so so so so so so so so so so so so Well, it's good to meet together
this way. I'm thankful that we can set
forth the gospel to you, and I hope that you're doing well. For our opening scripture, I
invite you to go to Psalm 32. As you're making your way to
that scripture, Let's be prayerful for our sister Mackie. She had a very bad fall last
night. She skinned up her leg, broke
a rib. did some quite a bit of bruising
to her face and neck. They took her to a local hospital
and then transferred her to Cabell, and she is in ICU. They're especially worried about,
concerned about her neck area, severely bruised. So they're
just watching her, keeping an eye on her. I talked to Kim this
morning, and she kind of gave me an update, said her mother
wanted her cane and her cell phone and her nightgown. And so she was taking those over
to her this morning. And of course, as you know, under
the circumstances, Mackie, and this is true of all of the patients
who are in the hospital, she can't have any visitors. And
so Kim will just drop those things off at the reception area, and
they'll get them to Mackie. Let's ask God if he would heal
her. I actually had a couple of good
talks with Mackie this week, and we certainly pray that it
will be God's will for her to have a speedy recovery. Oh, he's worried about falls,
and she tripped on a little throw rug. and that can easily happen. So may God keep her safe and
I trust that you're doing well this morning and may the Lord
also watch over you. This is a wonderful Psalm, Psalm
32. It's about the blessing of forgiveness It is a psalm of David, a mascal
psalm, and so it's full of instruction for the Lord's people. It says, blessed is he whose
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the
man unto whom the Lord imputed not iniquity, and in whose spirit
there is no guile. When I kept silence, my bones
waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and
night, thy hand was heavy upon me. My moisture has turned the
drought of summer. Selah. I acknowledge my sin unto
thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess
my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity
of my sin. Selah. For this shall every one
that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be
found. Surely in the floods of great
waters they shalt not come nigh unto them. Thou art my hiding
place. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble. Thou shalt compass me about with
songs of deliverance." And then once again the word is Selah,
pause and think about these things. And we'll end our reading there
with verse 7. Ask God to bless the Word of
God to us and May he bless as we meet together this morning
in the name of our Savior and keep our eyes focused upon the
Lord Jesus, the eyes of the soul. May we always be found looking
unto Jesus, who is the author and the finisher of our faith. Well, let's see God's face in
prayer. Our gracious God, Thou who art
the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, and our Father, by adopting
grace, we bow to thank You for all of Your mercies that You've
given to us in the dear Savior. Lord, we read that all spiritual
blessings They've already been given to us in our Savior, given,
designated for us in old eternity. And there's nothing that we shall
ever lack in Christ Jesus. Father, you have given to us
the greatest of all gifts. that unspeakable gift of your
only begotten Son. And in Him we have all things
necessary. And we thank you, O God, for
the one that you have designated and sent to be the Savior of
your people. We bow at the feet of the Lord
Jesus, We worship Him, we adore Him, and we believe Him. He is our only confidence. As
we walk through life and as we get nearer to the day of our
departure, a day unknown to all of us but already appointed,
by you. Lord, we do so leaning on our
beloved Savior. Through this life and into the
life which is to come, He is our hope. He is our confidence. He is our salvation. And we fully
believe according to your word that due to his bloody sacrifice,
we have been forgiven of all of our transgressions. Oh, the
blessedness, the blessedness of being fully pardoned by you. due to that suffering and death
of our dear Savior. Our record before you is one
of perfect righteousness. Oh, how blessed, David said,
is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity. It is not
imputed to us, for it was imputed to our Savior. and He bore the
debt of our sin, He bore it away into a land of forgetfulness. And we bless you that we stand
before you in the beauties and in the perfections of Christ
Jesus, our Lord. Receive our worship today and
receive our thanksgiving And Lord, receive our petitions. We ask that you would keep your
people safe. Keep us ever focused upon Christ,
His sacrifice, His victory, His sovereign dominion. May we fully
believe that all things are being worked together for our good
by that one whom you have exalted to be King of Kings and Lord
of Lords. We ask for your dear people,
Lord, that you would encourage each of us, Lord, perhaps, There's
someone listening and watching now, and they feel sad, depressed. Their spirits
are low. Discouragement has set in. Lord,
you know our weakness. You know our frame. You know
how feeble we are, and what we ask for, those who might feel
that way for all of us, Lord, that you would give us a strong
consolation and the Son of God, make us to rejoice in him, make
us to know a happiness in the Savior once again. We would certainly be mindful
of our sister, Mackie. Lord, we receive the news of
her fall with sadness. We ask that now as she is being
attended to, that you would give her a swift recovery. We pray for those who minister
care to her. that they will have wisdom and
knowledge. And we know that ultimately she
is in the hands of God. Lord, there's nowhere we would
rather be than in your infinite, omnipotent, tender, loving arms. And she finds herself this morning
there in ICU. But more than that, she is in
the intensive care of the Savior. There is no greater caregiver
than our God. How we thank you for that. Bless
now as we go into the scriptures. Exalt Christ, Lord, humble us. Fill us with worship, thanksgiving. We ask that you would save those
who are lost, bless the sick, strengthen those who are weak.
Lord, humble us before your majesty. And may we know that thou art
God. And thou art furthermore our
God, and you love us. You've attested to that by the
gift of your Son, our Savior. So resting all of the matters
of our lives in your hands, we shall go forward. We believe
you and we ask that you'd give us increased faith to always
trust our gracious God. Magnify yourself, we ask for
Jesus' sake, amen. If you would, go back with me
to the 91st Psalm. We have had several messages
from this wonderful portion of scripture. It is a most remarkable
psalm. which God the Spirit inspired
Moses to write. Psalm 91 is one of the most precious
jewels throughout the Psalms. Martin Luther said that this
was his favorite Psalm. It was a balm in Gilead to the
Lord's troubled people. It has indeed, Psalm 91 has brought
joy and consolation to the hearts of many of God's people down
through the years. But I also want us to remember
this, and I don't want us to lose sight of this glorious fact. This Psalm sets forth our Lord
Jesus Christ. It presents him as that one who
is totally dependent upon the Father. The Holy Spirit dictated
these words to Moses. And as Moses wrote this scripture,
I'm sure that he in his own heart was looking forward to that perfect
man who would enter into this world to save his people from
their sins. And this would be the God man
who would be fully upheld by the heavenly father. Behold our
savior. He is indeed divine. Let there
be no question about that. Only God could save us. Only
God could meet our need. Only God could rescue us. Only
one equal with God the Father could represent us and be our
mediator. He had to be equal with God in
order to meet all of God's demands. God demanded perfection. Christ
Jesus rendered that. God demanded obedience. Our Lord
Jesus was the perfect man. He had no sin. In him was no
sin. He did no sin. He was full of
truth and he was full of grace. He is the perfect God, but he
is also at the same time the perfect man. And here in this
Psalm, Psalm 91, he is presented to us as that perfect man who
absolutely rested in and trusted himself to God. You see, though equal with God
in every way, he's certainly the eternal God, having all the
attributes of deity. The Son of God left heaven's
glory And he joined his own deity with our humanity. And he knew what it meant to
be hungry, thirsty, weary. It's hard for us. In fact, it's
virtually impossible for us to begin to comprehend that he who
made all things by the word of his power would need the nourishment
from his mother, from Mary, that he would learn, that he would
grow in stature and in wisdom. And yet the scripture says that
he did. That's the reality of his own humanity. He is God and
he is man. He was capable of and he did
many miracles which evidenced that he was the son of God. His
works proved that he was the Lord. But he didn't work any
miracle for himself. He worked the miracles for others. But when it came to his own needs,
when it came to his own necessities, he always trusted the heavenly
Father. And this Psalm brings out his
total dependence upon the Father. Let me just make a couple of
comments along this line that this is speaking of our Savior.
Look at verse one again, he that dwelleth in the secret place
of the Most High. He's always in God. and God was in him. Paul tells
us in 2 Corinthians 5, God was in Christ, reconciling the world
unto himself. He dwelt in the secret place
of the Most High. He made the very shadow of the
Almighty his abiding place. That was his lodging. Where did
he lodge? Where did he stay? With whom
did he abide? You remember the Savior said,
the birds of the air have nests, the foxes have their holes, but
the Son of Man hath not place to lay his head. He laid his
head in the bosom of the Father. He was always abiding in the
Father. And he says this in verse 2.
Now these are the words of our Savior. I will say of the Lord,
I will say of my Father, He is my refuge. He is my shelter. He is my fortress. He is my God. Why he even addressed him as
my God when he was hanging upon the cross of Calvary. My God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? My God, watch it, in him
I will trust. That's how he lived his life.
Now remember, he's our savior, he's our surety. And the life
that he lived, a life of obedience, and the life of absolute confidence
and trust and faith in the heavenly Father is a life that he lived
in our stead. You see, in him we have obeyed
the law. In him we have done everything
that God commands us to do. He trusted God fully. That's how he lived his life.
Now that's how we ought to live, but you and I must be honest
and say, we fail so many times. Instead of walking by faith,
we walk by sight. But our Lord Jesus wasn't like
that. He always walked by faith. He
walked with full confidence in the heavenly Father. And then
the word comes to the Savior in verse three, that what God's
gonna do for him. Surely he will deliver thee from
the snare of the fowler. And he did in Matthew chapter
four when he was tempted of Satan, 40 days and 40 nights. It was the father who delivered
him from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome pestilence. Our Lord Jesus, he was kept from
any defilement of sin. He could not be infected. And
verse 4, He shall cover thee with His feathers. God the Father
always blanketed Christ Jesus. He was always there. Why, His
enemies would have killed Him many years before that they finally
did. But why couldn't they? Because
the Father covered Him with His feathers. He was under the wings
of the Father. And watch this, and under his
wings shalt thou trust. He believed God would keep him
safe. His truth, the very truth of
God was to Christ, his shield and buckler. And verse five,
he wasn't afraid of the terrors by night. He wasn't afraid of
the errors, the fiery darts that came forth from Satan by day. He wasn't afraid of the pestilence
that walks in darkness or the destruction that wastes at noonday. Others are wasted, others are
wiped out, but not Christ Jesus. He's a man who perfectly believed
God. And he says in verse seven, a
thousand shall fall at thy side, 10,000 at thy right hand, it
shall not come nigh thee. Everlasting destruction comes
to tens of thousands of people at the right hand of Christ Jesus. You say, but he died upon the
cross of Calvary. Yes, but that wasn't his destruction. That was his victory. By his
death, he conquered death and brought in everlasting life for
us as our substitute. As he lived for us, he also died
for us. Look at verse eight, only with
thine eyes thou shalt behold, you'll see the reward of the
wicked. You'll see that the wages of sin is death. You'll see it
carried out upon your enemies. And he says this in verse nine,
because thou has made, the word made means regarded, because
thou has considered because thou hast considered the Lord, which
is my refuge, even the most high, thy habitation. No evil shall
befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. Verse 11, and even the devil
quoted this to him when he tempted our Lord Jesus. Verse 11, for
he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all
thy ways. And those angels watched over
him from his birth, to his death, to his ascension. You see them
all the time ministering to the Lord Jesus. Verse number 12,
they shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot
against a stone. Here the heavenly father is promising
to his son, his obedient son, his son who humbled himself,
to become obedient in all things, even under death. The father
promises him that the angels will bear him up, and they did. And in verse 13, we see the fulfillment
of Genesis chapter 3. In verse 15, thou shalt tread
upon the lion and the adder, the young lion, and the dragon
thou shalt trample under feet. The Lord Jesus hears the promise
of God the Father. You will trample upon all of
your enemies beginning with Satan himself. Now here come the words of the
heavenly father to him. Concerning him, I should say,
the words of the heavenly father concerning him. Verse 14, because
he set his love upon me, nobody ever loved God like Christ did. He loved him like we all love
him. And he loved him in our stead. Because he set his love upon
me, therefore I will deliver him. I will set him on high. Oh, he did. Because as a result
of his death, he's been exalted, God the Father has set him. This
is a fixed position. He set him on high because he's
known my name. He's loved my name. And the Father says, In verse
15, because he says, he shall call upon me and I will answer
him. I will be with him in trouble
to sustain him. I will deliver him. I will honor
him. With long life will I satisfy
him. He ever lives, how long is this
life? He ever lives to make intercession
for us. He's the everlasting God. I'll
show him my salvation. I'll manifest to him my salvation,
the salvation that he is accomplishing for all of his people. So here's
what I want you to do as you read down through this psalm.
Indeed it is. It's a psalm intended for the
blessing of the Lord's people. But it also speaks to us of our
glorious savior in his humanity as one who leaned upon the father
As that one to whom the father said, he said of the father,
thou will not leave my soul in hell. Thou will not allow thine
holy one to seek corruption. See, our Lord Jesus, he trusted,
he lived on every word of God. In fact, that's the way he answered
the Savior. He said, or he answered Satan. Christ answered Satan this way.
You know, man doesn't live by bread alone. He lives on the
Word of God. That's exactly how our Savior
lived. Trusting, believing, resting
on the Word of God. And that's the way we need to
live. For this one who is our Savior,
he's our perfect example. Let's live that way. Now, the
Psalms is about our savior. It's about our surety. It's about
the Lord Jesus, but it's also about the safety of God's people. That's what I wanna talk about
this morning, the safety of God's people. You know, in any time
of danger, if our lives were at risk, if we were in jeopardy,
We'd all be thankful if we could find a hiding place, a shelter,
a safe sanctuary where the threat would not come near us. This
psalm directs our attention to the only safe refuge for folks
like us. There is a shelter from all the
storms of life. Moreover, there's a shelter from
the last storm that we're gonna face, the judgment of God. The shelter is the Lord Jesus
Christ himself. The psalmist has boldly declared
that the Lord Jesus is the one who saves He is our refuge. He is our fortress. He's the
one we trust. We echo the words of our Savior
in the second verse, the last statement. My God, in Him I will
trust. And I know our faith is weak
and our faith is faulty. Our faith is oftentimes feeble,
but we do trust Him, don't we? Deep down, you know, we're kind
of like Simon Peter there in John the 21st chapter, when the
Savior said, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? And I almost
hear the Savior asking us, trustest thou me? Do you trust me? We say, Lord, you know all things,
you know I trust you, I believe you. Not like all to, not like I'm going to, but we
do trust him. You don't trust yourself, do
you? You don't have any confidence in the flesh, do you? Scripture
says better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in men.
Better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes,
in people with authority, people with power. Let's trust the Lord. This is what the Psalms said.
He's my God, I'll trust him. I'll trust him. Moses believed
God. His faith was a gift from God. And the Lord, blessed him and
he supported him due to three things, the purpose of God, the
promises of God and the power of God. And Moses believed those
things, he believed the purpose of God, he believed the promises
of God, he believed the power of God. And I would direct you
to these things as well, the purpose of God, the covenant
of God. This is where David found his
consolation, and it's recorded in 2 Samuel. On his deathbed,
David's last words. It was in the covenant of God.
It was in the purpose of God's grace toward him in Christ Jesus. My confidence is not in what
I purpose to do, but in what God has already purposed. He's
purposed the salvation of his people. He's purposed who the
Savior would be and how the Savior would save us. He's purposed
our everlasting salvation that which God has purposed cannot
be nullified. Moses found his comfort in the
purpose of God and so do we in the covenant of God. And Moses and all the people
of God, we find our confidence in our, delight our consolation
in the promises of God. And it's because all the promises
of God in Christ are yea and in him, amen. All of the promises
of God, all of those that he's made to us, he made to us in
his son and he can't fail. Our Lord keeps His word. He is
ever faithful. How do you know we're going to
be safe? We're talking about the safety
of God's people. How do you know? I know because
of the purpose of God, what He's determined to do, His covenant,
and I know it because of His promises. God cannot lie. He can't go back on His word.
He will not be found to be a liar. He will keep us. He will preserve
us. He will save us. He will be with
us. He will take us home to glory
someday. He will, that's his promise. Find great consolation, the purpose
of God, the promises of God and the power of God. Well, his purpose
is wonderful. His promises are delightful,
but does he have the power? Does he have the ability to make
good on his purpose and make good on his promises? He's the
all powerful God. It says up here in verse one,
we dwell under the shadow of the almighty. Almighty. He does his will everywhere. Nebuchadnezzar said, he does
his will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth and none can stay his hand or say to him, what doest
thou? He's the all powerful God. He's able to do exceeding abundantly
above all that we ask or think. Numbers 23, 19 says, God is not
a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should
repent. And then he asks this question,
hath he said and shall he not do it? And then he says, or hath he
spoken and shall he not make it good? or we're safe in Christ Jesus. Let every child of God be encouraged. Let us all be through the scriptures,
have a strong consolation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let
me just touch on these things. I've got several I wanna say
to you several points and I'll give them to you. As we consider
this subject, the safety of God's people. We'll be studying verses
three through verse eight. Number one, where in does our safety consist? Number one, we're safe from the
fowler. Verse three, surely, without
a doubt, There's no question about it. He shall deliver thee
from the snare of the fowler. What a magnificent promise. He
shall deliver thee. He shall rescue thee. Oh, Satan
has many a trap laid for you and for me. He puts the bait and the trap
to lure us in. He knows what he's doing. We
only know vaguely of his dealings with men. But that which is invisible
to us, that which is not seen by us, is very well known and
very well seen by God. He sees what the fowler is up
to concerning you, concerning me, and he delivers us, he rescues
us. And if he's pleased to have the
fowler catch us in a trap, it will be for our good. He has
that power too. And I would refer you here to
the Savior's words to Simon Peter. He said, Simon, Satan hath desired
to have you. He wants to sift you like wheat,
but I pray for you that your faith fail not. You
see, Satan, he would destroy our faith if he could, because
our faith is in Christ Jesus. This faith that God has given
us rests upon the Savior. We put all of our hopes on him,
all of our confidence is in the Lord Jesus Christ. So if Satan
could possibly, if he could destroy our faith, Oh, what a victory
it would be for him. But you see, the Lord Jesus,
he saw what was coming for Simon Peter, though Simon Peter did
not know it himself. The Lord Jesus saw the, he saw
the trap that Satan would lure Simon Peter into. to deny that he ever knew the
Savior. Our Lord saw that. He saw the
trap. He sees a trap that this evil
one has laid for you. But rest assured, just like he
prayed for Peter, he prays for you. And ultimately he'll save
you out of it. So he'll keep us safe from the
fowler. In Job 5, 19, Eliphaz said, he
shall deliver thee in six troubles, yea, in seven, there shall no
evil touch thee. No evil can destroy us. The evil one cannot do away with
our faith. You see, it's just like the judgment
that God sent upon the Egyptians. The judgment of death, it couldn't
touch an Israelite. They were the Lord's people.
The blood had been shed. Death couldn't touch the firstborn.
The firstborn of the Israelites had a substitute. And that which
affected every family in Egypt, from the Pharaoh, from the King,
all the way down to the maidservant. That which affected them, that
which was devastating to them, our Lord kept that from his people. He protects us. And watch this,
secondly, he keeps us safe from the noisome pestilence. The noisome pestilence. Noisome has the idea of deadly,
that which is destructive. Pestilence brings in the idea
of disease. Oh, there are destructive forces
all around us this morning. But the Lord, he delivers us
from the noisome, deadly pestilence, the evils that are out there,
evils that would overtake us, evils that would overwhelm us.
He keeps us safe, safe from the pestilence. Noisome
carries with it the idea of that which is destructive. that which can be fatal. Our Lord keeps us safe from those
things. Listen, you're not gonna leave
this world until the Lord has ordained for you to go. Until
then, you're immortal. When that time comes, you're
gonna die. I talked with a brother yesterday
who's been in a hospital who's in, At death's door, it appears.
He said, I asked the Lord for three things, if it be his will. He said, I asked the Lord if
I could go home, asked the Lord if I could hug my wife, asked
the Lord if I could preach the gospel one more time. He said,
well, I got to come home. He said, I got to hug my wife.
He said, I'd like to preach tomorrow. I talked to him yesterday. Well,
that's in the hands of the Lord. We both talked about that. But we're safe, no matter what
happens. He'll keep us from the noise
and pestilence. The word pestilence has the idea
of that which is infectious, that which is contagious, What is infectious and what is
contagious? Well, that's on everybody's mind
now in the midst of COVID-19. I'll tell you another virus that's
even more deadly. It's more infectious. It's more
contagious. It is the pestilence of religious
error. It's deadly. Preacher, will I be misled? Will I leave the gospel? Others
have. Others, and you've seen it and
I've seen it throughout my ministry. I've seen a lot of people make
a profession of faith and leave the gospel. They don't go to
another gospel church. They just, they don't go anywhere
or else they go into false religion. Will I be led into a noisome
pestilence? A deadly, contagious religious
error? If you're the Lord's people,
if you're one of the Lord's people, if you dwell in the secret place
of the Most High, If you abide under the shadow of the Almighty,
he'll keep you. He'll keep, that's his word. Surely he will deliver thee from
the snare of the fowler and secondly, from the noisome pestilence.
He'll keep you. Listen, the only place of safety
is in Christ Jesus. That's the only place where you'll
be kept safe. Outside of him, you'll fall for
any and every religious error, any and every noisome pestilence. But in the Savior, you'll be
kept because he is the truth. Then watch this, number three,
safe beneath the wings of God. Verse 23, he shall cover thee
with his feathers and under his wings shalt thou trust. That's
where you're safe. The little bitties run under
the mama's wings when a hawk soars above. And there they're
safe. There they find comfort. No danger can get to them. Listen,
we're covered by God. And we need to be alert, we need
to be attentive, we need to be on the vigil. Satan as a roaring
lion goes about seeking whom he may devour and there's a lot
of noisome pestilence out here. There's a lot of deadly infectious
religious error out here. But the Lord says He'll keep
you underneath His wings. Underneath His wings. You see underneath the wings
of the mother. Underneath the wings of the hen.
The chicks are safe. They feel warmth and affection
because they're near her heart. And I tell you, we're near the
heart of God. No harm can come to us. And then he says this, and here's
the fourth thing, we're safe because of his truth. The last
statement of verse four, his truth shall be thy shield and
buckler. There's a handheld shield and
then there's the shield that goes all the way around you.
He's both. He's both. The angel of the Lord encampeth
round about them that fear Him. He surrounds us. His promises
to us are like a shield. A shield going all the way around
us. And for individual trials, there's the buckler, the handheld
shield. What is our shield against error? What is our shield against the
evil one? The word of God, that's the shield. And then we're safe from all
fears. Are you fearful? Are you troubled? Well, look
at verse five. Verses five and six. Here's safe
from all fears. Do not be afraid, child of God.
Do not be afraid of, number one, thou shall not be afraid for
the terror by night. The terror by night. This is, Well, it's always, I started
to say this is a day in which a lot of evil is done by night,
but I suppose it's always been that way. Usually evil, thievery,
that sort of thing operates in the night, the terrors of night. But I really think this is the
night, the night of judgment. but there will be no terror by
night for us. Because our Lord Jesus entered
into the darkness. Why God put his hand over the
sun when the Savior hung upon the cross of Calvary. That's
when he cried, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And
all was night. But you don't have to worry about
divine abandonment. Christ has been abandoned for
his people. And then you don't have to worry
about, and you're safe from the fear of the arrow that flyeth
by day. Oh, the cunning foe that lurks
out there behind the bush, as it were, to attack you. But no arrow that flies can harm
you. The Lord has said, no weapon
that is formed against thee shall prosper. Why not? He's our shield and buckler.
His truth is. And you don't have to worry about,
you don't fear the error of God's judgment. The Bible speaks about
the judgment of God as being like errors. The Lord said in
Deuteronomy 32, 42, I will make, My bow drunk, my arrows drunk
with their blood. But you don't have to worry about
that. There's no fear there. You're safe from that fear. God's
not gonna shoot any arrows at you. His judgment's not gonna
seek you out. His judgment sought out your
substitute. He died, the heirs of God's judgment,
they all found their mark in the very heart of the Son of
God. Because he died, you'll never
die. And because he lived again, you'll
live forever. And then he says, here's something
else you're safe from. You're safe from the fear of
the pestilence, verse six, that walketh in darkness. Someone
said, this is disease and death. Well, you don't have to fear
disease and death. The Lord's able to heal you if
He's not pleased to heal you. He's able to sustain you while
you are sick. And if that sickness is unto
death, then that's His purpose to bring you home unto Himself. And as you think about going
out into eternity, do so always leaning on the beloved. Look
into his blood and righteousness. You're only safe in Christ Jesus
and him crucified. That's the only place of safety.
You don't have to fear the pestilence that walketh in the darkness.
And he says, and you don't have to be afraid of the destruction
that wasteth at noonday. What is that? When I think of
noonday, I think of course of high noon. That's when the sun
is the brightest. Maybe this is referring to a
heated trial or affliction. And you feel the very the heat
of that disease or sickness bearing down on you, that affliction,
it's just beating you down. You don't have to worry about
it though. Maybe it's a reference to the
final judgment. That's high noon for sure. When men shall appear before
the awesome presence of God, have no need to Be afraid, no
need to be fearful as you think about death and judgment and
eternity, because we're safe in Christ Jesus. Listen, we dwell
in the secret place. We dwell in Christ Jesus. We
dwell in the secret place of the Most High. We abide, we lodge
under the shadow of the Almighty. There is no reason to be afraid
of anything. That's why he says in verse five,
thou shalt not be afraid. That's a good commandment, isn't
it? You think about the thou shalts of Exodus chapter 20.
Here's another one, thou shalt not be afraid. Why not? because of who your savior is, because of who your God is. And I think that this judgment
is what he's referred to. In the next two verses, we get
to verse seven. And here in verse seven, we see
we're safe from everlasting destruction. If you're keeping an outline,
this would be the sixth point. We're safe from everlasting destruction. A thousand shall fall at thy
side, 10,000 at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee. There's no condemnation, there's
no judgment, there's no vengeance of God to them who are in Christ
Jesus. Now the enemies of the gospel
are gonna fall, and I warn you, you leave this world without
the Savior, laden with your iniquities, no mediator, no security for
your soul, no blood, no righteousness, no sacrifice, no mediator, you're sure to fall. You're gonna
fall prey to the judgment of God. You'll be one of these 1,000
or 10,000 that'll fall at the right hand of Christ Jesus. But
for those of you who are the people of God, It's not going
to come near you. It's not going to come. All the
fire of God's destruction is going to everlastingly destroy
them. But we going to be like the three
Hebrew children when they came out of Nebuchadnezzar's fiery
furnace. They didn't even have the smell
of fire on them. No smell of smoke or anything. There's no possibility of us
being judged. Christ's been judged already. That's good news, isn't
it? That's the good news of the gospel,
that this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation,
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Paul said,
of whom I'm chief. He died for sinners. He suffered
for sinners. He buried for sinners. He arose
for sinners. He intercedes for sinners. We're safe from everlasting destruction. And the seventh thing is this. We're safe though the wicked
perish. Look at verse eight. Only with thine eyes shalt thou
behold and see the reward of the wicked. What is the reward? of the wicked? Well, I immediately
think of Romans chapter six, verse 23, don't you? For the
wages of sin is death. That's the reward of the wicked.
God's gonna pay, talking about people say, well, I believe in
rewards. Well, I do too. The wages of sin is death. And
God's gonna reward the wicked. They're gonna get exactly what
they deserve. Listen, the judgment is not gonna
be about mercy. Judgment is about justice. The satisfaction of justice and
all those on the right side of Christ Jesus, for whom he died,
for whom he shed his blood, those who are justified by his righteousness,
there's no destruction for them. There's no death for them. There's
no bottomless pit for them. There's no fire for them. You see the rest of that verse
is for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord. That's what he's given
to us, eternal life. We're not gonna perish. There's no destruction for us.
And we're going to be safe even though the wicked will perish. But for those who've ignored
His word, who despised His gospel, who would not worship the Lord
God of glory through the appointed offering for sin, Christ Jesus,
People who would not renounce their self-righteousness and
submit to be saved by the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, they're
going to perish, going to get their just wages. And we're going to receive the
reward of the righteous because our Lord Jesus has earned the
reward for us. everlasting glory and life. Now when I think of men and women
perishing, being cast out of God's sight forever, I moved
in five ways. I'll give them to you briefly. Number one, I moved to solemn
reverence and awe of God. This is not child's play. This
is quite serious here. The fear of the Lord's a beginning
of wisdom, but fools despise instruction. I moved to reverence
and awe of God. And secondly, I moved to pity
and compassion. Oh, that men would seek the Lord.
while he may be found. Oh, that they would call upon
him while he is near. Thirdly, I'm motivated to tell
people about Christ Jesus and his great salvation. There is a savior, my friend,
for somebody like you and somebody like me. And fourthly, I'm humbled
in gratitude and thanksgiving. The Lord did not leave me to
myself. He drew me out of a noisome pestilence, destructive, contagious, infectious,
religious error. He drew me out of that. Fifthly, He stirred me up to
look forward to the final victory of our Lord when every knee shall
bow and every tongue shall confess that He's Lord to the glory of
God the Father. I look forward to seeing Him
and being with Him forever. Ah, children of God, There's
safety for us in the Savior. Thou shalt not be afraid. This is such a blessed psalm. It exalts our Savior and then
it's such food for the people of God as we think in terms of
our Lord Jesus and as we think in terms of protection for God's
people and the safety that we have in our Savior. Let's bow our heads together.
We thank you, O Father, for the gift of