It gives God all the glory. But
I want to talk about the saint's confidence. The saint's confidence. You know, God's people are confident
people. They are confident people, but
they're not confident in themselves. They have no confidence in themselves.
They're like Paul said, we are the circumcision, which worship
God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence
in the flesh. We have no confidence in ourselves. And so where's our confidence
at? It has to be somewhere outside of ourselves. And this Psalm
describes our confidence. And I can't help but be skeptical
about those who act as if God's going out of business. You know, God just quit being
God. Going out of business whenever
they are upset or afraid of something or bothered about something.
You know, God's going to pull them out of business. So listen,
I don't know what I'm going to do. Well, but here in this psalm,
we have the confidence of the Lord's people in their God. In
God. Their God Almighty. Yes, believers
have trials. they have trials, we're going
to have them. Yes, they have troubles. Troubles of mind, troubles
of heart, troubles in their home, troubles on the job. People have
troubles. And yes, God's people even have
fears. They have fears. Job, you know,
he says, that which I feared the most come upon me. And yes,
they have questions. Everybody has questions. But
they don't fall apart whenever something happens. They just
don't come apart. They don't fall all to pieces.
And they don't excuse themselves by saying, well, I'm just so
weak. I'm just so weak. That's really not a very good
excuse because our Lord says, my strength is made perfect in
your weakness. So you can't be weak enough,
can you? My strength is made perfect in
your weakness. As long as you got anything to
hold on to, then His strength will never be perfect. So we
cannot be weak enough. We really can't. And here we
have some wonderful, wonderful, blessed confidences that we can
look at together in this psalm. First of all, I want you to look
at this refuge that we have, an infallible refuge in verse
one. God is our refuge and strength. That's a pretty good confidence,
ain't it? God is our refuge. And you know a refuge is some
place you go to hide in, to get away from something else. And
I'll tell you, God's our hiding place. We're hid in God. Paul
told the Colossians, you know, he says, your life is hidden
in God, hidden in Christ, and when Christ shall appear, then
shall you also appear with Him in glory. And I tell you, beloved,
what a glorious refuge, what a wonderful, blessed place to
hide. And we all need a refuge. We got to have a refuge. Look
over with me in Deuteronomy. I want to get this right, 33
in verse 27. You know, we need a refuge. What?
You know what? We need a refuge more than anything,
from anything else in this world. We need a refuge from sin. Sin
is so part and parcel of us. Sin, we're born with it. We live
with it. It's in our flesh. It's in our
bones. And we need a refuge from sin.
a hiding place from sin, a place we can go away from our sin,
where our sin's not seen. We need a place from temptation
to hide from the temptations of this world. We need a hiding
place, a refuge from this world. But look what he said here in
verse 27 of Deuteronomy 33. The eternal God is thy refuge. Do you notice that? The Eternal
God is our refuge. And underneath are the everlasting
arms. And He shall thrust out the enemy
before thee, and shall say, Destroy them. Oh my, God is our refuge. The Eternal God is our refuge.
We need a hiding place from the world and all of its wretchedness
and its sin. We need a hiding place, a refuge
for our inabilities. For our inabilities, oh how unable
are we. What abilities does somebody
have? If you got an ability, God gave it to you. We need a
place to hide from our inabilities. Our Lord said, without me, you
can do nothing. We need a refuge from our fears.
We need a refuge from our troubles. And look what it says there in
verse one here of Psalm 46. It says, he's a present help.
A present help. What does that mean? That means
he's always there. We're there right now, present.
You know, they used to do that in school, said, call your name,
present! I'm here, raise your hand. God,
where are you? Present! He's right here, right
now, present. Oh, what a blessing, what a blessing.
And we need a refuge from justice. that says the soul that sinnetheth
shall die. We need a refuge from the law,
from which we can never be justified. And we need a refuge from the
curse. And oh, bless His name. God, hidden God. God is our refuge
and our strength. And it says God is our refuge.
You know where else we hide at? We hide in His love. Oh, what
a most blessed place to hide. You know why we hide in His love?
Because it's eternal. It's eternal. There never was
a time that God did not love His people. He said He loved
us with an everlasting love and with cords of loving kindness
as He drawn us. Here in His love, you want to
know what love is? People say, well, listen, everywhere
they say God's love, Jesus' love, He loves everybody. But here
in His love, You want to know what it is? That God sent His Son to be a
perpetuation, to be our atoning sacrifice, to take the wrath
of God off of us. And herein is love, not, not
that we love God, but that He loved us. Huh? That's, you want to know what
it is? He loved us. You want to know the definition?
He loved us. And I tell you, it's eternal. We hide in His
love. Oh, shelter me in His love. We
hide in His blessed grace. Grace that's eternal. We hide
in His, all of it's a gift. Everything that we have, God
gave us. We hide in His mercy. We hide in His power. God uphold
us. God protect us. We hide in His
power. We hide behind Him. We hide under
Him. We hide in Him. And I tell you, here's why we
have to have a refuge, eternal refuge. It's because we're souls
in Spirit. We're souls, we are, and I'm
gonna deal with this tonight, we inhabit a house. This body's
a house. It's a tent that we live in.
But the spirit and soul that's inside of us, that's eternal. That will never, never die. Never
die. And our spirit and our soul needs
an eternal refuge. I need, and we sung that song,
Amazing Grace. You know, grace through many
dangers, toils and snares, I have already come. We've already come
through them. Grace has saw me safe this far,
and grace is going to take me home. And that's what I'm talking
about. We've got to have a refuge for
our souls, our eternal souls. And that's why the scriptures
tell us that Christ gave us eternal life. I have eternal life. When our body is going to die,
but life is going to go on. Soul is going to go on. Spirit
is going to go on. This body is not, but Christ
is and we are. And we got to have an eternal
refuge for this soul and this spirit. Because I tell you what,
it's going to go somewhere. has only two places for a person
to go in this world, and that's either to Christ or down to eternal
perdition or eternal damnation, and I certainly don't want to
go down there. And I don't want to go there because it's an awful
place to go. I don't want to go there because
that's not where Christ is. I want to go where Christ is.
I want to be with Christ. That's why I need an eternal
refuge. And oh my, and I tell you what,
and Shirley and I was talking about it yesterday, when I hear
about a believer going home or ready to go home, it fills my
heart with joy. I hate it for the people that's
got to be left behind, and I'm sorry for them. But boy, when
the Lord gets ready to take somebody home, I mean listen, they go
into life. Oh, and I tell you, and here's
a perfect, perfect refuge. And I tell you, it keeps us from
anything that sin can't harm us, death can't harm us, hell
can't harm us. Nothing can harm us in this blessed
place. Huh? Oh my, and then look what
that, oh, what a refuge. Then look what a blessed immovable
confidence we have. Look here in verse two and three. Therefore will not we fear, though
the earth be removed, and the mountains be carried
into the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof be troubled,
though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. And I tell
you what, I've got news for you, it's gonna be removed. It's gonna
be removed one of these days, ain't it, James? It's gonna be
removed. It's gonna be removed. You know, when this earth is
removed, our soul is safe because it dwells in God, and it will
not be removed. I want you to look with me in
Hebrews chapter 12, and then we're gonna go to 2
Peter. You know, we're not gonna fear her. We're not gonna fear
her, you know why? Because we got a refuge, we got
a place to go, we got someone to be with. Look in Hebrews chapter 12 and
verse 26. You know, though the earth be
removed, and it's gonna be, God said he's gonna fold it up like
an old garment and put it away. You know up on Mount Sinai, the
earth shook when God spoke. whose voice then shook the earth,
but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the
earth only, but I'm gonna shake heaven too. And this word, this
promise that God made, it once more signifies the removing of
those things that are shaken. Anything that can be shaken,
the earth can be shaken, mountains can be shaken, I can be shaken,
you can be shaken, but listen to this, But those things that
are shaken, and as of those things that are made, that those things
which cannot be shaken may remain. Now what can't be shaken? God
can't be shaken. Faith cannot be shaken. God,
Christ can't be shaken, but this world can be shaken. Wherefore,
listen to this now, wherefore we receive a kingdom which cannot
be moved, We're in a kingdom that can't
be moved. Let's have grace. we may serve
God acceptably and with godly reverence and fear. And look
over there in 2 Peter 2, you gotta see this. You know, I know
you've seen this, but look at it with me again. 2 Peter 3,
verse 10. I tell you, you know, he says,
though the earth be removed, it's gonna be removed. Either
the earth's gonna be removed or we're gonna be removed from
the earth, one or the other. In 2 Peter 3, look what it says
here in verse 10. But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night. That means it's going to come
when you don't expect it. Huh? And what's this now? In the wish the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise. And the elements shall melt with
fervent heat. This world, this earth is going
to melt. The earth and the works of the
earth shall be burned up. You know, they keep thinking
about atomic bombs. This fire, he's talking about
atomic bombs. Nah, God's gonna do this. He's gonna do this. Seeing then that all these things
shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in
all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto
the coming of the day of God, when the heavens, being on fire,
shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat,
nevertheless, and all the earth be removed. Nevertheless, we,
according to His promise, look for new heavens, for new heavens
and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. You know why I said new heavens?
Paul was caught up to the third heaven, so we know that there's
three. I don't know how many new heavens he's gonna make.
But He s going to make a new one. Alright, back over in Psalm
46. And you know why we have an immovable
confidence? For even the earth be removed,
and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. You
know why we ll not be moved? Because our house is built upon
a rock. Our house is built upon Christ,
God's foundation. Our house is built on a rock.
The world's in turmoil. We know the world's in turmoil.
I mean, the world's tumultuous. That's why I quit watching the
news. If I watch it, I just get so
frustrated. And so, just leave it alone. But the world, we know, is in
turmoil. Wars and rumors of war. Worries about financial markets.
Worries about religion. Everybody's worried about some
tumult going on everywhere. The foundations are crumbling.
Hebrews Psalm 11 verse 3 says, If the foundations be destroyed,
what shall the righteous do? Do what they always did. They're
going to trust God. And our foundations are being
destroyed. The foundations of home life,
the foundations of religion, the foundations of nations are
gone and crumbling right in front of our very eyes. But let it
fall! Let it fall! He said we will
not fear. What are you gonna do if their
economy collapse? Just what I've always done, trust God. You know, look what it says there
now. In verse three, though the waters
thereof roar. He's the God of the mountains
and the God of the valleys. Though the waters thereof roar,
and the mountains shake with the swelling thereof, You know
the last time the mountains shook with water roaring was in the
flood. The waters roared and destroyed
the earth. Oh my, waters roar, the mountains
shake. They had a battle one time, I
forget where it's at. And they got in a battle and
they was down in the valley. And they got whipped, you know,
they was getting whipped in this battle. I can't remember where
it's at, but they got whipped in this battle and said, well,
our God's a God of the mountains. So they moved up to the mountains,
fought on the mountain. They got whipped on the mountain.
Because God's a God of the mountains and the valley. Wherever his
enemies are, he's gonna whip them. On the mountainside or
down in the valley. And let the waters roar. Let
the waters of this world roar. Let Satan roar. Let the things that seems like
it's going to overwhelm us. Deep answers unto deep. That's
going to rule over us. We will not fear. Oh, why not? Because God is our God. And oh my, let the waters roar.
Let the mountains shake. I tell you, and it is. To me, right now, I'm telling
you, everything in this world is shaking. I tell you Isaiah
says the world staggers like a drunk man. He said the world's
like a tottering wall. It's like a tottering wall and
the wind blows it this way and then it blows it that way and
it blows it this way. And one of these days it's going to go.
What are we going to do? Go trust God. Keep believing,
keep believing, keep believing. Huh? That's what we're gonna
do. And then look here. Look what a wonderful blessed
supply we have here in verse four. There is a river. Oh boy, there is a river. Now
this river is different than any river you'll ever come across
in your life. This streams will have made glad
the city of God. And you never, listen, they shall
make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles
of the Most High. Oh, there's a river. And the
streams, the streams from this river, you got a river coming
down in streams. And it says that this stream,
these streams make glad the city of God. Make glad God's people,
where God's tabernacle is. Says it makes us glad. Look over
here at Psalm 36 in verse eight with me. Psalm 36 in verse eight. Let's look at verse seven first.
How excellent is thy loving kindness, O God! Therefore the children
of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. They
shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house,
and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. Oh my, we're drinking of that
river right now, drinking of it. Ah, here's the fountain of
life is in him. And when we talk about this river,
that river never stops running, never stops running. All we need
comes from God, comes from this river of God. We need forgiveness,
we got this forgiveness. We need justification, we have
justification. We need perfection, we got perfection. We need sanctification, we got
sanctification. We need assurance, we got assurance.
And it all flows from the throne of God and Christ, where He sits
on the right hand of God. And you know, there's gonna be
a river in heaven. Did you know that? There's gonna
be a river in heaven. Let me show it to you. Look in
Revelations 22. There's gonna be a river in glory. There's a river here for us to
live by, and then there's gonna be a river up there too. But
this river, Look where it comes from. It flows from the throne of God
where Christ sits right on the right hand of God. Look what
it says in Revelations 22. And He showed me a pure river
of water of life. Our Lord said, I'm that living
water. I'm that living water. A pure river of water of life,
clear as crystal. proceeding out of the throne
of God and the Lamb. That river starts right here.
That river starts right here. And God's river, He runs right
through here. I tell you what, it flows, you
know how it flows, the river of God flows through the gospel? When we're preaching the gospel,
when we're dealing with God's Word, the river flows. It brings
us these wonderful truths, these blessed promises that we have
in Christ. And through the gospel, causes
us to rejoice in our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me quote a couple
of verses to you. John 6, 37 says this. In that
last day, that great day of the feast, Christ stood and cried,
if any man's thirsty, let him come unto me. And as it is written,
out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Now do you know
what that means? That if you come to Christ, out
of Christ flows rivers of living water. Out of him comes rivers. He said out of his belly shall
flow rivers of life. Out of Christ. It surely can't
come from us. I've heard preachers say, well
that means that when Christ comes in us, we have a river of life
in us and we need to take that river out and win souls with
it. No, it has to be, we ain't got
no river of life in us unless it's Christ. Huh? That life flows out of Him. If
He cuts that life off, we're, that's it. Oh my. And our Lord leads us, and I
tell you, not only is there a river of life, but every once in a
while, He makes that river to be real still. He leads us beside
the still waters of His glorious will and purpose. And we drank,
we drank from the rivers of God's eternal truth. I mean, we're
not, we're not drawing a bow at adventure. Everything we got,
we drank from God's eternal truth. And when we get to glory, it's
still gonna be flowing, still gonna be flowing. And everything
we need comes from this river. And then look here in verse 5,
look what a blessed, blessed comfort we have. God is in the
midst of her, she shall not be moved. God shall help her in
that right early. The heathen raised, the kingdoms
removed, he uttered his voice, the earth melted. The Lord of
hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge. Now listen,
he said he is a very present help in time of trouble, in time
of trouble. So that means we won't have trouble,
but he's a very present help in time of trouble. But here
he says, listen to this now, God is in the midst of her. I
said He is a very present help. He's in the midst of us. Our
Lord said, wherever two or three are gathered together, there
I am. There I am. God shall help. Look what it says. And not only
that, but it says, He shall not be moved. And then it says, He
shall help her. God's in the midst of her and
shall help her. And look what He said in verse 6 there. He
uttered His voice. He uttered His voice. And the
Lord of hosts is with us. Do you know what it means to
be the Lord of hosts? That means that He's got a great, great
army. That means that He's got a great, great, great army. And
He's the Lord of all the hosts of heaven. And as He said, the
armies of heaven. He's the Lord of hosts. You know,
they talk about a great host came to meet Him. And a great
host, the host is over here, the host, great armies. But I
tell you, He's the Lord of hosts. He's the Lord of all the armies
of heaven and earth. He's the God. And I tell you,
He's the Lord of hosts. He's the Lord of heaven and earth.
And our Lord Jesus Christ, when He was fixing to be crucified,
He says, you know, he said, he said, my kingdom's not of this
world. If my kingdom were of this world, ask if he is a king.
He said, if my kingdom were of this world, he said, you know
what I'd do? He says, it's not of this world. I could call 12 legions of angels
and do away with this thing just that quick. 12 legions, oh my. And I tell you, whenever we need
help, whenever we, God's in the midst of us, and Todd and I was
talking the other day, and preachers can talk to one
another, they can't talk to anybody else, but I did tell him this.
I said, if it comes to where there ain't but one person, one
person left, and I'm still able to preach, I'm gonna feed that
one sheep. I'm going to feed that one sheep. I'm going to do that. God helping
me, I'm going to do that. And you know, it may be down
to the last sheep. I wonder which one of you will
be the last. Sometimes God will be the last.
I wonder who will be the last.
Will it be me? Will it be you? But whoever it
is. If we're still in this building,
or if I have to come, you have to come to the house, I'm gonna
feed that sheep. You know why I'm gonna feed that sheep? Because
God's in the midst. And He said, wherever two or
three are gathered together, it only takes two. You had three
in the bunch, and He's really there. Huh? It don't take a lot,
does it? Don't take a lot. And oh, the
Lord of hosts is with us. He's the Lord of the armies of
heaven and earth. God is for us. He is in us. He is among us. And then he told
us that he's the, verse 7, the Lord of hosts is with us. The
God of Jacob is our refuge. You know Christ, He's in us.
Christ in you is the hope of glory. And you remember when
Jacob was laying there on his pillar, on his way down to his
Uncle's house to go down there and labor. And he laid there
and his head was laying on a pillow, on a rock. And God appeared to him. Come down on a big ladder, Jacob's
ladder. And that represents Christ. And
you know that ladder reached all the way to heaven, all the
way to earth. And here Jacob saw that ladder, and he said
it reached all the way to heaven. He woke up the next morning and
says, you know what? God's in this place. And he slept
on a rock. He was out in the middle of nowhere.
And he said, God is in this place. And I can say that here. God
is in this place. Oh my. People gotta have some
great big clamoring thing. Some people jumpin' and shoutin'
and whoopin' and hollerin'. Then they'll say, God's here,
God's here. God's always here. And God shall help. It says God
shall help. Has He ever failed? Has He ever
failed? He's a very present help. He
uttered His voice. And boy, when He utters His voice,
I love to hear His voice. He speaks peace. He speaks comfort. And every once in a while, sometimes
he has to rebuke. But I bless his name, at least
he speaks. He utters his voice, he speaks,
and he speaks in his word, and he utters his voice. And old
Lord Spurgeon used to have a little boy set up on the front. And
he says, you know, he said, God's gonna get to you through the
ear. He said he speaks to you through the ear and through his
word. And that little old boy is 12 years old and he told his
mom, he said, I'm going to go down front. He said, why? Because
Mr. Spurgeon said, God speaks to
thee, I'm going to go down there where I can hear real good. I
want my ears open. I want my ears to be open to
what God's got to say. And I tell you, he's our confidential
and continual protection. Always has been. And you know
when he says he's the God of Jacob, you know what Jacob represents? First of all, he represents God's
elect. Jacob have I chosen. Secondly,
he represents God's eternal election. Jacob have I chosen. Secondly,
Jacob have I loved, God's eternal love. He said, Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. And then he's the God of Jacob
because Jacob inherited everything. He was the inheritor. So, oh my. Yeah, he had heard
the blessing. All right, let me hurry on here.
Look here in verse eight and nine. Look what a blessed, blessed
prospect we have here. Now, saints confidence is what
we're talking about. What a glorious, glorious prospect here, an assurance
for us. In verse eight and nine. Come,
behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made
in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto
the end of the earth. He breaketh the bow, cutteth
the spear, and sundereth. He burneth the chariot in the
fire. What in the world does that mean? Well, we're looking
back. Come, behold his works. Look. Look at all of his works
that he's done. Where would you start? Well,
you've got to start in Genesis 1-1. Where did God's work begin? He said the earth was without
God in the beginning. God created the heavens and the
earth. That's where we've got to start. Look at His works in
creation. Then look where He's worked when He made man. Look
where He's worked when He drove men out of the garden. And I
tell you what, what desolations He hath made. He makes wars to
cease. Oh, look back and look at all
the works. What about ourselves? How many works has God done for
us in our lifetime? How many works has God manifested
for us in our lifetime? If that's what He did, He won't
change. He's the One that created us. He's the One that created
us new creatures. He's the One that said, let there
be light, and there was light. He's the One that said, I'll
create life, and He created life in us. And then he says, he hath
made desolate, desolations in the earth. You know what some
of the desolations he's made in this world? He made desolations
of men's works. I mean he's took men's works.
Did he make desolations of your works? Did he make desolations of your
self-righteousness? Did He make desolations of your
self-confidence, and your self-righteousness, and your hope in yourself? He
made desolations of men's works. He made desolations of men's
ways. Adam, He said, Adam, drove him
out of the garden. He rejected Cain. He brought
Egypt to nothing. Babylon was the greatest empire
in the world at one time. don't even exist anymore. Rome,
in all of its glory, conquered the whole world. Rome ruled the
world. Rome's led to Rome. Rome, just
a little old place over there where the Pope lives now. And then Greece, intellectual
power of the world. Oh my, such an intellectual place,
such a powerful, powerful nation. Alexander the Greek, he conquered
the whole world, even went to China and stood on that great
wall of China. He don't exist, Greece is just
a little island down there that people have to bail out because
they're so poor. Huh? Oh my. He destroyed Sodom and
Gomorrah, brought Jacob to nothing, brought Pharaoh up and said,
listen, I raised you up for one reason, just to kill you. And
whole nations He's made desolate. And you know what? They're desolate
of the gospel of Christ. Ain't you thankful we live in
a place where the gospel still is? You know how many places
where there ain't no gospel? Ain't no gospel at all. That
little article I put in the paper about the focus there in the
last... I remember very well that man, what he preached, you
know, about You know, our focus ought to be out here on the Great
Commission, winning souls to Jesus. And I rebuked him for
that. I says, listen, you didn't even
get spitting distance of the gospel. He said, I wasn't preaching
the gospel. I was trying to tell folks what
we need to be doing, what the church needs to be doing. I said,
listen, you didn't come and spit, you didn't tell us anything about
Christ and what he accomplished. What he brought that day was
desolation. Preach against homosexuality,
desolation. Preach on how to have happy marriage,
desolation. Preach on living a victorious
life, desolation. Everything that man has anything
to do with, God said, desolate. Desolate. Free will is desolate. Man is
desolate. Legalism is desolate. Fundamentalism
is desolate. The only place where it's not
desolate is where the gospel of the grace of God is at and
Jesus Christ our Lord is glorified and preached as the only Savior
in this world. God who is sovereign and He ain't
taking no back seat to nobody. God who raises up the dead, gives
life to the dead, God Almighty who rules and reigns in this
heaven, and He don't ask nobody to let Him do it. And I'll tell you, so you know,
and I don't care what the secondary causes is that takes a man out
of this world, God's the first cause of everything that happens
in this world. He may let a heart attack take me out, but that's
the secondary cause. He's the one that's the God of
my heart. Listen, I tell you, I cannot
understand. God help me. Either God is God or He's not. Either we're gonna trust Him
or we're not. We're gonna believe Him or we ain't. We're going
to live like He's on His throne or we're going to live like He's
just down on His hands and knees and we ain't got nothing, He
ain't got nothing for us. As for me, I want to live like
He's on His throne. I want to get up in the morning
and say, this is God's day. Go to bed at night, this is God's
night. I want to get up and say, God
gave me a night's sleep. I want to have enough strength
to say God gave me strength to do that. God, God's in the midst of her,
God's in the present help. And I tell you anything that
you trusted in besides God will be brought to desolation. And I'll tell you what, he'll
make men and their arrogance and their pride. And believe
me, people's got it. They got it. And oh, oh God,
rip it out, rip it out, rip it out. Oh, take it away. Take away the pride. Oh God,
rip it out of there. He'll make men and their arrogance
and their pride and their boasting to be desolate. Look at my great
big house. Oh my goodness, I worked so hard
for this. God gonna burn it down. Oh my. He's gonna bring, you
know, all these politicians with their arrogance and pride, all
these religious men with their arrogance and pride, all these
preachers with their arrogance and pride. He said, God said,
we'll make them desolate, make them desolate. And I tell you
what, and bless His name, He'll make wars to cease under the
end of the earth. And He's already, already made
war cease between us and Him. That's the war, that's the war
I'm interested in. He's already stopped that war
between me and Him. He worked me, and brought me
to the end of myself, and I said, Surrender! Oh, when the Prince of Peace
comes in, He stops the war in our hearts. And some way, some
day soon, we'll dwell in the land of perfect peace. I've got
to hurry, I'm sorry. And oh, look here, let me give
you the last thing. Oh, I talk about saints' confidence.
Look in verse 10. Look in verse 10. Be still and
know that I am God. Oh my. What does that word, be
still, mean? Just be quiet, be peaceful, be
restful. Be restful. You tell a kid, be
still, be still. Well, do the same thing with
God. Be quiet, be restful, be peaceful. Does God change because we're
in tough circumstances? No. Does He change when we are
afraid? No. Does He change when we don't
understand why and what's going on? No. How can we know he's
God unless we rest and peaceful and quiet and know that he's
God? It's in the stillness of our
souls that we truly learn to know God. You know, people just
can't be quiet, they can't be still. Something's going on all
the time. Ambulance come by and they don't
even see it coming because they got their music so loud in the
car. You know, people can't stand to be by themselves, but oh,
to be alone with God. And I tell you something, we're
alone with Him whether we know it or not, because it's just
me, you, and Him, that's it. But look what He says over here
in Isaiah 30. I want you to see that I got
to hurry, I really got to hurry. Well, everybody tells me when
I say that, just go on, just go on with it. But look what it said here in
Psalm 30. I mean, excuse me, Isaiah 30. I was about to mess
you up again. Look what it said in verse seven.
Isaiah 30 in verse seven. For the Egyptians shall help
in vain and to no purpose. What he's saying is this is the
world. Egyptian always represents the Egypt, represents the world.
For the Egyptians shall help in vain and no purpose. Therefore
have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to sit still. Sit still. Look down in verse
15. For thus saith the Lord God,
the Holy One of Israel, in returning and rest shall you be saved,
in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength. Oh my. Be still, God's here, God's there,
oh my. Our strength, our strength, whenever
something's really, really going on, is to sit still. Be quiet,
wait on God, just rest in God. You know Moses stood at the Red
Sea and here come Pharaoh's army. I mean the dust was a-flying.
Them chariots and all that big army's coming after him. And
they stood at the Red Sea. It was out in the wilderness.
And everybody just got, oh all them, oh, oh, oh Moses we're
gonna die, we're gonna die, we're gonna die. Moses just said, stand
still. Be quiet. Just stand still. Be restful and see the salvation
of the Lord. And I tell you what, that's how
we see it. Oh my. Well, then this is my last point. Look there in verse, back over
here in verse 11, or excuse me, verse 10 again. Not only We have
such a rest, such a peaceful rest. We still know that I'm
God. And look what he said, I will be exalted. I will be exalted. Oh my, I will be exalted. The
Lord of hosts is with us. I'll be exalted in the earth,
be exalted among the heathen. Well, he's exalted among us.
Even now, even now, how high is God to us? How high is he? How exalted is he? How glorious
is He? Can we exalt Him enough? Can
we make Him high enough in our mind? Can we make Him high enough
in our heart? Can we make... How can we...
Can God be too great, too glorious? Huh? He's exalted as our refuge. He's exalted as our strength.
And we attribute everything to Him. And there's going to come
a day when He's going to be exalted. In this whole world, God said
he gave Christ a name that's above every name, that the name
of Jesus, every knee should bow, and every tongue shall confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Huh? Oh Lord, can he be exalted enough? I ain't never been able to do
it. I've been shooting at it for years and years and still
ain't done it. Our Father, in the blessed name,
oh, the glorious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, thank you
for your gospel. Thank you for allowing us to
meet here today. Thank you for your word. Oh, what a blessed
thing your word is, how it blesses us, comforts us, assures us,
Prepares us for another day. Prepares us for another trial.
Prepares us for another day of trouble. But Lord, it prepares
us. And it comforts us. Indeed, Lord,
you're in our midst. You're in our midst. And we thank
you for being our praise and help. In Christ's name, amen. Let's sing that song, All Hail
the Power. What is that, 46, 44? 42, let's stand together and sing,
all hail the power, and then you'll be at liberty to go. All hail the power of Jesus'
name. Let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the riot diadem,
and crown Him Lord of all. Bring faith, my royal, die again,
and crown him Lord of all. He chosen seed of Israel's race,
He ransomed from the fall. Hail Him who saved you by His
grace, And crowned Him Lord of all. Hail Him who saves you by
His grace. Let every kindred, every tribe,
on this terrestrial ball, to Him on the top, sting or strike,
and crown Him Lord of all. In the name of the Father, the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Oh, that with thunder, sacred
throng, we at His feet may fall. We'll join the everlasting song
and call Him Lord. We'll join the everlasting song
and call him Lord of all.