For our visitors, our speaker
this morning is Pastor Henry Mahan from the Thirteenth Street
Baptist Church in Ashland, Kentucky. He needs no introduction to this
congregation, dear man. We're glad to have him. Thank you for coming. I want you to open your Bibles
this morning to the book of Psalms, Psalm 91. Psalm 91. The title of my message today is The Believer's Legacy. The Believer's Legacy. That means the believer's inheritance,
eternal inheritance. Paul, speaking to the elders
at the church of Ephesus, said to them, in closing his
final message to these people, he said, And now, brethren, I
commend you to God. and to the word of his grace,
which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance,
an inheritance, a portion, an eternal inheritance among them
which are sanctified. Now for many years, many years,
I have quoted Richard Baxter's popular statement. He said one time, I preach as
one who may never preach again. I preach as a dying man to dying
men. And that has been to be sort
of a watchword, because I believe that. I've always believed it,
since God revealed his grace to me. I preach as one who may
never preach again, who knows what tomorrow holds. And I preach
as a dying man to dying men. But that has become more than
a watchword or a saying. It's become a reality to me because
of my age and various things, you know, that this is, this
is sunset years for some of us. And we're glad. We're glad. Swift to its close ebbs out life's
little day. earth's joys grow dim and its
glories fade away. Change and decay in all around
me I see, but O thou that changest not, abide with me." Isaac Watts
once wrote these words, Time, time like an ever rolling stream,
bears all its sons away, and they die, and they die. Forgotten as a dream, closes
life's little day. And that's it. And I'm going
to preach to you this morning on that legacy, on that inheritance,
in Psalm 91. God willing, Psalm 91. Now some people believe
that Moses wrote this psalm. You notice its author is not
recorded. But in Psalm 90, just before
Psalm 91, we have a prayer of Moses, the man of God. So we believe Moses not only
wrote Psalm 90, but he wrote Psalm 91. But But it matters
little, like the pastor was saying a few moments ago, it's not man's
word, it's God's word. So it matters little whether
David wrote this psalm or whether Moses wrote this psalm. We know
about whom it is written. It's about our Lord Jesus Christ. And this psalm is not only about
our Lord Jesus Christ, but this psalm is about his people, his
legacy, his inheritance. We are his inheritance, that's
right. And this psalm is written about
the promises to these people, all the rich and precious promises
of our Lord. And this psalm is written about
the victory and the deliverance which is theirs in Christ Jesus. And this psalm is written about
his constant care and his constant concern for those people. So let's look at it. In Psalm
91, verse 1, he that dwelleth. Didn't say he goes in and out.
He dwells there. He dwells there. It's a habitation.
It's a home. He that dwelleth in the secret
place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the
Almighty." Where is this that we dwell? The secret place. It's the word for His eternal
presence, His abiding presence. We dwell in His presence. We dwell in the secret place.
Why is it called a secret place? Because it's not known or experienced
by everybody. Everybody doesn't dwell there.
His people dwell there. Turn to Psalm 27, and listen
to this verse here. Psalm 27, verse 4 and 5. The secret place. the Lord's
presence. Psalm 27, verse 4, One thing
have I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after, that
I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.
For in time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion, In the
secret of his tabernacle, in the secret place, in the secret
of his tabernacle shall he hide me and set me on a rock. Look at Psalm 31. What are we
talking about? We're talking about his presence,
the secret place, the place that's known only to his loved ones.
In Psalm 31, verse 19, listen to this. Oh, how great is thy goodness,
which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee, which thou hast
wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men. And that's who we're talking
about. Look at the next verse. Thou shalt hide them in the secret
of thy presence from the pride of man. Thou shalt keep them
secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. Aren't you
glad? He that dwelleth in the secret
place of the Most High, the secret place. It's called within the
Bible. And the next line in verse one
says, Psalm 91, He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most
High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty, under his wings. What a refuge in sorrow! There
shall I hide and be kept by his power, under his wings. That's right, under his wings. David said, Keep me, Lord, as
the apple of thine eye. hide me under the shadow of thy
wings." In Psalm 52 he said, for in the shadow of thy wings
will I make my refuge until these calamities be all over past. Oh, the glory of his presence. Oh, the riches of his presence. Oh, the security of it. Turn
to Psalm 139. Psalm 139, verse, Psalm 139,
verse 1. Listen. In Psalm 139, verse 1,
O thou hast searched me and known me, thou knowest my downsittings
and my uprisings, thou understandest my thoughts afar off, thou comfort'st
My path, my lying down, are acquainted with all my ways. There's not
a word in my tongue, but, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and
before and laid your hand on me. All such knowledge is too
wonderful for me. It's too high. I can't attain
unto it. He that dwelleth in the secret
place of the Most High shall abide forever and forever in
the shadow of the Almighty. And you know, in verses 1 and
2, we have a question here. I have a question. Well, who
is our refuge? Who is this one who is our eternal
refuge? Well, he gives us four words
here in the first two verses. It identifies him by four names. Listen to it. He that dwelleth
in the secret place of the Most High. That's who he is, the Most
High. Our God is the Most High. Read on. He shall abide under
the shadow of the Almighty. Who is our God? The Most High
and the Almighty God. None can stay his hand, or say
unto him, What doest thou? Is he that ain't too hard for
God? He's the Almighty. Read on. I will say of the Lord. Who is
this? The Lord Jehovah, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Lord my Savior, the Lord my Messiah. He's my Lord. He's my Lord. The Lord is my
shepherd. I shall not walk Right on. He's
my refuge and my fortress, and He's my God. I like those four. The Most High, the Almighty,
the Lord Jesus Christ, my God. My God. That's what Thomas said,
my Lord and my God. My God. And in Him, I trust. Nobody else. I'll trust in Him. Always and ever, I'll trust in
Him. Well, what does it say about
Him? It says in verse 2, He's my refuge. He's my refuge from
the storm. And there'll be plenty of them,
won't there? But He's my refuge. And then it says, He's my fortress,
my defense against all enemies. all in me. He's my fortress,
and he's my trust. He's my trust, and he's my assurance. I want to show you a verse in
Psalm 32, that Isaiah 32, Isaiah, Isaiah 32. Listen to this, talking
about our refuge. He's my refuge, the Lord's my
refuge, my refuge, my fortress. If you can say, He's the Most
High, He's the Almighty, He's my Lord, and He's my God, then
He's your refuge, too. He's your refuge. And look at
Isaiah 32, verse 1. Isaiah 32, verse 1, Behold, a
king, king of kings and Lord of lords, shall reign in righteousness. Princes shall rule in judgment,
and a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert
from the tempest, and a river, the rivers of water in a dry
place, and as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. And, listen,
the eyes of him that see him shall never be dimmed, and the
ears of him Them that hear him shall always hearken. My refuge,
my refuge, a man, a hiding place, a cover, rivers of water and
a dry place, shadow of a great rock and a weary land, and the
eyes that see him are ever permitted to look upon him. He that seeth
the sun will never be dim. Never. And the one that hears
his voice, he'll hear my voice. I give them eternal life and
they'll never perish. Guaranteed. All right. Read on. Now the next several verses,
I'm going to group them together a little bit. Let's read. He
shall deliver thee from the snare of the cacklers, from the loathsome
pestilence. He'll cover you with his feathers.
under his wing shalt thou trust. His truth, his truth shall be
my shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid of the
terror by night, nor the error that flyeth by day, nor for the
pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction that
wasteth at noonday. And a thousand shall fall at
your side, and ten thousand at your right hand. It shall not
come nigh thee, only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see
the reward of the wicked. Now these verses, these verses
express the believer's confidence in the total care of his Lord. His confidence in the total care
of his Lord. Peter said, cast all your care,
all of these things we've been reading about, you just cast
them on him. You take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. Cast all your care upon him,
for he cares for you. He cares for you. The pastor
Wednesday night talked about the shalls and the wills of God's
Word. Don't you love the shalls of
God's Word? Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. I shall not. The wills and the
shalls—not may they, not perhaps, but they shall. He shall. That leper came to our Lord and
said, Lord, if you will, you can make me whole. He said, I
will be thy whole. I shall. I will. That's right. All right. Let's look at these
now. Verse three. He shall deliver thee from the
snare of the fowler. Who is that? I'll tell you who
that is. The snare of the fowler is to be delivered from the snare
the trap of the fowler. He's the one who snares foolish
birds, foolish fowls. He delivers me from the snare,
from the trap, from the net of the fowler. He's the one who
roars, goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. That's right. He's the one, according
to the Scriptures, that seeks to devour God's people, and so
he'll deliver you from that snare of the power. Old foolish bird that's caught
in the trap and never to be released, but he'll deliver us. We wrestle
not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and
rulers and spiritual wickedness and high places, but he'll deliver
us from the one that traps the foolish bird. And then he goes
on, he said, and from the noisome pestilence, the pestilence. I read one time about that great,
that great plague that took place in London years ago. And there was a man who lived
there. He was a very prominent man. He was a believer, a Christian
man. But a very prominent man. His
name was Lord Cravens. And that epidemic, that great
plague and epidemic has swept down on the city of London. And Lord Cravens, he prepared
to leave London. He had a home out in the country.
He lived in the Craven building in London, but he decided to
leave there because of the plague, because of the epidemic. And
so he began to prepare and to pack and move to the country.
And one of his servants said to another servant, as they were
packing the Lord's and his people's and his family's possessions. And one of the servants said
to another servant, he said, well, I suppose that our master
is leaving London to avoid the plague. Yes, the other said,
that's true. He said, well, his God must live
in the country and not in the city. And this believer, this Lord
Craven heard that man and heard that comment, and he said, No,
sir, my God does not live only in the country. He lives in the
city. And my God will keep me wherever I am, and I will be
staying right here with my friends. He'll deliver you from the stare,
and he'll deliver you from the noisome pestilence. That's right. A thousand shall fall at thy
side, and not come nigh thee. Listen to verse 4. He shall cover thee with his
feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust. You know, somebody
said one time, comparing God to a mother hen? Why, that would
be bordering on blasphemy. to compare God with a mother
hen if it were not God himself who compared it, if it were not God himself who
inspired it. Because God himself says over
and over again, Under his wings shalt thou trust, and his shall be thy shield and
buckler." What's a shield? Anybody knows what a shield is.
It's a big shield that's put in front of a fellow to keep
other people from harming him. A shield can be any size, mostly
a big thing, shield. But this here says, he's my shield,
but he's my buckler. Now, we don't know much about
that, but I'll tell you what a buckler is. It's a small shield
that's held with a hand or an elbow and it moves in different
places and protects the soldier or protects the one who would
bring harm against him. So he's my shield who protects
me at all times, but he's my buckler in special situations
when he brings the buckler to to keep me from being harmed. His shield is my defense and
my buffer against all enemies at all times in any situation. And verse 5 says, Thou shalt
not be afraid of the terrors by night. I often tell young
people nothing good happens after midnight. I wish all of our young
people would get off the streets I'm moving her down to about
10 o'clock now. That's right. Nothing good happens
after midnight. Nothing. I read in the Roanoke
paper the other day about a man who's 1,275 arrests for drunken
driving in a certain length of time. And when does he stop them? Between 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock. That's what it is. You don't
need to be afraid. I don't recommend that people
impose on the mercy of God or the wisdom of God, but when you
are exposed, He'll shield you. He'll guide you. During the night,
turn to Psalm 139. Listen to this. Psalm 139. Don't be afraid of the dark.
Don't be afraid of the terrors by night or the errors that fly
by day. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. He'll keep you. And listen to
Psalm 139, verse 8. If I ascend into heaven, He is
there. If I make my bed in hell, out
there. If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall
thy hand lead me, thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, well,
the darkness will cover me, even the night will be light about
me. The darkness hideth not from
thee. The light shineth in the day,
and the darkness and the light are both a light to him. Because you dwell in the secret
place. You dwell in his presence. You're
under his wings. You're under his care. That's
right. Don't be afraid of the pestilence.
There are six. Nor the pestilence that walketh
in darkness, nor the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at your
side, and ten thousand at your right hand. He won't come near
you, only with your eyes. shall you see. Only with thine eyes shalt thou
behold and see the reward of the wicked, because thou hast
made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, the Almighty,
the Lord God, thy habitation. And thou shalt There shall no
evil befall thee, neither sin nor plague come not out of thee."
What is this saying here in these two verses, four or five verses?
It's saying what God said to Job in Job 1. Turn to Job chapter 1. This is
what the Lord's saying. He has hedged us about. The Lord
God has literally hedged His people about. with his protective
calf. Look at Job chapter 1, verse
6. You got it? Job 1, verse 6. Listen. Now there was a day when the
sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came
also among them. And the Lord said to Satan, Whence
comest thou? He's that fowler that traps those
foolish birds. That's who he is. Then Satan
answered the Lord from going to and fro in the earth and walking
up and down among them. The Lord said to Satan, Have
you set your heart on my servant Job? Have you considered my servant
Job is none like him in the earth? He's a perfect, upright man,
one who fears God and hates evil. Then Satan answered the Lord
and said, Does Job fear you for nothing? Have you not," listen,
have you not, made a hedge about him, a wall about him, about
his house, about all that he hath on every
side? Have you not blessed the work
of his hands, his substance? He's increased. His substance
increased in life. Lord said, I've hedged old Job
about, him and his family. Then Satan began to try Job,
and he said, well, you've hedged him about, but you reach out
now and touch what he has, and he'll crush you to your face.
Lord said, all right, he's in your hands, but don't you kill
him. You see, this Psalm, we dwell
in his presence, under his care and under his protection, always
in the secret of his pavilion. But when God is pleased, according
to his will, for his own purpose, for our good, and for the accomplishment
of his glory, And for the furthest of his gospel, he'll try his
people. But he won't be very far away
from the trial, from the fire that tries him. That's right.
That's right. That's right. So that's what
we're saying here. He hedges us about and keeps us and protects
us always and all times, unless for his glory and our good the
furtherance of his gospel and the accomplishment of his purpose,
he puts us through the trials. That's right. Through the fire
and through the trials. That's right. But there's no
trial you'll ever have to endure that's not ordained in God and
for your good and his glory. That's right. Or one that you
can't, by his grace, endure. That's right. I'll suffer you
to be tried any further than when it's necessary or when it's
needful or when... He said that's enough. All right, let's look at verse
11. Verse 11. And it says here, For
he shall give his angels charge over you, keep you and all you.
He'll give his angels charge The angels, the angels of God
that we talk about in the scriptures, the guardian angel, the angel
that appeared before the little ones, the father's face to protect
the little ones, his angels. That's right. He'd give his angels.
His angels have received a commission from their Lord to watch carefully
over the interest of his elect. The angels have a charge to keep
us in all our ways. That's right. All our ways. Let me show you that in Psalm
34. Psalm 34. Psalm 34, verse 7. Listen to this. Psalm 34, verse 7, the angel
of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and he'll
deliver. Who does? The angel of the Lord.
And the angels are called, in Hebrews, the Lord's ministering
heirs who sent to minister to the heirs of salvation. Well,
Lord's ministering servants and and spirits who are sent to minister
to those who shall be the heirs of salvation. You take somebody
here tonight or this morning that has never come to know Christ. Well, if you want his elect,
he's already given his angels charge over you. That's right.
That's right. He's already given his angels
commission to bring him home. Bring him home. That's what the
Ethiopian eunuch was doing out there in the wilderness. He sent
the angel of the Lord to bring the eunuch home, bring him home.
And this, I love this right here. He shall give his angels charge
over thee, and keep thee in all thy ways, and they shall bear
thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a
stone. Did you grow back-footed when
you was a child? We didn't wear shoes at all,
except in the wintertime in the church. But I went back-footed,
and I had a lot of stump toes. I mean a lot of them. Did you
ever have a stumped toe? Oh my goodness alive. It's awful. It bleeds a lot and I cried a
lot, but I had a good mama and daddy that would pick me up and
pour turpentine on it. Turpentine took care of everything. Just pour turpentine on that
busted toe and my mother would take me up in her arms and it'd
be all right. And that's where it says here,
Thou shalt never bear thee up in their hands, lest ye stump
your toe. And you're going to do that a
whole lot of times. But he—you're not deserted, you're
not forsaken. He bears you up in his arms when
you get a stumped toe. But now, wait a minute, look
at the next verse. A stumped toe's a lot different from this.
Thou shalt tread on the lion. I never have messed around with
lions. Now, stump toes I know a lot
about, but not lions. And the adder, that's a poison
snake. And the young lion seeking his
prey. And the dragon, what am I going
to do about them? He's going to trample them under
his feet. He'll give his angels charge
over you to lift you up lest you stump your toes. But when
it comes to all of these enemies of God, and enemies, your enemies,
and enemies of Satan, he'll trample them under his feet. That's right. He'll deal with them in the way
only God can deal with them. That's right. He'll trample them.
That's right. You tread on the lion and the
ladder and the adder and the young lion and the dragon stamp
under your feet. All right. Because, verse 14,
because. My friends, there's always a
because, always a because, in law and grace, always a because. Because Adam sinned, he fell. Because we sin, we die. That's a because. Because Christ
died, I live. This is the cause. And because He has set His love
upon me, verse 14, because He has set His love upon me, I will. I will. All right, I'm going
to close with the sevenfold legacy. Here it is. Because He has set
His love upon me, My love upon him? Both. He loved me, and I
love him because he loves me. That's right. Both ways. All
right. Therefore, I will deliver him. He need not fear the penalty,
power, reign of death, and sin. I found a ransom. I'll deliver
him. I will set him on high. Where is that? Seated with Christ
in the heaviness. That's about as high as you can
get, isn't it? That's as high as exaltation
can be exalted, because, listen, He knows my name. It's a because,
a because. I'll deliver Him, and I'll set
Him on high because He knows my name. I know His name, and
He knows my name. That's right. There you go. Third,
He'll, He'll, He shall call upon me, and I'll answer Him. The
believer will feel the need to pray, and he'll be led to pray
or write, and he'll be heard. Think about that. I found it
in my heart, this prophet said, to pray for you. You quoted the
other night about Saul of Tarsus. Behold, he's praying. You better
run down there, skedaddle down there and help that boy. He's
praying. But I found it in my heart to pray. And I found it
in my heart to pray a rite. Not my will, which this was last
Wednesday, but Thy will be done. That's praying a rite. And God
will answer. God doesn't answer everything
we pop off about. I'm glad He doesn't. I'm sure
glad He doesn't. Just like they do in poetry,
just in the race sad. But pray it right. I'll answer
you. All right. Fourthly, and I'll
be with him in trouble. He'll have trouble. He said,
tribulation, what is the scripture now? I can't remember. John 16, 33. Tribulation, sorrows,
but I'll be with him. I'll be with him. All right.
And I'll deliver him, and I'll honor him. Our Lord said, If
any man serve me, let him follow me. And where I am, there will
my servant be. And if any man serve me, him
will my father honor. I'll honor him. I'll honor him. I promise you. If any man serve me, him will
my father honor. And here's our legacy number
six, with long life will I satisfy. And that's not, I'll soon be
seventy-seven. That's not very long. I thought
about Hannah graduating from high school twelve years ago. That was yesterday, wasn't it?
Wasn't it yesterday? Yesterday when we went to this
kindergarten and pissed at her. That was yesterday. Now I'll
go first. It goes so fast, don't it? So
that's not long life. I haven't been here very long.
I just look like it, but I haven't been here very long. It's been
a short one. It's been a short one. But He's
going to give us a long life. I shall dwell in the house of
the Lord forever and forever and forever. And listen, oh,
here, then this, this, this is all I need to say. I'm going
to show him my salvation. I'm going to show it to him.
And I'll tell you this, like the pastor talked this morning,
like he and I were talking on the phone just a week ago about
a message he was preparing to preach on the necessity of preaching
the gospel. I said, well, you're going to
hear the gospel. It's to hear the Word of God preached. That's
right. And I'm going to show him my
salvation. I'm going to show him my salvation by the word. The believer's legacy. All right. The Lord bless you. Thank you,
Pastor. Let's turn to number ten. M Number
10, a message that was written, or a song written with Psalm
91 in mind, written Isaac Watts, one of the great
old writers. Let's stand and sing number 10.
Let's sing the first, second, and last verses, okay? First,
second, and last verse. O God, our help in ages past,
our hope for years to come, our shelter from the stormy blast, and our eternal home. Under the shadow of that throne,
still made weak, well-secured, sufficient is Thine arm alone,
and I request it sure. our hope for years to come. Be thou our guide while life
shall last and our eternal home. I don't know what to do. I can't hear you. I can't hear you. I can't hear
you. I can't hear you. I can't hear you. I don't know what to do. You.