I'm going to be reading this
evening from the Gospel of John, Chapter 6. If you want to read with me,
that would be wonderful. I hope you've had a good day. We're thankful for the blessings
of God upon each of us. We're thankful that He watches
over us and He provides for us. We are most blessed. We have a wonderful salvation
in the Lord Jesus and we have a marvelous inheritance that
awaits us and we have the very word of God that He has ordained
all things that happen and everything will work out for the good of
the people of God. You will of course recognize
the passage of scripture in John chapter 6 where Our Lord Jesus
identifies Himself as being the Bread of Life. The previous day,
He had ministered to people in food and fed multitudes with
just a little bit of bread and fish. The next day, lots of folks
had followed Him. and they were looking for more
handouts. And he begins to set forth before
them that he was the true bread that God sent down from heaven. I'm going to go over toward the
end of the chapter, and I'll pick up reading with verse 51,
John chapter six, And verse 51, the Lord Jesus said, I'm the
living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of
this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews, therefore, they strove
among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh
to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of
Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. who so eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood hath eternal life. And I will raise him up at the
last day. And you'll recognize that expression
because the Lord has already used that a couple of times in
verse 39 and verse 40. Now verse 55, for my flesh is
meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed. And then he said, he
that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I
in him. We dwell in Christ Jesus and
Christ Jesus dwells in us. Verse 57, as the living Father
hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me,
even he shall live by me. Or literally, he shall live on account of me, or he shall
live because of me. And then he says, and this is
that bread which came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did
eat manna and are dead. He that eateth of this bread, that is, he who believes on me,
shall live forever. And that's as far as I'll read
this evening. Let's see God's face before we
go into the message this evening. Our Father, we count it a great
honor to open the Word of God and read of our great Redeemer,
who is himself the bread of life. He is that bread that Father,
you sent down from heaven. He gave himself to be our substitute. He died to satisfy your justice. And all that we need, we find
in this one who is the bread of life. We're thankful for the
Spirit of grace who's given us the ability and the desire to
eat of this bread and drink of this blood. That is, He has given
to us the gift of faith Faith to embrace Christ Jesus. Faith
to cast our souls on Him. Faith to be done with all works of the
flesh as far as any acceptance with Thee. Faith to just believe
that Christ Jesus is indeed all we need. We seek to feed upon
Him again this evening. We seek to eat His flesh and
drink His blood again. We ask for each one who is watching
this evening, that Lord, You would give them from the Word
of God, from the Gospel of Christ Jesus, a nourishing meal, make
us to rejoice in our Savior. Lord, may we know the peace that
passes all understanding that only You can give. In these days
of unrest, in these days of sickness, with many, many of our fellow
citizens being taken away into eternity by this deadly virus. Lord, we ask if it would be your
will that you would protect your people from physical harm. We know that nothing can touch
our souls. We have found a hiding place
in Christ Jesus our Lord. He is all we need and we are
indeed complete in Him. We need no other, we want no
other, Savior's Son. Lord, we ask therefore that you
would provide all things for us physically, and all things
for spiritually and eternally. Bless those of your children
who are restless in these days, those who are anxious. And indeed,
if we look merely with the eyes of the flesh, there's much to
worry us. There's much to make us anxious.
But if, O Spirit of God, if you would give to us spiritual understanding
and bless us with a deeper faith in Christ, then we would rest
easy in Him. All that we observe, and is going
on in this world, and in this nation, and in this state, and
in our city, is of God. For Amos said, shall there be
evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it. Lord, we see
your hand at work. This is what God is doing. And
we look with obvious concern, but we look
upon these sayings and we ask you to give us a blissful peace
that all is well, that our sovereign Savior governs all things to
fulfill your eternal purpose and to make all things work out
for the good of your children. Now, as we open the scriptures
again in the Psalms, we ask, oh God, that you would have something
beneficial for us tonight. Overcome the weaknesses of the
speaker and these who hear. May we not be easily distracted. May we be focused on the Word
of God. And Lord, may we seek, first
of all, to magnify the great and wonderful name of our God
and Savior, Christ Jesus, magnifying His person and His work of redemption. and remembering that he ever
lives to make intercession for us. And then Lord, may you bless
us as we hear the word of God tonight. Lord, feed us with this
bread of life, and we will be very careful to give you thanksgiving. We'll bless you for all things,
for Jesus' sake, amen. Well, if you would, go with me
into the Psalms, and I invite your attention to Psalm 90, the 90th Psalm. We've had a few messages from
Psalm 91, and I just went back and I read the previous Psalm,
It made me recognize and understand the reason that the Spirit of
God put Psalm 91 where He did. It isn't just a number thing,
there's 90 and then 91, but the reason it is in this sequence
is because of the issues that are raised in the 90th Psalm. Therefore, that leads us into
the 91st Psalm, where we see the protection for God's people. It's interesting that both Psalms
begin virtually alike. Psalm 90 says, That means Jehovah, our Savior. Could we not then say this is
Christ Jesus? Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling
place in all generations. Here's the title of the message,
Christ, Our Dwelling Place. And you can see in how that verse
parallels the first verse of the 91st Psalm, he that dwelleth,
because the issue is dwelling, dwelling. He that dwelleth in
the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow
of the Almighty. Remember, I emphasized that verse
over there in John 6. Those who eat of his flesh, those
who drink of his blood, we dwell in our Savior. the Savior dwells in us. You know, Moses generally agreed
that Moses was the author of both Psalm 90 and 91, led of
course, inspired by the Spirit of God, so it doesn't make a
great deal of difference as to who the human author was except
to say that as we read these, especially these two Psalms,
we can understand the basis for the things that the Spirit of
God gave Moses to say because of all the things that Moses
endured. Now, you know Moses lived 120
years. He lived 40 years in Egypt. That's where he learned to be
a statesman. That's where he learned to be
a leader. But he was learning the ways
of the world. The ways of the world. won't
fully equip him to do the work that God had for him to do. And
so he goes in the purpose and providence of God. Moses goes
to the backside of the desert. After he'd lived the first 40
years of his life in Egypt, he goes to the backside of the desert
and there he learns how to be a shepherd. And he is entrusted
with the sheep, with all the flocks, that he had, and there
he learned great patience and wisdom as God taught him. Can you get good instruction
from this world? In some areas you can. There's no question about that,
but there's no spiritual instruction to be gathered and learned from
the world, that has to be taught of God. And so, God having had
Moses in God's purpose in Egypt for 40 years, he sends him to
the backside of the desert, and there he's gonna learn of God. He will learn the ways of God.
He'll learn of the purpose of God. He will learn of the grace
of God. And God's going to give him unusual
wisdom and leadership ability that will be necessary for the
next stage of his life. As I said, Moses lived 120 years. And of course he divided into
40 years, 40 years in Egypt, 40 years backside of the desert.
And then he led Israel out of Egyptian bondage. He went across
the wilderness. right to the verge of the promised
land, and that was the third segment of his life, those 40
years. Now, he wrote, evidently, he
wrote both of these Psalms right at the end of the wilderness
journeys. He's writing, especially in the
90th Psalm, of that which he has perceived, and that is greatness
of God, the eternality of God, and the mortality of men. He has seen men and women die
throughout the wilderness. You can read at your leisure
in Numbers chapter 14. And I don't have the time to
read it, but you can jot this reference down if you would,
read it later. Numbers chapter 14, verses 26
through 38. And God said, and I'll kind of
give you a brief summary of what God said to him. He said, your
carcasses will die in the wilderness. And he says, everyone who did
not believe God, who was above 20 years old when they left Egypt,
he said, you're gonna die in the wilderness. He said, and
the people, they murmured against God. They said, our little ones
are gonna die in the promised land. And God says to them there
in Numbers chapter 14, your little ones will go into the land of
promise, but you won't. You won't. And God killed those
10 spies that gave a bad report who didn't believe God. God killed
them right on the spot. And he says the only ones who
were above 20 years of age who left that would be spared would
be those who believed him. And of course, of those 12 spies,
just Joshua and Caleb. And the reason that all these
deaths occurred through the wilderness was because of one thing, unbelief. I want you to hold your place
here and go to Hebrews, if you would, chapter two. Look at Hebrews
chapter two. This is the reason. Go back and
you read those verses that I gave you in Numbers 14, 26 to 38.
These people didn't believe God. And he says, one year of wandering
for every day the spies were gone. Forty years you'll wander
and you'll all die. All of you unbelievers are going
to die. That's what he said. And they
died a physical death, but moreover, they died an eternal death. That's
the result of unbelief. You'll notice here in Hebrews,
the third chapter, the emphasis, a good bit of the emphasis is
on the subject of unbelief. Look at verse, Verse nine, when your fathers
tempted me and proved me and saw my works 40 years, wherefore
I was grieved with that generation and said, they do always err
in their heart. That's where the serious error
takes place, always in the heart. And have not known my ways. And
so I swear in my wrath, God swears, He can swear by no greater, so
he swears by himself. They shall not enter into my
rest. And here's the reason. He goes
on, take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil
heart of, underline, unbelief. That's the reason. And in this
portion of chapter three and into the fourth chapter, the
subject is unbelief. Unbelief. And we know that lots of them,
they did not go into the land of promise. And here's the reason,
look at verse 19. So we see they could not enter
in because of unbelief. That's second time he uses the
word. Then he gets into chapter four. Let us therefore fear lest
a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should
seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached
as well as unto them. But the word preached did not
profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard
it. It's what the writer of the epistle
says. They heard the gospel just like
we hear the gospel. Now they heard the gospel and
saw the gospel in picture and in emblem and in typology, but
they knew the gospel. They knew the gospel of life
by the death of another. They knew the gospel of substitution. They knew the gospel of satisfaction. Why, every morning, they watched
a lamb die. Every evening, they watched another
lamb die. Before that, they knew about
all the Passover lambs that died. And all of them pictured our
Lord Jesus who would die for sin. They knew about the day of atonement.
All of these things, they heard the gospel themselves. And it was a good gospel. It
was good news. Why, they learned the gospel,
at least in their head, when they were bitten with fiery serpents.
And God told Moses to make a serpent of brass, put it on a pole, tell
people to look and live. Our Lord Jesus used that as an
illustration. He said, as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted
up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
eternal life. They had the gospel, just like
we have the gospel, just like you hear the gospel. Is this
gospel mixed with faith? You've got to believe what you
hear. You gotta believe the Savior. Look at verse three, for we which
had believed do enter into rest. We enter into his rest, those
who believe. But then he goes down and he
says in verse six, seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter
therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not
in. Here's the word again, because
of unbelief, verse six. And then verse 11, let us labor
therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after
the same example of unbelief. So the reason that all those
people died in the wilderness like they did, an inglorious
death, they died. There was a mess of graves, a
bunch of graves that just scattered throughout the wilderness. And
here's the reason. Here's why they couldn't enter
into the land of promise. They did not believe God. They
did not believe the Son of God who would come, that great Messiah,
the only Savior of sinners, they did not believe and they died
in their sins and they perished. And that'll happen to you if
you don't believe. Oh, that God would give us faith,
faith to believe Him. And so as you go back here to
Psalm 90, Moses, in this Psalm, he recognized the brevity of
life. In fact, he even draws from what
David has just said. Look back in Psalm 89. Look at Psalm 89. And as we said
this morning, you know, Psalm 90 begins book four. Psalm 89
is the end of the third book. Verse 46, he says, how long,
Lord? Wilt thou hide thyself forever? Shall thy wrath burn like fire? Remember how short my time is. Wherefore hast thou made all
men in vain? What man is he that liveth and
shall not see death? Shall he deliver his soul from
the hand of the grave? Selah, dwell on that, you're
going to die. Will you die in faith or will you die in unbelief? And you see Moses recognizes,
he recognizes the reality of death. In fact, as it gets into
the 90th Psalm, he says things like this. Look at verse three,
Psalm 90 verse three. Thou turnest man to destruction. And says, return ye children
of men. You see the issues of life and
death belong to God. He's the one that turns men to
destruction. We are observing horrendous things
in these days of trouble. And people are dying. I pray
for the safety of those who are the medical workers and all those
who provide food for us right across the board. But there are
a lot of people, a lot of people who are well respected and who
are very useful in society, they're dying. But know this, they're
dying right on schedule. Right? They're dying because
they've lived a full life, the life that God gave them. The
Lord turns men to destruction and He says at His time, return
ye children of men. Return to what? Return to the
dust. Your life is used up. Maybe you're
dying in faith. Maybe you're dying in unbelief.
But whether believing or unbelieving, whether in Christ or out of Christ,
you're leaving. He goes down to verse 5. He says,
Thou carryest them away as with a flood. There is a sleep in the morning. There is a sleep. In the morning,
they're like grass, which groweth up. In the morning, it flourisheth
and groweth up. In the evening, it's cut down
and withered. And Moses, remember, he wrote
this psalm right toward the end of their wilderness journeys.
And as he thinks about, as he contemplates these nearly 40
years of wandering in the wilderness, and he's seen scores of people
die in unbelief, he says this in verse 7, for we are consumed
by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled. His wrath ought
to trouble us. We see others. He doesn't spare
them. He doesn't spare anybody who
dies in their sins. He doesn't spare anybody who
dies without a Savior. He doesn't spare anybody who's
not washed in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And their
destruction ought to frighten us. It ought to trouble us. Am
I in Him or not? Do I dwell in Christ Jesus? Is He my dwelling place? Or is
he not? He says in verse nine, for all
of our days are passed away in thy wrath. We spend our years
as a tale that is told. They're just, it's over before
you know it. It's like a story that is told
and all of a sudden you get to the end and that's it. And he says this in verse 10,
the days of our years are threescore years and ten, and if by reason
of strength they'd be fourscore years, yet is there strength,
labor, and sorrow if it's soon cut off? And we fly away. Where are we going? Job says
man dieth and where is he? Good question. We fly away. Where do we fly
away to? To God. Ecclesiastes chapter 12, all
souls are mine, God says, and when we die, the soul, the spirit
goes back to God who gave it. And then he's gonna do something
with us. If we're in Christ Jesus, we're
welcomed into his presence. If we dwell in the Most High,
if the Lord Jesus is our dwelling place, all is well, enter into
this kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Ah, the thought of flying away then, that's a comforting thing
for the children of God. But if you don't believe him,
that should be a fearful thing to you. He says this in verse
11, who knoweth, who knoweth the power of thine anger? Even according to thy fear, so
is thy wrath. I'll tell you somebody who knows
the power of his anger, Christ Jesus. He knows the power of
the anger of God against our sins. and he faced divine judgment
for us. He faced the wrath of God and
he bore away all of our sins and therefore he bore away all
the storm of the judgment of God. There is no judgment for
those who are in Christ Jesus. He knows the anger of God, we'll
never know it. We'll never know it. No wonder Moses then says in
verse 12, so teach us to number our days that we may apply our
hearts unto wisdom. Lord, make us wise. See, we're
foolish about the things of God. We're very intelligent. I'm talking
to people who are, you're very smart about many things. But the Lord himself has to teach
us of the way of righteousness, of the way of peace, the way
of salvation. And he's got to teach us to number
our days, to think about the end. I don't know this virus,
it may touch me. It may touch you. I take reasonable
precautions. We're being cautious. That's the reason we don't meet
in person anymore. And when we see people, if I
have to go out, I always wear a mask. We take reasonable care. But we understand that our lives,
that the boundary of our lives is already set. And beyond that
boundary, we will not go. And it may be this virus, though
we take as many precautions as we can. We sanitize. Now the CDC is saying something
about wearing a mask when you go out. And I suppose this week
is supposed to be, I heard the Surgeon General say, it's going
to be like Pearl Harbor this week. We're careful. I'm careful. Of course, I've been doing this
for a long time. Before I come up behind the pulpit,
I always sanitize my hands. We just take some precautions.
But do what you will and do all those things that they tell us
to do, social distancing and all of that sort of thing. If
it's God's purpose for you to get this virus, you're gonna
get it. And that'll be according to his
will also. So Lord teach us to number our
days that we would set our hearts on wisdom. You see, real wisdom
has gotta come from God. Because we're foolish about spiritual
things. Lord, teach us. Teach us of who
you are in your holiness, in your divine character, in your
righteousness, in your demands for holiness. Lord, teach us
what we are. We're just worms of the dust. I noticed today that the prime
minister of England was hospitalized. as a safety precaution. Let me
tell you something. This virus being directed by
the unseen hand of God, somebody said the virus is unseen. That's
true. But that unseen virus is being
directed by the unseen hand of God. And it affects big, important
leaders in the world. And it affects the homeless. the rich and the poor. Death is no respecter of persons. Oh, God, give us wisdom to set
our hearts upon the things that really matter. Now, before he says all this
about the brevity of our lives, Moses has something to say about
God. He says, Lord, and this is the
only place you're gonna find any comfort. Lord, thou hast
been our dwelling place in all generations. Now, you think about
this, that Moses, that he wrote this as they were finishing up
their wilderness journey. They didn't have anywhere to
live. There was no houses for them to live in. They all lived
in tents. And they followed the pillar
of cloud. And when it moved, they said,
pack up. Pack up the tent. Get the kids
ready. Get the animals ready. We're
moving because their dwelling places were temporary. And then
they watched the pillar of cloud move ahead of them and they followed.
And when the pillar of cloud stopped, Moses said, time to
set up camp again. And that's the way they lived.
That's the way they journeyed for 40 years. It reminds me of
that passage in Hebrews 11. Here we have no continuing city. We're just pilgrims and sojourners. That's all we are. But Moses said, Lord, you're
our dwelling place. We do have a dwelling place,
just because we don't, you say, well, I don't own a house, or
maybe you live in an apartment or something like that, or you
rent a house. I'm gonna tell you something,
wherever it is you live, you're gonna have to vacate the premises
one of these days. But if the Lord is your dwelling
place, well then He's always been your dwelling place and
He always will be. You see, Moses, he writes this,
here are these tents. No telling how many times he
had Israel stop and make camp and then break up the camp and
move a little further. They didn't have any dwelling
places. He knew that. Everything was temporary. They
were temporary. Everything down here is temporary. But the Lord Christ Jesus, He
has been our dwelling place how long? For all generations. In other words, He's always been
our dwelling place because God put us in Christ Jesus before
He ever made the world. We have a sure dwelling place. We have a safe dwelling place. We have a permanent dwelling
place. We have a dwelling place where
nothing can enter in and destroy it because the Son of God Himself
is our dwelling place. and let the virus come. If so
be, all right. Or let another disease come our
way. If that's what God wills, fine.
Or an automobile accident or whatever it is, nothing and no
one can take away from us our dwelling place. We're safe in
Christ Jesus. Boy, if that would just sink
into our hearts, Oh, what a restful people we would be. One writer said of this, the words of Moses, thou has
been our dwelling place. He said the words might well
read, thou has been our refuge from jackals. Thou has been our
refuge from jackals. Every enemy of the soul, as it
were, barking at our heels, ready to devour us, but we have a dwelling
place and nothing can destroy us. Nothing can harm the soul. God told Satan, you can touch
Job's possessions, but you can't touch him. Okay. Touched his possessions, took
them away, took his children away. And God told Satan, you
can touch his body, but you can't have his soul. You can't have
his soul. Because his soul has a dwelling
place. Christ Jesus. You see, the Lord has appointed
a dwelling place for all of his creatures. God created the earth
for the beasts to dwell in. God created the water for the
fish to dwell in. God created the air for the birds
to dwell in. God created the heavens for the
angels to dwell in. God created hell for the devil
and his demons and all who die in unbelief for them to dwell
in. And God has appointed a dwelling
place for his people, Christ Jesus, for us to dwell in. Everything's got a dwelling place. He's our dwelling place. It was
written of our Savior, foxes have holes, birds of the air
have nests, but the Son of Man hath not place to lay His head.
He had no dwelling place, so that we would have a dwelling
place in Him. When you think of a dwelling
place, you think about your house. You're a home where you dwell,
where you live. It is said a man's house or a
home is his castle. Well, I'll tell you, he that
dwelleth in the Lord Jesus Christ dwells in a castle indeed. There
is no greater place to be than in Christ. Ours is the safest
place to dwell. We dwell in the King. Nothing
can touch us there. The psalmist said in Psalm 31
verse two, bow down that ear to me, deliver me speedily, be
thou my strong rock for in a house of defense to save me. He's our house of defense. Do
you think anybody or anything can get in the house when Christ
Jesus is the house. Psalm 71 verse three, be thou
my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort. Thou
hast given, I like this, thou hast given commandment to save
me. For thou art my rock. and my
fortress. He's given a commandment, save
him, save her, save him, save him, save her, save him, save
you, save me. He's given a commandment. I tell you, we've dwelt in Christ
Jesus from old eternity because God put us in him. Lord, thou has been our dwelling
place. in all generations. Every generation
of the people of God have always dwelt in exactly the same dwelling
place, in the Savior. We dwell in Him. We dwell in His heart. being
the beloved of the Lord. We dwell in his arms. Deuteronomy
33, 27, the eternal God is thy refuge and underneath are the
everlasting arms and he shall thrust out the enemy before thee
and shall say, destroy them, destroy them. So they can't destroy
you. Always in Christ our dwelling
place. You see, He is the fulfillment
of the cities of refuge. In Him, the avenger can't touch
you. God's law, which was aggravated
by our sin, God's law, which demanded vengeance, it found
vengeance in the Lord Jesus, and He is our refuge. He is our
dwelling place. He's the fulfillment of those
cities of refuge. All who believe Him dwell in
Him, and He dwells in us. Let me ask this question. What's
the reason that we need a dwelling place? Or why is it we need a
dwelling place? Well, real quickly, I'd say because
of our guilt. Offended justice is in pursuit
of us. And if He overtakes us, we'll
surely perish. The wrath of God must attack
sin wherever it's found. We've got to have a dwelling
place. Thankfully, the vengeance of God was satisfied in the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus. We've got to have a dwelling
place because our enemies are great. Satan, the flesh, the
world, And we gotta have a dwelling
place because death is quickly approaching. It says here the days of our
years are three score years and 10 at 70, if by reason of strength,
they'd be four score years, that's 80. I tell you, death's creeping up on us. I wonder how you will do in the
swelling of the Jordan. Well, I'll tell you what, if
you abide, if you dwell in the Lord Jesus, that secret place,
you'll be just fine. And can I give you just a list
of things here? What kind of dwelling place is
Christ Jesus? I jotted down several things
here. I'll give them to you briefly.
Number one, he's the divinely appointed dwelling place, ordained
by God to be our dwelling place. Number
two, he's the all-sufficient dwelling place. Everything I
need's in him. He of God has been made into
me to be wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. I
don't need anything else. He is my all. Number three, he's
a suitable dwelling place because Isaiah 32 tells us in verse two,
a man shall be the dwelling place. He's very suitable to us. He's
God over all, blessed forever. He's suitable to God and he's
man, he's suitable to us. And as the perfect man, he's
suitable to God. I'll tell you something else,
fourthly, he's a dwelling place which is at a hand. He's not
very far from us. Psalm 46, one says, the Lord
is a very present help in time of trouble. Psalm 46, verse seven,
the Lord of hosts is with us. And then fifthly, he is an all
powerful dwelling place. He's able to save to the uttermost
all that come unto God, by Him. None can perish in Him. He's
never lost the one that the Father gave to Him. And I'll say this in the sixth
place, He's a universal dwelling place for anybody who wants to
come in. Oh, everyone that thirsts it.
The prophet says, come ye to the waters, and he that hath
no money, come ye, buy and eat. Yea, come buy wine and milk without
money and without price. The spirit and the bride say,
come. Let him that hear it say, come. Let him that is a thirst
come, and whosoever will, let him come and take the water of
life freely. It's for all kinds of people.
If you thirsty, come to Christ Jesus. And He's an unchanging
dwelling place. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,
today, and forever. I believe that Adam and Eve found
in Him a safe dwelling place. Abel found in Him a safe dwelling
place. Seth did. Enoch did. Methuselah did. Lamech did. Noah did. Abraham did. Isaac did. Jacob did. Joseph
did. Moses did. Aaron did. Miriam did. Go all the way down
the line to those of us who are under the sound of my voice,
those of you who are listening to me. He's a safe haven for us too. All generations. and he's an open dwelling place. It's like the art. Hey, the door
was open. Come on in if you want to. And I'll tell you this, he's
the only dwelling place. Besides him, there is no other. I'll give you this and I'll quit.
You remember Acts, the second chapter. Of course, those of
you who have been coming to Bible study, we've been studying in
the book of Acts and writing lessons on Acts. And Peter and
John had gone to the temple. There they had healed a man of
his lameness, though he wasn't looking for healing. He got exceedingly,
abundantly above all they could ask or think. He just wanted
money. but he was healed, and then he was healed spiritually. Physical healing that led to
spiritual healing, which opened the door for Peter to preach
the gospel. And this, of course, upset the
authorities, the Jewish authorities, and so they arrested Peter and
John, put them in prison overnight with the vilest of the vile,
then the next morning brought them out before the Sanhedrin,
and Peter began to preach. And he said to them, neither
is there salvation in any other. He's talking about this rock
that the builders had refused, and they were the builders. The
ones he was talking to was the builders. The religious leaders,
the teachers, the preachers, the priests, the rabbis. He said, this stone, this rock
that you refuse, that you have no interest in, God's made Him
the head of the corner. And then He said, neither is
there salvation in any other. There's no other dwelling place. No other dwelling place. For there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must. be saved. You see, I'll tell you what faith
does. When we are brought by the Spirit
of God to believe the Lord Jesus Christ, to embrace Him, to cast
our souls upon Him, though we didn't know about it, we've always
dwelt in the secret place of the Most High. He's always been
our dwelling place. But we didn't know it. But when
the Lord gives us faith, and we cast ourselves upon the Lord
Jesus Christ, then we have the privilege to say, I dwell in
Him, and He dwells in me. And let come what may. I am forevermore safe. Isn't that comforting? I pray
God will bless you with the knowledge of this Savior and that He will
increase your faith and my faith in the Lord Jesus, who is our
dwelling place. Father, bless the Word that's
gone forth this evening and comfort and encourage your dear people.
Lord, they're your people because you chose them. You gave them
to Christ Jesus. He redeemed them. The Spirit
of God has called them. We're kept by the power of God.
And Lord, we need to be instructed. We need to be encouraged in these
days when all around us there's so much turmoil and unrest. We need to be reminded that the
Lord It has been our dwelling place in all generations. Oh, what a dwelling place Christ
is for us. Father, we thank you for him
and we bless you for the gift, the unspeakable gift of your
son. In his name I pray, amen. Good night.