Good evening. Open with me to
1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1. We'll start
reading in verse 1. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you,
and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. to an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven
for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto
salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye
greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are
in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of
your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth,
though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and
honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom having
not seen ye love, in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing,
ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. receiving
the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls, of which
salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who
prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, searching
what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in
them did signify when it testified beforehand the sufferings of
Christ and the glory that should follow. unto whom it was revealed
that not unto themselves but unto us they did minister the
things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached
the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven,
which things the angels desire to look into. Wherefore, gird
up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for
the grace that is to be brought unto you at this revelation of
Jesus Christ. As obedient children, not fashioning
yourselves according to the former lust in your ignorance, but as
he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of
conversation, because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy. And if you call on the Father,
who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's
work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. For as much as
you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver
and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot. I want to pause here for just
a moment. About a month ago, I guess, when
the weather started turning nicer, our thoughts turned to looking
at the outside of the house, which was poor. And we went and
bought some rocks to put in our flower gardens. I bought those
rocks to go in a specific place And those rocks were purchased,
and they were costly and of value to me at the time that we bought
them. Every rock was for a specific
place. And even the smallest of rocks
that dropped out of my truck as I was putting those rocks
down, I went and found them because they belonged in a certain place. Now over time, those rocks I
know are going to lose their value. The monetary expense of
them is going to be forgotten as it's replaced by the joy of
my wife being happy with the outside of the house. However, our Lord's precious
blood shall never lose its value for he is the lamb slain, which
John saw in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts,
and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as it had been slain. The blood of our Lord reaches
through all eternity as freshly shed blood. It is not dry and
crusty blood ever. It is as freshly shed blood. And it is eternally precious
to our Father because it pleased the Lord to bruise him, that
he can be just and the justifier of sinful men. He receives all
the glory in his son's precious bloodshed. The blood is precious
to the son, for by the shedding of his blood, he accomplished
the salvation of sinners. And the Holy Ghost has made His
blood precious to those of us who believe, seeing in His blood
the great cost of our salvation. Let's go back and start at verse
18 again. For as much as you know that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from
your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot. who verily was foreordained before
the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last
times for you, who by him do believe in God, that raised him
up from the dead and gave him glory, that your faith and hope
might be in God. Seeing ye have purified your
souls in obeying the truth through the spirit unto unfeigned love
of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure
heart, fervently. Being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and
all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth,
and the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord
endureth forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. Wherefore, laying aside all malice,
and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that
ye may grow thereby, if so be ye have tasted that the Lord
is gracious. To whom coming, as unto a living
stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,
ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house and
holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
by Jesus Christ. Let's bow together and pray. Our Lord, our great high and
mighty God, Lord, what a blessing and a privilege
it is that you have caused us to come together tonight. And Lord, we hope and we pray
that our gathering tonight is that we might worship you. But
Lord, we know that we're unable to do so lest that you come in
our midst. Lord, send forth your spirit,
anoint us this evening, revive us that we might worship and
honor our Lord who shed his precious blood for us. Lord, that we might
see him afresh, that our hearts might burn within us as the word
is proclaimed. Lord, let us not hear the words
of men. Hear the word with power, with
the power of God sent forth. Lord, how we need you. Though our sins, like David said,
are ever before us. You've given us reason to hope
and rejoice because of Christ's shed blood. He has put away our
sins as far as the east is from the west, and you remember them
no more. Lord, keep us. Oh, forgive us
of our sins. And Lord, we bring to your remembrance
those among us who are suffering who are going through great burdens
and trials at this time. Oh, strengthen their faith. Cause
them to turn to Christ. Lord, cause me to turn to Christ,
to lay hold upon Him and sue Him for mercy. Lord, bless this congregation.
Forgive us of our sins. For it's in Christ's precious
name we pray, amen. If you will look with me in the
91st Psalm. Psalm 91. Psalm 91. 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 and my fortress, my God, in him will I trust. Surely
he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from
the noise of pestilence. He shall cover thee with his
feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust. His truth shall
be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for
the terror by night, nor the arrow that flyeth by day, nor
for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction
that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy
side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not
come nigh thee. Only with thine eye shalt thou
behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast
made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation. There shall no evil befall thee,
neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. 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. Thou shalt tread upon the lion
and adder. The young lion and the dragon
shalt thou trample under feet. Because he hath said his love
upon me, therefore will I deliver him. I will set him on high because
he hath known my name. He shall call upon me and I will
answer him. I will be with him in trouble.
I will deliver and honor him. With long life will I satisfy
him and show him my salvation. The believer's refuge, the believer's
hiding place. And this psalm speaks about our Lord Jesus Christ. And it has promises of protection
and safety to him as a man. from diseases, evil spirits,
and wicked men, and angels are given charge over him, given
care over him. And this is, the devil even used
this verse of scripture against our Lord when he was tempting
him in the desert. Do you remember? He set him on
a high, set him upon the temple, and he says, jump off he said
he's written that thou shalt give you know his angels have
charge over you and you won't even stumble over a rock your
feet won't stumble said their angels are going to have charge
over you you won't even dash your foot against a stone and
our Lord says thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God that's
not what you're going to do so this is about our Lord Jesus
Christ but it's also teaching us the victory that our Lord
Jesus Christ has. Look what it says in verse 7.
A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy
right hand. But it shall not come nigh thee.
Our Lord is going to win. He's already won. He sets on
His throne. But everyone that's in Him, and
everyone saved by Him, and represented by Him, and perfected by Him,
every single one of them, these promises will apply to them too.
Because if they apply to Christ, they apply to us. If Christ's
victory is won, our victory is won. If He defeated our enemies,
He defeated His enemies, He defeated our enemies. And I tell you what,
and all of the Lord's dear people, all are under the care and protection
of the Triune God. Cast your care, cast your care
upon Him. Why? because he careth for you."
Ain't that what he says? He said, His angels are ministry
spirits, since to minister unto them who shall be heirs of salvation. And the name of the Lord is a
strong tower, and whosoever runneth into it is safe. Now that first
verse I just quoted to you, 1 Peter 5 and 7. I listened to a message
by Brother Henry this last week that Darren told me about. And
he used that verse of scripture. Care for anxious, a cure for
anxiousness, for anxious care. And I tell you, if you get an
opportunity to listen to it, if you got worries and you got
troubles and you got anxieties and you're burdened about something,
you listen to that message by Brother Mahan. A cure for anxious
care. And I tell you, he used that
verse of scripture there and it's outstanding. But I tell
you our Lord Jesus Christ and the key to it, the key to it
is He cares for us. He cares for us even when we
take our burdens to the Lord and we get right back up and
pick them back up and go right on about our business after we
take them there. He still cares for us. He still
cares for us. But I want to show you several
things about a believer in this particular Psalm about our relationship
with Christ and what He has, we have. First of all, look at
the believer's dwelling place in verse 1 and 2. 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 and my fortress, my God, in Him will I trust. Now, he says this, that he that
dwelleth. That word dwelleth means abide,
to live there. And he that dwelleth in the secret
place of the Most High. Now, most people don't even know
God. But it talks about believers dwelling in the secret place
of the Most High. Where is the secret place of
the Most High? Where does God dwell that we
can dwell with Him? Where is this secret place? What
is this place that God dwells in and it's called secret and
we dwell in that secret place with Him? That place that nobody
else but His people know. The world don't know where it's
at. The world don't know who He is. But we, he, us, as believers,
that secret place, that place where we dwell in, is in that
place of our Lord Jesus Christ, who made a place for us in the
right hand of God as he sits at the right hand of God. And
we even go behind the veil, the scriptures tells us. We go behind
the veil. and the high priest was the only
one that could go behind the veil and now it says that we
go behind the veil and we go into the holiest of holies because
our Lord Jesus by new and living way by the blood that he read
about tonight by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ and it
says by the blood of thy Lord Jesus Christ that was slain that
means freshly slain it's like it's always there always fresh
always slain And I tell you, that's the secret place. And
I tell you, God's got a place that He lets us go that other
people can't go. He's got a place where we can
go to, and I tell you, we can go there where He is all by Himself,
and we're there by ourselves. And I tell you, it's in the very
presence of God, seated with the Lord Jesus Christ. You keep
Psalm 91, look in Ephesians 2 with me for just a moment. Look in
Ephesians 2. Look what it says here. And oh,
we're within the veil, we're in the secret place of the Most
High. God has a place He dwells, and
it's a secret place, and only His people know where it's at,
and only His people can go there. And they live there, they dwell
there. Look what He says here in Ephesians 2, 5. Ephesians
2, 5. Even when we were dead in sins,
hath quickened us together with Christ by grace you are saved. Listen to this. And hath raised
us up together and made us set together in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus. That's a pretty wonderful place
to be, ain't it? And so we by the blood and righteousness
of our Lord Jesus Christ come not only into God's presence,
but we dwell there. We live there. That's our dwelling
place. This world's not our dwelling
place. We dwell in God. Christ, who is our life. We have
a place we live. And I'll tell you that people
say, well, you need to make Christ the most important thing in your
life. He is our life. We abide in Him. We dwell in
Him. We're seated in Him. We live
through Him, by Him, and because of Him. And God said, come here. Come here and get in this place
where I dwell. Come here and abide with me.
Dwell with me. That's what God said. And then
look what else he said here. He that dwells in the secret
place of the host most high shall abide under the shadow of the
Almighty. Dwell and abide under what? The
shadow of the Almighty. You know, The Word of God is
so strange. God is, it says He's got a shadow. And it says we dwell under the
shadow. You know when you need a shadow? A place to dwell, a
place to hide? When it's hot and you want to
sit under the shade, under the shadow. Or when there's a storm
or something coming around and you need a place to hide. And
our Lord Jesus Christ is both of those things. We shall abide
or lodge, it says in the margin, lodge under the shadow of the
Almighty. And I tell you, beloved, we're
like children under his wings. Look with me over here in Psalm
17. Look what he says. Look what David asked the Lord
over here. Psalm 17. Oh, what a blessed place to be
with our Lord Jesus Christ. What a blessed place to hide.
What a wonderful place to dwell in the lodge, under the wings,
under the shadow of the Almighty. Look what David said here in
Psalm 17 and verse 8. Keep me as the apple of the eye,
hide me under the shadow of thy wings. There's wings out there and the
shadow said, hide me under them. me unto them. Put me, oh, let
me go up unto the shadow of your wings. And I tell you, look what
else it says, and who can harm us because it says in verse 2,
I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress. That's
what it means that the gates of hell shall not prevail against
the Lord's people. The Lord is our refuge, the Lord
is our fortress. I'm telling you that, and this
is, who can harm us? If God be for us, who can be
against us? Who shall separate us from the
love of God which is in Christ Jesus? Shall tribulation do it? Persecution do it? Life or death, angels or principalities
or any other creatures, shall anything separate us from the
love of God that's in Christ Jesus? God is a refuge and a
fortress. And we run in this, you know,
those cities of refuge. There are six cities of refuge.
Three on one side of Jordan, three on the other side of Jordan.
And those cities of refuge was a place for a manslayer when
he slew somebody and he didn't do it as murder, as manslaughter,
or some accident happened. And so the family wouldn't avenge
him. They'd run into those cities
of refuge. And beloved, we run into Christ. He's our refuge. And ain't nobody can come in
there and get us. And you know, they said that
he was safe in there until the priest, high priest died, and
then he was able to come out. Well, our high priest ain't never
gonna die. So we're safe in his refuge. And he's our forest. He's our fortress. And the gates
of hell and our assurance and confidence is described by four
names. And look what he says here. I
will say of the Lord. This is what David said. This
is what believers said. This is what I'm gonna say of
the Lord. What does he say about the Lord? First of all, he calls
him the Most High. I shall abide under the secret
place to the Most High, in verse one. That's the first thing he
calls him. And then in verse three, look, and in the second
thing, he calls him the Almighty, the Sovereign. And then he'll
say of the Lord, and look how he describes him, my refuge,
my fortress, and my God. Five things he calls the Lord
there so quick. The Most High God, the Almighty,
my refuge, my fortress, and my God. And that's what I'm going
to say about Him. What are you going to say about
the Lord? He's the Most High God. He's the Almighty. He's the Sovereign. He's my refuge. When I need some place to go,
refuse for my heart, refuse for my thoughts, refuse for my trials,
refuse for my joys, refuse for everything. I can go to Him and
that's where I hide. And my fortress, He's a fort
around about me. And the scripture says the man
that said the watchman laboreth in vain if the Lord don't keep
the city. And the workman laboreth in vain
unless the Lord builds the house. And so if God don't keep us,
there ain't no keeping. And oh, listen, that's what he
says. And we rest in him because he's the almighty and the sovereign. And we rejoice in his salvation
because he says he's my God. And that word my God means that
he is the Lord Jehovah, Jehovah God. And that's why Davis said
in him, look what he said in the last part of verse two, in
him will I trust. In Him will I trust. I'm not
going to trust me. I'm not going to trust anybody. I'm going to trust Him. I'm going
to trust my soul with Him, my life with Him, my home with Him,
my children with Him, my wife with Him. I'm going to trust
the Lord with Him. I'm going to trust Him with everything. And oh, and then he tells him,
he said, we trust Him as my God. He said, oh, I will say of my
God, He is my God. You gotta have those personal
pronouns before these things. My God. Is He your God? Can you say, is My God? My God. We are complete in Him who's
the head of all principalities. We're complete in Him, perfect
in Him. And He's my God. How's He my God? Same way He
is your God if He is, by eternal election. No, you're not. You've not chosen me, but I've
chosen you. By redeeming blood, that precious
blood that was shed as a lamb before the foundation of the
world. By regenerating power, God sent the Holy Spirit and
regenerated us and saved us and put the Spirit of God in us and
gave us a new birth, gave us new life. My God, by effectual call. Talked
about that. Just fetch him. Go get him. Bring him over here. And I tell you, He's my God and
like He is yours by my choice. I want Him to be my God. I want
Him to be my God. And I tell you, He goes so far
as to say this, that He will not let us have another God.
He won't let us have another one. He won't even let us have,
He won't let us have anything that He don't want us to have.
He knows how to make us turn loose of it. He knows how to
make us open up our hands and turn loose of things we ought
not be holding to. And look at the believer's confidence. We
just look at the believer's refuge. Now look at his confidence in
verse three. Look at his confidence. Surely, I love the shells and
wheels of God. He said, surely he shall deliver
thee from the snare of the fowler and from the noises pestilence.
Oh, that's new. And he says, shall, he said in
verse four, he shall cover thee And all listen, I love the shalls
and wills of God. God's blessed word. No maybes,
no perhaps, no uncertainty about the purpose and promises of God
in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord's my shepherd, I shall
not want. And I'll never want. I'll never
want. He leaves me beside the still
waters in one of these days. And that's what he says. He says
that all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. That's the
promises of God. And that's why he said, if God
be for us, who can be against us? And look what he says, surely
he shall deliver thee. The Lord Jesus Christ shall deliver
thee. And look what he says, the snare
of the fowler. You know the snare of the fowler. He hides his trap, he hides his
snare where you can't see it. And you get caught in these snares
and this noise and pestilence, all the noise and all the things
that goes on in this world. And he says, they're hidden things,
they're traps. Well, our Lord Jesus said, he
shall deliver you. And he delivers us from all these
snares and all the pestilence that goes on and the noise and
pestilence all around us. And he delivers us from the curse
of the law. He delivered us from the penalty
of sin, no condemnation to them that are in Christ. He delivered
us from the wrath of God. We're not appointed to wrath,
but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He delivered
us from all of our enemies, even the invisible ones. You know,
Ephesians 6 says that we war not against flesh and blood,
but against principalities and powers of the air, against spiritual
wickedness in high places. We're warring against things
we can't even see. But He says, He shall deliver
thee. And I'm telling you, beloved, He has delivered us and He shall
deliver us. And I stand amazed. I really,
truly stand amazed every day. I'm not saying this just to pass
time. I'm not saying this just to be
blowing about anything. But there's not a day goes over
my head that I'm not utterly, absolutely astonished that I'm
saved and I'm kept saved. And not a day goes over my head
that I am not absolutely astonished that I'm saved. and that God
keeps me saved the way that I am with all I got in me. And you
know why that is? He says, he shall deliver thee. Surely, surely he shall deliver
thee. And then look what he says in
verse, not only will he deliver you, but in verse four, he said,
he shall cover you with his feathers and under his wings shall thou
trust. He said He shall cover you. You
know what He covers us with? He says here with His feathers,
and I tell you what He covers us with, He covers us with that
blessed spotless robe of righteousness, His glorious, wonderful, shining
garment, that wedding garment that allow us into the presence
of our Lord Jesus Christ on that wonderful day. Oh, our Lord Jesus,
we'll be clothed upon. We'll not be found naked. We'll
be clothed upon with that house God made for us in heaven. And
the Lord Jesus shall cover us. And he covers us, covers with
his righteousness, covers us with his blood. And then it says under his wings. Malachi said this in chapter
3 and verse 1 that the son of righteousness shall arise with
healing in his wings And so he's got healing in his wings and
we got a place to hide in his wings Have you ever seen a hen
gather chicks under her wings? And as you know Robin can have
five baby birds in the nest and she can sit on all five of them
cover every one of them up and you can't see And when she gets
on that nest, they don't make a peep. But when she leaves,
they go get on the side. And that's the way we, we, we,
we are under his, he puts his wings over us. Oh, hide me Lord, hide me. Let my hide myself in thee. Oh,
listen, and then look what else he says. Under his wing shalt
thou trust. That's the place to trust. And
look what else he says. And his truth, his truth shall
be your shield and your buckler. His truth. Thank God for truth. The only absolute truth in this
world. I'm telling you it's in black
and white right here. The only absolute truth in this
world is in this book. No other truth is absolute. It's
absolute. There's three absolutes that
men absolutely despise. And the first one is man's an
absolute sinner. Absolutely so. God is an absolute sovereign. And Christ is an absolute savior. and there's no middle ground.
He's absolutely so, or he's not at all. And this blessed book
tells us that. And this is the truth. And our
Lord Jesus says, heaven and earth will pass away, but my word will
never pass away. And if you want truth, get this
thing down. If you want truth, you find somebody
telling you the truth. Gabe Starnica wrote an article
the other day. Everybody thinks when they attend a service that
they're gonna hear the truth. But it's a rare thing for find
a man that'll tell the truth. It's a rare thing to find somebody
that'll stay from the Bible what the Bible actually says. And
that's what we want. Once we hear that truth, once
God blesses us to hear truth, these absolute truth, nothing,
nothing, nothing will keep us ever from loving that truth and
seeking that truth, believing that truth and wanting that truth
more than anything else in this world. We will not settle for
anything less. Will we? We won't do it. We love the truth. We got to have the truth. Oh,
the truth preserves us and turns us away from our enemies. The truth. Arthur Pink said this, the man Who loves you the most is the
man who tells you the truth. Mothers will teach your children
things that nobody else will and treat them like nobody else
will. They'll tell them things about their own children that
nobody else will tell them. You need to know the truth about
yourself. Honey, this is the truth about you. Well, mama,
that ain't so. Oh, it is, too. You better listen
to what I'm telling you. Well, that's what God says. This
is the truth. And that's what he said. And,
oh, my. He said that truth, what it'll
do, it'll shield us. And it'll be a buckler. That
means we could put it around us and tie it up good. It'll
gird up our loins with it. And then look what, oh, listen.
I tell you what, in verse 5 and 6, look what else it says. Thou shalt not be afraid for
the terror by night, for the arrow that flyeth by day, nor
for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction
that wasteth away at noonday. This is a believer's confidence.
And why won't we fear and be afraid of the terror by night,
nor the arrow that flyeth by the day, or the pestilence? I'll
tell you why. Because He's our Redeemer. Because
He's our Redeemer. Because He's our Savior. And
I tell you this, we shall not fear. Hebrews 13, 5 and 6 says
this, I will not fear what man shall
do unto me. For the Lord hath said, I will
never, no never, no never, No never, no never, no never leave
you or forsake you. And you get your lexicon and
you find out there's five no nevers and I'll never leave you
or forsake you. Five negatives in there. Ain't that right Gary? And that
means God needs to tell you, he said, believe me, I'll never,
no never, no never, no never, no never leave you forsaken. Just in case you didn't get it
the first time, I'll say it five times. Oh, and I'll tell you
what, he says the terror's by night. Oh, them things that wake
at night and you get scared to death that something might happen
to one of your children or so you get these imaginations going
on in your mind. Said, oh, listen, we call on
the Lord and them terrors and them things just fade away. And
I tell you, by men or devils. And oh, and then the arrows by
day. Wars and floods and accidents and earthquakes and all the things
that fly around us by day. We're not afraid of them. They
won't hurt us. And then the pestilence that walks in darkness. And you
know that pestilence walks in darkness. Those are diseases
and plagues and demons and all the things that happen in this
world. They got this Zika virus now, you know, and they have
all these viruses going around. And that's why they call it the
doctor practicing medicine. That's about all they do is they
practice medicine. And they're trying to figure
out if this is going to kill you or that's going to kill you
or something else is going to kill you, if this is going to hurt you
or whatever. But I got news for you. God says
that that pestilence ain't going to come to Ireland. Dear, I'm
going to tell you something. Our Lord, He controls the dust
mites that's in the air. When you see that light coming
through your window, and you see all that dust in the air,
you know, through those lights? God controls them, that dust
that flows in the light. And if God didn't watch over
us and keep us, do you know that every disease and every pestilence
and every plague that come through this world, the devil would say,
we got it, unless God had a hedge about us. The first people he'd
kill would be all of these preachers. That'd be the first thing he'd
do. I'd be, oh, he got me with that
plague. But that's not, that don't mean
that it won't happen to some people, but I'm telling you,
he said, and then look what he said, destruction that wastes
the way at noonday. Oh, that's the final judgment
of God. Oh, listen. And he says, you
know, that destruction, that he's held his children, he's
hedged them about, devil's men or death or nothing can't hurt
them until God wills for this thing to wind up. Ain't that
right? That's why Satan said, you know,
said, if you let me have Job, you got a hedge around him. And
if you'd have that hedge around him, I'd make him cuss you. God
said, all right, go at it. But I tell you what, God's got
a hedge about us, and if he ever lets anything in, whoo-wee, it
gets rough, don't it? Huh? Now let's look what else
had happened. And look what he says here in
verse seven and eight. Let me hurry. A thousand shall
fall at thy side, 10,000 at thy right hand, but it shall not
come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see
the reward of the wicked. Evil may come near God's children,
but it'll not come upon them. He said, a thousand, you know,
and that's what he's talking about, these pestilences and
plagues, a thousand shall fall at your right hand, 10,000 may
die over here. But he said, it ain't gonna bother
you. It ain't gonna bother you. You know, the plague that God
sent through Egypt that killed all of Israel, Egypt's firstborn,
never touched Israel's house. All the plagues that God sent
down on Egypt never bothered Goshen where the Lord's people
dwelt. When all the flies came, never bothered them. When all
the cattle was killed, never bothered them. And that's the
way it is with the Lord's people. It may kill them over here, but
it ain't gonna... And I tell you, God's people, we're gonna
have trials, we're gonna have troubles, we're gonna have...
We're through much tribulation that we enter the kingdom of
God. We have infirmities of the flesh. But only, only, only by
the will of our Father. And He's going to preserve us.
And we're going to die, but only when He decrees, never by any
other will or reason. And that's a fact. I know that
without a shadow of a doubt. And then look what He says there
in verse 8. He says, And oh, with your eyes
you shall see God bring judgment upon the wicked. And you know
what you'll do? You'll agree with Him for His
judgments. Old Barnard preached a message
when the saints shout hallelujah while God sends men to hell.
Have you ever listened to that message? When saints shout hallelujah
while God sends men to hell. He uses Revelation chapter 19. And then look at the believer's
redeemer in refuge in verse 9. all his confidence and his refuge,
and now look at his Redeemer. Because thou hast made the Lord,
which is my refuge, even the most high thy habitation, there shall no evil befall thee,
neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. Because he
shall give angels charge over thee to keep thee in all your
ways, they shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash
thy foot against a stone. You tread upon the head of the
young lion and the dragon, shalt thou trample. And that's what
he says, because you have made the Lord, thou Lord have made
the Lord my refuge and my dwelling place. And this is the only reason
we dwell within the veil. The only reason we're delivered
from condemnation or covered with his righteousness, hidden
under the protection of his wings, have no fear of terror here or
hereafter is because Thou hast made the Lord your refuge, the
Most High, your habitation. Now, beloved, I know there's
no safety, no security, but only in our Lord Jesus Christ. There's
no security in religion. There's no comfort in law. There's
no salvation in any works or any morality, only in Him, only
in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's through Him We're justified. Through Him, we're complete.
Through Him, we're accepted. Through Him, God blesses us only. Through Him. And oh, we made
the Lord our refuge and our habitation. And I tell you, we've done it
willingly. We love Him. Why? Because He first loved us. We come to Him. Why? Because
He first came to us. We make him our refuge because
he made us his people. That's the only reason. I showed
you that this morning when Philip said, come, we found him who
Moses in the law wrote, the Messiah, the Christ. But you know why
he said that? Because the Lord found Philip
first. And that's the way it is. We
make the Lord our refuge, our hiding place. Why? Because he
made us his people. And he made himself that to be
to us. And He's the one that called us to faith. He's the
one that made us willing in the day of His power. He's the one
who said, caused us thou to approach unto Him. And all to God be the
glory, great things He hath done. And then look here, and then
He says the angels, the angels, they're created spirits. They're
made by the Lord and they're at His command. They're ministering
spirits sent to His people. And let me show you, look in
Psalm 34. I believe you've seen this before. I know you have,
but look at it again here. Look in Psalm 34 and verse 7. Oh, you know, the scriptures,
our Lord says, their angels do always behold their father's
face, which are in heaven. That's why he says, you be careful
what you do with my sheep. Whoa, under him that offense,
because their angels do always behold their father's face, my
father's face which is in heaven, their father's face, the angels
always do. Look what he said in verse 7.
The angel of the Lord encampeth around about them that fear him,
and what does he does? He delivers them. I tell you
what, if you ever rode with me very far in an automobile, You
really know what it is to be delivered. I know it sounds funny,
but that's the truth. I tell you, I squirrel hunt,
deer hunt, and every kind of other hunting. I see everything
on both sides of the road at the same time. You don't want to ride with me
very far. You don't, unless you're driving. And that's what the
angel of the Lord kept around about, just to deliver you. And
I believe he's delivered me lots of times. Lots of times. Just over that alone. Just over
that alone. I am a mess when it comes to
driving. I really am, ain't I? Anybody else ever rode with me?
I'll tell you. I'm just warning you, but that's
the truth. And now listen, now look here
at the believer's promise in verses 14 through 16. Because
he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him. I will set him on high because
he hath known my name. Here God is speaking of his elect,
his chosen ones. Because He hath put His love
upon me, hath set His love upon me. And what is He talking about?
Us setting our love upon God. That's what He's talking about.
Because He says, He hath set His love upon me. I'll deliver
Him. And how do we know we love Christ?
We know. He said to Simon Peter, Simon
Peter, lovest thou me, lovest thou? Lord, you know that I love
you. And God puts a love in our hearts. And how do we know we love Christ?
When we absolutely have to have Christ. When we just must have
Him. And we're constantly continually
calling on Him. And we want and we love His gospel.
And we love one another. We know, we know, we know we
love Christ. God knows we love Him. And you know why we know it?
Because He put that love in us. And He puts love in us and He
rewards us if it was our own, like we come up with. And oh,
listen, not because they deserve mercy, because He set His love
upon me. With all their imperfections,
they do love the Lord. And first, there's His love for
us. Without our love, then there's love for Him. And it's genuine
and sincere. Paul told the Ephesians, in Ephesians
6, 24, the them that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Sincerity. And then look what
he says here. Therefore, because He has said
His love for them, therefore, there's always a therefore or
a because. And therefore, therefore, And
I tell you that he shall deliver you because we sin, therefore
we die. Because Christ died, therefore
we live. Because we believe and love the
Lord Jesus Christ, therefore I will deliver him from sin and
Satan and wrath. And look what he says, and I'll
set him up on high because he's known my name. And
you know how high we're sitting? We're sitting at the right hand
of God. That's how high we're sitting. And then look what he
said in verse 15, and I'll be done. He shall call upon me and
I'll answer. You know, when she called me
about Bruce the other day, I immediately started praying for him. Immediately
started saying, Oh Lord, save him, save him, save him, save
him from his pain. And I'm not, I know you did the same thing.
That's not being pious here. But I was talking to her yesterday
and I said, you know, we prayed for you at church and we prayed
for you and been praying for you. And she said, that's what
Bruce said. I know one thing that prayer actually works. God
will raise you up with prayer. And it works. I could stand here
this day and every one of you could stand here and say, I remember
when the Lord answered this prayer and when the Lord done this and
when the Lord done that. Huh? And I'll answer him when
he prays and when he seeks mercy. And look what he says, and I'll
deliver him when he's in trouble. Oh, I call upon me and I'll deliver
you when you're in trouble. Let me show you this in Job 50,
and I'll wind this up. I'll tell you what, you'll look
in Job chapter five, verse 19. Job 5, 19. Look what he says
here. Oh, talking about I will deliver
thee in time of trouble. Job 519, he shall deliver thee
in six troubles, yea in seven there shall no evil touch thee.
Six troubles at one time? Now this fella knew something
about troubles. And he said, I'll deliver you in six troubles
and seven, they won't hurt you. Oh, I'll deliver you in time
of trouble. And now listen, look what else he said here. And I'll
deliver him. And look what he says here, and
I'll honor him. You know what God said, I'll
honor him who honors me. You honor me, I'll honor you. And you know what he honors us
with? He honors us to call us sons of God, children of God,
believers, mine elect, mine chosen, my soul, my people in whom I
delight. And then he says, I'll satisfy
him with long life. That doesn't just mean here,
but that's eternal life he's going to satisfy us with. And
I'll show him my salvation. And he showed us the salvations
of the Lord. We've seen it. We've experienced
it. We believe it. Oh, the believer's
confidence, believer's refuge, the believer's hiding place. And it's all in Him, all in Him. Our Father, in all the blessed,
blessed name of our Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for allowing
us another day, oh, another day, Lord, it's just an amazing thing
that you'd let this wretched, wretched man, this man here to
be able to speak, speak your word. Oh, my. Oh, God bless it. Oh, Lord, you
if it's blessed, you'll have to bless it. If it's fruitful,
you'll have to make it fruitful. God bless these dear saints.
Encourage them. Strengthen them. Those that are
weak among us, tried among us, weak in body, bodies are failing
them. Weakness, weakness, weakness, frailty of flesh. Oh God, please
have mercy on them. We know you can raise them up.
Raise them up. We ask that you will to your
own glory. Thank you in our Lord Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.