Good morning, everyone. It's
so good to be here. Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Deuteronomy chapter 33. The name of the message is, Held
in Everlasting Arms. Held in Everlasting Arms. Do you remember when we were
children and we would scrape our knee or The thunder would
boom when we were real little and we'd be scared and we'd run
to our mom or run to our dad and they would hold us in their
arms. We found great comfort there,
didn't we? And they'd tell us it's all gonna be okay. It's
gonna be okay. Or do you remember if your children
ran to you and you held them in your arms told them it was
going to be okay. They felt safe in your arms.
Safe in your arms. Would it be a blessing for you
to know that the born-again, blood-washed believer who's saved
in Christ is held by the everlasting arms of God? Would that comfort
your soul? Wouldn't it? Bring us great comfort. Now we've just went through a
time of uncertainty, didn't we? Starting to come out of that
now. And we know the Lord has carried us through it all, as
he always does, through every circumstance which we go through,
but this was not just a circumstance in our lives, this was a circumstance
in people all over the world. And we who are God's people,
safe in the everlasting arms of the Lord, whether we're here
or whether we pass on to the other side. We're safe in his arms. Here in Deuteronomy chapter 33, these are some of the final words
of Moses to the people of Israel. These are part of Moses' final
blessing upon Israel. And we know that Israel, in the
Old Testament, is a picture of the church, picture of the born-again,
blood-washed people, a chosen people by God, a purchased people,
right? And we'll see some words of comfort
here that I think will be very applicable for us even today. Because just like the little
child who runs to the Mom and Dad's arms, sometimes we fear. Sometimes things overwhelm us. And who do we as believers run
to? We run to the Lord Jesus Christ, don't we? We run to He
who is the lover of our souls. And we who are the people of
God, we need comfort. We do. We need to be comforted. And the only way we can find
comfort is in the scriptures and in and through the Lord Jesus
Christ. Can't find any comfort in this world. It's a world of
sorrow and woe. But we can have joy while we
go through this world. You know, we who are the people
of God, we have the privilege of rejoicing
that we're saved. that we're saved from all our
sins, no matter what comes our way, we can find cause to rejoice. Now, it doesn't always work that
way right off the bat, does it? No one likes to go through things,
but the Lord Jesus Christ carries us through them, and again, when
we look back, we go, look what you've done, Lord. This is amazing. And so we need to be comforted
by the scriptures. And how are we as the children
of God comforted? Well, by hearing the gospel,
right? By hearing about what Christ has done for us. By hearing
about how we're secure in him. The preaching of the gospel of
salvation in Christ and him alone brings the believer great comfort. And we're refreshed, aren't we?
And we're revived by the word of God. It gives us strength
to face another week, doesn't it? To face the circumstances of
this world. To keep our minds set upon the
Lord Jesus Christ. So with that in our minds, let's
read verses 26 to 29. Excuse me. Verses 26 to 29 of
Deuteronomy chapter 33. There is none like unto the God
of Jethron. What a statement. There's none
like our God. None. Who rideth upon the heaven
in thy help and in his excellency on the sky. Now look at this. Let this hit home for us. The
eternal God is thy refuge. Who is the refuge of our soul,
beloved? The Lord Jesus Christ. Who is he? He's the eternal God. That's a statement, a fact about
our king. The eternal God is thy refuge. We could meditate upon that the
whole week, couldn't we? And we'd be in such awe. God
is our refuge and our strength, beloved. A very present help
in trouble, the scripture says. God is our refuge, and it says
here, the eternal God, the one who's from eternity, the one
who's always been and always will be, is our refuge. You know why? Because he chose
to be our refuge when he chose us in Christ. Isn't that amazing? He's the
refuge of my soul, hallelujah. Is He yours? And it says this,
He's our refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms. So God who is the sovereign God
of the universe is our refuge and underneath us is the everlasting arms of God,
beloved. Can we ever fall away? No. If he's our refuge, can we ever
be tossed out of the refuge? No. Because he's eternal. And that
which he gives is eternal. And his eternal arms, the one
who spoke the universe into being, his eternal arms are underneath
us, beloved. Holding us and keeping us. Protecting
us. Whether it be trial or persecution
or whatever comes our way, he's still holding us. We're
in his grip. And he said, I'm never going
to let you go. You're mine. Praise God. We're his, beloved. And underneath are the everlasting
arms, not just our parents' arms, not just a friend's arms, or
a husband or wife's arms, but the everlasting arms of God. See, our arms eventually will
fade, won't they? We won't hug our loved ones as
much, as tight as we can, because we can't. And eventually our
arms will no longer hold anything or anybody, as we go to the other
side. But his arms are forever clasped
around his people, holding us by divine love. Because he's
loved us, hasn't he? From eternity. From eternity. Look at this. And he shall thrust
out the enemy from before thee. How many times have we seen that
in our lives? He's thrust out the enemy from
before thee, and shall say, destroy them. Israel then shall dwell
in safety alone. How can we, who are the people
of God, dwell in safety alone in Christ Jesus, the only refuge
of our souls? He is the city of refuge for
us, isn't he? He's the one we flee to. The law of God's got a claim
on us. The justice of God's got a claim on us. And we run to
Christ, who's already satisfied that law and claim in our place. Israel shall dwell safely alone. The fountain of Jacob shall be
upon a land of corn and wine. Also, his heaven shall drop down
due. Happy art thou, O Israel. Who
is like unto thee? I ask you, who is like unto God's
elect? Now, we're just sinners, aren't
we? Every one of us. Undeserving, hell-deserving sinners,
really. But who is like unto us? God's
had such great mercy on us. Not because of anything we've
done, not because of anything we deserve. We don't deserve nothing.
We don't deserve any mercy and grace from God. And yet, who's
like unto us? He's bestowed his mercy and his
grace. And I'll tell you what, it is overflowing, pressed down,
pouring over in Christ Jesus our Lord. Mercy, mercy, mercy we have received,
beloved. And what wonderful words we see
here. Happy art thou, O Israel, who
is like unto thee, O people saved by Jehovah. That's a fact. Look at that. The shield of thy
help, who is the sword of thy excellency, and thine enemies
shall be found liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread down their
high places. But look at that, O people saved by Jehovah. We are a people who are God's
people who are saved by Jehovah in Him alone. See, the Lord Jesus
Christ wasn't just any mere man. He was God incarnate in the flesh.
He was Jehovah made flesh. And the word of God dwelt among
us. The sinless, perfect, spotless
Lamb of God lived and breathed and hungered and thirst just
like we do. And He came here for one thing,
to save His people from their sins. And He did it. He did it. And so we can look
at these words and see and underneath are the everlasting arms. Verse 26, Moses has been blessing
the people of God under the Spirit of the Lord, and note how he
breaks out in adoration and praise. There is none like unto our God,
unto the God of Jezreel, who writeth upon the heaven in thy
help, and in his excellency on the sky. He's glorifying God.
for who he is and the great things that he's done. Dying Jacob cries out, I have
waited for thy salvation, O Lord, O Jehovah. Genesis 49, 18. And here Moses breaks out in
praise, praise to our great God, the God of Jezreel. And what
a sweet and striking verse this is. And he praises the God of Israel
in telling the Israel of God that they are a blessed people,
a people held in the everlasting arms, a people shielded by God,
protected by God. He is our shield and our helper. And what a blessed people we
are in Christ. Look at this again in verse 27.
The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting
arms. He shall thrust out the enemy from before thee, and shall
say, destroy them. We see a result of our great
God protecting those who are spoken of, that they will dwell
in safety. Again, verse 28. Israel then
shall dwell in safety alone. The fountain of Jacob shall be
upon a land of corn and wine. Also, as heaven shall drop down
dew, And then we see the manifold blessings unfolding for the born-again,
blood-washed people of God. Deuteronomy 33, 29, happy art
thou, oh, we're a joyful people. Now we sorrow, like everyone
else, but we have peace that passes all understanding, don't
we? Oh, that's unshakable joy. Happy
art thou, O Israel, who is like unto thee, O people saved by
Jehovah, saved by the Lord. What a statement of fact again.
We can't save ourselves. We can't save anyone else. But
if praise be to God, we're saved by Jehovah. And we cry that out. We cry praise
to him, don't we, for what he's done. Our salvation is in Christ and
him alone. That's what I proclaim my salvation.
The salvation of my soul is wholly in Christ and him alone. And here in the Old Testament,
look at these wonderful words proclaim that, too. Oh, people
saved by the Lord. It's saying we're not saved by
anything we do. We're saved by the Lord. Give
Him all the glory, beloved. Give Him all the praise. Don't
be afraid to praise our Lord. Don't be afraid to be happy and
give Him all the glory and praise. Sometimes I think we can get So serious where we don't rejoice,
but rejoice in the Lord, always. And again, I say rejoice. What
a great thing He's done for us. We're a people saved by God. That's wonderful. That's absolutely
wonderful. Glory be to our great God. Oh
my. Let this truth sink deep into
your souls. Jehovah has saved you if you're one of his people.
You're born again by the Holy Spirit of God and you have faith
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's all the work of
God. And he saved us. We're a people most blessed,
aren't we? We're a people most blessed. And think of this, who's our
refuge? The eternal God is our refuge.
The one true eternal God is our refuge, is our strength, is our
shield, is our protector. My, I like what Scott Richardson
said. He said, since I heard the good
news, I have not heard no bad news. And I could know why he
said that now. The world is full of bad news,
right? They put all this fear and all this stuff, but we have
the eternal God as our refuge. No wonder Paul wrote, no wonder
Paul wrote, who can bring any charge to God's elect? It's God
that justifies us. He's our refuge, beloved. He
is our strength, the eternal one. And just as we held our
children in our arms, or as our mom and dads held us in their
arms, or even aunts and uncles held us in their arms, The eternal
God holds us in his arms. The eternal one. For me, all
those arms that held me when I was younger have all passed
on. My aunts, my uncles. But God's,
he's eternal, he's holding me, he's always held me. I didn't
know it, but he's always held me. And if you're a believer,
he's always held you. Think of the different things
we went through in our life, and he's held us. He's held us, he's protected
us, he's taken care of us, and he still does. He's protected
us so much. Think of this. The eternal God
has protected us so much that he went to Calvary's cross,
right? Because Christ is God, right?
He's protected us so much that He's went to the cross, and that
wrath of God, and I'll tell you what, that wrath of God, I remember
one preacher saying, imagine putting a candle before one of
those great big furnaces that they open up in these factories
sometimes, huge, just, and you open that up, and the fire comes
out, and it just consumes that. That's what the wrath of God
would do to us. But think of that, he loves us so much that
he protected us from that wrath because it fell upon him in our
place. We can't even fathom that, can
we? But that's how much he's loved us, that's how much he's
protected us. The wrath of God demanded to be satisfied and
the wrath of God must be satisfied too. And he satisfies both of
them. And God's satisfied with the
sacrifice of Christ in our place, isn't he? So we can see how the
eternal God is our refuge. He's our strength. And we only
dwell safely because we're in him. Because we're in God. We're in Christ. He's the head
and we're the body. Think of this. If the head perishes,
the body perishes too, right? Who's our head? The eternal son
of God. He's never gonna perish, is he? Oh my, it's wonderful, isn't
it? That truth just keeps getting better and better and better,
doesn't it? Of what Christ has done for us. And we dwell safely
and securely in Christ. And read these truths brought
forth here with a spiritual eye to the gospel church of the Lord
Jesus Christ and what comfort it'll bring us. Again, Israel is a picture of
the church in the Old Testament. It's in Christ and Christ alone
that we who are the people of God find refuge. It's only in him. We're just
like that manslayer who's fled to the city of refuge. That's
what we're like. And we're protected in that city. And you know what? When the death
of the high priest happened, they could be set free. Think of that. Our high priest
died for us, and what are we? Set free. That's what happened. When the
high priest died, that manslayer ran into that city of refuge,
and no one could touch him while he was in there. And when the
high priest died, however many years that took, if he was still
alive when the high priest died, he was set free. He could leave
the city of refuge, and no one could touch him. My, oh my. He who is a refuge of our soul
died for us. And he redeemed our eternal souls,
didn't he? The Lord Jesus Christ did that.
That's why we're safe. Because Jehovah himself has saved
us. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's the refuge of our souls. He's the eternal son of God incarnate. And He shed His precious blood
on Calvary's cross for us. All because it was the will of
God. And He purchased our eternal souls. We're bought with a price,
beloved. We're not our own. He's purchased us. We're His
purchased possession. We're His. And that purchase
price was His precious, precious blood. He gave His life for us. And He's the very one who holds
us in His everlasting arms. See, God cannot fail, can He? And the scriptures declare, Christ,
He shall not fail, and He didn't, did He? He redeemed His people
from their sins, and we give glory to His name. Turn, if you
would, to Psalm 46. Oh, we're redeemed by the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's His righteousness that
the believers clothe in Christ and Christ alone. We have eternal
security, all according to the everlasting covenant, which cannot
be broken, because it's been ratified by the precious blood
of Christ. And therefore, all who the Father
gave the Son shall be saved. They were redeemed at Calvary's
Cross, and in time and space were born again by the Holy Spirit
of God. But before that, were dead in
trespasses and sins, and without hope, alone in this world. God is not only the support and
security of His people, but He's our refuge. He's our refuge. He's our hiding place. He's our everlasting, eternal
city of refuge, beloved. And the scriptures clearly proclaim
Him as our hiding place, and bids us, bids us to return to Christ.
That's why I preach Christ and proclaim,
flee to him. There is no other hope for one's
eternal soul other than Christ. None. None. Other refuge have I none. Hang
on, my lowly heaven, on thee. And that's what we do. Yeah. He's the refuge of our souls,
isn't he? He is. Look at this in Psalm 46, 1.
God is our refuge and strength. Look at that. He's not just our
refuge, he's our strength too. A very present help in trouble.
Well, does that mean today? Yes, for the believer, yes. He's
a very present help right now for us. He's an eternal refuge
for us right now. Right now. while we go through
this world, while we face different things that come our way, He
is our refuge and He is our strength. He's a very present help in trouble. He's not far away. Remember what
Elijah said to the Baal worshipers, where's your God? Is He on vacation?
Has He gone away? And vacation is just like what
the word said, but their God wasn't real. But our God is a very present
help right now. And he said, I'll never leave
you nor forsake you if you're one of his. Never. Turn, if you would, to Psalm
37, verse seven. What are we to do as the people
of God? Are we to? What are we to do? Well, this
verse tells us what we're to do. Look at this. Psalm 37 verse 7. Rest in the
Lord. And then it says wait patiently
for him. You know why? Because we're not patient. Right? Let's just admit it. But look
at this instruction for us. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently
for him. Fret not thyself. Don't get worked up. Don't get
worried. Don't get filled with anxiety.
Because of him who prospereth in his way. Don't look at the
wicked and say, oh, look at the wicked. They're prospering. You
know why? They have their end. And we know what their end is.
Because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. But look
at this instruction. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently
for him and don't fret. That's hard for us to do, eh? Oh, God, give us grace and mercy
to do so. Rest, just rest in him. The work's
finished. And then patiently wait for him. His will will be accomplished
no matter what. No matter what, his will will
be accomplished. Oh, how we need to just wait
for him patiently and not fret. Oh, my. And then turn, if you
would, to Psalm 90, verse 1. Do you know that the Lord has
been a refuge for the people of God from generations
to generations to generations? Do you know that? He's always
had a people. And now in our generation here,
he's our refuge, right? you're a resting and trusting
in Christ you're a blessed person because God has chosen you out
of your generation and we know that not everybody in our generation
or we know not everybody in this world is saved or will be saved
what mercy he's had upon we who are his people Look at this in
Psalm 90, verse 1. Prayer of Moses, the man of God.
Lord, thou has been our dwelling place. Well, look at this, in
all generations. Oh, my beloved. He's had a people in all generations.
Remember Abel? Abel bought the proper sacrifice,
didn't he? He did. All generations, God has a people.
And then turn, if you would, to Psalm 116, verse 7. Again,
what does the Lord tell us in the New Testament, right? Come
unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give
you rest. Oh, what rest we have. Look what
it says here in Psalm 116, verse 7. Return unto thy rest. Oh, when Adam fell, we all fell,
didn't we? And we've had no rest ever since by anything we do. But it says, return unto thy
rest, O my soul. For the Lord, that's Jehovah,
hath dealt bountifully with thee. Now think of that. When we get
down, when we do, and when we get feeling sorry for ourselves,
which happens to us sometimes, always remember that the Lord
has dealt bountifully with us. And you know how? In Christ.
in Christ. He's so good to us. He's been
so merciful to us. He's loved us like no one else
has ever loved us. And we're held in his arms. One may ask, how is the Church
of the Lord Jesus Christ provided for? Well, every individual believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ has all spiritual blessings in Christ. Every single believer. have all
spiritual blessings. There's not some with more or
some with less. We have it all in Christ. Because what? All the promises of God are what?
Yea and amen in Christ for us. So when you're reading those
Old Testament promises, remember, those have been fulfilled in
Christ for us as believers. He'll bring joy to your heart.
He'll fill your soul with joy. and the Lord Jesus Christ, He
ratified the everlasting covenant for us. It says, for if the blood
of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer are sprinkling the
unclean, sanctified to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, who through the eternal Spirit
offered Himself up, offered Himself without spot before God, so He
offered Himself up as the sinless spotless Lamb of God, purge your
conscience from dead works to serve the living God. And for
this cause, he is the mediator of the New Testament, that by
the means of death, and that's his death, for the redemption
of the transgressions that were under the First Testament, they
which are called, and that's his people, might receive the
promise of the eternal inheritance. And we have eternal life in Christ,
don't we? For where a testament is, there
must of a necessity be the death of a testator. So for the covenant
to be ratified, Christ must die. For a testament is a force after
man are dead, otherwise there is no more strength at all while
the testator liveth. All those blessings come to us
in the eternal covenant of grace, in and through the Lord Jesus
Christ. No wonder Moses said, happy are
thou, Israel. No wonder he said, happy are
you who are the Lord's people. Who is like unto thee, O people,
saved by Jehovah. No wonder he wrote those words.
Oh, we have great cause to rejoice, don't we? God has saved my soul. Each believer can say that. God,
God, Jehovah has saved my soul. And now let's consider the words
in verse 27 here. Deuteronomy chapter 33, verse
27. Look at this. The eternal God
is thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms. Again, you remember when we used
to run to our parents and what comfort that would bring us when
we found, we'd burrow into their chest and they'd put their arms
around us and just hold us. Tell us it'd be okay. We did
that for our children, but think of the larger scale that's being
bought about here. The eternal God is thy refuge.
We sought refuge again in our parents' arms. And our children
sought refuge in our arms. But rejoice, ye who are a child
of God. The eternal God is our refuge. He's the one we seek
refuge in, in His arms. Will they ever let you go, those
arms? Can you wiggle your way out of
those arms? You wouldn't want to, but could you? Nope. Safe
in the everlasting arms. Safe. I remember cuddling with
my mom. I was in the hospital a lot,
and she'd come, and she'd come in when I was in the bed, couldn't
move and all that, and she'd come, and she'd just come over
and give me a big old hug. Oh, my. What that meant to us, eh? Or
when our little ones run up to us and we put our arms around
them, oh, what love we felt for them. And we still do, but that's nothing
compared. to the love that God has for
his people. God's arms are arms where the
embrace can never be broken. Remember, death can break the
embrace of a loved one, right? But God's arms are arms where
the embrace can never be broken. Never. Because they're the everlasting
arms of God. So if he has us, and if we're safe, Against this
bosom, no one can ever get us out of there. Oh, what comfort. Oh, what comfort
that is for the people of God. The eternal God is our refuge,
and underneath you is wrapped the everlasting arms of God. We see little Rowan being carried,
and carrying him in Jill's arms, or in Brother Dan's, or Sister
Kath's, carrying a little baby in her arms, right? Think of
that, how the Lord has us like that. Oh my, what comfort. What comfort
for we who are the people of God. The eternal God is thy refuge. This is a statement of fact for
God's people. It's not up for debate. He is
our refuge, and we proclaim that, don't we? The eternal God is
thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. So what
a beautiful figure is brought forth here before we who are
the people of God. We lack the strength to keep
ourselves. We lack the strength to save ourselves. The scripture
says that we're saved by Jehovah, which we just saw. and that we're
kept by his arms, under his arms. We're kept by him. So we're saved
and kept by our great God. And remember, the one who's cradling
you is the one who's carried you all the way through your
life, even before you knew him. Think of that. We may have been
in danger in our lives, we may have had things happen in our
lives, and he was carrying us through the whole thing. with his arms wrapped around
us, even when we did not know him. My. Absolutely incredible. And these
are embracing arms, beloved. Remember the picture of the prodigal
son? The father didn't say, well,
you just wasted everything. And you need to go on back out
there and know what did the father do? He ran to him, didn't he?
And he embraced him in his arms. And they wept together. And he said, bring forth the
best robe, which is a picture of the righteousness of Christ.
And put it on my son, for my son was lost and now, now he's
alive. Now he's saved. My, we as believers are embraced
in the everlasting arms. And the arms of God which uphold
us are the same everlasting arms that reached out and pulled up
Peter when he was sinking in that water. He was walking on water. And
then he started looking around, seeing this storm. Got his eyes
off Christ, right? Did the Lord let him sink down?
No, he just reached out his arm, took him. Safe in the everlasting arms
of our great God. And these are the same everlasting
arms that pull us up when we fall. We fall a lot, don't we? And he pulls us up. Picks us up. Carries us, you
ever see that thing, footprints in the sand, and they say there's
two tracks, and then there's one, and this is where the Lord
picked them up. No, there's one track through our whole life.
And that's the Lord carrying us through the whole thing, all
the way to glory, beloved. He's done it all. He's done it all, beloved. He
pulls us up, and these are everlasting arms of protection, too. Father or mother puts their arms
around their child when they're in danger so God protects his
children through all the trials we go through. He knows everything
we go through and his everlasting arms are around us. We'll be
set on all sides and his everlasting arms are around us. All the perils that we face as
the sheep of God, we need much protection, don't we? We have
trials of our own flesh, don't we? We have trials of the mind. We have trials of the heart.
We have trials of the enemies of God persecuting us. Oh, we need much protection.
Behold the great shepherd. Behold the great bishop of your
soul, beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ. God incarnate in the
flesh. Jehovah in the flesh. And he is the one who protects
us. He is the one who purchased us with his precious, precious
blood. Oh, so anytime we're in danger,
remember that the everlasting arms of God hold us and keep
us. The arm is a symbol of strength. A mother or father's arm may
be physically frail, but what keeps it strong? What keeps it
holding their child? Love. Contrast that with how strong
the arm of the God is. It's all powerful. It supports
the world. Scripture says he opens up his
hands and he feeds those in the sea, the creatures of the sea. And this is the, that hand is
attached to the everlasting arm which holds we who are the people
of God. Kept by his almighty power. Turn
if you would to Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 26. The eternal God is
our refuge. What a comforting thought. The
eternal God is our refuge. The everlasting arms are all
powerful, secure arms. We have strength and vigor when
we're young, right? And the older we get, the more
that strength starts to go away. Where we can't do the things
we used to do. We think we can and then we end up hurting for
three days, don't we? But we can't do the same things
that we used to do. We just can't. Our strength starts
to wane, doesn't it? But you know, God's strength
never wanes at all. is all-powerful. And what great
joy that will bring us. Look at this in Isaiah 26 verses
1 to 4. In that day shall this song be
sung in the land of Judah. We have a strong city. We have a strong city, beloved.
We have a strong city of refuge in us, the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a strong city. Salvation
will God appoint for walls and bullocks. Open ye the gates that the righteous
nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. Thou will keep him in perfect
peace. Now look at this. Thou will keep him in perfect
peace whose mind has stayed on thee because he trusts in thee. Do you trust God? Is he your refuge? I pray God
make it so if he's not. because God's people have a peace
that passes all understanding. Now, we may be in turmoil sometimes,
and if you're a family member who does not know the Lord, and
you see your mom or dad who's saved, and we're going sometimes
like that, it's because we're sinners. But we have an inner
peace. I'll tell you what, I have a
peace now. In religion, I had no peace. I have a peace now,
and I've had it since the Lord saved me. that I cannot explain
to anyone. It passes all understanding.
No matter what comes our way, we have that peace, don't we?
That God is in control, that he has me. And see, this is encouragement
for us as a people of God, that we're in his arms. That will
keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee. That's
why Paul says, set your mind on things above. Don't set your
mind on this world, because we won't have any peace if we set
our minds on this world. The quickest way for us to lose
our peace that way is to start looking at what's going on and
start fretting about it. Right? Keep your mind on Christ. Keep looking to Him. Trust in
the Lord. Oh, look at this. Whose mind
is stayed on thee because he trusts in thee. God's people,
we trust in God. We rest in God. We rest in Christ and Him alone.
And then it says, trust ye the Lord forever. And we will, and
we will, won't we? We'll be in eternity rejoicing.
For in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. Look at that, we are
so weak. We are so weak, we can't protect ourselves, we can't keep
ourselves. And we have everlasting strength
in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the refuge of our
souls. and him alone. And these all-powerful
arms are holding his people, holding us underneath his children. No one can sink us out of his
embrace. Nothing can. His arms are always underneath
us. The waves of life, the soils
of life come and toss our little ship to and fro. But he's the captain of our salvation. He's at the helm of our lives,
isn't he? He's steering that ship. And
here take us right to glory, beloved. Right to glory. We cannot sink under those waves
like Peter. We can't. Peter couldn't, he
couldn't drown. He's one of the lords. He reached
out and grabbed him. Oh my, what hope for us, eh?
What hope for us? Human friendships can be stripped
off. We can stand alone in our sorrows. Yet we are never alone. We're never alone. The everlasting
arms are always holding us. God remains and God suffices,
doesn't he? He's sufficient. He's sufficient
for us. When death comes, it will for
every believer, and it will for every believer. When death comes,
and it will, it'll come for every believer. When all our earthly
things fade away, when every hand unclasps from ours, and
every face of love fades away from our eyes, and we sink into
what seems like darkness, we will open our eyes in glory. and we will be more alive than
we've ever been before. And we will see Jehovah face
to face, our great Redeemer. And He who has forever held us,
we will behold Him face to face. We will see He who died in our
room and place. We'll shout for joy. We're gonna rejoice with the
rest of the saints in glory. And what joy this will bring
us. What joy this can bring us right now, knowing that the everlasting
arms are underneath us. It will cause us to be more trustful
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Knowing that he protects us.
Knowing that he loves us. Knowing that he died for us.
Knowing that those arms are ever underneath us. And if we do this when we are
troubled and tried, we'll find a well of strength. If we remember
this truth, we'll find a well of strength. that his everlasting
arms are underneath us, protecting us. Whether we're in temptation
or trial, we can find a victory, can't we? Because it's all in
him. It's all in him. We'll find strength knowing that
the everlasting arms uphold us, are underneath us. Lastly, let
us consider that God is the father of his people. Again, we're a
chosen generation. God the Father chose a people
in Christ Jesus, when? Before the foundation of the
world. And God himself has ordained that every believer in Christ, God has ordained that each believer
in Christ to be chosen in each generation, and he did this in
eternity. He chose a people out of every
single generation. Let this sit in your minds this
week. Let us think, he chose me? in my generation, all praise
be to God. I'm a person saved by Jehovah. Let the joy of that flood your
soul, beloved. Rejoice. No wonder Paul wrote,
rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. No
wonder he wrote these words. Oh, we have much to rejoice in.
Rejoice, beloved God. We are purchased people. We're
born again by the Holy Spirit of God. We've been granted faith
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And we dwell in safety,
being held in the everlasting arms of God. Rejoice because
we are a people saved by Jehovah, saved by God, saved by the one
true living God. Oh, and this is the truth of
the scripture. We saw it today. Rejoice, beloved of God, because
the Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth to save you and to
save me. Rejoice, beloved God, because
God sent him to do that for us. Rejoice because the eternal God
is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble. Glory to God.