This is my Father's Word, the
battles have been won. Jesus, who died and led His life,
is earth and heaven beyond. Let me ne'er forget that though
the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet. And I want to remind us of that
this morning in this message, God's Word. Remember thy Word
unto thy servant, upon which thou hast called me to hope.
Psalm 46. Go to Psalm 46 with me. The title I've given this message
is, in the face of fear, or to face our fears. And I know, I recognize that
thousands of sermons, there have been thousands of sermons with
that title. But most of them have been preached
by men who say things like this, God didn't want that to happen. God didn't want bad things to
happen. This is a message of real faith
for real sinners or real people in the face of real fears. This
is a message of real faith. I'm not talking about philosophy.
I'm not talking about doctrine. I'm not talking about psychology.
I'm not talking about something, something you need to believe.
And I'm talking about God, who is God. This is real faith. The faith of God's elect. Faith delivered to the saints.
Precious faith to those who have obtained, given this precious
faith to believe God. Believe His Word. Believe His
Son. Real faith in God, who is God. To face our fears. And we all have them. Real fears. He or she is a liar who says
they do not have fear. David who wrote this. David is
the one who wrote this. God had him right. To allay the
fears, to quiet, to quell the fears of God's people. David
had real fears. Psalm 56. He said, what time
I'm afraid. Read Psalm 55, 56, 57. David was afraid. He wasn't afraid to admit that. Though he was a man of great
faith and great courage, he had real fears. Do you not think
as an 18-year-old boy going out to meet that 8-foot warrior that
he was somewhat not afraid? Sure he was. But he encouraged
himself how? And God said, this battle is
not mine. Saul had his best men. King Saul
had his best men, all of whom were warriors. Not just one man,
Goliath, but many, hunting David like an animal. Do you not think
he was afraid? Yeah, he said so. He said so. The disciples were
often afraid, weren't they? Was Paul afraid? Paul the Apostle,
was he afraid when he was in the ocean hanging on a piece
of driftwood all night long? Do you not think he was afraid?
Somewhat. Had to get through it. So I'm not talking about
when we talk about faith. I'm not talking about something
that you do. I'm talking about someone we need to trust. Whether we trust Him or not,
He's taking care of us. So here's the thing, to face our fears. To not be afraid. To trust our
Lord. We have real fears, we have worries
for ourselves, for our families. We have real foes to face. The
real world that we live in, full of real evil, it's real. And these enemies, David throughout
the Psalms spoke more than any one of his enemies. He was surrounded
by them. Formidable. Is that how you say
the word? Formidable. Formidable. Who cares? You know
what I'm saying. Foes. Real foes. Paul said we're
not wrestling with flesh and blood. Didn't he? He said principalities and powers,
rulers of the darkness of this world, spiritual wickedness in
high places that we are no match for. None of us. No one. There's only one. So the psalm begins where we need
to begin. God is. God is. Oh, what a message that is. This
psalm begins where the whole book of God began, that God is. He that cometh to God must believe
that He is God. I'm here to declare unto you
this morning, as I want to do and try to do every time we meet
together, this is the truth. This will allay your fear. This
will give you hope. and peace, okay? God is God. He's not trying to be God, He
is God. God is reigning. Say unto the
heathen, y'all are a bunch of Gentiles, a bunch of heathen,
okay, or were. Say unto them, Thy God reigneth. Oh, can't say that enough, can
we? Especially today. Perilous times we live in. Dangerous
times. Fearful times. We worry about
our children, our grandchildren, all around us, knowing God is
God. Be still. This may be our next
memory verse. Be still and know that I am God. He is God. When our Lord is after a great storm, No, no. When the Lord appeared to His
disciples in the very end and they were afraid, they saw, they
seen a spirit and He said, be not afraid. It is I. It is I. Whatever it is, God
is. Okay? God is the first cause
of it. God is in control of it. God
is our God. And we're His people if you believe
Him, if you trust Him. He's revealed Himself to you.
God is your God. He is your God. What does that
mean? It's good. It's all good. Need not fear. Fear God. Nothing
else you need to fear. God is our refuge. God is our refuge. Whose refuge? Look at verse 4.
It talks about the city of God. holy place, the tabernacles of
the Most High God. Look at verse 5. God is in the
midst of her, talking about His church, about His bride. I love my bride, my wife, and
I endeavor to take care of her and provide for her and protect
her. I do. I love her. How much more Him
who loved us washed us from our sins in His own blood. I know I'd lay down my life for
you, baby. I know I would. I know I would
cast my body in front of a bullet or whatever for you. I know I
would. I wouldn't hesitate. Well, Christ
did. He laid down His life for His
bride. Who or what can happen to us
if the Lord, our God, husband. Nothing. Except what he wills. God is our refuge. Verse 7. Who
is this for? Verse 7. The Lord of hosts is
with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Verse 11. The Lord of hosts is
with us. The God of Jacob. Our refuge. Who is this? The God of Jacob.
Are you Jacob? Oh, happy. Maybe this will be
our next verse. Psalm 146, 5. Happy. Blessed. Happy is the man whose
God is the God of Jacob. Happy is he that hath the God
of Jacob for his sin. Who's Jacob? Who's Jacob? It's not that Jacob back there.
It's Jacob Montgomery. Who's Jacob? Well, Jacob was
a sinner. That's what his name means. Cheats
or planter. Jacob was a foolish, fallible,
fallen, fickle, finite sinner. That's all he was. He wasn't
some great man, but God loved him. He said, Jacob have I loved.
Why? Because he did. Oh, so now. Who's Jacob? He's God's son. He's God's son. Loved by God. Chosen by God. In His covenant.
He met the Lord. Jacob met the Lord. All of God's
son are going to meet Him. He's going to come to them. He's
going to come to them. The time of Jacob's greatest
fear. He's running. Running from his enemy. But God
came to where he was. and wrestled with him. A man
wrestled with him that he didn't know. He didn't know who he was.
John, when this was over, he knew who he was. This is the
Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
him. Like the Lord does in the preaching of the gospel, will
come to all of his chosen ones, his loved ones, his bride, will
come and wrestle with them. And lay hold of them through
the preaching of the Word. And break them. And change them. Change their walk. Change their
mind. Change their heart. Change everything
about them. Now, they believe God and He
changes their name. Prince with God. Son of God. And God does everything for Jacob. Everything He does. He's known
by that name more than any name in the Scripture. Do you know
that? I'm the God of Jacob. Fear not. I am the Lord, I change
not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
shall not be consigned." Isn't that good news? Jacob. Happy is he that the God of Jacob. God is our refuge. A very present
help in times of trouble. A very present help. How present
is our God? Presence? We're in His hands. We can't see Him. But we live
and move and have our being in Him. He's never with us. The
last words our Lord told His disciples before He left this
earth were, Lo, I'm with you always. Always. Trust in the Lord at
all times, you people. Pour out your heart unto Him.
God is a refuge for us. Lo, I am with you always, even
to the ends of the earth. That's what this psalm is going
to tell us about. Therefore will not we fear, though
the earth be removed? Brethren, it will be. It will be. Don't take refuge
in this earth, in this world, in the things of this world,
because God is going to destroy it. Does that make you fear?
Don't. You've got a new earth. If you
don't know the Lord, yes, you should fear. But you don't. Verse 2. Though the mountains
be carried into the midst of the sea, and they shall. Though
the waters thereof roar and be troubled. Though the mountains
shake with the swelling thereof. Whenever you see the word Selah,
now you know this. It's a musical term, isn't it?
Pause. It's a stopping. It's a pause. It means quit playing. Wait before you play another
note. Think about what you just read.
Stop. He's going to tell us here in
verse 10, be still. Too often we read something and
we forget what we read because we read too fast and we go on.
Stop. Quite often throughout Selah, it's really not meant
to be read. It tells us to just be silent. Hold on here. Stop. Think about
this. They just told us everything
is going to be wiped out. Everything. Earth and the works
thereof. Everything. Turn with me to Hebrews
chapter 12. Hebrews 12. This is not the ranting
and the raving of some long-bearded fellow on the corner of the street
in the city saying, prepare to meet thy God. By the way, that's
a scripture verse, isn't it? Prepare to meet thy God. But
this is not the ranting and raving of some wild fool who is saying,
the world is ending. This is the word of the Son of
God. Okay? Hebrews 12, did you turn
there? Turn there. All right, verse
26 says, "...whose voice shook the earth, but now he hath promised,
saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also
the heaven." Heaven. And this word, yet once more,
once more, one more time. Now when there have been many
earthquakes over the years, there have been floods, Many floods,
one worldwide flood that most people do not believe in. Tornadoes, recently, wasn't recently,
and we had friends that lived in the Nashville area. We called,
we'd check on them. Who did that? Scripture says, he hath his way,
and the world went. God did that. None of our friends
were touched by it. However, when a hurricane came
through Mexico years ago, many of our brethren lost their homes.
Didn't they? Who did that? God did that. Right? Right? He says once more, Verse 26,
I shake not the earth only, but heaven, everything. And this
word once more signifies the removing of those things that
are shaken as of things that are made. That is, this material
world, everything. That those things which cannot
be shaken may remain. What things? Unseen things. An
unseen kingdom. A new heaven, a new earth, a
new world. Verse 28, so receiving a kingdom
which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve
God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. Our gods are consuming fire.
Godly fear. That is, we fear God and not
man. Let me just quote this to you, Isaiah 8. I think about
this all the time. Isaiah chapter 8. Listen. Don't fear their fear. This is
God speaking to His children. Isaiah 8-12. Don't fear ye their
fear. Whatever men fear, don't fear
that. Didn't our Lord Jesus Christ say that? Fear not. Several times. Matthew 10. Fear not them which
kill the body, and after that they have no more that they can
do. Fear Him. Sanctify the Lord of hosts. Let Him be your fear
and be your dread. He shall be for a sanctuary.
He's the refuge. They that take refuge in Egypt
or this world, the leaders of it, you're taking refuge in a
place that's going to be destroyed. The people. So we need not fear. I'm talking to God's people.
God's people. Unmovable. Unchangeable. His
truth is too. Alright, look at our text. Verse
4. There is a river, streams whereof shall make glad the city
of God. The holy place. There's a river
that makes glad the city of God. The holy place. The tabernacles
of the Most High God. There was a river spoken of in
the garden. A river with four heads. If you've
read it. There's a river in the last book
in the Bible, the last chapter, 22. A river. It says, flowing
out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. So there was a river
in the garden with four heads. And in the end, there's a river
flowing from the throne, from the Lamb. What is that? Four heads. It's His Word. It's His truth. His gospel ever flowing their
thirst to assuage. River, the water of life in the
garden. God, His blessed word, His blessed
promises, promises of His exceeding precious promises, His love,
His mercy, His grace flowing forever, always running deep,
a river of deep, river of Pure water of life. Four heads. What's
that? The four Gospels. Four Gospels. The streams thereof make us glad. Streams of mercy never ceasing. Call for songs of loudest praise. The river. The river. Streams
thereof make us glad. The truth. The Word of God. The
City of God. The Holy Place. The tabernacles
of the Most High. See, that's why we do what we
do. Preach the Word for our fear. God is in the midst of her. God
is in the midst of His church. His church is a little tabernacle,
a little pavilion. We saw that in Psalm 31, didn't
we? Pavilion. Psalm 27, Psalm 31. A little pavilion. It's not in
these monoliths, these mega money-making, money-changing places. It's in
these little pavilions here and there. Where his truth is preached,
where Christ is preached. She shall not be moved, though
the heathen rage and the world wants to get rid of them, cast
their bands asunder. She shall not be moved. Read
that, verse 5. God's in the midst of her. Christ
said, we're two or three again. I'm in the midst. God is in the
midst of her. God shall help her and that right
early. What's that mean? You're going
to make a short work of this stuff. Real soon. You'll see, real soon. Real soon
you're going to see Him whom your soul loves. I can see some
smiles. Wait, just hang on. You'll see.
You'll see. You'll see. Verse 6, the heathen
raged. The kingdoms were moved. He uttered
his voice. The earth melted. The heathen
raged. The kingdoms were moved like Psalm 2. Why do the heathen rage? People
imagine a vain thing. They're raging at His sovereignty,
at His wrath and His judgment. The wrath of God revealed from
heaven against these things. And man is angry. They're raging
at His truth. They don't like it. No matter.
Verse 7 says, The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob
is our refuge. Now listen, this is for God's
people. I'm preaching now to God's people
to allay our fear. Are you with me? Alright, turn
with me to 2 Kings chapter 6. God is with us. And many people
quote Romans 8 verse 31, I believe it is, God before us. I've seen it on the back of semi-trailers. Well, God is not for everyone.
God is against some people. If God is for you, it means everything
is for you. If God is against you, it doesn't
matter who is for you. The second Kings, I'll tell you
in a minute, I've already been telling you who God is for. But
God's people, sons of Jacob. Look at 2 Kings 6. Some of you know this story.
But there was a young man, a servant of Elisha. Verse 15, the servant, the man
of God, risen early, he went out. Behold, a host, the enemy,
compassed the city with horses and chariots. And his servant ran back in the
house to tell Elisha, my master, how shall we do? What are we
going to do? He was scared to death, wasn't
he? What did Elisha say? Fear not. Verse 16. Fear not, they that be with us
are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, said, Lord,
I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened
the eyes of the young man, and he saw. Behold, the mountain
was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. They were surrounded by the enemy. Elisha's servant. Oh no, what
are we going to do? The Lord opened his eyes. Elisha
wasn't afraid. Fear not. Elisha hears a picture
of our Lord Jesus Christ who kept telling his disciples, fear
not, fear not, fear not. One time a king sent his 50 best
men, the previous chapter was it? Sent his 50 best men to take
one man, Elisha. They couldn't get him. God killed
him. Sent 50 more. They couldn't get
him. God killed him. Sent 50 more.
Finally, those 50 men said, I'm just standing before a little
preacher. They said, your God is God. Well, this is one man, and this
represents our Lord Jesus Christ, who said, no man taketh my life
from me. And no man taketh your life from you." Do you hear that? That's what he sent his disciples
as. He said, not a hair of your head shall fall to the ground
without your heavenly Father. He said, you know the birds in
the forest? Not one. A sparrow? A house wren? Not one falls to the ground that
your Father didn't ordain. Not one. And every hair on your
head is numbered. That's what he said to his people.
Fear not! What's wrong with us? We don't
believe Him. We just don't believe Him. But
it doesn't change the fact. It doesn't change the truth.
It just keeps us in fear. He's still God. The Lord opened His eyes and
He saw that the mountains and the hills were surrounded by
enemy, He said, they that are with us are more than they that
be with them. And I know people like to quote
this, but it's wonderful anyway. He that is in you is greater. Greater is he that is in you
than he that's in the world. It's a shame that so many abuse
that scripture. No matter, it's true. Fury in
Christ. Christ in you. Oh my. But you know what Elisha
died from? Elisha died. Sickness. Cancer. Part of it. Something
like that. Pneumonia. Something. Elisha
died from sickness. God didn't want that to happen.
Yes He did or it wouldn't have happened. God said it. He said, remember our verse?
See now, that I, even I am He. There's no God with me. I kill. I make a life. I wound. I heal. I am the Lord. That's my name. There's no God
with me. There's no little g with me.
There's nobody reigning over anything. No one has control
of anything but me. Trust it. Trust it, Elijah. As I said, I'm not preaching
a doctrine. You can't find any peace in a doctrine, in philosophy. I'm not just trying to change
your mind. We read in Psalm 91. Turn there
real quickly, Psalm 91. Brother Mack read to us Psalm
91. And perhaps you've been reading
this wrongly. I believe I have. It says in
verse 5, thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor
for the error that flyeth by day, nor for the pestilence that
walketh in darkness, the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand
shall fall at thy side, ten thousand at thy right hand. It shall not
come nigh thee. Verse 10, no evil shall befall
thee. He's not saying you're never
going to be afraid. What he's saying is thou shalt
not. Back when he said, thou shalt
not covet, thou shalt not. Don't be afraid. You hear me? It's a command. Don't be afraid. Don't fear their fear. We are
afraid. Why? We don't believe in it.
We don't trust it. Does that make sense to you?
Thou shalt not. That troubles me sometimes because I am afraid.
What he is saying is, fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
I am your God. Now shalt not the pestilence
that walketh in the darkness, the arrows that fly. Was David
afraid of arrows? Ten thousand, a thousand fell
over here. That is what he is talking about,
arrows from the Almighty. Ten thousand over here and a
thousand at thy right hand. And for the longest time not
one arrow came nigh him. One day one did. An arrow hit
David, and they thought he died. Who did it? God did. Josiah was one of the greatest
kings in all of Scripture. Young old Josiah. He's the one
that Jeremiah wrote about in Lamentations. He was lamenting
the death of Josiah, who's a picture of Christ, Josiah. Josiah was
hit by an arrow and died from it. Jonathan, David's dear friend,
was killed by sword. Who did that? Who did that? God did. James, he said come. Who did that? Paul, he said come. Who did that? God's son was crucified
with wicked hands. Who did that? God did. Say, I don't understand. You
need to. You need to understand that He's
God. There is no other. And whatever
it is, it's the Lord. Job did. He said, though He slay
me, I'll trust Him. Didn't he? It's all for a purpose. He said in Psalm 91, no evil
shall befall you. Oh, men mean it for evil. There's
evil all around us, like what they did to Joseph. Was that
evil? It sure was. Was it terrible? It sure was. Cast, hated by his
brethren, cast into a pit, finally ended up in prison. Joseph was
evilly treated, wasn't he, by men. But what Joseph said in
the end is what we need to realize. Men meant it for evil, but God
did it for good. You hear me? Hey, Jacob, are
you listening? No evil shall follow you. All
things work together for good. Can you believe that? My brother was killed by a bullet. My sister died from cancer. Your
husband died from cancer. Your sister died of a car wreck.
Who did that? God did. Your son, now, who did
that? God did. The world can't understand
that. And they can't understand how
you can take any peace or refuge in a God like that. I don't understand
how they can take peace in any other God. If God didn't want
it to happen, why did he stop it? I don't trust a God like
that. I trust a God I can't fully understand. I trust a God whose ways are
pastime to that. I trust a God who is God, who
does not give an account of His matters to anyone. A God who
does as He will, according to His will, and His will is perfect.
His will is all wise. His will is all good. And nothing
and no one can thwart it. And if you are in Christ, this
God has promised everybody who trusts His Son, no evil shall
befall you. Trust Me. Look to Me, He says.
Nothing and no one lifts a hand against my people until I say
so. And then when I do, it's just
the means of bringing my people home. I don't want him to die. Does he
know the Lord? Isn't that the main thing? Does she know the
Lord? We can't think of it being a
blessing, my brother at 21 years old. Oh, the deepest, darkest
trial my parents probably ever went through up to that time. 21. But he knew the Lord, or
what the Lord do. Took him home. He didn't have
to live 50 more years in this present evil world. What mercy,
what grace, what love, what kindness. Fear not. No evil. That arrow was sent
by God, sent straight to Josiah's heart, but sent Josiah straight
to God. That cancer that took your loved
one, a brother or a sister who knows the Lord, that cancer took
that person home to the Lord. Sent by the loving Father of
that person who loved them more than you love your own infinitely
more. See, it was great love. That
bullet, that arrow, that car, that cancer was the love of God. Do you believe that? Come now. That's what he said
in Isaiah. Let's reason together. Look at
verse 8. Come now. Come. Behold the works of the
Lord. What desolations He's made in the earth. Do you not look
around? Look around. Look at all He's done. There's another
place, I forget where it is. Do you not see what I've done
to Egypt? Do you not see? Read Hebrews 11. Go back and
read it again. When you're tempted, when you're
fearful and worried and all that, go back and read Psalm 90. It tells us the shortness of
our time and the troubles we'll go through. Psalm 91. Read them
all the time. All the time. Whenever you start
being afraid, go back and read those two Psalms. Hebrews 11.
We've got a great cloud of witnesses who went through the same world,
through the same things you went through, the same heartaches,
the same trials, the same fears, the same loss of children and
loved ones and so forth. Read it. Read it. Hebrews 11. Oh, the terrible trials that
they went through. But God sent them all. And the end is good. Teach us to number our days,
that we may apply our hearts to wisdom. Oh, that they were
wise, and would consider this their latter end. Behold what desolation! He makes
wars to cease unto the end of the earth. He make breaketh the
bow, and cutteth the spear, and sundry burneth the chariot in
fire. Be still! Do you know how many wars there
have been? My father was in World War II,
and some of you were, and then there was Korea, and Brother
Henry was down in the foxhole in Korea. He told me what that
was like, Brother Henry Sawyer told me what that was like, having
real bullets fly over your head. Somebody really wants you dead
with a gun. That's fear. Did he make it out
of that foxhole? He's sitting on high above, above
all this stuff.