We may trust Him wholly, all
for us to do. They who trust Him wholly, find
Him wholly true. Sing it out, now. I will keep him in perfect peace,
whose mind is stayed on thee, for in the Lord Jehovah is strength."
That's where that comes from. Thank you, Sheriff. Remember
those words. Never foe can follow, never traitor
stand, not a surge of worry, not a shade of care, not a blast
of hurry. Every joy or trial followed from
above. Good work alright back to Psalm
46 now. Psalm 46. Seeking a message. For you. For tonight. I seek something more than a
mere devotional, but some food for you to go in the strength
of. That's what Wednesday nights
are for, to give you something extra to go in the strength of,
some meat from God's Word, something that you can chew on for a while,
like a cow chews his cud after he eats it. And this psalm is
a good one, a good one to reflect on for a while, and it will give
you plenty to chew on until Sunday morning. It's a psalm of praise,
a psalm of encouragement, and a psalm of God's glory. All right,
let's look at it, dive right into it. God is our refuge and
strength. This psalm begins with God. as
everything does. God is our refuge. I don't suppose there's anything
that gives me more pain and grief in our day than how frequently I hear the
name of God being used. How flippantly, how carelessly,
how blasphemously. The wicked world is using God's
name as a byword. I hesitate to do this, but you've
heard them, they say, oh my God. Everything that happens, oh my
God. Many use that name. The religious world is no different. And maybe this, I believe it
is worse. The religious world taking God's
name in vain. You've heard preachers, they
use His name as kind of a stopgap in their preaching. Praise God,
you know. It's taking God's name in vain.
Many people claim to believe in God. Many people use His name. As the Lord Himself said, they
draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from
me. I contend that if men knew who God was, they wouldn't be
so quick to use that name. And if they did, they'd use it
with fear and reverence. The Jews of old were hesitant
to even use the name. to even speak the name. The fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but God, nevertheless,
God is our refuge. God. Those whom God has revealed
himself to, the true and living God. This is eternal life, that
they might know thee, the only true God. The true God. I'm talking
about the holy. Not the God that's spoken of
today, all love, nothing but love, but
the God of the Bible who's first holy and who's sovereign, who's
just. He said it of himself when he
described himself. He said, I'm a just God and a
Savior. The holy, sovereign, omnipotent,
omniscient, omnipresent, creator, ruler, sustainer, controller,
provider for all flesh, this God, the God of the Bible. is our refuge, not the God of
men's imaginations, this God who can't do anything unless
men let them, this God who tries and fails, this God who wants
to and can't. No, the God of the Bible is our
refuge, the God who is God. Or as Pharaoh said, Moses' God
is God. Well, our God is God, and he
is our refuge. Where else could you find refuge
but in a God who's God? Not my God. The difference between
our God, the true God, and the world's God is, our God is God. The world's God just wants to
be. There's the difference. Our God
is God. And that's our refuge. That's
our refuge. Psalm 96 verse 10 says this,
say among the heathen, the Lord reigneth. Say among the heathen,
the Lord reigneth." And many people in our day like to use
the term sovereign, don't they? One of our ladies was talking
to a woman, and she said, Oh, we believe God is sovereign. Well, you ask them the question,
over what? Sovereign over what? I believe about the best they
could come up with is thunder and lightning or something like
that. Sovereign over what? Well, our
God's sovereign over all. That means he reigns and rules
over all. Ask David, where's your God,
David? He said, I see your God. He's an idol. You got him where
you want. You got him on a picture, got
him on the mantle. Where's your God, David? He said, my God's
in the heaven and he does whatsoever he pleases. whatsoever he pleased, he did
that. Our God reigns and rules among the armies of heaven and
among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his
hand or say unto him, What doest thou? Our God will work, and
who will let it? Our God is God, and he's our
refuge. He's our refuge. Say among the
heathen, The Lord reigneth. But say unto Zion, listen to
this, Isaiah 52 verse 7. Now you can tell the world that
the Lord reigneth and it doesn't mean anything. But he says, say
unto Zion, thy God reigneth. Do you see the difference? Tell everybody the Lord reigneth.
It'll fall on deaf ears, but tell them anyway. But say unto
Zion, thy God reigneth. He's your God. And though men don't own him
as such, all flesh will someday. Every knee will bow and every
tongue confess, God reigneth. And not because men make him
so. The gods of the heathen are impotent, helpless subjects of
man, but God is our refuge. He's our hiding place, our strong
tower. Read on, it says he's a very
present help in trouble. always there when you need Him
and when you don't. You know, it's prone to wander, Lord, I feel
it, prone to leave the God I love. And we do. All we like sheep
have gone astray. We've turned each man to our
own way, but God doesn't move. God is always there when we need
Him and when we don't. Thank God he's there when I don't. In other words, what I'm saying
is he's he's going to be there when I forget God, he can't forget
himself. He can't forget his covenant.
He won't forget his promise to me. He won't forget his son,
what he did for me. He won't forget. He's there.
You know, I love that we studied through Genesis and remember
when Jacob's sons left the presence of Jacob, I mean of Joseph. They
came before Joseph and did not know him, who he was. And Joseph
sent them home to get their father and Benjamin. And there's a scripture
that says when they came back, when all of Jacob's sons came
back, it says, and Joseph was yet there. He was still there. He hadn't moved. From the time
he told them to leave to the time they came back, Joseph was
right there. Where? Sitting on the throne.
Reigning and ruling. And our God is on the throne.
He says he's a very present help in time of trouble. We in trouble,
you in trouble, God's on the throne. His ear is open. Always open. He bows his ear
to the needy. His eyes are open. My God seeeth us. He sees us. He's a very present help in time
of trouble. He's as near, very present. He's
as near as a call. He said, call on me in the day
of trouble. I'll answer you. Whenever. The priest, you have
to get an audience with the priest, don't you? You have to set up
an appointment. You have to wait in line. Not
the great high priest. Just call. Any time, any place. He's as near as a look. If you
wanted to see the Pope, I don't believe many of you would, but
if you did, you'd have to go to the Vatican. He says, look,
just look with the eye of faith. Look unto me and be ye saved.
All the ends are there. Verse 2, Therefore will not we
fear. Therefore will not we fear. Now here's real comfort for a
child of God. for a child of the Heavenly Father
to know that the Father's always near. It always gives a child
great comfort to know that Dad's around. Dad's close by. Dad's in the next room. Dad's
in bed next door. Don't need to worry. I can go
to sleep. God's very present. Very present. Therefore, will
not we fear? We will not fear. Read on. Though
the earth be removed, though the mountains be carried into
the midst of the sea, and they will, the earth will be removed.
The scripture says he's going to fold it up like a vesture.
It's going to end, and I believe right soon, right soon. I believe
he's right at the door. I believe signs point to his
imminent return, and that right soon. Even so, come quickly. Come quickly. The earth will
be removed, though the mountains be carried into the midst of
the sea, and they will be, though the waters thereof roar and be
troubled, though the mountains shake with a swelling thereof." We won't fear. Or will we? Do you? We ought not to. Why? Because God's the one doing all
these things. Right? That's the reason the
world is fearful of all these natural calamities and disasters
and so forth. We're going to see this in a
moment. The reason the world is so fearful is because their
God's not doing this. Satan is, or something, or Mother
Nature, you know, something attributed to anything and everything but
God. Our God's the one that's shaking this earth. If there's
an earthquake, you know the best thing to do in an earthquake?
Well, I'm getting ahead of myself. But I believe the best thing
to do would be just sit still. You can't help yourself anyway. Sit still. God is the one who
shakes the earth. He's the one that raises the
floodwaters. My daughter and I went down when we were having
those torrential rains. You remember, don't you? And
my daughter and I got our ponchos and big old floppy hats on and
went down to the river and watched that thing rise. And it was up
about ten feet. You know where we pitched that
tent, Joe? It was way above that. Two feet above that. Up to ten
or twelve feet. A raging big river. But I'm telling
you, even that old river, even that little river looked scary. But we were down there just watching
it in awe and amazement. We weren't too fearful. Why?
It's not going to come a foot further than God says it should. It's not going to touch my house
unless God says so. And we can sit back and glorify
God in all these things he does in his
creation and not be fearful. Fear not. That word Sela there,
you see that? It's a mysterious meaning, really,
but sela. One writer said that sela means
it's like a musical pause, a pause in the music. One writer said
it means retune your instruments. We're going to hit a finer note.
We'd better tune up, boys. We don't want to hit a sire note
here. But I believe the best meaning of this is that some
writers say it means to think about death. Just pause and think
about God. God is the one who raises the
waters and shakes the mountains and causes the earth to shake.
Think about it. If you did, you wouldn't be afraid.
You wouldn't be afraid. Pause and think about it. Verse
4, there is a river. There is a river. Now, is this
a change of thought here? No. He just talked about waters
roaring, didn't he? Waters that are roaring and being
troubled. The scriptures talks about God having the voice of
the sound of many waters. The voice of God. And in other
scriptures, other psalms that talk about the voice of God causes
the hinds to calve. The voice of God splits the cedars
wide open, the voice of God, thunder, in a sense. The voice of God, a fearful thing
to those that don't know him, the voice of God. Well, it's
like the water, the sound of many waters, but there's a river.
The streams, read on, the streams whereof shall make glad the city
of God. sound of God's will make glad
God's people. It's not a different thought
at all the city of God and make glad by this river is the illusion
or the the. The picture here is of a city
that is built on a river. Port city if you will a city
built on the mouth of a river And as a city that's built by
a great river gets all of its provisions and does all its commerce
and all of its wealth and all of its trade and all of its travel
and everything depends on that river. This is the sense that
God is this river to the city or the church of God. That's
where we dwell. And that's what Psalm 1 says.
Blessed is the man who's planted by the rivers of living water.
He'll be like a green tree whose leaf won't wither. And we receive
everything from God. He is this fountain from which
all blessings flow. God is this river, like a river,
Gloria, that we receive everything from. His mercy, a river, the
water of a river, you'd never see the same water. Right? It's different. It's different
every day. The Scripture says His mercies
are new every morning. And a river, I've mentioned the
Pig River, as small as it is, it's never run dry as far as
I know, has it? Y'all been here longer than I
have. Has the Pig River ever gone dry? Well, what about that
little tributary, that little Pig River? Well, there's a river,
the Scripture says, the Revelation says, that flows from the throne
of God, from God himself. That's the fountain of all his
blessing, the fountain of his goodness. And more specifically,
that river is Christ. That's his blood, this fountain
flowing for the soul unclean. Are you washed in this blood?
That's the river of God's Holy Spirit. He said it will be a
fountain, a spring rising up within you, a spring of living
water bubbling up within you. That's God's blessing. God is
that fountain. God is that river, and the streams
are tributaries or everything that comes from him makes glad
the city of God. It makes us glad. It makes us
mighty glad. John Gill said this. He said,
It makes us glad as the river if God's truth and these streams
are the doctrines. See, God is the truth. He's the
true and living God. Pilate asked Christ, What is
truth? It's not a what. It's a who. You see, men can
preach truths and not preach the truth. Men
can preach doctrine and not preach Christ. Men can preach the doctrines
that we know and love and not preach Christ. Christ is not
the center of it all. A glorifying doctrine. If you
preach Christ, you preach the truth. If you preach the truth,
You have to preach the truth, the doctrine. It's not the doctrines
of Christ, is it? John said. Cursed is everyone
that transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ. He said all flows from him, his
person. And my pastor has always said
over the years that you don't arrive at Christ through doctrine.
You arise at doctrine through Christ. When Isaiah saw the Lord,
he straightened his doctrine out. Right? When he saw the Lord high and
lifted up, he realized, hey, he's holy. He realized, hey,
I'm undone. I'm depraved. I'm sinful. He
realized, hey, he's all-powerful. I'm helpless, hopeless, without
strength, without God. He must choose me. When you see
that God's all-powerful, you realize the blood of Christ is
effectual. And whatever God purposes to
do, it's done. He doesn't try to do anything.
Why? Because he's God. That's why. You realize that
the Holy Spirit's God, too. And he doesn't try to do anything,
but he's sovereign, too. And as the wind that bloweth
where it listeth, so does the Holy Spirit. And he saves everybody
that he moves upon the Holy Spirit. He's God, and the streams, these
doctrines, the doctrine of Christ, the truths that make up the truth
who is God, make us mighty glad. Mighty glad. City of God, it
says. City of God. Another writer said
that. He said it's called the City of God. The church is called
the City of God because he dwells in it. Yeah, God's right in the
middle of the church. right in the middle of the church.
He dwells in it. Secondly, he founded it and he
built it. God's the one that built the
church. And that makes me glad. And that's a refuge for the preacher,
that he doesn't have to resort to gimmicks and tricks and tactics
and this and that and the other, because God will build his church. God will call his sheep. It's
not up to the man. Except the Lord build the house,
they labor in vain to build it. God built it. Thirdly, he rules
it. It's his city because he rules
it. He reigns and rules it. He doesn't
leave that up to anybody. He doesn't put heads over his
church. There's one head over the church, and he doesn't live
in Vatican City. He lives in the portals of glory. He's the
great high potentate. It's God's city, fourthly, because
he owns it. He bought it with his own precious
blood. He has the receipts to prove
it. He bought it. It's God's city, fifthly, because
he collects all the rent from everybody in it. That's good,
isn't it? He collects all the rent. Everything
belongs to God. We're just renters here. The
earth is the Lord and the fullness thereof. The earth and the inhabitants
thereof. Ain't nobody owns a piece of
ground on this earth. We're just renting it. Squatters. God's going to take it all back
someday. It's his city. The earth is his
city, but the church is especially God's city. His dwelling place. Look at the fifth verse. This
hurts her. God is in the midst of her. God
is in the midst of his church. Right in the middle of it. She
shall not be moved. People move from church to church.
so to speak, but the church doesn't move. God's in the midst. She shall not be moved. And you
think back on history. Think back at all the attempts
by various rulers and civilizations, if you will, despots, to eradicate
the church. You think back on all the attempts.
I love to study some of church history, and some of you do,
too. You think back, Ed, on all the
attempts that men have made to eradicate the church, to put
it out of business, to silence the truth, to do away with God's
Word. What has happened? It's just
multiplied. It's just multiplied. Why? God's
in the middle of it. You try to kill the church, you
have to kill God. That's what, who was it, was
it Nicodemus that said? If we try to fight against this
man, and he's of God, we're going to catch ourselves fighting against
God. And she shall not be moved. The
church will not be moved, because God's in the midst of her. God's
in the midst of her. God shall help her. Read on.
God shall help her. And that right early. That's
kind of an old country phrase, isn't it? You ever hear anybody
say that? I'll be there right soon. I'll be there. You coming over? Yeah, right
early. I can understand that. Can't you? The Lord is returning. He's coming back for his people.
He's going to gather his elect from the four corners of the
earth. He's going to fold his thing up like a picture and that
right early. Right soon. Barbara, right soon. So he says, in a sense, pack
your bags. Provide for yourself bags that
wax not old. He can't take it with you, as
the old saying is, but faith, hope, and love, all of these
shall give way, but love won't. Love for Christ, that's the reason
this is what we're doing here. We're asking the Lord to Increase
our faith, increase our love. Provide for us that which waxeth
not old, that which we shall have forever. Trust in our God. Fellowship with our God. God
is with her. God shall help her, and that
right early, right early. Verse 6. Well, the heathen raged,
and they have, always have, they do now. They get mad. One of my favorite psalms is
Psalm 2. It says, Why do the heathen rage? And men do get mad at the truth,
don't they? They do get mad when you talk about the God who is
God. God of the Bible. Sovereign. Just. They get mad
at that. They like to talk about the God
of love, and I do too. His love is glorious. But sovereign
love is glory. Sovereign love is saving love.
Love, universal love, is no good to anybody. There's nothing glorious
about it, and I totally repudiate that. I denounce it as heresy. Sovereign love, that's glorious,
and I love to talk about that. He said, I have loved thee with
an everlasting love. Eternal love is glory. I mean
love that keeps on loving. Not love that will send a man
to hell. Does God still love people in hell? But if His love
is eternal and He loves everybody, He does. He loves those in hell.
God's love is particular. God's love is sovereign. God's
love is discriminating. God's love is eternal. God's
love is saving. I have loved thee, He says, with
an everlasting love. Therefore, I'm going to do something
for you with loving kindness if I have drawn thee. See, He
draws all those He loves. with cords of love, cords of
a man, with the gospel. My sheep are going to hear my
voice. We love to talk about the love of God, the love of
God. We sure love to talk about the
holiness of God and the justice of God. I love to talk about
the justice of God, don't you? Huh? Our God is just. I'm glad He is. It's the justice
of God that demands my freedom. Do you know that? It's the justice
of God that demands my freedom. Why? Because Christ died. It's God that justifies. Why?
Because Christ died. That means my sins are paid for.
That means God can't hold me accountable for my sins anymore.
I love the justice of God. Don't you? God is just. He will
by no means clear the guilty, and he will by no means damn
the innocent, the righteous. And Christ has made unto me righteousness. I'm righteous in Christ, imputed
righteousness. God is just. He won't charge
me for what he charged Christ for. I love the justice of God. Don't you? The holiness of God,
that's what makes God supremely God, is His holiness. That's what's going to make heaven
heaven, His holiness. There'll be nothing in it to
defile it. No sin, no... That's what's going to make heaven
heaven. That's what makes God God. He's holy. Well, me and
the world would bring God down. Would degrade His holiness and
His justice. Not me. Not God's people. And
the heathen rage about the holiness and justice of God. I don't like
that. Doesn't make any difference.
That's the way it is. They rage against the holiness
and justice of God and the sovereignty of God. I don't like God being
sovereign. I can't do anything about it. He said, I'll work. Who's going to stop me? But God's people say, work. We
don't want to stop you. The heathen rage of people. Talking
about the Jews or the religious, Jew and Gentile, the heathen
rage of people. Imagine a vain thing. The religious
folks imagine that they can get to heaven on their own word.
That's a vain thing, and a horse is a vain thing for safety, and
man's righteousness sure is a vain thing for covering, isn't it? I've always used the illustration
of man's righteousness as being like a hospital gown, you know.
It might look good to you up front, but one false move and you'll
bury yourself. That's man's righteousness, right?
If people imagine a vain thing, the kings of the earth set themselves,
the rulers. I'm reading Psalm 2, by the way.
The earth set themselves, the rulers take counsel together.
We'll put this thing out of business. We'll stop this talk of sovereignty. the church against God. It says
kingdoms were moved. You know, people come, people
go. These little despots, as I called them, these little tyrants. Any of you, some of you old folks.
Charles, you remember that little fellow from Ethiopia named Selassie? Hi, Selassie. Remember that little
guy? He's about four foot, eight inches
tall and ruling a little kingdom, just a little tiny two-bit kingdom
over there. And he used to wear medals and
ribbons. You remember that? They drug
the ground. You remember him, Stan? I'm so
lost. I'll never forget him. He had
ribbons. Whatever little thing he did,
he got a ribbon for. And I'm telling you, they were
hanging to the ground. Well, he's gone. So much for him. You don't even
remember him. From the looks of him, he was
something. Oh, he's gone. And all these... What about Saddam
Hussein? Everybody's all worried about
him, aren't they? Where is he, by the way? What
about... What's the guy in Iran? The Shah,
not the Shah, but what's that fellow's name? Who was that guy?
The beard fellow? Ayatollah Khomeini. Boy, he was scary, wasn't he? What is he? What about him? What about Gaddafi over in Libya? What about him? All his tirades
he went on, all his threatenings, the heathen raids. The people,
kingdoms were moved. You see, God arranges these things
like pieces on chessboard. Pawns. The rulers of this world
are pawns in God's. You see, the king, the most high,
Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar found it out, didn't he? The most high
ruleth in the kingdom of heaven, and he giveth it to whomsoever.
So I said, you're out. Next man, you're in. Nebuchadnezzar
said, I'm going to reign forever. You're going to eat like a wild
animal until you know who I am. He doesn't do that for everybody.
But Nebuchadnezzar, I believe Nebuchadnezzar found mercy in
God's hand. Well, let's read on. He uttered his voice. All
God has to do is utter his voice and the earth melts. The earth melts. Ah boy, you make our godless
land so full of pride and boasting and wisdom and technology, we
think we're just going to stand forever, don't we? Huh? All God
has to do is just shake the earth. You know, all
the modern technology, and most of it comes out of California,
doesn't it? Reduce the sniveling, please.
Aren't they? Every now and then, all God has
to do is pfft. That's what a hurricane is. Psalm 2 says that. A blast of his monsters. A hurricane. Mighty man. Fearless, proud boasters, you
know. Pfft. That's our God. He's a refuge
for us. A refuge. Thunder and lightning. I like to go out and stand in
it. You call me a fool? Maybe I am, but I like to go
out and stand in it. I'm not tempting God. I'm amazed
at His power. Amazed at His power. The Lord
of hosts is with us. Verse 7. The Lord of hosts. That means He's God over all
of us. hosts, the armies of heaven, the heavens to the earth. He's
the Lord of hosts. He's with us. Rocky Mount, Virginia? Where is that? Had a fellow call
me today. You're in Rocky Mount, North
Carolina, aren't you? No? I have to straighten that
mistake up all the time. No, no, it's Virginia. Where's
that? Well, it's in Virginia. Rocky,
God is with us. Yeah. That's amazing, isn't it? That's amazing. All the places
He could be. And He is. God is with us. The God of Jacob. The God of
Jacob. is our refuge, the God of Jacob. Now listen to this, you sons
of Jacob. This is good news. You know who's
called by this title more than any other title in Scripture? Did you know that? The God of
Jacob. You're smiling, John. Why? You
know what that means. The God of Jacob is our refuge. The God of Jacob. What does that
mean? Why does he call himself the God of Jacob so much? Huh?
Why? Because Malachi 3, 6 says, I'm
the Lord, I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not concerned. Jacob. Oh, Jacob. We studied his life, didn't we,
in Genesis. Jacob was up and down, up and down. Oh, he was
strong, he was weak, wasn't he? He was this way, he was that
way. You can't figure Jacob out. Can you figure yourself out?
Huh? This heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? God knows it,
and he's your refuge. The Lord knoweth them that are
his. Who? Another reason he's a God of
Jacob, because he elects people. See, Jacob have I loved, Nesau
have I hated. The children be not yet born,
neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of
God according to election might stand. It was said unto her,
the elder shall serve the younger. Jacob have I loved, Nesau have
I hated. He's a God of election, sovereign election. He chooses
whom he will. you sons of Jacob, if he's chosen
you. Now that doesn't lead to fatalism.
That doesn't lead to hyper-Calvinism. That leads to praise. That's
what that leads to. The God of Jacob. And Jacob isn't just an old sinner. He didn't describe Jacob. Well,
his name does. When God asked him that day,
not for information, but that Jacob might declare himself. God said, what's your name? Jacob. Cheat. Scoundrel. Usurper. Uplander. And that's us. Cheat. Robbing God of his glory. Not
giving God a thought. Usurper. Would usurp God from
his throne by nature. Supplanter. Supplant Christ's
righteousness with our own two-bit righteousness. Supplanter. Sinner. You sons of Jacob are not concerned.
The God of Jacob. There's another psalm that says,
Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help. Oh, boy. The God of Jacob is
our refuge. Selah. You like that word now, don't
you? Think about it. Stop and think about it. Are
you a son of Jacob? Good news. Fear not, thou worm,
Jacob. Read on. Let's hurry. Verse 8.
Come. All right, come with me, he said.
Behold the works of the Lord. Come, behold the works of the
Lord. And men like to try to give God some glory to
that And they'll talk about the beauty
of his creation, somewhat, and try to show forth some of that. Well, listen to what this says. Come behold the works of the
Lord, what desolations he hath made near him. Not creation, desolation. Men don't attribute desolation
to God, do they? Huh? Desolation? Wars. Why do wars come? You say men
get mad and fight one another and so forth. Yeah, but God Almighty
is on the throne now. He ordains all things. So there
will be no war. And He said there will be wars
and rumors of war until He says, I'm going to break the War. What about plagues? What
about disease and pestilence? Huh? What about it? God sends
these things. Isaiah 45, 7. He said, I wound. Now, buddy, that's a refuge,
Joe. If you get cancer, Joe Park, it's because God Almighty sent
it. That's going to be your only refuge. Right? You're going to be struggling
for answers. There's one answer that will give you peace. God
sent this. Too wise to err, it must be for
my good, because all things work together for my good according
to his purpose that never changes. Right? Pestilence, disease, afflictions,
trials, Satan, he's a dog on a leash. Pestilence, floods, We just read
that. God causes the earth, the floods
to rise. Earthquakes? Behold, behold the
works of the Lord. The earth doesn't think about
these things as being, the world doesn't think about these things,
do they, Stan? Coming from God. That's what this says. The desolation. Well, verse 9, he maketh wars
to cease unto the end of the earth. He does. He puts an end
to every war. Some of you men, Charles, you
were in the war, the Second World War, weren't you? What was a
happy time when it was over, huh? Oh, my. It's over. This world, this,
uh, the other world with this nation celebrated as at no other
time, didn't it? Some of you, the rest of you
may remember that. But, uh, Scripture says, Comfort ye, comfort ye
my people. In Psalm 40. Say unto her, Can
you quote the rest of it? My people. Say unto the church,
say unto my people, our warfare is accomplished. It's over. It is finished. The battle is
over. There's going to be celebration
and glory as never before. The war is over. All the enemy has been vanquished
and all victims will be set free. All prisoners of war. free, and Christ gets the laurels, the crown of
glory. The wars shall be ceased, shall
cease. He breaketh the bow, he cutteth
the spear and sundered it, he burneth the chariot in fire.
Verse ten, be still now. Be still. Oh, how hard to see, isn't it?
Huh? Be still. and know that I am God. He's ending this up like he started
it. Be still. I remember my dad saying that
to me at times, you know, when we'd get worried, be still, be
still. This is what the father says
to his children. Be still now. Reminded me of the children of
Israel fleeing Egypt. Remember that? Pharaoh's army
were pursuing them behind. It was mountains and impassable
mountains on both sides of them and the Red Sea in front of them
and they were wringing their hands. What did Moses say by
the Spirit of the Lord? Stand still and watch. Stand still and just watch. And you know that's where peace
comes from. like a river of glory? Is God's perfect peace over all
victorious? Be still and know I'm God. Know I'm God. Whatever comes,
whatever comes, stand still and just watch. Just watch. It's
a hard thing for us to do, isn't it? He says, let patience have
her perfect work. Why is this happening to me?
Why is this? Stand still. We run in place, don't we? We've
got no place to run, so we run in place. That's what your brother
used to do when he'd get frightened, scared. You know, we don't know
where to run, and we're running in place. Well, stay still, he
said. Be still. What good's that doing? Be still.
One writer said, let your tongue be still. Let your tongue be still. Quit
murmuring, complaining. You know, you can't hear the
word when you're talking. That's the great affliction of
hearing that we all have, is the tongue. The tongue is the
leading cause of deafness in people. If we'd just let the tongue be
still, we'd hear from God, say, We hear some peace. We hear his
word, what it says to us, all the promises that are ordered
in all things. And sure, we can deal. It did
steal our hearts. He said, be still, heart. It'll
give you quiet, calm, and peace. Your heart ever get to racing
over something? He'll steal the heart. Feet,
let your feet be still. He that believeth shall not make
haste. That means whoever believes God
is God and controlling all things, he's not in a hurry about anything.
Here comes a hurricane, or, well, here comes a trial, well, run!
Why? You couldn't outrun a hurricane
if you tried. Be still. And a trial, here comes,
it's avoidance, run, hurry. Be still. Be still. Christ came up out
of that boat. And the boys were shaking. It's
all over. It's all over. God's in the midst
of her. If they'd thought about Psalm
46, they'd realize there's no way that boat's going down. No
way that ship's going down. Those fellows in that ship, that
fellowship was not going down. Why? God's in the midst of her.
And God got up, they were all excited and said to those waiting,
hush. And I bet he turned to them and
said, hush. Why are you, oh ye of little
faith? Oh, you little thing. Now, I
read on. Let's quit. Be still and know that I'm God.
I will be exalted among the heathen. I'll be exalted in the earth.
I must confess, this is one of the things that causes me to
get excited and anxious and mad and angry and want to do something.
It's all this, like I started out, all this blasphemy and all
this stuff going on in the name of God, you know. And I want,
like the disciples of old, to call down fire from heaven. Don't
you? Yeah, you do. We all do. Call down fire. Burn
these, burn their bottoms. Burn them up. He says, I'm going
to be exalted. In due time, I will be exalted. And you'll
see it. And you'll say, Amen. And you'll
delight in the way I did it. I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth.
Every knee will bow. He promised that. Every knee
will bow. Every tongue will confess in
God's due time. So be still. I'm God. My purpose shall stand. Everything's right on schedule. The Lord of hosts. is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Think about that. Think about
that. All right. Jerry, if you come
up, we'll sing a closing hymn. Number 263. Number 263. The Lord's our rock, in Him we hide,
a shelter in a time of storm. Now, we're not going to sing
the chorus. because Ira Sankey blew it. The fact that he uses Christ's
name, his earthly name, the name of humiliation, you know how
I don't like to use that so much. We'll just sing the verses to
it. We can do it and it still sings
well. OK, stand with me and sing a
couple of verses. The Lord's my rock, in Him we
hide, A shelter in the time of storm. A shelter in the time of storm. Sing it, Bert. A shade by day,
a fence by night, A shelter in the time of storm. No fears of luck, no foes of
pride, A shelter in the time of storm. The raging storms may
round us be, shelter in the time of storm. We'll never leave our
sacred tree, the shelter in time of storm. Oh rock divine, oh refuge give,
shelter in the time of storm. All right, sing the chorus. All right, you're dismissed.