name that we
ask it. Amen. All right, we'll take about 15
minutes and meet back at 1030.