Luke chapter 13. As announced
in the bulletin, I intended to look at this, and we're going
to, but the message, I woke up this morning looking over notes
and reading God's Word, and it's just going to go in the same
direction. Well, never mind, just listen. But here in Luke chapter 13, verse 31, the same day there
came certain of the Pharisees saying unto him, get out, depart,
Herod will kill thee. They wanted him to leave.
They're trying to get him to leave. They're trying to scare
him. They're trying to scare him away. Herod's going to kill you. Hmm.
You know what? Herod did kill it. Who killed
it? Who did? The Father did. And later on, this same Lord
is going to kill Herod. He wasn't afraid. Neither should
we be. Things and people don't kill
us. God did. Well, he said, you go
tell that fox. Now isn't that interesting? We're
going to talk about hens. And the chief enemy and adversary
of hens is fox. We had chickens. I killed three
foxes. He said, oh, we shouldn't do
that. Had to. See, them are my hens,
right? You go tell that fox. That fox
is wily and tricky and crafty and hidden. I've observed him. You go tell that fox. Behold, I cast out devils. I do cures today, tomorrow, the
third day. I shall be perfected. I have
a work to do. I'm going to do it and nobody's
going to stop me until I finish it. And brethren, same with us. And
I shall be, we shall be perfected. The Lord shall perfect that,
perform that which He has begun in us. And nothing and no one
is going to stop Him. In Christ. Verse 33, I must walk
today and tomorrow. That is walking today. Remember
He said walking today, you won't stumble. Go outside, walk. He had a journey. Didn't He?
He had a journey. He said I must walk today and tomorrow. He had
a journey. So do we. We have a life to live. Walk
by faith. Walk by faith, not sight. Today,
tomorrow, the day following. We're going to walk all our lives
by faith, trusting in the Lord. And he went on to say, it cannot
be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem, that a prophet...
What he's saying is, every prophet that was killed was killed in
Jerusalem. It must happen. Every true prophet
is killed and hated by Religion. And one of them, Samuel. They didn't want Samuel. They
wanted a king like everybody else. They got one. God gave
them one. Right? And on and on it goes.
They rejected Isaiah. They rejected Jeremiah. Who?
The Jews. Professing believers. God's people. Now remember, our Lord says,
so the last will be first and the first will be last. Remember?
Paul said, okay, Jews. And God was merciful. He saved
some. He said, okay, I'm leaving. I'm going to the Gentiles. To
the fullness of the Gentiles. Aren't you glad? That's us. And
oh, he said, and then verse 34, this lamentation of our Lord.
Perhaps he was looking out over Jerusalem itself. And he said
in verse 34, Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killeth the prophets. and bite the hand that feeds
them. Reject mercy. He says, and stone us them that
are sent unto thee. How often would I have gathered
thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her
wings, and you would not. Now let no one confuse that as
our Lord being discouraged or frustrated. No, scripture says,
Isaiah quote, he said, he shall not fail nor be discouraged.
Isaiah went on and on and on and on, for the transgression
of my people was he stricken. He'll see the travail of his
soul, he's going to be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many." He was numbered with the transgression.
For the transgression of my people, Christ came to save his people.
And he said in the end, he said, none of them is lost. All of
them. I've kept them all. Not one of them except the son
of perdition. But what he's showing here clearly is our God is ready
to pardon. Our God is merciful. Our God
is gracious. His tender mercies are over all
his works. His gospel is everywhere in him. The blessed gospel of
mercy and grace and salvation and forgiveness. This is a faithful
saying worthy of all acceptation. Everybody on this earth is a
sinner. Everybody on this earth ought to be bowing and calling
and coming to Christ. You're not up to it. But he said,
you would not. You won't do it. Christ stood in that day, remember
he said, come unto me all ye that labor and heavy laden, come,
come. It was a general call. Many are called. They said in another place, you
will not come unto me that you might have none. Why is it, he
said, that you do not hear my words? Because you cannot. You
cannot, man cannot, man will not. But if anybody doesn't come
to Christ, if anybody's not saved, you can't blame God. Nobody can
blame God. The blame for our destruction
is placed squarely on our own shoulders. He said, you would
not. You will not come unto me, but you might have life. But if anyone does, if anyone
does come to Him, who gets the glory? Who gathered them? He did. He and my sheep, they hear my
voice. I know them. I call them. They come. They follow me. I
bring them into the fold. My little hens, I bring them
in under my wings. And that's where they're going
to abide, safely abide forever. Why? Because he called them.
He knoweth his people. He knoweth them. He calls them
by name. What's your name? What's your name? Sinner. Sinner. And so we came. We came, John.
We come. To whom? We keep coming, don't
we? We keep coming. We keep coming. We keep coming.
Nothing, even our sins, can't keep us away because we've got
to. We've got to. I said the other day, do you
have to come to church to worship? Yes, I have to come. I have to. I need to. I want to. I must.
He tells me to. I have to come where he's promised
to be. I have to hear his voice. I have
to be with my fellow chicks. I have to. It's where he's promised to be,
with whom he's promised to be, and he's promised to bless. Thy
blessings upon thy people. He said of Zion, he said, there
the Lord has commanded the blessing. He said, you go before me into
Galilee, and I'll be there. Was he? Yes, he was. First thing
he said, peace. They all had peace. Nobody outside
had peace. Jerusalem's about to be destroyed.
Nobody had peace. Wars and rumors of war. Everybody
in that house where Christ was buried, peace. Yeah, I have to come here. I
have to. And he said in verse 35, behold,
your house is left unto you desolate. Abomination of desolation. That's
Jerusalem now, literal Jerusalem, and that's religion today. He
said, you shall not see me. Okay. You won't come? Okay. But you are going to see me.
Every eye is going to see me. There'll be weeping, remember,
and wailing, and gnashing of teeth. Every eye shall behold
him. But some are going to say, he's
here. The cry come, behold the bridegroom
cometh. Well, who's going to go out to
meet him? Who's going to meet him in the air? His people. They're going to say, blessed
is he that cometh in the name. Blessed be the Lord. Oh my soul.
Bless the Lord. Oh my soul. It all is within
me. Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord. Oh my soul. Forget
not all his benefits. Number one, he forgiveth all
our iniquities. I need to hear this, don't I? He's brought us. I'm glad. Bless
it. Bless it. Now go back to Psalm 91. Go back
there. He said, now here's where I want
to dwell. Under his wings. What is that name? Well, it means
what it says. It means exactly what it says.
We dwell under His wings. Psalm 90, the 90th Psalm, verse
1 says, Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. In Him we live and move and have
our being. That's right. He's the God in
whose hands are what? Breath. And what else? All our
ways. All our ways. Every step we take,
the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. You need to hear
this again? Yes! Say it again. Everything. Everything. In Him we live and move. Nothing
moves and nothing harms us except what He allows. We're in His
hands. In Him, verse 1 of chapter 91,
Psalm 91, "...he that dwelleth..." We're in Him. Now, I'm talking
to God's people. "...dwelleth in a secret place
of the Most High." The Most High. Nobody higher. Everything's beneath
Him. Under Him. We dwell in Him, the
Most High. There's none higher. He's Almighty. We dwell in the secret place.
Secret to most. Not secret to us. Why, we see
his hand, don't we? Don't you? You see his, you hear
his voice, don't you? Sure we do. Everything declares
it. Our God is. Every line on every
page and every word tells us we're in him. We're in him. We're
safe. Trust in him. You're in him.
Why not trust and rest? He alone maketh you to dwell
safely. We dwell under the shadow of
the Almighty. There's a shadow that hangs over
this world. Do I walk in the valley of the
shadow of death? What is that? God. It's the hand of God that hovers
over this whole world. God is angry with the wicked. But it's not a dark cloud for
God's people. He talked about stretching out
his hand, and all through Jeremiah, stretched out my hand, stretched
out my hand. We see it. We see the hand of God. We see
the providence of God. We see the goodness of God, of
His grace of all we receive, grace for grace, mercy from His
hand. Every good and perfect gift comes
down from above, from the hands of our Father, of lights of whom
no shadow of turning, no variableness or shadow of turning, He's merciful
and gracious and always has been, always will be. And we dwell
in His hand and everything He sends us is for our good and
for His glory and it's all good. No evil. None. Zero. It's all good. All purposed,
all ordered and everything. There's no dark cloud that hangs
over God's people. We see this, the shadow of the
Almighty. Even death. Oh death, where is
thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory? Religion says he
has no hands but your hands. But I don't need a God who doesn't
have hands. I need one in whose hands I am. All right? God has
hands. You know whose they are? Jesus
Christ. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead. What? Bodily. He said, Behold
my hands and my side. You're in them. That's the first
thing he said. Thomas, be not doubtless, faithless,
but believing. Behold my hands. You're in them.
They were crucified for you. Your sins paid. Thomas, Kelly,
Robin. Behold his hands. Your sins are
gone. Oh, but my sins are going to
cast me out. No! Behold my hands. My side,
you see this side, this riven side, the cleft of the rock?
You're in it. Your name, I hold my hand. I
grave a knee on the palms of my hand. Will I get past verse
1? That's who we dwell in. That's
who holds us in the palm of His hand. Our times are in His hand. Oh my God, that's where I want
them. Well, that's where they are. The Almighty. Well, David says, this is what
I'll say. This is what I'm going to say.
He's my refuge. What's a refuge? You ever been
out in the rain? You ever been out in the storm?
You need a place to run and hide and get away from the storm?
In the storms of life, run to your refuge. The rock is higher
than you. The cleft of the rock. My fortress. What's that? Safety. Salvation. They used to say of some of those
old fortresses built by the British and built by whoever, they were
impregnable. That means you can't break down
that, you can't get in. Unless they open the gate, you
can't get in. Unless they open the gate, you're
not coming in. That's this fortress which is Christ our Lord, which
is God. Like that ark. God shut Noah
in that ark. Nobody could get in. Noah couldn't
get out. Aren't you glad? Pitched. Pitched. My fortress. My God. He's my God. The Lord Jesus Christ
is my God. Thomas said, My Lord and my God. The Lord that reigns. He's my God. He says, In Him
will I trust. Man's got it on money, and nothing
could be further from what they believe. Don't believe in God. I don't buy trust in God. God's
people do. In Him will I trust. Man trusts. Isn't that profoundly
ironic, isn't it, that they've got that on money? Oh, don't trust in riches. You
can't redeem yourself. There's one that can redeem you
and must redeem you. It's your God. Your Lord and your God.
The Lord Jesus Christ. What do you say? My God, by His
grace I'll trust you. Surely, surely, He shall deliver
thee from the snare of the fowler. Are you sure about that? That's
His name. Didn't they call that John? The
surety. He said he saves for his namesake.
I'm the Lord. I'm totally, completely in control
of everything. Jesus, that means Savior. I came
to save my people. I'll do it. Christ, the Messiah,
the second Adam, the covenant head, accomplished everything.
He knew the law and kept it. He knew who were his and kept
them. That's his name. He saves them
for his namesake. That's who he is. That's what
he does. What's his name? Surety of an everlasting covenant. Surely, He shall deliver them. He's the
Deliverer. That's His name, isn't it? Deliverer.
He shall deliver them. From who? The snare of the fowler. The snare of the fowler. Oh,
Satan and his demons, all the wiles and devices and temptations. Do you think you and I are any
match for one of them? And every now and then God lets
us fall to one to show us that we're no match for any of them. How do we keep from being led
away with the error of the wicked? How do we keep from falling away
finally? We don't do it. We're kept by the power of God.
We're kept by Christ. He is the power of God. He said,
I'll deliver you. That's my name. The Fowler. And from the noisome
pestilence. Oh, noise. Oh, the noise. This is a noisome place in this
world. Does it vex you? All that you
hear and see around you? Doesn't it? Don't you sometimes
turn off all this noise? Noisome, noise, noise, so much
noise, so many voices, so much, all we hear around is noise.
Egypt and pestilence, noisome, pestilence. Imagine the sound
of those frogs and flies and lice. Everywhere, in every house,
in every dwelling in Egypt, but not in the dwellings of Israel.
What is that? What are these frogs and flies
and lice that the houses in Egypt were full of? Well, I'll read
it to you. I'll read it. It's full of them, the noise
from those pestilence. It says that, well, they're filled
with all unrighteousness and fornication and wickedness. covetous
and malicious, full of envy and murder, debate, deceit, malignity,
whispers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boaster,
inventors of evil things, without understanding, covenant-breaker,
without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful, their throat is an
open sepulcher with tongues they used to see, the poison of asthma
under their lips, mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, no
fear of God before their eyes. That's all I hear all around
me, everywhere, don't we? He said he'll deliver you from it. Under his wing. He's going
to bring you to a place where he is, he's going to stop your
ears. Where for a little while anyway,
you don't have to hear it. Oh my, my. How are we delivered? Where? Where do we find refuge?
Quiet? Where do we find quiet from the
noisome pestilence? Look at it, verse 4. He shall
cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou
trust. Under his wings. That's right.
Under his wings. Oh, let these sayings sink down
deep in our ears, and quiet the noise, and quiet the fears. That'd
be a good song. Somebody write one. Quiet the
noise and quiet the fears when these sayings sink down deep
in our ears. We dwell under the shadow of the Almighty. We dwell
under His wings. Deuteronomy 33 says, The eternal
God is our refuge and underneath us are the everlasting arms. Under His wings. I've told you
the story. I never get tired of telling
it. We had chickens on our little farm and there was a brutal storm,
lightning, thunder, and all the hens were in the house. That's a good testimony. All
of them were in the house but one. And we went looking for
him. I'm not going to lose one, he
said. I wasn't about to lose one of my hens. And I went looking
for her. And we knew she had two little
bitties, two little babies, okay, two little chicks. And we went
out looking for them, me and my brother went out looking for
them. A horrendous storm. And we went out and we found
her, hiding. And I picked her up. I said, where have you been,
honey? Where have you been? I said, where have you been? Come with
me. Where are your babies? Well,
where are your babies? And they fell out from under
her wing. And Mindy and I both cried. We picked her and them
up and tears in our eyes and took them in the house. Safe. They were under her wings. I sent some of you that picture
of that swan. Who did that? Who made those
swans? I sent a picture if you want
and I'll send it to you. The swan. Is there a more beautiful creature
anywhere? And that swan had four under
one wing. And she was craning her head
under her wing to see that they were there. I believe she was
counting them. Y'all there? Everybody there? That's one wing. You recognize
some more ones? How many could she get under
there? As many as she had. What's going on under those wings?
What do you get from under his wing? Comforts. Anybody got a
down-filled coat? There's nothing like it. I got
a little thin jacket. I bought it at Wal-Mart or whatever.
And it doesn't look like it staves the wind or the cold or what
it does. You know why? It's full of substance that comes
from under the wings of the duck. It's the warmest, most comfortable
thing of all, except one thing. Under his wing. That's where
we are. Comfort. Comfort. Warmth. Safety. Safety. They all knew there's one place
to go. All those little, and they're called cygnets. Swans,
little babies, are called cygnets. But chicks, cygnets, gaggled
geese, whatever they're called, they all go one place, don't
they? Their mother's wings. They want the eagle. Not only
hovers over them and puts them under her wing, but when it's
time to fly, she puts them on her wing. And they soar. Under his wings, there's safety.
You know, you have to kill that hen to kill those chicks. You're not going to kill one
of those chicks unless you kill that hen. Isn't that what Christ
said? Isn't that what Christ did? Did
he go out before them in the garden? He said, whom do you
seek? He said, Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I am. I let them go. He said that to the law. He said
that to Satan, didn't he? Oh, may we hear him say it to
us. He took me. He can't have you. The law has been satisfied. He
can't touch you. God is satisfied. He's not angry. You and me? You're in His love. You're under His protection.
Yes, you'd have to kill God. You'd have to kill our Christ
to get to one of His. Safety. Isn't this the greatest
thing you've ever heard? You've heard it before. You know what else is under?
Well, shelter from the rain, from the storm, love. Those little
babies are under her wing and they can hear her heart beating. Her life. They are her life. And they hear her heartbeat,
as long as they hear her heartbeat. Her presence is their salvation. Why do you think John, the disciple
John, was always leaning on our Lord's breasts? It's under his
wings. There's love. Her heart beats
for those babies. So does our Lord. Fellowship. What else are they doing? They're
fellowshipping. All these little bitties are together. You reckon
they're talking... Is he talking to me? Isn't this good? Aren't
this great? They're getting warmth from her
and each other. They're encouraging each other.
It's storming out there. Okay. Mama's got us. As little as the
youngest, as old as the smallest. Oh, I'm so scared. Brother, sister,
run under his wing. You'd have to kill her to kill
us. They're talking. They're fellowshipping. They're
getting warm from each other. There's a proverb that says,
one can't get warm alone. You've got to have two. You've got to have somebody.
It says, if you fall, you need somebody to pick you up. Forsake
not the assembly of ourselves together. So much more as you
see the day approaching. But encourage one another. Exhort
one another. That's what we're doing. What
am I telling you right now? We're under His wings. We're
under His wings. But what? But God. There's fellowship,
there's safety, there's warmth, there's love, there's shelter. All these things under His wings. And verse 4 says, His truth shall
be thy shield and buckler. I may not get to the end of this,
but it's been good so far. His truth, His shield. Go to Psalm 5. Go back to Psalm
5 with me. His truth. How many times does
it talk about God being our shield? Huh? How many times? Look it
up yourself. So many times, His truth is our
shield. That's His Word. And His Word
shields our hearts and our minds from the enemy, from fear, from
assaults, from unbelief, doesn't it? Standing on the promises, His
truth. Psalm 5, look at verse 11 and 12. Let all those that
put their trust in Thee rejoice. Let them ever shout for joy,
because thou defendest them, coverest them." The martyr says,
cover them. Let them also that love thy name
be joyful in thee. Read on. For thou, Lord, will
bless the righteous. With favor wilt thou compass,
crown, cover, surround, as with a shield. Chapter 4, verse 8, he said,
I'm just going to lay me down and sleep in peace and sleep,
for thou, Lord, only, makest me to dwell in safety. The only one is my shield. You know, David never wore armor
in the battle. Not one time. Didn't wear a helmet,
didn't have a shield, didn't have a breastplate. Why? Because he kept saying,
the Lord's my shield. One time, when he went to fight
Goliath, one time they put it on, he said, I haven't proved
this, but God has proved himself to me. He said, take these off.
He said, I'm going in the name of the Lord. And I'm going to
take the armor off that fellow who's hiding behind it, and I'm
going to kill him with it. I don't need armor. Is that a
fairy tale? Oh, it's no cunningly devised
fable. This is the Word of God. And we're the sons of God. Oh, let me have that kind of
faith like David. The Lord is my shield. Not shall
be, not is. How long has He shielded us? How long? How long will He? Let me tell you a story. Go back
to our text. It says, He shall cover thee. He shall deliver
thee. He said, You shall not be afraid.
Now, that's more a command than it is, Oh, I'm ashamed that I
am afraid. David, even, one time, he said,
What time I'm afraid? He said, I just don't trust the
Lord. He was afraid. You think he was
afraid when he went out to meet Goliath? Huh? Eight feet tall? Trained warrior? He killed thousands. You think so? David was about
17. You think? Sure he is. He's flesh, isn't
he? Sure he is. And he thought in
his mind, how can I possibly? And he checked himself. I can't. But my God can. And he told me. And he went after that fella.
In the name of God, he said, I'm going to take your head off.
And he did. A little strapling, a little stripling. Who did it?
No, David didn't do it. One little word, our Lord said.
That's what Martin Luther said, the prince of darkness grim,
we tremble not for him, his rage we can't endure, lo, his doom
is sure, one little word, we'll kill him. And God says, it's
over, it's over. And God has hold of him and everything
and everything. Read on. It says, Thou shalt
not be afraid for the terror by night, for the error of guns,
bullets, pestilence, verse 6, that walketh in the dark, destruction
that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy
side, ten thousand at thy right hand. It shall not come nigh
thee, but thou shalt see with your eyes the reward of the wicked.
Because you've made the Lord your refuge, the Most High thy
habitation, no evil shall befall thee, neither shall any plague
come nigh thy dwelling." Nothing shall happen to you unless God
says so. And if He does it, it's not evil.
It's good. Down to the greatest enemy of
all of ours is death. Death is not death. Death does not have the victory
over one of God's people. It's not the end, it's the beginning.
Death doesn't end everything for us, it ushers us into life. Satan said, I'm going to end
this thing now. No, you're not. Satan said, I'll
kill their Christ. Aren't you glad he was killed?
And in doing so, he crushed the serpent's head. He put away our
sin. Now nothing can kill us. That's
our God. He turns evil into the best thing
that could possibly happen. Our salvation. True story. I told you about my dad. Thousands
shall fall at thy side, ten thousand at thy right hand. I told you
about my dad in World War II, the Navy. They went to fight
at Iwo Jima, Okinawa. The bloodiest fights of all for
the Navy in the Pacific. My dad was right in the middle
of it. Right smack in the middle of it. 18-year-old stripling. 130 ships sunk. Kamikazes. Those dive bombers. And what
were they doing? The light was cast. We'll go
after that ship. Let's go after that ship. There's a ship. We'll get that one. Well, there's
a ship there with Henry Mahan on it. It couldn't have been an F-15
fighter bomber that could have dropped that ship down. There's a man on it, preacher
of the gospel, and a whole lot of people in him and going to
be saved through him. God said, the ship behind me
was sunk, the ship in front of me was sunk. He came home, raised
up a gospel preacher, and he went out preaching. And you and
I are indirect results of that. Brother Cecil Roach was one of
the elders in the church at 13th Street. Oh, how he was so instrumental
in my salvation. He preached, he taught, he and
Charlie Payne, like Aaron and Hur. And oh, I love Brother Cecil
Roach. And by the way, Isaac and Clara
are living in his house. Isaac and Clara Floyd are living
in Cecil's house right now. But anyway, Cecil was a fighter
pilot in one of those old World War II planes. He came back from
one of those missions. They counted 85 bullet holes
in his plane. They shot him, they shot him,
they shot him with a thousand bullets. Couldn't bring him down. Couldn't bring him down. They
would give you something else. This is a true story. Martin
Lloyd-Jones was pastor of the Westminster Chapel in London,
England. Born in 1899, great preacher. He was a physician,
a doctor. Went to the University of London,
got his medical degree and practiced medicine. Good doctor and all
that. The Lord called him to preach and he quit doctrine for
a higher calling. And anyway, he became pastor
of Westminster Chapel in London, England, okay? In 1940, that's
when he became a pastor there. The day before war was declared
on England by Germany. He became
pastor of that church. That was in the heart of London,
England, that building, Westminster Chapel. So he preached that.
1940 to 1941, from September till, for eight months, the Germans
did what's called Blitzkrieg. They said, we're going to destroy
London, England. For eight months, Wesley, they bombed London, England.
months and five days. Day after day, day after day,
day after day, bombing. Two million homes were destroyed. Tens of thousands, hundreds of
thousands of people killed. One Lord's Day, they were meeting
together. Martin Lloyd-Jones was preaching,
praying of bomb drops. right beside that building, and
shook the walls. And he said that part of the
ceiling fell down in the middle of that congregation. He said he looked up, and then
looked back down and kept praying. And after he prayed, he finished
his sermon. And they met there for the rest of the war. They
never did leave. Couldn't bring it down. True
story. Our God is true. And we dwell in Him. Oh, for
faith like that. True story. No evil shall befall
them. He gives His angels charge over
you. Verse 12, they'll bury you up in their hands. They'll keep
you in all your ways, all your ways, everything. Verses 13 says
that you'll tread upon a lion. Do you know how many dangers
and things are all around? How many devils this world is
filled and all of this, everything. Terrorists. Have you ever thought
about the Lord's goodness in this plague? And nobody's talking
about North Korea right now. Nobody's talking about Islamic
terrorists. They're scared too! Have you ever thought about that?
Nobody's talking about wars and rumors of wars and all that stuff.
A threat, isn't it? Well, nobody's afraid of one
thing. Let me believe one thing. Let me believe the one who's
in control of all that. But that's the mercy of the Lord.
Isn't that the goodness of the Lord? I can just stop all that. Just send a little something
to stop everybody, everything. Why God is so wise, so sovereign,
so good. He was treading on lions and
adders. You remember the story of Pilgrim
and Pilgrim's Progress. He was walking and he looked,
oh, there's two lions. Remember that? Two lions. Oh,
lions. I can't get past those lions.
And he kept walking by faith. Faith, brothers and sisters,
It's not faith to walk in times of ease and no storms. That's not faith. You don't need
faith to walk in a calm. You need faith to walk in the
face of danger. Faith that says, that's going to kill you. It's
faith. No, it's not. That's faith. And so Pilgrim went straight,
kept going, and the closer he got, the closer he got, and finally
he got up and he looked, and both lines were chained up. They
were on chain. They could only come so far.
They were roaring. Whoa! They were roaring. And
you know, he went by, narrow, straight, and narrow. Don't veer from that way, pilgrim. Keep your eye on the prize. They're
not going to eat you. Oh, Satan is a roaring lion,
seeketh whom he may devour. He can't come. Just keep your
eyes on me now. He's chained up. Everything else
is too. Everything. Are you with me?
I didn't say any of this. I'm not saying this. God is. God is. Oh, remember thy word
unto thy servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope. We're
saved by hope. Hope in what? Hope in His Word.
Hope in His promises. Hope in God's Son. Hope in His
sovereign mercy and grace. Hope. We've got a good hope.
The only reason it's called hope is because it's not there yet.
But we are. We are. We are. Seated. Quicken. Bless His name. He said in verse 4, He set His
love upon me because Christ said He had loved the Father and loved
His own to the end. Oh, the Lord delivered him, didn't
he? And because Christ died, the
Lord delivers us. And he set Christ on high, didn't
he? Verse 14, he set him on high,
gave him a name above every name, and brothers, we're seated with
him. He's given us a name. Verse 15, look at it, don't you
love this? Six times it says this in these
verses, I will deliver him, I will set him on high, he shall call
upon me, I will answer him, I will be with him in trouble, I will
deliver him and honor him with long life, will I satisfy him
and show him my salvation. Sure, sure, surely, he shall
deliver him, surely. Alright, let's sing that song
in closing. Under His Wings.