Under his wings, sheltered, protected,
no evil can harm me. That's what we just sang. That's scriptural in it. Psalm
91, no evil shall befall thee. All things work together for
what? Good, to God's people. What may seem evil will work
out for our good. Look at Psalm 4 with me. Psalm
4. This Scripture came to mind loud
and clear in light of something that just recently happened.
Psalm 4, verse 8. We have it in Psalm 4, verse
8. David writes, I will both lay
me down in peace and sleep. I'm going to sleep. 4. Thou, Lord, only. makes me dwell in safety. Let me remind you, David fought
battles from the time he was 16 or 17 until he was in his
late 60s, almost 70. And everybody around him wanted
him dead. And he said, I'm going to go
to sleep. Because thou, Lord, only, causes
me to dwell in safety. I'm sure most of you are aware
of the most recent school shooting. I don't always watch the news,
but for some reason it popped up and I saw it. My heart grieves
for those people. I just can't imagine. Unimaginable
grief and shock. If you sent the girls to go to
school and the next thing you hear, some mad man, mad person
came and shot them. It's hard to imagine it. Shock,
disbelief, confusion, grief. I grieved for them. I really
did. I'm sorry for them. And I thought about us. I want
to give us some help, some comfort, some answers from God's Word.
And many people are probably asking questions and there are
answers. We have answers from God's Word.
I want to give you some help, some comfort. And the title of
this, Freedom from Fearing for Our Safety. Do you fear for your safety?
Do you? the safety of your children,
do you? Ever? Sure you do. Many, if not most,
do, especially in these days. Many who do not, who say they
don't, have a false sense of security because the Lord is
so merciful and gracious and so withhold, and this country
has been sheltered so long There hasn't been a war fought on this
continent in years. Invading intimate. It just hasn't
happened. People have a false sense of
security. It can't happen to us. People are taking their chances,
you know. What's the chances of me? I'll
take my chance. And then religion is trusting
in a God who can't say. And they have no answers for
any of this. They have just a blanket, well, God has left. I hope this, I know this will
be for God's glory. What happened is for God's glory. This will be for the comfort
of you, God's people. Luke 12, go to Luke chapter 12
with me. I'm going to look at it. several
verses of scripture, okay? It'll be very enlightening, very
helpful. Luke chapter 12, and I asked if you feared, and you
know, men and women should fear, especially unbelievers. If they
don't know God, they should be afraid. They ought to be afraid.
And yet our Lord tells everyone to fear someone. Who is that? Look at Luke chapter 12, verse
4. I say unto you, the Lord Jesus
Christ, my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and
after that They have no more that they can do. Remember that. We looked at that. For a believer,
death is better than birth. Ecclesiastes 7.1. Right? It's
just so. We go. All our troubles are over.
We go to be with the Lord. Sudden death, sudden glory. If somebody kills you, there's
nothing more bad that can be done. And it's really the best
thing that can happen to you. That's a fact. But I will forewarn you, whom ye shall
fear, fear him which after he hath killed, after who hath killed? After he hath killed hath power
to cast into hell. Yea, I say unto you, fear him. He's the one that killeth to
make the lab. Domains are used. He's the one. Why? We're going to see in a moment,
I hope. So, but, you know, to all his
disciples, and this is contradiction to the world, He says, fear the
Lord, fear the Lord. David talks much of the fear
of the Lord. Isaiah, fear the Lord, fear the Lord. And yet
our Lord tells His disciples, fear not. Well, which is it? If you fear the Lord, you have
no need to fear anything or anyone else. Okay? Alright, I don't
want to give you many scriptural reasons and answers that should
give us some freedom from this fear for our safety. Genesis
6, go over there to Genesis 6, send an outline to some of you.
There's so very many seemingly random acts of violence, aren't
there? You know there's nothing random in the universe. There's absolutely nothing random. He's just happening out of control.
God worked at all things. He keeps saying that, doesn't
He, Brother John? I, the Lord, do all these things. Worketh
all things after the counsel of His own will. Known unto God
are all His works from the foundation of the world, from the beginning
of the world. The Lord hath made all things
for Himself, even the wicked. That's Proverbs 16, even the
wicked for the day of evil. The wrath of man shall praise
Him. And the remainder of wrath, Psalm
76, 10. The remainder of wrath, He'll
restrain it. He's absolute. Nothing random. But it's seemingly random acts
of violence and senseless shootings. It's on the rise in many schools,
both public and private. There's no safety in one more
than the other, is there? There's no safety at all in a
school or anything or anyone. Thou only, Lord, makest me to
dwell in safety. Where is safety? God's not just
the Savior of our soul. He's the Savior of the body,
isn't He? Our last point's going to be
how that the believer is immortal. You say, but we die. Oh, no.
No. It's not worth crashing. And
that's my last point. I've got to hold it. Pretend I didn't say that. No. If I don't get to that, we need
to hear it. Why? Why? Why? Why? Why does
this happen? Why all this violence? Why all
this senseless killing? Why? Why? Why? Number one, I'll
tell you why. Man is evil. It is completely different. God's Word completely is opposite
of what mankind thinks. Man is evil. How much proof do
we need? Genesis 6. Look at this. Now this is in the beginning.
This is before the world, you know, The whole world was populated,
much of it was. And our Lord said, as in the
days of Noah. The end is going to come. Genesis 6 verse 5, God
saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, that every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil, continually,
every day. Every imagination. And he repented to the Lord,
he'd made man. The Lord said, I will destroy man whom I've
created. I will destroy man. Everything. Every man and beast, creepy thing. But Noah found grace. I wish I had time to deal with
that. And now in verse 11, the earth was corrupt before God,
the earth was filled with violence. God looked upon the earth, behold
it was corrupt. All flesh had corrupted His way
upon earth. And the earth is filled with
violence. And God said, I will destroy
them with the earth. Man is corrupt. He is evil. Psalm 14, the Lord looked down
upon the sons of men, the children of men, to see if there were
any. Any. Let me read it to you. Psalm
14. He said, the Lord looked down
to see if there were He said they're corrupt. The Lord looked
down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any
that didn't understand and seek God. He said they're all gone
aside. They're all together. I'll put them all together. They've
become filthy, stinkless, none that doeth good. No, not one
by nature. Not one. There's a country music
song that says, I believe there's good, some good in everyone.
No, there's not. God's Word says it's just not
so. Why do these things happen? Man
is evil. He's full of hate. He's full
of malice. He's out to kill others and kill
himself. That's a fact. That's a fact. Our Lord said, now this underscores,
underlines what our Lord said, that which is flesh is flesh.
That which is spirit is spirit. And he said, Marvel not, brethren,
that I say unto you, you must be born again. A new creature. That old man is evil. There must
be a new creature created in the image of the holy, spotless,
harmless Son of the Most High God. Love, mercy, grace. A new creature. That's God's
work. God's Word. If it weren't for
that, the Lord would have destroyed this world a long time ago. The
greatest proof of man's utter depravity is the Holy Son of
God came to this earth. God came down to earth, holy,
harmless, separate from sin, undefiled, spotless, love, mercy,
grace, kind, gentle, doing nothing but good. Everything He ever
did was good. Everything He ever spoke, grace
poured from His lips. He went about helping. All He
did was go about doing good for everyone. Everyone, anybody that
came to him, he did them good. And man said, kill him. Who did? Everybody. Herod Pontius Pilate
asked for, of a truth they said, Herod Pontius Pilate and all
the people have gathered together against thy holy child to do
what? Whatsoever God's hand determined
for to be done. God is so merciful, so gracious. That's why he sent him. The lamb
had to be killed. They had to provide us the blame
for killing him. And yet, for many of those, that very blood
that they shed was the means of their salvation. That's amazing. That's amazing. Well, this brings us to our next
question and answer. That's what all are asking. Maybe
you aren't, but many are asking. Few can answer this. How could
God let this happen? Something like this. The religious
say this. The religious always say this.
God didn't want that to happen. Don't they? They always say that.
They have no answers. Their theology is God love, love,
love, that's all God is, is love, and so how could a loving God
let such a thing happen? The irreligious hear that, that
God is love, and they say, if God is love, why would He let
that happen? If there is a God, why, how could
He let such a thing happen? You got an answer? Here's the answer. God is sovereign. God does what He will, with whom
He will, because He will. He giveth not account of His
matters to any man. That's what the Scripture says.
That's what the Scripture says. The Lord Jesus Christ, that's
who I'm talking about, He is sovereign over all. He says,
as thou hast given Him power over all, what? Flesh. Power. All power is given unto
thee in heaven and earth, over all flesh. There's not one single
human being that Jesus Christ doesn't absolutely control every
part of that. Do you believe that? If you don't
believe that, you don't have any hope, any peace. There's
no comfort to be found. If God didn't want this to happen,
then why did He let it happen? How could it happen? He must
not be God. Why would you even trust Him?
Why would you even pray to Him? Why would you even call on Him?
Why? If He doesn't want bad things happening, He can't do anything
about it? You know what that means? He's a God that cannot
save. He cannot help us. He didn't want it to happen,
and it happened. Satan's more powerful than him, evidently.
Man's more powerful than him. Man can kill and God can't stop
him. That's what they're saying. That's the logical conclusion
to what they're saying. Is that so? No, it's a lie. It's all a lie. The Lord sent the Sabaeans and
the Chaldeans, a man He loved dearly, Job, upright, astute
evil, perfect man. God said, there's not anybody
like him on earth. God loved him. And God sent,
Satan wanted to have at him and he couldn't touch him. Satan
said, you've got him edged about, I can't get near him. You've
read it, that's what it says now. Satan said, but if you touch
him, didn't he? He said, you stretch out your
hand to God. He said, you touch him, he'll
curse you. So God sent the Sabaeans and
the Chaldeans, the means, and killed all of his servants and
all of his children. and wiped out everything he had,
took everything he had, and smote him from the top of his head
to the bottom of his feet with open sores, boils, all over his
body. And he's sitting in the dirt,
in the ashes, scraping his body, trying to get some relief. God
did all of that. That's what this book says. Now
let's, you know why? Number one, as a testimony. He's trying this man's faith.
And Job had tried to figure it out. Why? But in the beginning
he said this. And this is why God sent it.
And this redounds to the glory of God. Only God can give a man
such faith as this. Only God can give a man such
peace and rest as this. A man who went through every
single thing that any human being will ever go through in his lifetime,
he went through all of it at the same time. And God did it.
And he said, the Lord did this. The Lord gave and the Lord hath
taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Eli, the Lord, Samuel said, Samuel
was afraid to tell Eli what the Lord told him. That he was going
to destroy both of his sons who were evil. And Eli said, tell me what the
Lord said. He said, the Lord is going to
kill both of your sons. What did Eli say? It is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth good
in his sight. And there's a man who knows God.
And there's a man who has peace. And there's a man who has comfort.
And that's the answer. There is no answer except it's
the Lord. He doesn't give an account of
His matter. We may not know all the ramifications and what all
comes out of these things. Someday we will know as we've
been known. And we'll be amazed at God's
infinite wisdom and mercy and grace. Amazed. You know, there have been many...
From Genesis to Revelation, it's clear from Scriptures that the
God of the Bible is the one who kills. You know the Scriptures, but...
There have been many mass killings in Scripture. You know, many.
I was going to have you go back to Genesis 18 where the Lord
said, I'm going to Sodom and I'm going to wipe Sodom out. And Abraham pleaded with him,
didn't he? Abraham said, Lord, far be it
from the Lord to destroy the righteous with the wicked. Far
be it from God to do. He said, shall not the God of
the earth, judge of the earth do right? Yes, he will. He does
right. This is one of my points here.
God is holy. God is just. God is righteous
in all His way. God does right. Everything He
does is right. Nothing He does is wrong. And Abraham pleaded with him,
just five righteous. Five? Out of 200,000 people? Lord, if you could just find
five? He couldn't find five. What's that say about me? And he wiped it out. But, One man and his daughters. The Lord being merciful. See,
salvation is of the Lord. He will be merciful. He will
show mercy. To whom he will. Nobody deserves
it. That's what mercy means. Not
getting what you deserve. One man, God in mercy. His name
was Lot. Was he a sinner? Oh, yes. God,
being merciful, laid hold of him and pulled him out. He didn't even want to leave,
but God pulled him out. What mercy, what grace, what
love, what salvation. Exodus 1, Exodus chapter 1, it's
Genesis, Exodus chapter 1, Pharaoh. God made Pharaoh afflict his
people. God made Pharaoh afflict his
people with hard taskmasters and cruel bondage. So much so
that they weren't crying on the Lord. They are now. Crying on
the Lord. Okay? And then, Pharaoh said,
take every male child and throw him in the How many? A thousand? Can you imagine someone ripping
your child from your arm and you watch it thrown in the river? Drowning. Screaming. God did that. I'm going to make you smile in
a minute. Exodus 12, God said, I'm coming
through Egypt and I'm going to smite Egypt. I'm going to wipe
them out. He said there's not going to
be one house where there's not one day in Egypt. It's true today. Death all around us. Deuteronomy 32, 39, I kill and
I make alive. I the Lord do all these things.
I the Lord do all these things. in modern times. And, you know, there was a man back
in the 40s named Adolf Hitler. Where'd he come from? The Lord
raised him up. He said that about Pharaoh, didn't
he? Didn't he? Pharaoh who threw
all those babies in the river. Jewish. He hated Jews. Threw
them in the river. A man named Hitler, in the 40s, was raised
up by the Lord according to his purpose. And Hitler wanted to
do away with all Jews. He wanted to kill them all. Kill
many of them, millions of them. Well, the Jews said, nearly 2,000
years before that, when God's Son was hanging on the cross,
The Jews at the foot of the cross said, let his blood be on us
and our children. So God said, okay. He's just. There's no race that's
been more brutalized and killed, slaughtered like the Jews have.
Why? God's just. But, God's merciful. They didn't deserve any mercy.
They said, kill, we want this man dead. We will not have him
reign over us. But God made him reign over them.
And God in mercy, and the gospel, Christ Himself sent out the gospel
and He said, begin in Jerusalem. Start there. To the Jew first. and also the great. No, why would
you go back to those bloody Jews? Because God is good. God is merciful. God is great. Man is not. God
is. That's what David said most often.
Is this the way of man? That's not man. It is God. But our Lord is just and righteous
Our Lord will not destroy the righteous with the wicked. God
does not kill innocent people. Would you turn with me to Romans
chapter 3? The thing is, there are no innocent
people. You know that? That's what Scripture
says. You're about to read it with
me. Romans 3 verse 9. Paul says, now he's talking about
Jew and Gentile by nature. He said, us Jews, are we better
than Gentile? No, in no way. We've proved both
Jew and Gentile. They're all under sin as it is
written. There's none righteous, none
unworthy, none that understand it. On down it says, verse 15,
their feet is swift to shed blood, destruction and misery in their
ways. Verse 18, no fear of God before their eyes. Now whatsoever
things the law saith, saith them under the law, that every mouth
may be stopped, all the world is guilty as charged before God. Verse 23, all have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. Look at chapter 5, now chapter
5. Chapter 4, oh my, it talks about
imputation. Blessed is the man whom the Lord
will not impute anything. Why? Christ's sake. Chapter 5 verse 12 says, By one
man sin entered into the world, and death by sin. So death passed
upon all men, for all have sin. Right? Verse 14, now this is talking
about little children. Death reigned from Adam to Moses,
even over them that had not sinned at the similitude of Adam's transgression."
That's children. Babies. Those babies thrown in
a river. You're not old enough to even
think or talk or act or do anything willfully, like Adam shook his
fist in God's name. Willfully, I said. I will not.
I will not. But they die. Why? Sin. Sin is
in us. The potential, the propensity, the
corruption and the evil that's lying there has the potential
to be another devil in everyone and every little child that's
born. If something doesn't happen,
they're going to It will be like that we just
read. Babies and young children die
according to God's purpose and by the means that He ordained
them. Okay? Now here's my third point. God
is good. God is real good. God cannot
do evil. He's so good. He cannot do wrong.
And I told you in Psalm 76, I read it to you, that wrath of man
shall praise him. And there are many scriptures
that tell us that the Lord saves, preserveth the simple, children.
David had a son, sick unto death, and he begged the Lord to save
that child. He pleaded, he laid all night
on the floor, begging the Lord to spare that child, and God
killed him. And Dave woke up, and he washed
his face. He said, serve me some breakfast.
He said, the Lord did this. He said, I can't bring it back,
but I'll go to Him. Meaning, he went to be with the
Lord. Right? Job said this. Job, throughout
Job, he said, oh, I wish I'd had an untimely birth and I'd
be okay. That's what he said. If I'd have
died at childbirth, I'd be okay. I'd be at peace. That means I
go to be with the Lord. All those crying babies that
were thrown in that river by Pharaoh are right now gathered
with the saints at the river. Not crying. Shouting. Singing. God spared them a life
of sin and made me hell. What a terrible way to die. Yes,
for the ones left behind. But for them, sudden death, sudden
glory. God is good. He's so good. All those babies. Herod said kill every child under
two years old in Bethlehem. Take a sword and go out there
and kill all those children. They
were all killed because he was looking for Christ. They were
killed, John, for Christ's sake. Revelation talks about those
who were beheaded, those who died, whose blood was shed for
Christ's sake. He said they're at the throne. All those babies, whose blood
was shed by Herod are now around the throne of the Lamb praising
Him for shedding His blood for them. It's all good. God's good. You know, there's
going to be more. God will have the victory. Christ. And think of all the
aborted. As evil as that is. But think
of the mercy of God and the grace of God to spare them a life of
sin. All the children. There is no
age of accountability. You know that. Scripture does not teach an age
of accountability. Twelve years old does not say
that. God deals with every single individual
according to his wisdom. God is sovereign. God is just.
God is holy. God is righteous. God is love. God is love, and whoever he loves. God is love. And buddy, if he
loves you, you're loved. You're loved forever, and he's
going to save you. There's nothing not going to
keep him from saving you. Nobody's going to pluck you out
of his hand. God's love is Sovereign. God's love is powerful. God's
love is effectual. God's love is eternal. Love never
faileth. What about His? Perfect love
ought to cast out fear. If God loves you, come what may,
it's good. It's okay. My father loved me. It can't
be bad. He cannot do us evil. Would you do evil to your children? It's unthinkable, though, that
you would, in malice... Well, maybe not. If your son
was like me, if your son was a rebel like me, and saw the
look in my dad's eyes sometime, I'm going to tan your hat. But
he didn't. He did, but he didn't. He didn't
kill me, Steve. Our Lord said, if you being evil know how to give good gifts to
your children, how much more? It's not possible for God to
love someone and not save them. It's not possible. It's not possible. It's not possible for God to
do evil to somebody He loves. It's not possible. Abraham said
it, far be it from the Lord, to slay the righteous. God's people are immortal. God's people are immortal. Let
me just read you a few scriptures. You'd have to turn fast with
me. But Psalm 3, David said, I laid
down and slept, I awoke, the Lord sustained me. I will not
be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set themselves
against me round about. And they had. He wrote that when
his son Absalom was after him. Have you ever had anybody out
to kill you? Have you? Somebody chasing you? Somebody
with thousands of armed soldiers out to kill you, one person?
Have you? Now, if you haven't, hey, if
you wasn't, you said, I'm not afraid. The Lord will protect
me. Thou only makest me dwell in
safety. Saul tried to get him. Couldn't.
Absalom tried to get him. He couldn't. The Lord Jesus Christ
came. They tried to kill him from birth.
All his life, when he was an adult, every mob that came upon
him to kill him, he was passed right through. Until it's time. You know, our
days are numbered, our number of our months, our days are determined. Where are they? Who has them?
Who knows? God does. And you cannot pass. You cannot
make yourself live one second longer than God determined before
the world began. That's Job 14. That's not fatalism. That's Bible. This is the God
of the Bible. David said, in Psalm 27, he said,
the Lord's my light, my salvation, whom shall I fear? When the wicked,
my enemy's foe, came upon me to eat up my flesh, I stumbled
and fell. He said, though a host should camp against me, though
war should ride against me, I'm confident. The Lord make us dwell in safety.
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear
no evil." Why? Valor. He prepares us a table
right in the presence of our enemy. Almost to mock the enemy. Just try to get him. That's what
he did. John, that's what he did to Satan.
Where he'd been Satan. You know, the God that men believe
in today, He's mockable. He needs to be mocked. And people
that trust Him, oh my, they're just like Him. Psalm 115, there's no hands but
your hand. He said those that trust in that
God, they're just like Him. They're blind, they're dead,
they're dumb. Why would you trust in a God that has no hands but
yours? And now God's people trust in a God who has hands, and they're
in His hands, and everything and everyone is in His hands.
And so we go to sleep. And rest in peace. So that Thou
only maketh me to dwell in safety. Oh, I have so many. Psalm 91. Go over there. Psalm 91. Let
me close with this. Psalm 91. And I've told you many
times that we probably ought to read Psalm 91, Psalm 90 and
91 once a week. Really. Psalm 90 is about the
brevity of life, the eternality of our God. Psalm 91 is brevity of life and
how those who trust in the Lord, no evil shall befall them. Psalm 91, see, He that dwelleth
in the secret place of the Most High. It's a secret to most.
But Psalm 25, that's what you read tonight, John. The secret
of the Lord is within the Spirit. What is this secret place? Jesus
Christ. shall abide safely, shall abide
under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is
my refuge. Moses is writing it. He's my
refuge, my fortress, my God, in Him will I trust. Surely He
shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, 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. Verse, keep going. Thou shalt
not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the error of
bullets that fly by day, nor for the pestilence Young people,
if you know the Lord, that's why it's life or death. It's absolutely vital that you
know the Lord, that you repent, that you bow and believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. Then you have nothing to worry
about. May you not be afraid for the
pestilence that walketh amid darkness, and the destruction
that wastes on noonday. Thousands shall fall at thy side,
ten thousand at thy right hand. It shall not come nigh thee,
until God says so. Right? There was a day when God
said concerning His Son, Take Him. I couldn't touch him. God delivered him. God delivered him. And there's
going to come a day that God's going to send something to kill
you. It may be in you already, right
now. Cancer. Car wreck. You might... Something. God does it. And He's going to
do it in the very day that He's determined. Okay? But here's
the thing. Our Lord said, and I just said
we're immortal, because our Lord said it. He said, He that liveth,
not dead in trespass and sin, but quickened together with Christ,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, they have life. He that liveth
and believeth in Me shall never die. Believe it's how it is? That's what he said to Martha.
Can you believe this, Martha? Yeah, but Lazarus died. No, he
didn't. He's sleeping. Trust in the Lord with all your
heart. Trust in the Lord. For thou,
Lord, only, makest me to dwell in safety. Okay, stand with me.