There we go. Now I want to talk tonight about
the saints, blessed refuge, and victory. There's a couple different
ideas about who wrote this psalm. Moses wrote the 90th psalm. Some
think he wrote the 91st psalm. Some say David's the author of
it and the person he's writing about is his Solomon, his son.
But this also speaks about our Lord Jesus Christ. It promises
protection, safety to him as a man from diseases, evil spirits,
and wicked men. And angels will give charge over
him. Look what it says there in verse 11 and 12. For he shall
give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways.
They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot
against a stone. You remember when our Lord was
tempted of the devil. That was one of the things, when
there's up on the temple, he said, if you be the son of God,
throw yourself off, for it's written that they shall bear
thee up, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. And he said,
thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God. And so Satan used this
verse of scripture to tip Christ to jump off the temple. And he
know, and that's the only thing we can say is, you know, God
gives us an answer. But what this psalm is teaching
is how the Lord Jesus Christ and his victory. And not only
His victory, but everyone that's in Him. Everyone that's in Him. Everyone that's represented by
Him. Everyone that's perfected by Him. By Him. And all of God's dear people,
all of God's chosen people, God has taken upon Himself to care
for them. And to protect them. By Himself,
by His Son, and by the Holy Spirit. He's taken upon us to do that.
He said, cast your care upon him for he careth for you. And
the scriptures tells us plainly, you know that the Lord is the
one that protects us and keeps us. So I wanna go down through
here and I got four points about a believer. Four different things
about believers. First of all, I want you to see
the believer's dwelling place. Look here in verse one and two.
Here's the believer's dwelling place. He that dwelleth, and
of course we're in Christ, so these things we pray, Christ
has got the victory, we have it in Him. He that dwelleth in
the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow
of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is
my refuge, my fortress, my God, in Him will I trust. You know
where we dwell? He said, we're in the secret
place of the Most High. Where's this secret place at?
Well, it has to be behind the veil. We ain't been there yet.
Has to be behind the veil, where God sits behind that veil. You
know, that's why the high priest was only allowed to go there
once a year. And our Lord Jesus Christ has already entered behind
that veil. And we have boldness to come
into the presence of God through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the only way in the
world we can come into his presence by the blood of Christ. And I
tell you, the Scriptures tells us that we was crucified with
Him, we died with Him, and He says, when Christ rose again,
said, we are seated together with Him in heavenly places.
So we dwell where Christ dwells, in the secret place of the Most
High. And I tell you it's by the blood
and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ that we can only
come into God's presence. And it's only because of him
that we can dwell there in God's presence even now. And then look
what he says, we abide under the shadow. Oh my, we shall abide
under the shadow of who? The Almighty. But when you dwell under the
shadow, that means the protection of the Almighty. That's what
he's talking about here. And you look in the margin, when
it says we'll abide, that means we'll lodge, lodge, live under
the protection of Almighty God. You know, God gathers his chicks,
gather his people like a chicken does, her little chicks right
under her wings and keeps them right up there. And when he says,
and who in the world can harm us when the Lord Jesus Christ
is our fortress and our refuge? He said, I'll say of the Lord.
Now listen to this now. He said, I will say of the Lord. What are you gonna say about
the Lord? And he said, I will say of the Lord. He is my refuge,
my fortress, my God, in him will I trust. So who can harm us when
the Lord is our refuge and protection? There's nothing. He's our refuge
and He's our fortress. I don't know if you've ever been
in a fort or not, but you know what? People can take over a
fort, but if you're in God's fortress, who in the world is
going to do that? Who's going to take His fortress
down? Who's going to break into His fortress? Who dares to come
into His fortress? And in fact, he says the gates
of hell won't even prevail against it. That's how much he does it.
Who shall separate us from the love of God that's in Christ?
Our Lord said, I give unto them eternal life, and they'll never
perish. And there's four names here,
four titles right here in this verse that I want us to look
at. And he said, I will serve the Lord. Here's what he says,
I will serve the Lord. It's what we say about him. We
come into the presence, verse 1, we come into the presence
of the Most High, the Most High God, high and holy. Oh, we come
reverently, holy. before Him and we come through
our Lord Jesus Christ. He's high and He's holy and He's
lifted up. He's the high and lofty one who
inhabits eternity. And then secondly, we rest in
Him because it says there in verse 91 again, I'll dwell under
the shadow of the Almighty. He's sovereign. He's got all
the power. He's got all the authority. He's
got all the strength. So that's why we rest in him
under the shadow of the Almighty. And then we rejoice in him because
the Lord Jesus, the Lord is our salvation. I will serve the Lord.
We rejoice in His salvation because He is the Lord God Almighty Himself,
the Lord Jehovah. That's why I say in Him will
I trust. Then look what He says, not only
will I trust in Him because of my refuge and forth, but He's
my God. That's the fourth thing. He's
high and lofty one. He's the Almighty. He is the
Lord Jehovah. We rejoice in His salvation and
we trust Him because He said He's my God. My God. You know, we are complete in
Him, perfect in Him, who's the head of all principalities and
powers. You know why we call Him my God?
He becomes our God by eternal election, before we ever knew
that He was even God. Here's our God by redeeming blood.
Christ redeemed us by his blood before you and I was ever here.
And then he comes by the Holy Ghost and regenerates us by his
power. And then after he regenerates
us, he affectionately calls us to himself. And then he becomes
our God because he's our choice. We want him to be God by choice. We choose Him to be our God.
I'm going to tell you something about Him. He will not let His
people have another God. He won't do it. He will not let
you go to another God. A lot of people got another God,
but He said, I'll rejoice in my God. I'll say to the Lord,
He's my God. And I'll tell you, that's the
only way in the world He can be your God, by His electing
grace, by His redeeming blood, by His effectual calling, by
His regenerating power, and then when, you know why you chose
Him? Because He first chose you. Ain't that right? We love Him,
why? Because He first loved us. That's
the only reason. And I tell you then, not only
is the believer's dwelling place, but now look here at the believer's
confidence. We're talking about what the
victory have in the Lord Jesus Christ and our refuge in Him.
He said here in verse three, and I love the shells and wheels
of God. You know, down there in the 15th
and 16th verses, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will. God says I will. I love the I
wills and the shells of God. That means there's no maybes
with him, there's no perhaps with him, there's no uncertainty
with him. There's nothing uncertain about his purpose and promise
in the Lord Jesus Christ. No wonder David said, the Lord
is my shepherd, I shall not want. And then he ends up that very
psalm by saying this, I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever. Oh my, and I tell you, you know
this, you know some of the promises our Lord has? He said, I have
ever sheep which are not of this fold, them also I must bring. And He said, all that the Father
giveth me, what's gonna happen? They shall come to me. So I love
the wills and shells of God's word and the wills and shells
of His precious power. So that's what it means if God
be for us, who in the world can be against us? And then he says
there in verse three, he shall deliver thee. Oh my. You know what he delivers? That
word deliver means salvation. Same thing as being saved. He
delivered us from the curse of the law. Cursed is everyone that
continues not in. He bore the curse for us. He
saved us and delivered us from the penalty of sin. There's therefore
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. He saved
us from the wrath of God. He that believeth on the Son
of God, he hath life. He that believeth not the Son
of God, the wrath of God abideth on him. Now listen, I'm gonna
tell you something here. I'm gonna take a minute and tell
you something. I remember talking to a man one
time. And I was around this fellow a lot, and he used to come to
these services a lot years ago. But anyway, he told me one time,
he said, the wrath of God's never on me. And I said, yeah, in one
sense, it never was. But in your experience, it was. In your experience, it was. If
you never experienced the wrath of God, never understood that
God was angry with you, that God was mad at you, then you
don't know what it is to trust Christ. When you get lost, and
you understand that God's against you, and that God's angry with
you, and that God don't owe you nothing. But not, you know, according
to the scriptures, there never was a time God was angry with
me because of the eternal election of God and because of Christ.
But in my experience, I noted what it was for God to be upset
with me and angry with me. That's why people work so hard
to have peace and work so hard to establish peace with God.
And when God made Christ to be our peace, and Christ brought
peace and established peace, why did he establish peace for?
Now in your experience, everybody's experience, and listen, To be
doctrinally correct, it never was, but to be experientially
what we actually experience in time. I was saved from eternity,
so was you. But I wasn't actually saved in
time. I was one God's elect, but I
didn't know it until he chose me, told me in his book that
I did. So you know our experience, and
as we grow in the knowledge of Christ, our knowledge gets much
greater, but our experience with how God saved us and what he
did for us is altogether different than what we understand now.
Will you say that? Well, That's a little aside. And I tell you, not only saved
us from the wrath of God, but saved us from all of our enemies.
He said, the noisome pestilence and the fowler. You know, the
fowler, he sets a trap. He sets a trap. Y'all remember
when you was kids and you'd put a box out and put a put a stick
under it and hoping a bird would get out of there and you could
pull the stick and catch a bird. He said, that's the way he was.
He said, you know, said, that fowler, he's got a trap set for
you. He wants to catch you. But he
said, listen, I'm going to save you from the fowler. I'm going
to save you from the noises, pestilence, the things you know
that's against us, all the things that come on in this world. And
I'll tell you that fowler, he's got hidden traps. He's gonna
try to trick us, but God said, I ain't gonna let him. I saved
you from it, saved you from it. And then look what he said in
verse four. Oh my, you're talking about a confidence. He shall
cover thee with his feathers, and under his wing shalt thou
trust. His truth shall be thy shield
and thy buckler. Oh my, he shall cover thee. You
know what he covers us with? His blessed, glorious righteousness. Oh my. That's what he's talking
about. He shall cover thee. Cover you
from the top of your head to the sole of your feet, from the
inside of your soul to the outside of your body. God sees us all
righteous in Christ. He covers us with his spotless
robe of righteousness. We have on the wedding garment.
And when we come to that wedding, Mary suffered the lamb, we all
gonna be dressed for it. We're all gonna have on the wedding
garment. And then he says, he'll cover us under his wings. And
when he talks about covering us under his wings, Malachi said
this, the son of righteousness shall arise with healing in his
wings. So our Lord Jesus Christ covers
his wings, healing with his wings, hiding a place in his wings. And then he said in his truth,
he said, all his truth are shield and buckler. That's what I love
about God's blessed word, it's true. Every single word is true. If God said it, it's so. If he
made a promise, he's gonna keep it. If He promised to be faithful,
He's going to be faithful. You know in Hebrews 13, 5 it
says, I shall not fear what man shall do unto me. Why? Because
He said, I'll never, no never, No never, no never, no never
forsake you. Five no never's right there in
that particular verse. And I tell you what, he said,
I'll never leave you and forsake you. I'll tell you, no, you can't
make me leave you and forsake you. You know why? Because he
promised us. He preserves us and turns our
enemies away from us. He said the truth, know the truth. Truth saves you, the truth sets
you free. The truth is what we want. You
know, I tell you, and we keep saying, you know, if we stay
true to God's Word, we cannot say nothing but the truth. We
cannot not do it. And then look what he said in
verse 5 and 6. Well, we're confident because He delivered us, He covers
us. And then look what he says. Thou
shalt not be afraid for the terrible night, for the arrow that flyeth
by day, nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, or
for the destruction that cometh that new day. Why are we not
afraid? Because he's our Redeemer. We're
not going to fear. And you know he talks about the
terrors of by night. You ever had a nightmare and
wake up and just be terrified, scared to death? And there's
people that have night terrors. I mean they have them. And whether
they come by men or devils, wake up afraid. Them night terrors
not gonna hurt you. They're not gonna hurt you. You're
gonna wake up the next morning. They didn't do a thing in the
world to you. And then the owls that flies by day. What's some
of the owls that fly by day? Wars, floods, earthquakes, People
call accidents, oh my, they're hours by day. He sends all kinds
of things through the world hours by day, but they don't harm us.
Whatever it is, he's not gonna let it harm us, not gonna let
us, unless he chooses to take us home that way. And then look
what he says in verse six, or the pestilence that walks in
darkness. Oh my, pestilence that walks
in darkness. You know what that is? Diseases,
plagues, demons. And it walks in darkness. We
don't see them. We don't know they're out there.
It's germs. Old Scott Rich said one time, if there's a foot of
ground, a square foot of ground on this earth that God doesn't
control, I don't want to be found standing on it. And you know
that's exactly right, because if there's one spot that God
didn't have, if you ever stepped on that spot, you'd be a goat,
Jesse. But listen, everybody worries
about plagues and diseases and all those things, but listen,
let me tell you something. God's the one that sends them,
God's the one that saves from them. And he said, I'm not gonna
let them hurt you. I'll tell you what, and it comes
in the darkness. We don't know that they're there,
they don't know they're coming there. Wonder how many times
we've been around somebody that had some kind of a disease or
something like that and it never had any effect on us. And how
many people, I think in this congregation, I think we had
13 people that had this COVID. I think that's right. Was that
what it was? About 13 people. Every single
one of them got over it. Most of them, a lot of them didn't
even have enough symptoms to know that they're sick. And so,
you know, what do we have people afraid of something that God
controls? If you get it, you're going to
get over it one way or another. You know. I'll tell you, you know, and
there's people in their 80s that got it and got over it. People walking around said, oh,
this might get me, that might get me, something else might
get me. I may walk out of here tonight, and I'm going to tell
you something that I know, this is a true story. There was a
man driving, used to be in Henry Mahan's congregation, and he
was messing around on his wife, and he was driving down 52 one
time, because you crossed the river from Ashland and you was
in Ohio. He was driving down 52, and a boulder come off that
mountain, off a great big hill, went right down there and in
his windshield and killed him, graveyard dead. Now how'd that
happen? Who put that rock there? Who
put him there? Then he went into eternity driving
down the road. Didn't see the rock coming. Didn't
know there was a rock a million miles up. Surely didn't think
this was gonna be the... But that's what I'm telling you.
He said, don't be afraid of these things if God's pleased to take
us out by that, that's fine. My and I tell you the pestilence
it walks in darkness. I mean he was dark that was he
was his mind But that thing he didn't have a clue it was there
Those are the things that walk in darkness And look what he says here in
the destruction that wastes that noon day. That means that the
very day, the noon, Christ's final judgment, God's final judgment. And here's what he told Job,
Satan said, I can't get to him because you've got a hedge around
him. That's exactly right. Satan can't do nothing to us
or nothing else can because God's got a hedge about it. And only
if he takes that hedge down can anybody get through it. Everything
that happens to us, they got to get permission from God. I'm
telling you, huh? Oh my. And then evil, look what
it says there in verse 7. A thousand shall fall at thy
side, ten thousand at thy right hand. But it shall not come thy thee.
I tell you, there's a lot of evil, a lot of death near God's
children, but not upon them. You remember at midnight when
the avenging angel went through Egypt and they slew the firstborn
of every living thing, man and beast, every firstborn of everything. And those Israelites was in their
homes and they could hear those people screaming and crying and
hollering and carrying on. but it never bothered one of
them. 10,000 fell at their right hand, and
it didn't bother them. Huh? Didn't bother them. And
I tell you, all of us, all of us, we're gonna have trials. God's gonna send us troubles.
We have the infirmities of this flesh. But I tell you, the only
thing that'll ever hurt us will be because it's the will of the
Father himself. Nothing's going, we're immortal
here till he gets done with us. And they're only gonna do it
when he decrees. Nothing is ever gonna harm us
until he decrees that it happens. Ain't that right? Nothing. Absolutely
nothing. Somebody, I'll say, I'll go so
far, say this. If somebody intended to shoot
me, And I died by it, that was God's will, that was God's purpose.
But if God intends me to live a fellow pull a gun on me, guarantee
it ain't gonna go off till God gets done with me. That's how sure I am of God Almighty. That's how confident I've got
in God. Now I'm not gonna stand in front
of a fellow who's got a gun without trying to hide, unless I've got
one. Beat him to the drum. I'm just playing with you. But
what I'm telling you is that God, nothing's gonna happen to
us until he decrees it. There ain't no will or no reason
that can ever touch us. I tell you, and then he says
here in verse eight, and I've got to hurry. Only with thine
eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Our
eyes, our eyes are gonna see the judgment of God upon this
evil, evil world and its race and agree with all of these judgments
and praise him for our deliverance. You read Revelations 19 verses
1 through 6. It says, they began to praise
him for his salvation and for his glory. And then he says that
God came in great judgment and you know what they ended up saying?
And he started putting men into hell and we shouted, hallelujah,
the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. and salvation belongs unto Him.
I tell you, when God judges this world, we're going to shout hallelujah. All right, let me hurry on. Let
me show you our Redeemer and our refuge here, starting verse
9. Because thou hast made the Lord,
which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation. The only reason we dwell within
the veil and deliver from condemnation and cover with his righteousness
and hid under his protective wings and have no fear of terror
is because this, God's our refuge. We made him our refuge. He's
the place that we hide. That's our habitation. That's
our habitation. He's our redeemer. He's our habitation. And I'll tell you something,
look what it says here in verse 10. Neither shall no evil befall
thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thee. And here's the
thing, there's no safety, there's no security, but only in the
Lord Jesus Christ. There surely ain't no security
or safety in religion. Safety in religion. Shirley got
an email or something that she saw on Facebook, you know, said,
confess your sins and go get absolution, and He'll cleanse
you. One man told a dear preacher
friend of mine, he says, you need to confess your faults to
get up in front of the church and confess your faults. And
I said, no, no, no, no. Confess your sin. There ain't
but one person we confess our sin to, and that's God Almighty.
Huh? I'm not gonna confess my sin.
I don't have to confess my sin. You know what I am. I don't have
to tell you how sorry I am. You know it. I don't tell you
how sinful I am, you know that. But also at the same time, beloved,
we have Christ to be our Savior, Christ to be our security, Christ
to be our Savior, not religion, law, or works, or morality. It's only in Him. Huh? Oh, it's
by Him that we're justified from all things, which we couldn't
be in the law of Moses. Oh, being justified by faith,
we have peace with God. And it says here, we made, there
in verse nine, we made the Lord our refuge and habitation. And
you know what? We did it willingly. You know
why we did it willingly? Because he made us willing in
the day of his power. He said, blessed is the man whom
thou choosest and causest to approach unto thee. We love Him
because He first loved us. We come to Him because He first
come to us. He's our refuge and our Lord
because He first made us His people. Ain't that right? He's the one that called us to
faith. You've not chosen me, I've chosen you. I've loved you,
not Esau. And that's why we say to God
be the glory, great things he has done. Then look what it says
in verse 11 and 12. They shall bear thee up in their
hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Thou shalt tread
upon the lion and the adder, the young lion and dragon, excuse
me, they shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy
foot against a stone. You know, Hebrews 1.14 says this,
that he shall give his angels charge over thee, to heirs of
salvation. You know, the angels, God created
them, made by the Lord, and they do the things at his command.
They're sent to be ministering spirits to his people. And look
over here at Psalm 37. I want you to see this. Psalm
37 and verse five. No, Psalm 34 in verse 7, I'm
sorry. Psalm 34 in verse 7. You know, God says, look what he says that
they do around the Lord's people. The angel of the Lord encampeth
round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. That's kind of strange, ain't
it? There's an angel around you, do you fear the Lord? That's why he said, he said,
they send forth the angels to be ministering spirits to those
that are heirs of salvation. And you know, as our Lord said,
he sends the angels to gather his people from the four corners
of the earth. And oh my, So I'm very, very thankful. Then look,
let me wind it up with this, the believer's promise. Look
what it says here in verse 14 through 16. And God's here speaking about
His elect ones, His chosen one. Because He has set His love upon
me. Oh my. You know, We didn't deserve God to do anything
for us. We didn't deserve his mercy.
We certainly don't deserve grace. And with all of our imperfections,
he loves us and we love him. We set our love upon him. You
know, when he asked Simon Peter, do you love me? Yes, Lord, I
do. You love me? Yes, Lord, I do.
Do you love me? Oh, Lord, thou knowest, thou
knowest. And I tell you, because of all
of our infections, He loves us. And with all our imperfections,
we love Him. We really love Him. And He loved
us before we ever loved Him. And then when He loved us, then
we began to love Him. And Paul told the Ephesians,
he says, to them who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity
and truth. There is a people that love Christ
in sincerity and in truth. It's genuine, it's real, it's
real. But I'm telling you what, and
I'll say this, and I'm gonna really wind this thing up here
real quick, that I have more confidence in His love for me
than I do in my love for Him. What if I forget my name? What
if I get Alzheimer's and I don't know who I am or where I am or
who anybody else is? Then how can I know I love Him?
Because He loves me. And we may get that way. Oh,
we may get that way. But it's not my love for Him
that saves me, though I do love Him and I know you do too. Oh,
how we love him, how we need him. He's worthy of every bit
of love we can possibly, possibly give him. But oh, I have confidence
in his love, in his love. Then he says there, you know,
therefore, he says love, therefore will I deliver him. Therefore,
wherever you find that because, therefore, because. And where there's a because,
there's always a therefore. And therefore we were under law,
and because we sinned, therefore we die. But because Christ died,
because of grace, therefore we live. And we believe and love
the Lord Jesus, therefore, because. Then he says, I will deliver
him, and look what he says, from sin, Satan, and the wrath of
God, and I'll set him on high. You know where he sets us on
high at? seated together in heavenly places in Christ, sitting right
there with him right now, as far as God's concerned. Then
look what he said in verse 15. He shall call upon me. What are you going to do when
he calls upon me? I'm going to answer him. He's going to call upon me. What
am I going to do? I'm going to answer him. I'm going to answer
him. When he prays and seeks for mercy,
I'm going to give him mercy. When he comes calling out for
grace, I'm going to give him grace. And then look what he
says, I'll be with him in trouble. Oh, when he has trouble. He says,
I'll deliver him in six troubles. Yeah, in the seventh, I will
save him. Oh my, my. I'll deliver him in
his time of trouble. When we're so troubled, he comes
and saves us. Then look what he says, and I'll
honor him. I'm gonna honor him. You know, our Lord Jesus Christ
said, he that loveth me, my father will honor. John 12, 26, he said,
he that loveth me, him will my father honor. And then he says
this, and I'm gonna honor him. Give him a long, long life. I'm
going to satisfy him. How's he going to satisfy? He
says here, with long life. What does he mean? He doesn't
just mean a long life here. He means eternal life, an eternal,
a long life. And then he said, I'm going to
show him my salvation. If you ever see his salvation,
he's going to have to be the one to show it to you. When he
says, I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful. I will have
compassion upon whom I will have compassion. So listen, he showed
us his salvation. And that's the only way we know
anything about it, because he showed it to us. Ain't that right? Our father in the precious, precious
name, of our Lord Jesus. Thank you for allowing us to
meet tonight. Thank you for your word. Thank you for the truth
as it is in our blessed Savior. Who's like unto thee in power,
glory, majesty? Who's like unto thee that gives
salvation, sure, steadfast, immovable, abounding, and abundant? Such
an abundant life we have in you. Thank you, Lord, for letting
us meet. Thank you, Lord, for your word. God bless these dear
saints who go back out in this old cold world. Protect them
and preserve them. Not only those who are here tonight,
but those that are listening and that are watching. God, keep
them and deliver them and protect them for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. I'm learning to lead.