Internet, and we thank God for
His goodness to us every day, and we recognize that every day
is the day of His blessings and His mercies to each of His people. I'm going to be reading a few
verses out of Psalm 71. And if you would like to take
your Bible and follow with me, I'll read the first nine verses
of Psalm 71, the prayer of an aged child of God. It's what this passage is about.
Well, for those of you of our congregation, I mentioned to
you this morning that Mackie had fallen and We're thankful she is doing better. She's been released from ICU. They discovered she broke three
ribs, not just one, but three. And I spoke to her about an hour
and a half ago. She's quite a bit of pain as
a result of the broken ribs. but she was, it was a delight
to talk to her, and I was thankful that she felt well enough to
speak with me, and she said to give everybody her greetings,
and she's hopeful to be home very soon. In fact, she would
love to come home today, But I'm sure they need to keep her
for observation. And so we're thankful that that
fall wasn't as bad as it could have been. And we ask that God
would continue to heal her and strengthen her. Also, we ask
you to remember Brother Fortner in prayer. I spoke with him yesterday. In fact, he gave me a telephone
call. And we had a very good conversation, though it was brief. And he said to relate to the
folks of this congregation, he's very appreciative of those who
have been praying for him. And so we continue to ask the
Lord for his will to be done. He's very short of breath. And he did. He told me he wanted
three things. He asked the Lord if he'd be
pleased to grant him three things back when he was, a few days
ago, when he was in the hospital, if the Lord would let him go
back to his house, which he said the Lord has granted. And the
second thing, that he could hug his wife, and the Lord has granted
that. And he said, I asked the Lord
to let me preach the gospel once more. He wasn't able to preach
this morning. One of the brethren of the congregation
spoke for him. And so just be prayerful for
the family of Brother Don and also Brother Lindsey Campbell. I've known him for many years.
Spoke this morning and he asked folks to just remember their
congregation. And we'll certainly do that. Well, let me read a few verses
here. Psalm 71, verse one. And thee, O Lord, do I put my
trust. Let me never be put to confusion. Let me never be disappointed.
Let me never be brought to any kind of shame. deliver me in
thy righteousness, and cause me to escape. Then he says to
the Lord, incline thine ear unto me, and save me. Be thou my strong habitation,
whereunto I may continually resort. What a precious statement this
next one is. Thou hast given your word, commandment, to save me. Isn't that wonderful? God gave the commandment to save
us. For thou art my rock and my fortress. Deliver me, O my God, out of
the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and
cruel man. For thou art my hope, O Lord
God, thou art my trust from my youth. By thee have I been holding
up from the womb. Thou art he that took me out
of my mother's bowels, my praise shall be continually of thee. I am as a wonder unto many, but
thou art my strong refuge. Let my mouth be filled with thy
praise and with thy honor all the day. And then he says, cast
me not off in the time of old age. Forsake me not when my strength,
that is my physical strength, faileth. And we're thankful the
Lord will not cast off his people. Let's bow our heads together. Lord, it is so good that you
have purposed for us to meet together this evening. Just a
few saints here in the building and then those that you have
designated to be the recipients of your word by way of the internet. We're always thankful, Lord,
for the Word of God that we can open and read. Reading of the
blessings that belong to us by Your gracious purpose through
Christ Jesus. Reading of that wonderful commandment
that You gave to save us, to rescue us, to deliver us reading
of that one who is our habitation, that one who is our refuge, even
the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh God, we do praise you and
we thank you for all the spiritual blessings that we enjoy in the
Savior. We're thankful we have the Savior. You've been pleased to give us
to Christ Jesus and you've been pleased to give him to us. He
is in us and we're in him by everlasting designation, by your
fordonation. And oh God, we thank you. We
bless you for all of your glorious attributes. And we bless you
for this salvation that we have in Christ our Savior. We bow
before you this evening in worship. We bow because we know that thou
art God and there's none else. And we are the creatures of your
hands. We are the sheep of your pasture. And we owe all that we are and
all that we hope to be, oh God, unto thee through Christ Jesus. We bless you for redemption. We bless you for reconciliation. We bless you that you have justified
us by the bloody sacrifice and righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And we can say we are the people
of God. We are the Lord's. And the Lord
is ours. He is a refuge to us through
all the storms of life. And our Lord Jesus will be our
refuge forever. Lord, you put us in him ere you
made this old world. We're in Him now, and we shall
be in Him forever. And we're thankful that our Lord
Jesus has been formed in us by sovereign effectual grace. The Savior said, I in them, and
thou in me. What a marvelous thing, this
union that exists between the Son of God and the people of
God. between the Savior and the sinners. And Lord, we owe you everything.
We owe you an infinite debt of gratitude and love and faithfulness
and obedience. Enable us in these troublesome
days to be faithful and to be believing always, trusting your
strength and your grace to see us all the way through into eternity. We ask for our sister Mackie
that you would continue to strengthen her. We're thankful for her.
We ask for brother Fortner and his congregation there and his
family that you would minister to them as only you can do to
your people. Lord, we understand the issues
of life and death belong in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the sovereign king. And we're thankful that all of
these issues are in his hands and we're in his hands. And all
the things that befall us In fact, all the things that happen
throughout this world fulfill your purpose to magnify yourself
and bring your eternal counsel to pass. And you're working all
things out for the good of those who are brought by grace to love
you, those who are indeed called according to your As we go into the Word of God
tonight in our study, we ask once again that you would be
with us, be our guide, be our teacher, be our instructor, and
may we be good students of the Word of God. May we be good hearers,
but not hearers only, but also doers of the Word. Lord, bless all of your preachers.
and all of those congregations near and far where Christ is
exalted. Bless faithful messengers and
bless your dear people. May we always find our encouragement
in the Lord Jesus. Be with us now as we go through
this service. We ask for Christ's sake. Amen. Well, we go back this evening
to the 91st Psalm. I have actually lost count of
how many messages I brought you from this Psalm. I hope that
they have been and continue to be a blessing to you. I have
given an outline of Psalm 91. For those of you who did not
get that, who were not available to listen to us or to watch us
on the internet when I gave that out, I'll give it to you again
briefly because all of this psalm is about the protection of God's
people. I gave this outline, the state
or the condition of God's people, the first two verses. The safety
of God's people, that's verses three through eight. And that
was our subject this morning. And then thirdly, the habitation
of God's people, that's verses nine and 10. And that's our subject
for this evening. But then to go further, fourthly,
the guardians of God's people. That's verses 11 through 12.
And then the triumphs of God's people, verse 13. And then finally,
the divine promises to God's people, verses 14 through 16. Tonight, the habitation of God's
people. Who are God's people? included in that designation
as God's people? Would we say that all of the
world, all of those that God has made and into whose nostrils
he has breathed the breath of life, would we say they're all
the people of God? They're all God's habitation? Well, of course we wouldn't say
that. Those who are God's people, are his people in a special way. And indeed God made everybody,
gives life to all men, in him we live and move and have our
being, is what the apostle Paul said when he preached in Athens
on Mars Hill. And in that sense, we're all
of one blood. We all owe our life to God. We all owe our existence to God. All of the mercies that we enjoy,
whether they're greater or small, Whatever those mercies are, we
owe them all to God. And indeed, God is merciful to
all of his creatures. His mercies are over all of his
creation. But his grace, his grace is given
to a specific people. Grace was given to these specific
people in Christ Jesus before the world began. And it's these
people who are the habitation of God and these are the people
who find that God is their habitation and it works both ways. What
do we know about these God's people? And maybe this will enable
you to find an answer as to whether you can legitimately and truthfully
and biblically say, I'm one of God's people. What do we know
about God's people? Well, number one, there are people
chosen unto salvation. I'm going to read you several
references throughout this, the first part of the message, Psalm
33 verse 12. Blessed is the nation whose God
is the Lord and the people, the people whom he had chosen for
his own inheritance. There are people chosen and appointed
unto salvation. Those are the Lord's people,
God's people. Do you remember in the book of
Acts chapter 13, the apostle Paul was preaching and as was
his custom, he went into the synagogue and he preached and
the Jews didn't believe what he had to say. They didn't like
the message. They were offended at the message.
And so the apostle Paul said, well, we'll go to the Gentiles
and preach. And the scripture says, and when
the Gentiles heard this, that they were going to hear the gospel.
They were going to hear about Christ Jesus. They were going
to hear about salvation by grace through this crucified, buried,
risen redeemer. When they heard these things,
they were glad. And they glorified the word of
the Lord. And as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed. Thank God for his for the nation
of some people unto eternal life. These people are a chosen people,
chosen unto salvation. The Lord said in 2 Chronicles
chapter six and verse six, but I have chosen Jerusalem that
my name, my name might be there. And I have chosen David to be
over my people Israel. And of course we understand this
in a spiritual sense. God has chosen Christ Jesus who
is David's Lord and David's son to be the savior. And God has
chosen a people that his son would save. It's all by divine
choice. It's all by divine arrangement. There are everything that God
does, he has arranged to do. He has purposed to do. God doesn't act off the cuff,
as we would say. There are no knee jerk reactions
with God. All that God does, which is everything,
has already been determined from before the foundation of the
world. And this includes his decree of saving a people through
an appointed Redeemer and Savior. In Deuteronomy chapter seven
and verse six, the Lord says, for thou art a holy people unto
the Lord thy God, the Lord that God had chosen thee to be a special
people unto himself. above all people that are on
the face of the earth. God chose us under salvation. This is what Paul rejoiced in
in 2 Thessalonians 2, though there be many people who will
be deceived by the lies of Satan and his preachers, Here's what the apostle Paul
said, but I give thanks unto God always for you, for you who
believe, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God had chosen
you unto salvation. And he did it before the foundation
of the world. You see, the reason we believe,
the reason you believe, if you believe, if you rest in the Lord
Jesus Christ, If his blood and righteousness is all of your
hope before God, if you are indeed a believer, the reason you believe,
the reason you're one of the people of God is because God
chose you unto salvation. There's no other reason, there's
no reason than you. Is there? Is there any good in
you? Is there any work that you've
ever done that got God's attention and God said, I believe I'll
save that man. I believe I'll save that woman
because look what a good effort they're putting forth. Well,
you know, that's not true because salvation is not about works.
It's by grace. What do we know about these who
are God's people? Well, number one, they're chosen
unto salvation. I'll tell you the second thing,
they're very peculiar people. That doesn't mean odd, but they
are peculiar. First Timothy two, or first Peter
chapter two in verse nine. But ye are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood and holy nation, a peculiar people. That means
a special people. That means a treasured people. That you should manifest or show
forth the praises of him who called you out of darkness into
his marvelous light. You are God's special valued
property. Oh, if that truth would get a
hold of you and get a hold of me, how blessed we would be. We'd spend the rest of the night
and the rest of the days of our life blessing God for that. We are his valued property. He values us. We're his special
treasure. The word implies a possession
that has a, a very expensive value set upon it. We're God's property. We're owned
by God and we are acknowledged by God to be his special possession. Listen to Hebrews chapter 11
verse 16. but now they seek a better country
that is in heavenly. Wherefore," listen to this, God
is not ashamed. God is not ashamed to be called
their God. For he had prepared for them
a city. God does not consider it a dishonorable
thing to be called our God. It is not dishonoring to him
for him to say we're his special property and possession. We're the people of God. In Hebrews chapter two and verse
11, we read, for both he that sanctifies and they that are
sanctified are all of one for which cause he, Christ Jesus,
This one who stooped low to lay down his life for us, for which
cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. He's not ashamed
to associate with us. No wonder it is written in Psalm
149 in verse four, for the Lord takes pleasure in his people. He will beautify the meek with
salvation. He takes great pleasure in us. The word pleasure means delightful. He finds us delightful. He delights
in his people, not all the world. but he finds his joy, he finds
his happiness, he finds his delight, he finds his pleasure with his
people that he chose. These are a special possession
to him. Now certainly all the world is
under his care and all of the world received the provisions
of his providence. but they're not all accepted
by him. They're not all special to him.
They're not all highly valued by God. Those only are accepted
by him who are accepted and highly valued in the beloved Christ
Jesus. And I'll tell you something else
about God's people. They're chosen people, chosen
unto salvation. They are a peculiar people. They're a treasured people. Thirdly,
they're a visited people. After God gave the voice back
to Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, he doubted the word
of the angel of God. When the angel of God said he
and Elizabeth were gonna have a son and he kind of laughed
about it and questioned it and God, caused him to be unable
to speak. And then when John the Baptist
was born, Zacharias had something to say. And one of the things
he said was this in Luke 1, 68, blessed be the Lord God of Israel
for he hath visited his people. He has visited his people. We are the Lord's people and
he has visited us. He's visited us. Now he's visited
us for the reason of inspection or examination, and he's visited
us in order to do us good, in order to relieve our sinful,
awful condition. See, that's the way he did with
the Israelites in Egypt. The Lord said, I've heard your
cry. I have visited you. I've seen
your situation. You're in a mess and you cannot
get yourself out of it. I have visited and I have seen. And then he has visited in the
sense he came up with a solution. He came to rescue them. And you
see, that's what the Lord does for us. He has visited to see
our condition. He saw us in Adam. He saw our
deplorable situation. He saw we were helpless and hopeless,
that we could do nothing. We couldn't please God. We couldn't
honor God, we couldn't obey God. We couldn't save ourselves. If
left to us, we'd perish. He visited to examine us and
see the situation. And then he has visited us in
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, his only begotten son
to save us. He came to our rescue. The Son
of God didn't come into this world to try to teach us a few
good things and show us how to live right, live a better life,
how to die in obedience to the will of God. He came to save
a people. He came to rescue God's people.
He came to redeem. He came to reconcile. He came
to put away our sinfulness. He came to establish righteousness
for God's people. Those people God chosen to salvation. Those people that God considers
His special treasure, peculiar people. He has visited us. He visited us in grace. He visited us to examine our
situation. He visited us in the person of
Christ Jesus. And He visits us in the day of
His saving grace. when the Holy Spirit has the
Word of God presented to us and the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, which is the voice of the shepherd, it crosses our
path. And he visits us in effectual
sovereign grace. He visits us. God's people are
visited people. And I'll tell you what, fourthly,
God's people are a redeemed people. The same passage there in Luke
1, 68 says, blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited
and redeemed his people. He didn't redeem everybody. He
didn't redeem the whole world. If he had redeemed the whole
world, nobody would have any indebtedness to the justice of
God. He didn't redeem everybody. Universal
redemption is a universal lie. He redeemed God's people. Of course, redemption presupposes
bondage and indebtedness. And he has redeemed us like he
redeemed Israel out of Egyptian bondage by price and by power. And that's how he's redeemed
us by price. The purchase price has been paid
by Christ Jesus. And he's redeemed us by power.
He has come to our rescue. And then these, the Lord's people,
God's people are a saved people. Matthew 1, 21, the messenger
from God said to Joseph, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for
he shall save his people from their sins. How did he do that?
By his obedience unto death, even the death of the cross. He saved his people. You know, I'll show you, let
me show you a passage of scripture over in Zechariah, and I'll come
back to that, to Psalm 91, but I want you to look at Zechariah
chapter eight. Zechariah chapter eight, I was
looking at, I was over here at the office this afternoon working
some more on this message, I came across this passage and it was
such a blessing to me. I believe it will be to you.
Zechariah chapter eight. Now, where is Zechariah? Well,
go to the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi, and just
back up one book. And you're at the prophecy of
Zechariah chapter eight, verse seven, verses seven and
eight. All right, here we go. Thus saith
the Lord of hosts. I'm interested in what the Lord
of hosts has to say, aren't you? That's what Zechariah said. Here's
the spokesman for God. Here's the prophet. Thus saith
the Lord of hosts. Okay, Zechariah, what does God
have to say? God says, behold, be amazed,
be astounded. I will save my people. I love that. I will save my people. I'll save them from the East
country. I'll save them from the West country. And he could
have added, I'll save them from the North country and I'll save
them from the South country. I will save my people. They're
already my people, but I'm gonna save them. Remember, they're
his people by eternal designation, by eternal choice. I will save
my people. Now watch verse eight. And here's
the second thing he says, I will bring them. I will bring them
and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. He brings us to
Christ Jesus. He brings us into the city of
peace. He brings us into salvation.
Here's effectual calling, you see. There's the purpose of God. I will save my people. Here's
effectual grace, I will bring them. Don't you love the I wills
of God? Nothing's gonna stand in the
way of the I wills of God. And he says this then, and here's
something else nothing's gonna stand in the way of, the times
that God says he shall do something. And they shall be, they shall
be my people. Oh, I love that, they shall be.
I know the devil's gonna fight against them, but they shall
be my people. I know the world's gonna be opposed
to them, but they shall be my people. I know their own flesh
is gonna be in opposition to my way of saving them, but I
will save them, I will bring them, they shall be my people. Nothing's gonna get in the way
of God's purpose. Isn't that wonderful? And he
says this, watch this statement, I will be their God. Well, how's all this to be done? It'll be done, watch it, in truth
and in righteousness. You see, if God's gonna save,
it's gonna have to be according to truth, and it's gonna have
to be according to righteousness. If God's gonna bring us in to
this habitation of salvation, it's gonna have to be according
to truth, according to the gospel, according to that which magnifies
God's grace. And it's gonna have to be according
to righteousness. And if these people, if they
shall be God's people, it's gonna have to be according to truth.
It'll have to be according to righteousness. And I will be
their God. They'll be consistent with truth
and righteousness. Isn't that a wonderful passage
of scripture? These are a saved people. And
I'll tell you this, look at Psalm 94 with me. Look at Psalm 94 and 14. These people are a preserved
people. Psalm 94 verse 14, for the Lord
will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance. He's not gonna cast us off. Oh,
but if we sin, he's gonna cast us off. No, he won't. No, he
won't. Why, if He were to cast us off,
God would be a liar. Listen, our sins have been dealt
with. That issue is done. The law of
God and the justice of God has no quarrel with those in whose
stead Christ died. He is our Savior. He is our salvation. He has redeemed us. He visited
us and He redeemed us. We're a preserved people. We
may be cast down, but we won't be cast off and we're not gonna
be cast out. You remember the Savior said
this, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that
cometh to me, I will in no wise, no wise, He'll never put us out of his
family. We're his special property. We're his valued possession.
We're his treasure. He keeps us as a man keeps the
apple of his eye. You know, our eye is well protected. bony structure around, eyelashes
to keep the dust particles out of it. We protect our eyes. Well,
I'll tell you what, you know how you protect your eye? We're
much more valuable to God than our eyes are to us. We're his
special possession. We're God's people. He won't
cast us aside. He's not gonna erase our names
out of the Lamb's Book of Life. Our names are written with indelible
ink. They're written, if I could put
it this way, with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, never
to be erased. We've been gifted to Christ Jesus,
and to Him we are most valuable. He highly esteems us. And he will not give up the ownership
of his people. He will not give up his inheritance. For you see Deuteronomy 32 and
verse nine says, for the Lord's portion is his people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. And then The people of God, they're
a righteous people. They're righteous people. Isaiah
60 verse 21 says that. They're a righteous people. You know, in ourselves, nothing
but unrighteousness. Isaiah 64, six says all of our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags. But before God, in the Lord Jesus,
we are, and it's almost too good to believe, isn't it? You are. I know what you are in Adam.
Same as me. But in the Lord Jesus Christ,
you are one of the righteous people, the righteous people.
God can find no fault in you because of the Lord, our righteousness,
who is our righteousness, and that's our name too. The Lord,
our righteousness. By his obedience unto death,
we've been justified. And then, I'll tell you this
and I've got to move on. The blessing of God is upon these
people. The blessing of God is upon God's
people. Nobody else is really blessed.
Nobody's blessed but God's people. God's merciful to everybody,
but he doesn't bless everybody. You see the, Here's the prayer
of the high priest. The Lord bless thee and keep
thee. That wasn't a pronouncement of
blessing upon all the nations of the earth, was it? No. God said to Aaron, on this wise
shall you bless Israel. The Lord bless thee and keep
thee. His blessings are for a special
people. That's why Psalm 3 verse 8 says,
salvation belongeth unto the Lord, thy blessing. Where is
your blessing? It's upon thy people. No wonder
the Psalmist says that word, Selah. We're blessed. You remember when King Balak
of Moab, He hated Israel and he saw Israel to be a developing
nation. They're growing and he got concerned. And so he thought he had to hire
him a preacher. He would hire him a prophet,
man by the name of Balaam. And he said, this is what I want
you to do. I want you to curse Israel, pronounce a curse upon
Israel. And you know the story, it's
there in Numbers, what, 22, 23, you can read about it. But here's
what Balaam said, I can't curse those whom God has blessed. There's
no way, no curse is gonna come upon people that God has blessed.
Well, listen, we were blessed with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus before the world began. Thy blessing is upon thy people. All of them. No curse will ever
come upon the Lord's children. Who blessed us? God did. When
did he bless us? Before the foundation of the
world. How extensive are the blessings? All spiritual blessings. Where are those blessings? In
Christ Jesus. Where were we blessed? In heavenly
places where the enemy can't get in. We're blessed forever. Listen,
there are no curses in the heart of God for his people. Oh no, no curses. All the curse fell on our substitute
Christ Jesus. Now, go back to Psalm 91. Let
me just show something here. The habitation of God's people.
I about used up my time, but I'm not gonna quit. Look here at Psalm 91 verse nine. Here it says, because, Psalm
91 verse nine, because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge,
this is Moses talking now. He's speaking to each of us.
Because thou, because you have made the Lord, which is my refuge,
Moses said, that's his testimony. We've already heard his testimony
earlier, especially in the second verse. He says, even the most
high, thy habitation, because you have, here's the result. You see, verse nine is the reason,
verse 10 is the result. There shall no evil befall thee,
neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. The word made, he says, because
thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, thy habitation. The word made means constituted,
or regarded, or considered, or because you've laid hold of.
You've laid hold of the Lord. You've laid hold of Him in faith.
You've laid hold of Him out of your need. You've laid hold of
him because this is the Savior that suited you, that could meet
all of the necessities that you have and all the demands of God,
because you've regarded him, you've constituted him, you've
considered him to be your habitation. There shall no evil befall thee. You see, the Lord, now faith
is a gift. No question about that. Ephesians
2, 8 and 9, for by grace you say through faith and that not
of yourselves, it's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man
should boast. Faith is a gift. And God honors
and God rewards faith. Faith pleases God. Hebrews chapter
11, without faith it's impossible to please God. And here is faith
and its reward. Let me read it again. Here's
the reason, because thou hast made, you've regarded, you've
considered, you've constituted, you've laid hold of the Lord,
you've laid hold of Christ Jesus. You see him as the savior your
soul needs. And Moses said, he's my refuge
and you see him now as a refuge that you need. Even the most
high, he's your habitation, you dwell in him. Here's the result. No evil shall befall you. Neither shall any plague come
nigh thy dwelling. You see here, the promises of
God, all the promises of God in the scriptures, they're made
to people, watch it, who believe Him. They're made to people who
embrace Him. They're made to people who love
and trust and they regard Christ Jesus as the only savior that
there is. Now certainly we give no merit
to faith. I said, it's a gift of God. It's
the result of regeneration. But faith is honoring to God.
If you would honor God, I took people several times, people
have asked me during my ministry, I said, what can I do to honor
God? And I know they wanna do some
work, they wanna do something. There is nothing more honoring
to God than just to believe his bare naked word, take him at
his word, that honors God. It does. Faith. And he gives the faith and the
spirit gives you the ability to exercise that faith and you
believe and then that faith is rewarded. No evil is gonna come
to you. Listen, there's no condemnation
of those who believe Christ Jesus. There's no death to those who
embrace him. who lean on him, who put all
the weight of their souls upon him. He is the habitation of
God's people. We dwell in him. We enter into
him as far as we're concerned and our salvation experience
by faith. I know we've always been in him
according to God's eternal purpose, but we enter in by faith. We
embrace him. And here's his word of promise
to those who trust him. No evil will befall you. That means everything is good.
Everything is good. Doesn't matter what happens to
you, it's good. It's good when you're well, it's
good when you're sick. Because no evil can come to you,
no evil can befall you, can happen to you. Nothing that's damaging
to your soul can ever come your way. Why not? Because the Lord
is your habitation. You dwell in Him. Oh, how often does Moses use
the word dwell in Psalm 90 and Psalm 91? Look at Psalm 90 verse
one again. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling
place in all generations. Lord, Jehovah Jesus, Jehovah
who saves, you have always been our dwelling place. Psalm 91
verse one. He that dwelleth, in the secret
place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the
Almighty. And here in verse 10, here's
the result of believing Him. There shall no evil befall thee,
neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. What can harm
you if you're in Christ Jesus? And I've already likened this
to Moses and his wife and his sons and his daughters-in-law
who were in the ark. What evil could come to them?
What wave is going to touch them? What storm is going to harm them? What lightning bolt is going
to strike them? What flood of water will wash
them away? It can't. Why not? They're in the ark. They had
a good habitation. And I'm telling you, Christ is
the habitation of his people. And no evil shall befall thee.
Nothing bad can happen to you. Well, they say, why do bad things
happen to good people? Let me tell you something. People
who are made good by grace, people who are made good in the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ, no bad thing can befall them. Ah,
but sickness can. Well, that's not bad. Not if
God sends it. Oh, but something else bad will
happen. No, it won't. Because you see, in order for
it to harm me, now watch it, it has to come nigh my dwelling
place. I guess that means we ought to
examine if we got the right dwelling place. What is the habitation
for your soul? Where do you find refuge? Well,
if you find it in Christ Jesus, no evil, no plague can come near
you because it'd have to go through your dwelling place. It'd have
to go through your habitation to get to you. The Lord is the
habitation of his people. And I'll tell you this, we are the habitation of God. That works both ways. We're the
habitation of God. He dwells in us and we dwell
in him. The Bible talks about the tabernacle
of God is with men. Who is the tabernacle of God?
That's Christ Jesus. Where is he? He's in his people. Oh, that's where he is. He's
in you. Listen to what Paul said, Christ
in you, the hope of glory. So, Here's the situation with
the people of God. Here's our habitation. The Lord
Jesus Christ is our habitation. And grace upon grace, we are
his habitation. He dwells in us. Now then, how
safe are the people of God? It's no wonder that the psalmist
says, no evil shall befall you. It can't. We dwell in him, he's
our habitation. And he dwells in us. No evil's
gonna befall you. All of you who trust in the Lord
Jesus Christ, who regard him, who consider him to be, who've
laid hold of him, for everlasting life. What a refuge for sinners
the Lord Jesus Christ is. This is the habitation of God's
people. Bless, Lord, the words that have
gone forth tonight.