house today. Good to have another
week under our belt. I know this was taken by the
Rona. Or anything else, I guess. But it is good to see everybody.
Welcome everybody that's watching by Facebook and listening by
sermon audio. Turn with me, if you would, in
your Gadsby hymn books. And by the way, those who are
watching, you can pull up the Gadsby hymn book online if you
ever so choose to want to follow along with the hymns that we're
singing. We sing out of the Gadsby hymn
book. The Gadsby hymn book. Most generally,
let me see that real quick. Most generally you're gonna find,
these are the most common ones that most people have. This red
one here, it's from, I know Grace and Truth Books used to sell
them, but Solid Ground Christian Books also has them. Anyway,
you can Google those and find them all over the internet. But,
Gadsby Hymn Books, we sing out of that mostly. We sing out of
the Psalms of Grace, This is a hymn book. While we
do have some disagreement with Don Fortner on a few things,
Don Fortner wrote these hymns, and for the most part, all these
songs in here are really great. We've adapted a few of the lines
in here to fit what we believe, but anyway, it's another song
book that we use. Old school hymn book. So those
are three hymn books that we use. If anybody wants to look
those up, you can follow along with us. Turn in your Gatsby
hymn book, if you would, to hymn number four. Hymn number four. We'll sing the sovereignty of
God. Hymn number four. This will be to the tune of Amazing
Grace. Hymn number four. Keep silence, all created things,
and wake your makers not. My soul stands trembling while
she sings the honors of her God. Life, death, and hell, and worlds
unknown hang on His firm decree. He sits on no precarious throne,
nor borrows leave to be. Chained to his throne, a volume
lies with all the fates of men with every angel's horn and size
drawn by the eternal pen. His providence folds those the
book and makes Each o'erneemly and every stroke
Fulfills some deep design Here he exalts neglected worms Two
scepters and a crown And there the following page he turns And
treads the monarch down Not Gabriel last the reason why, nor God
the reason gives, nor dares the favorite angel pride between
the folded leaves. My God, I would not long to see
my fate with curious eyes. What gloomy lines are writ for
me? Or what bright seams may rise? In Thy fair book of life and
grace, O may I find my name Recorded in some humble place. Amen. It is Christ who sits on that
throne. It's Christ who unfolds that
scroll. Turn with me, if you would, to
hymn number 34 of the Gatsby. Hymn number 34. hymn number 34, love of and praise to the blessed
trinity. It may be some surprise that
I'm even singing this this morning. I'm watching, but everything
that's in here, I can honestly say amen to. We'll sing this to the doxology. to comprehend the great Three
One, His more than highest angels can, or what the Trinity has
done, from death and hell to ransom man. But all true Christians this
may boast A truth from nature never learned That Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost To save our souls are all concerned The Father's
love in this we find. He made His Son our sacrifice. The Son in love, His life resigned. The Spirit of love, His blood
applies. Thus we the Trinity can praise
in unity through Christ our King. Our grateful hearts and voices
raise in faith and love while thus we sing. Glory to God the
Father be, because He sent His Son to die. Glory to God the Son that He
did with such willingness comply. Glory to God, the Holy Ghost,
who to our hearts this love reveals. Thus God 312 sinners lost, salvation
sins procures and seals. Amen. the triunity of God and
our salvation. It's a beautiful, beautiful picture,
beautiful truth there. All right, let's sing hymn number
61. And then if anybody has any hymn
requests, then we'll take those. Hymn number 61. Hymn number 61. predestination. Sing this to
the tune of Just As I Am. Was fixed in God's eternal mind
When His dear sons should mercies bind From everlasting He decreed
When every good should be Convey. Determined was the manner, how
eternal. verse he bestowed, yea, he decreed
the very place where he would show triumphant grace. Also the means were fixed upon
through which His sovereign love would run. So time and place,
shape, means, and mode were all determined by our God. Vast were the sediments of grace
on millions of the human race, and every favor richly given
goes from the high degree of heaven. In every mercy full and
free, a sovereign God I wish to see. To see how grace, free
grace, Has reigned in every blessing He ordained. Yes, dearest Lord, tis my desire,
Thy wise appoint, Amen. What comfort we find in the predestination
of God. You know, at one time I used
to hate the doctrine of predestination, didn't want it, didn't like it,
argued with those who believed it, and angered at it. You know, you need to tell me
that I don't have the free will to choose my own destiny, do
what I want to do. But whenever the Lord was pleased
to convert my mind to the truth, my heart to the truth, To see
and understand these things, what a blessing they became,
what a comfort they become, whenever we know that we have God's in
control. Does anybody have a song that you'd like to sing in any
of the books, or in the book? Sing Galatians 6. Galatians 6? Galatians 6, 9 and 10. Y'all
remember the tone of this? I know you young people do. All right, Galatians
6, verses 9 and 10. And let us not, let us not, let
us not be weary, let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due
season we shall reap, we shall reap. If we faint not, let us
not, let us not, let us not be weary, let us not be weary. And well do we, for in due season
we shall reap, we shall reap. If we faint not, as we have therefore
opportunity, let us do good unto all men. Especially unto them
who are of the household of faith. Let us not, let us not, let us
not be weary. Let us not be weary in well-doing. For in due season we shall reap,
we shall reap. If we faint not. 180 in the old
school hymn book. It is well with my soul. When peace lies. Sorrows like sea billows roll. Whatever, my Lord, Thou hast
taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. Though Satan should buffet, though
trials should come, let this assurance control, that Christ
has regarded my helpless state and has shed his own blood for
my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. My sin, oh, the bliss of that
glorious thought. My sin not in part, but the whole,
is nailed to the cross, and I no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. O my soul, it is well. with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. And Lord haste the day when the
faith shall be sighed. The clouds be rolled back as
a scroll. The trump shall resound. And the Lord shall be sin even
so. It is well with my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. Anybody else got one more thing? Turn with me, if you would, this
morning to Psalm 91. Psalm 91. We began a message last week, and I believe I entitled, Does
God's Sovereignty Matter? And the gist of it is, has basically
been, does our understanding and knowledge, our belief in
the sovereignty of God matter to us in the fact that it translates
down to our everyday lives? As I mentioned last week, this
sermon came out of a deep conviction that I have had over the course
of the years, and especially recently, in the days in which we live
and watch news too. If you watch news a lot, listen
to talk radio a lot or social media and things like that, we're
just barrarded with all kinds of gloom and doom. And we're
seeing all over the place wickedness abounding. We're seeing just
the evil of men's heart on display like we've probably not seen
it in our society at this degree and this level of openness. Not
that men's heart has grown more evil. It is evil. The Bible says that God looked
down upon the face of the earth and He saw that the inhabitants
of the earth, that their hearts were only evil continually. They surely have shown in times
past, but here in the United States, we see that we are living
in a day where this evil is just out and open, that no one is
shameful anymore. Matter of fact, they glory in
their shame. And as we see this being given
to us in every kind of platform that we can see it, whether it's
the newspapers or the news programs, whether it's on Facebook or Instagram
or whether it's on any of your news feeds on the internet, wherever
you might get your news and see what's going on. It's just all
over the place. And we can become very fearful,
very worrisome about things. And especially with this disease,
this pestilence that's going around, they're calling COVID-19.
and the fear that has been put in a lot of people because of
over-exaggeration, in my opinion, of this thing. But the Lord's
churches are here, and we are not beholden to the things of
the government. We are not beholden to the things
of men. And we're not beholden to the
things that this world experiences. I truly believe that what we're
experiencing in this time period, with all the rise of the evil
that's going on in our midst, with the pestilence that we're
dealing with with this COVID-19, is truly the hand of God in punishing
and judging the wicked. The wicked have abounded this
country. has turned from God, if it ever
really was towards God, but has definitely turned from any kind
of God-referenced, God-centeredness, has turned from God and has exalted
the man over the Creator has exalted the perversions of men
and made those acceptable. And God, as we see, according
to His promise in Romans, has turned people over to a reprobate
mind. And we are seeing now the judgment
upon these very people. Now brethren, while there is
much gloom and doom out there, We as the Lord's people, as the
Lord's Church, we have much to be thankful for. The Lord has
promised blessings upon us. He has promised protection upon
us. He has promised to preserve us,
and that no matter what evil might befall, that God can deliver
us from that, and that God eventually is going to remove us from all
evil. And we look forward to that day.
But as I began last week, I began to ask the question, what we
know about God's sovereignty doesn't matter in the way that
we live. I know that in my own personal life, that while I know
the theology of sovereign grace, I know the theology of sovereignty
in God, that God is in control of everything, is predestinated
everything, ordained all things that should take place, evil
and sin being included, that all things are of Him and through
Him and to Him and for His glory. I know that God has decreed every
last thing that will take place But sometimes that knowledge
doesn't necessarily translate in life-living application. Whenever we see the days as they
are, we begin to worry, become frustrated, we become outraged. But yet, God's sovereignty is
what we should be looking at, knowing that God is in control.
We looked last week at Psalm 115. And we saw how God is sovereign. We reminded ourselves once again
of God's word telling us that God is sovereign. In verse one,
we read, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name
give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. So ultimately
everything that takes place in this creation from the very beginning
to the very end is for the glory of God. It's for the glory of
God. And everything that we ask, everything
that we do, everything that we participate in, everything that
we are, our hearts and minds should be that it might bring
glory to God. And it will be for His glory
because of His mercy and for His truth sake. We read last
week in verse three, But our God is in the heavens. He hath
done whatsoever He hath pleased. If that doesn't speak of sovereignty,
I don't know what does. Our God is in the heavens. He
hath done whatsoever He has pleased. That means that anything that
God wants, He does, and nobody can stop Him. You know, we have
this notion running around in all these modern day churches
out there that have a gospel of God wanting to save everyone. God wanting everybody to come
to Him and to seek Him and to be saved. And so God wants that,
God desires that. And they'll misquote 2 Peter
3, 9, where the Bible says that He is not willing that any should
perish. They'll take that out of context and say God wants
everybody to come to repentance. They'll take John 3.16 out of
context and say God loves the whole entire world and wants
them to be saved. They'll take passages out of
the Old Testament that speaks of temporal salvation and they
will apply eternal salvation to it and say that God is saying,
you know, choose you this day whom you will serve and why will
ye die? Look to me and live. All these
passages, they'll rip out of their context and they will preach
a message of God wanting salvation for every individual and that
He offers salvation to every individual. And that's His desire and pleasure.
But yet they neglect to look at the Scriptures that clearly
state that everything that God wants, everything that He is
pleased or finds pleasure in, that He does. Not only does He
do it, He accomplishes it. He makes sure that it happens.
Not one thing will fail. Known under God are all His works,
the end from the beginning. Faithful is He who calls you,
for He will do it. It's God who is actively, by
providence, bringing about everything that scroll that we just sung
about, those folded leaves, that man sitting upon the throne that
is Taking the providence of God, remember we were singing about
the volume chained to the throne? Jesus, that person in Revelation
that the Bible says is sitting on the throne that only He could
take the scroll and open the seals and unroll that scroll
and bring about everything that was written therein on the front
and in the back. So everything, all of God's decrees
are coming about because of the Lord Jesus Christ And He is said
to do everything that He is pleased to do. And nothing can stop Him.
Nothing can thwart Him. Nothing can change His mind because
He changes not. He is the same yesterday, today,
and forever. He changes not. And so we see sovereignty before
us. We see in verse 9, O Israel,
trust thou in the Lord. He, the Lord, is their help and
their shield. He says it again, O house of
Aaron, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. We see it in verse 11 again.
Three witnesses that God has given us here for us to trust
in the One who is in charge of all things. Ye that fear the
Lord, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. Brethren, I don't know if you
got it, if it sunk in or not, but God, the sovereign God who
controls all things to his people is your help, your shield. Therefore, you can trust in him. See, we don't trust in Trump. You know, I think Trump's done
a good job of admitting a lot of the things that he's done.
I think there's some things that he could have done better. I
think there's some things that he shouldn't have done. Okay?
No man is perfect. But I'll say this. Our trust
isn't in Trump. The Trump train is not going
to deliver us from evil. The Republicans are not going
to deliver us. They are not our help in time
of trouble. Matter of fact, they're hardly
ever our help, even in times of non-trouble, okay? They're more of a trouble themselves
than they are help. Politics is not our source. Government is not our source.
Family is not our source, although that is helpful and is needful. God has instituted the family,
God has instituted the government, and they have their place within
the life of the believer. The church isn't necessarily
the answer, although it is very helpful. It is an institution
that God has established for our good, for our edifying. But
brethren, when it comes down to it, the only one we can trust
in is the Lord. He is our help and our shield,
not the church. as important as the church is,
and I will preach that all day long, the importance of the local
church. It's needful, but it is not infallible. Only God is. Trust in the Lord. Now, if God is in control of
everything, and He has said, if you're a child of grace, if
you're born again, if you've been saved, born again, converted
in the Gospel, believing in the Gospel, given faith to see these
things. The Lord is telling you that
He is in control of all things, and all things work together
for good to them who are the called, to them who love the
Lord. All things work together for
good. And He says to trust Him. Trust Him. I will say, I think as a preacher,
I have neglected and preached on that enough here. That we
should trust the Lord. I preach a lot about trusting
in the Lord for our imputed righteousness. But I don't preach enough about
trusting in the Lord for our daily life. Trusting in the Lord
for our daily life. He says it three times here.
Trust thou in the Lord. Why? Because He is your help
and your shield. In verse 13, He says, He will
bless them that fear the Lord, both small and great. Brethren,
listen. If our church reverences the Lord, fears the Lord, the
Bible says here that He will bless us, both small, like us,
and great. Those who fear the Lord, who
reverence Him, who honor Him, He will bless them. These are things that we need
to start trusting in the Lord in. Do we trust the Lord to bless
our church? He is our help. He is our shield. The Bible says the Lord shall
increase you more and more, you and your children, Ye are blessed
of the Lord which made heaven and earth, and even the heavens
are the Lord's, but the earth hath He given to the children
of men." Do you believe that? Do you trust
the Lord that He shall increase? You know, we pray here a lot.
We ask the Lord to increase our number here. Not so that we can
put it up on a tote board. Not so that we can have more
money in the coffer, although that definitely helps a lot.
Not because we can say we have this many people in our church,
but that we might have others to not only be here to fellowship
and edify each other with, but to also join in in the labors
of the gospel. So often the pastor is burdened
with the load of the labors of the gospel, That's why we pray,
Lord, increase our numbers. Why? Not so that we're popular,
not so that we can boast about our numbers, but that we might
have workers, laborers in the ministry of the Gospel. As the
body grows, the members become strong and they become working
together for the purpose and the unity and the goal that is
set before them. How beautiful it is for brethren
to dwell together in unity. And we pray that the Lord increases
that. But do we trust him in that? Do we trust him in that?
A lot of churches think that they have to build their numbers
by all kinds of entertainment. I've seen a couple of churches
that I know of that has been within our fellowship that has,
because of desiring to broaden their tent, They have resorted
to worldly means to get people in. And they have run off pastors
that have been faithful in preaching and teaching the word of God
and have traded that for circuses, for gimmicks and games and entertainment,
for music or for guys that just want to get up and give good
life lessons. But instead of taking the Word of God and expanding
the Word of God, instead of week after week faithfully taking
God's Word and feeding the sheep with the sheep food that God
has given us to feed the sheep with, they want to do something
else. They want to take goat food and
feed them with it. Sheep don't want goat food. And if you've
got a church that likes the goat food, you've got a church full
of goats. So we pray and ask the Lord that
we trust Him. Don't just pray that our numbers
might increase, but pray and say, Lord, You've promised this.
You've said that You would increase us more and more. And we trust
You in that. You are able to do that. How
fervently are we praying for that, brethren? How fervently
are we asking the Lord for these very things? And then in verse
18, we sing, but we will bless the Lord from this time forth
and forevermore. We're going to bless the Lord
that whatever state, you know, Paul mentioned this in his writings. He said that I've become content
that in whatever state that God has me in, that I'm good with
it. You know, I'm content. I've been
rich, I've been poor, I've been healthy, I've been sick, I've
been, you know, doing good, I've been not so good. He said things
have been easy for me, things have been rough for me. We continue
to trust the Lord, and no matter what He does in His divine providence
with us, we continue to trust Him. And we bless the Lord, even
though He may not do what we ask. we continue to trust Him,
that He is doing what's best for us. Now today, last week
we established the fact that God is sovereign and that God's
sovereignty is more than just a theology that we hold, that
God's sovereignty is more than just His work in salvation legal,
but it is also God's sovereignty in salvation practical in our
everyday lives. That that theology of God being
in control of all things, predestinating everything that is taking place,
and by providence bringing about all of that decree, should also
be a comfort to us in our everyday lives. And in Psalm 91 we read,
starting in verse 1, He that dwelleth in the secret
place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the
Almighty. Now brethren, I don't know if
you can see it or not, but this is almost a total reiteration
of what we just read in Psalm 115. He that dwelleth in the
secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow
of the Almighty. Those who fear the Lord. Those
who trust in the Lord. He is their help. He is their shield and buffler. That's what this verse is basically
saying. So who is He? He that dwelleth in the secret
place. Who is He talking about here?
Well, the ones that dwell in the secret place, those are the
children of God. Those are the ones who have been
born again and have been converted of the Gospel, given faith to
believe, and they are trusting upon the Lord. The ones that
we read about in 115, those who trust in the Lord. The ones trusting
in the Lord are the ones who are dwelling in the secret place
of the Most High. That secret place can be actually
referred to as several different things. This secret place can
be speaking of the cleft of the rock. Y'all know the song that
we sing about being hid in the cleft of the rock? The passages
of scripture in the Bible about Moses being hid in the cleft
of the rock and God's glory passing in front of him? This secret
place where God takes us and keeps us and preserves us, this
secret place that is in the bosom of God, where we go whenever
we are trusting in God, we are in the secret place of the Most
High. And of course, this word, Most
High, is in reference to God in His fullness of glory. It speaks of Jesus Christ. Jesus
Christ is spoken of as the Most High God. We know that He is
the Almighty God. Isaiah chapter 9, the Bible says
that Jesus Christ is the Everlasting Father, the Mighty God. The Almighty. The Almighty God. He is the mighty God from everlasting. And so we see that this is speaking
of us dwelling in this place of the Most High, this place
of refuge, this place of safety. It says, He that dwelleth in
the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow
of the Almighty. Now what does that mean? Well,
the word dwelleth and the word abide both mean the same thing.
It means to stay in, to keep in, to abide or to dwell is to
basically pop down and stay, okay? Where do I live? I live in my house. I could say
I dwell in my house. We dwell in this place here.
It's a place where we abide in. But it says here, he that dwelleth
in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow
of the Almighty. What does that mean, the shadow
of the Almighty? Well, that phrase, the shadow of the Almighty, that phrase, It refers to God's
safety. We've heard it other places in
the scriptures. As a matter of fact, I think it's, turn with
me back to, I think it's Psalms 17. And, yes, starting in verse seven,
or verse six. I have called upon thee, O thou
wilt hear me, O God. Incline thy ear unto me and hear
my speech. Show thy marvelous lovingkindness. O thou that saveth by thy right
hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise
up against them. That sounds like a lot of stuff
going on today, right? There's a lot of people that's
rising up against the Lord's Church. They're commanding us
not to meet. They don't want us to meet. Matter
of fact, I've seen, I don't want to get too far off base here,
but I watched Dr. Fauci in front of a committee
the other day, and this guy just drilling, wanting to know, should
we be telling these protesters to go home because they're spreading
this COVID-19? And he refused to admit that.
He said it's not his place to say what the government should
make people do as far as the First Amendment right was concerned.
And the guy kept grilling him, said, well, you have no problem
telling people that they should stay home from church. That's
also in the First Amendment. telling choirs that they can't
sing because it's spraying COVID out everywhere, telling people
that they can't gather in large groups and crowds in churches,
that they can't gather in their businesses. But yet, whenever
he was directly asked, well, should we apply that to the protesters
and these rioters? Should we be telling them that
they're transmitting and causing this? And he just wouldn't answer
that. Now, why is that? Well, for one, I think the guy's
a little nefarious to begin with, but why is it? It's because deep in the hearts
of the people of the world, they hate the Lord's church. They
hate Christ. Jesus told us that they are going
to hate you. And the world hates the Lord's
churches. And Trump, since he's been in
office, has done more to help even though he has dealings with
crazy churches, even though he has stupid advisors that's not
true, preachers, at least just like in times past when Oliver
Cromwell and other men have come into power and freedom of religion
was opened up a little bit more and the badness were able to
come out from some persecution. Well, Trump, even though he's
not straight as an arrow, even though he's not orthodox, as
we would consider true New Testament beliefs and everything, the man
has, by the providence of God, brought some religious freedom,
and the world hates that. The world hates that we are once
again being able to claim anything about God. And so Fauci, he doesn't
want the churches to meet, but it's okay for rioters and it's
okay for that kind of stuff. And it's like that about anything,
not just Fauci and that. It's like that the world is gonna
be at enmity with the church always. Matter of fact, if you
go back to the garden, we find that even God had mentioned this
at the very beginning, that the seed of the woman and the seed
of the serpent that they were going to be at enmity with each
other forever until the Lord ends this whole thing. That He is always going to be
at enmity against God. And the sons of Adam, they are
at enmity. The Bible says that we are at
enmity with God. That we are by nature children
of wrath. And so whenever we look here,
we see, I will call upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God. Incline thy ear unto me, and
hear my speech. Show thy marvelous lovingkindness, O thou that saveth
by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from
those that rise up against them. Listen, brethren, we need to
trust in the Lord about those who are rising up against us
and against the church. Verse 8. keep me as the apple
of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings. There's where that phrase that
we've seen in Psalm 91, in the shadow, the shadow of thy wings. From the wicked that oppress
me, from my deadly enemies who compass me about, they are enclosed
in their own fat, with their mouth they speak proudly. They
have now compassed us in our steps. They have set their eyes
bowing down to the earth, like as a lion that is greedy of his
prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places. Arise, O Lord, disappoint him,
cast him down, deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy
sword, from men which are thy hand, O Lord, from men of the
world which have their portion in this life, and whose belly
Thou fillest with Thy hid treasure, they are full of children, and
leave the rest of their substance to their babes. As for me, I
will behold Thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied." We could
say, I shall trust, because if we're trusting in Christ, we're
satisfied with what He can and will be doing, right? I am satisfied when I awake with
Thy likeness. So here we see the psalmist,
David again, crying out to God. But the shadow, the shadow of
the Almighty, the shadow of His wing, what does that mean? Well,
that's in reference to, if you've ever seen a bird, whenever they
protect their young ones, they'll spread their wings out and get
as big as they can get. And they'll cover their bird.
Why? Because other birds fly and come
pick them up, take them off, eat them, snatch them. You know,
little duck. walking out with their little
ducklings. You know, some hawk or some eagle or something like
that can swoop down and grab that thing. Some animal can see
them. And so what that mama bird will
do is they'll stretch out their wings over those younglings and
cover them where they can't be seen. And also shield them from
anything coming down to get them. It'll shield them. That's what
the image is here. He that dwelleth in the secret
place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the
Almighty. Look at verse 2. I will say of the Lord, He is
my refuge and my fortress, my God, in Him will I trust. See again, it's reiterating what
he was saying in Psalm 115. Our God is the one who we shall
trust, and why? Because He is a refuge. He is
a fortress. What is a refuge? Does anyone
know what a refuge is? Huh? A safe place. Anybody have a
hidey hole at your house? Have a tornado bunker? Or maybe you have a nuclear bomb
bunker, I don't know. Or a doomsday bunker. Zombie
apocalypse bunker. A refuge is a place where you
can run for safety. You've heard of refugees? Those
are people who are fleeing from danger and seeking refuge. Seeking safety. You know, we
hear about these refugees that are coming from countries that
are persecuting their own people and they're fleeing their countries
and wanting to come to a place where they can be free and protected.
They're coming to America because they, they desire to come to
a place where they are protected, a place of safety. Okay. And so we see here that the Lord
is our place of safety. We're not going to find it anywhere
else. And then he is our fortress. What's the difference between
a refuge and a fortress? They're pretty similar, right? They're pretty similar. A fortress
is something that has a wall around it. A refuge can have
a wall around it. But a fortress is something that
is built to keep things out. But it also, a fortress is a
place where you can be offensive from behind the wall. From behind
the wall, you can still be offensive. As things come to attack, you
can shoot from the top of the wall. So a fortress is a place
where not only do you receive safety as in a refuge, but also
a place where you can be raised up and built up to withstand the attacks of the
enemy. The Bible gives us the armor
of God and it says that we are to put on the full armor of God to equip us for the attacks from
the enemy. So we hear these words of refuge.
We hear these words of trust. and of a fortress and of safety,
the shadows of the weak. What does that tell us? Well,
it tells us, brethren, that in this life there's going to be
a lot of dangerous things. Outwardly, there's going to be
dangerous things. Inwardly, the sin of our heart
that continues to plague us until we die. But in either case, God
is the answer. He is our refuge. Christ is who
are we to run to. Look at verse 3. Surely He shall
deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome
pestilence. Now remember, Psalm 115. Trust in the Lord. He is our
help. He is our shield. Remember what He says here. He
that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide
under the shadow of the Almighty. He is my refuge and my fortress,
in Him will I trust. Do you trust Him to deliver you
from the snare of the fowler? What's the snare of the fowler?
Well, a snare is a trap, right? And the fowler is just someone
who catches birds. But it says, look, and from the
noisome pestilence, You believe that God can save his people
from this pestilence that's going on? I do. He says he will. This isn't the first time pestilence
has been dished out upon a society. It's been like that throughout
every generation. Every generation has seen a massive pestilence
swept through its communities. But can God deliver his people? I am God, and I change not, right? So if God says it then, God means
it now, right? God says, I am not like man who,
I don't lie. If God says, he that dwelleth
in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow
of the Almighty, the one who says, trust in the Lord, he is
your help, he is your shield, as we want to fix it to read
here, and your buckler. Look at verse four. He shall
cover thee with his feathers. That's again the reference of
the shadow of the almighty, shadow of the bird, the shadow of the
wing. He says, he shall cover thee
with his feathers and under his wing shalt thou trust. His truth
shall, shall be thy shield and buckler. What is the shield? Now we're seeing who the shield
and the buckler is. Who is the shield and buckler? It's His truth. Now I believe
this can be taken two ways and I think it can be applied two
ways. As it comes to our legal salvation, Jesus Christ is our
shield and buckler. He is the one who has come and
He is the truth. The Bible says that He is the
way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by Him. And so, when it pertains to our
eternal salvation, our legal salvation, we see Jesus is the
truth who is our shield and our buckler. He is the one who has
shielded us from the wrath of God. He is the one who has delivered
us from our sin, who has delivered us from our condemnation. He
is the one who has delivered us from our sin. He has delivered
us from out from underneath the law. He is our help in time of
trouble. He is the one who has been our
shield and in him do we trust. We trust that he has done that
for us and him alone. In that is our trust. That and
that only is our trust. We don't trust in our decision.
We don't trust in our good words. We don't trust in our outward
appearance. We don't trust in our experiences. Brethren, there
are some that believe that our outward experiences is what is
the sign of the reality within. Listen, that is not true. The
outward appearance that we see of anybody possibly being saved
is their faith in the Gospel. Anybody can not drink, not smoke,
not chew or go with the girls that do. Anybody can wear long
dresses. Anyone can wear long-sleeved
shirts and a tie. Anyone can have a short haircut
or a long haircut. Anybody can not go to the bars,
not go to the strip clubs. Anybody can not be greedy for
filthy lucre. Anybody can not cheat on their
taxes. Anybody can go to church, can
pray, can read the Bible, Anybody can give their money to the work
of the Gospel. Anybody can mow the church yard,
clean the church house. Anybody can do those things.
But only a child of grace can look to Christ alone and His
imputed righteousness as His only hope. Only a child of grace who is
born again can look and trust in Him Look to Him and Him alone
and that hope be an everlasting, enduring hope. Only the child
of grace. So Christ becomes our shield
and our buckler. But in temporal things, such
as pestilence, such as the enemies rising up against us, It says,
the truth shall be thy shield. Now, I believe also Christ is
involved in that by His Holy Spirit, but the truth, knowing
God's Word. Listen, if we don't know this
that I'm talking about, then we can go out there and be frantic
and worried about everything, right? If we don't know that
God's truth says that God is one that we can trust in and
that He will be our help in time of trouble. that He will be our
shield and buckler from pestilence, from our enemies. See, if we don't know the truth,
if we don't know God's Word, then we're not going to have
trust in God because God has said everything about Himself
and about what He does in this, not in self-help books. You can
walk the aisles of a Christian bookstore and find 10,000 self-help
books. And all of them are worthless,
to be honest. They're all worthless. Anything that tells you to dig
deep inside of you to accomplish something, whether it's practical
or spiritual, is useless. Right here's our only hope. This
is our only rule of faith. You can walk those doors, find
10,000 books. It's going to tell you, you can
do it. Let God Just do it. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps.
And you may find a handful of books of theological nature. I don't know how it is now. I
know when we used to have this bookstore here in Joplin, you'd
go in and you had a whole bookstore of self-help. And you had one
rack of books about six, eight feet long, two shelves. Not even a full three shelves,
two shelves full of book on doctrine. But 25, 35 shelves of you can
do it, your best life now, or John Hagee's, you know, bow down
to Israel or you're going to die type books. No, we need God's truth. It tells
us what we need to know about our God. It reassures us who
it is that is our God. He shall cover thee with His
feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust. His truth shall
be thy shield and buckler. But if you don't know His truth,
you won't know that He can be your shield and your buckler. Verse 5, Thou shalt not be afraid,
for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flyeth by
day." See, that's the result of not trusting in the Lord,
of not knowing the truth about God is that we become afraid. See, that's why I'm preaching
these two messages. Does God's sovereignty matter?
If we believe that He is in control and working all things for His
glory and for our good, If we know the truth, then it's going
to be our shield and our buckler in times of trouble. And we won't
be afraid. Whenever we become afraid, it's
because our eyes have come off of the sovereignty of God and
been placed upon the works of man. And as I pointed out last
week, I'm just as guilty as anybody else. Matter of fact, this whole
thing comes because of the conviction that I had in failing in this
area so often. So many Christians are just glued
to that TV, watching Fox News. Oh no, what are they saying now?
Oh no, look at what they're doing. We're going to have to rise up
and be the church militant. We don't have to rise up and
be the church militant. We just need to trust in the
Lord. Trust in the Lord. Devise your ways, but the Lord
is going to guide your steps. He's going to direct your paths,
your steps. I know I'm misquoting that. Gabriel
Gonzalez will be on here later. He'll correct me. He'll put it in the right verse.
He says, Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor
for the arrow that flyeth by day," listen, listen, "...nor
the pestilence that walketh in darkness." Are you afraid of this pestilence
out here, Christian? I know a lot of Christians that
are just fearful of this thing. They're living in fear, so much
so that it's hindered them from being able to come and worship
the Lord. They're living in fear so much that they can't go do
the work, do their job, provide for their family. They're living
in such fear that they can't even get out and function in
society because they're afraid of the pestilence. Why is that? It's because they don't know
the truth. They don't trust in God. Now again, I'm not saying
go out and lick the countertops at the public, you know, restaurant. I'm not saying to go and, you
know, Lick the handles of every doorknob in Joplin and and you
know tempt the Lord What I'm saying is is we can trust God
Because he said that he would Protect us shield us those who
dwell in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under
the shadow of the Almighty under his protection. I Those who say of the Lord, He's
my refuge and my fortress, in Him will I trust. He shall deliver
from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome pestilence. Those who know His truth as a
shield and a buckler will know that we will be hid under His
feathers and not be afraid. Verse 6, Nor the pestilence that
walketh in darkness, nor the destruction that wasteth at noonday, Listen, listen to this. If this
doesn't apply to us today, I don't know what does. Listen. A thousand
shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but
it shall not come nigh thee. Does God's sovereignty matter? Is God a liar? he that dwelleth in the secret
place of the Most High, he who finds refuge and fortress in
God, he in whom he trusts, the one who trusts in God, a thousand
shall fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy right hand, but
it shall not come nigh thee. Me and Brother Tom Armstrong
was talking about this yesterday. I've mentioned this here before. I've talked to several churches,
New Testament churches, I'm saying, those who preach the true gospel
that hold to the ordinances of Jesus Christ as He's given them
to us. These New Testament churches,
I've asked around, And I've found that not one person that I know of, and not one person
that any of these pastors know of, that are members of their
church, that are trusting in the Lord in all of this stuff,
not one person has come down with this pestilence. Not one person has died from
this place. I've heard of a sound guy at
one church that got it. He supposedly contracted it.
He was exposed to it, but after testing and quarantine found
out that he wasn't, didn't have it, but he had to be quarantined
because he was exposed to it. So I haven't heard anybody. Now I've heard of people that
have been in the church and have rebelled and left the church,
and now are out there just kind of willy-nilly in some modern
church. I've heard about them getting
it. But I've not heard of one person who is trusting in the
Lord and is a part of a New Testament church. And I'm talking about
about 12 to 15 churches that I know and fellowship with on
a regular basis. Don't know one person that's
got this. And he said, well, Bridger, I
think you're getting a little silly here now. Let's not be charismatic
Pentecostal here. We don't have to let the Pentecostals
rob us of God's truth. A broken clock's right twice
a day, right? Sometimes those who are in the
wrong camp, supposedly, can get things wrong or get things right
occasionally. But what I'm saying here is not
what the Pentecostals say, but what does God's Word say? Remember,
His truth is going to be our shield and buckler. A thousand shall fall at thy
side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not
come nigh with thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou
behold and see the reward of the wicked." The wicked are reaping
their reward for their wickedness. That's why I said at the very
beginning of the message, I believe that we are in a time, and it
started not just this year, not just last year, not since Trump's
come into office. This happened several years ago. Whenever America began to be,
uh, uh, Oh, what's the word I'm looking forward to be, uh, desensitized
to the wickedness of sodomites, pedophilia, of all kinds of witchcraft. And we become desensitized to
that. And it's like, yeah, it's all right. We can just be part
of that. Listen, guys, I don't know how many Christians are
involved in yoga. They're going out to places and
being involved in yoga. And I'm not talking about just
going out and stretching. They're getting involved in the
occult part of yoga, the transcendental meditation part of yoga. They
are teaching this in Southern Baptist youth camps. I have proof
to back that, by the way. They are teaching transcendental
meditation in Southern Baptist youth camps. Listen, brethren, we are seeing
the reaping of the wicked and their reward. That is why he
says, that they shall fall at thy side by the thousands, but
it shall not come nigh to thee. Look at verse nine. 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. Do you read that, brother? Does
that say what it says? Is this the truth? Does God's
sovereignty matter in COVID-19? I think it does. He says, because
thou hast made... A boat's coming in the window,
baby. He says, because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge,
even though most hide thy habitation, What's he saying? What does he
mean there? He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most
High. We've made our trust in the Lord, our place in His bosom. We have come to Him as our refuge,
as our fortress. That's our place of hiding. That's
our place of refuge. Trusting upon His sovereignty. Coming underneath His wings of
sovereignty. Coming in His fortress of sovereignty. Coming within His refuge of sovereignty. He that hath made the LORD 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. I want to say this just as a
side note because I'm sure there's going to be people that's going
to be watching or listening. They're going to say, well, this psalm
is about Christ. This is about Christ. It's not
about us. This is about Christ because
the devil quoted that to Christ during his temptation in the
wilderness. Listen, just because the devil quoted that to Jesus,
And he quoted it wrongly, by the way. But just because the
devil quoted that to Jesus in the wilderness, doesn't mean
that Jesus is the only one that this applies to. Now as the God-man,
Jesus coming in human flesh, this definitely applies to Him. Why? Because He dwelled in the
secret place of the Most High. He abides under the shadow of
the Almighty. He trusts in the Lord. Jesus
Christ trusts in what God has said. Why? Well, for one, He
is God. He said it. Jesus is God. But whenever God took on flesh
and came down as the Son of God, the Son of Man, as He came down
as that God-Man, He came down and did and is accomplishing
all the purposes that God has decreed. While He is in heaven now, He
is the right hand of God. Not that He's sitting at the
side of a throne. He's in the throne and He is the right hand
of God. Isn't that what we just seeing
a few minutes ago that he is the right hand of God? He says, There shall no evil
befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy door, for
he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in 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 the ather, the young lion and the dragon
thou shalt trample under feet. Because He has set His love upon
me, therefore will I deliver Him. I will set Him on high because
He has known my name. He shall call upon me and I will
answer Him. I will be with Him in trouble. I will deliver Him and honor
Him. With long life will I satisfy Him and show Him my salvation."
Brethren, let me ask you. Does God's sovereignty matter
to you in your everyday life? Do you trust in Him? Is He your
shield and your buckler? Not only for eternal salvation,
but for everything. You know, the Lord doesn't lie.
We can trust Him. We can trust Him. I pray that
we do. I pray that He'll find us faithful, keep us faithful
to do all those things. Alright, does anybody have anything
they'd like to add or comment upon? Any questions? Anybody? Any thoughts or commentary? Well, let's bow and have a little
prayer. Our great God and Father, our
Lord Jesus Christ, we pray that the Spirit that
God has come today, dwelt with us, worked in us, revealed Christ
to us, honored God in all that we've
done. Father, we thank You for this
day. We thank You for the Word of God. We thank You for the
promises of God. God, may the things that we've
seen today in Your Word May the Spirit apply that in
our heart. May You keep us in the reality of that each and
every day. Father, we do pray for Your protection. We do pray for You to be our
shield and our buckler to keep us from the pestilences at hand,
to guard us from our enemies that rise up against us. Father,
we pray that even now, the wicked, that You give them the reward
of their evil. But Father, I pray that as we
see that happening before our very eyes, that You might convict
us and humble us to know that by nature we deserve everything
that they get. That by nature that we are as
they are in Adam. that we are sinners by nature,
that we are transgressors of God, and that we are at wrath
against You and enmity against You. But Father, we're so grateful
for the salvation that we've had in Christ. We're thankful,
Father, that He has bled for us. And because of that blood,
we have remission of sin. We thank You, Father, that we
have been given eternal life that we will not be condemned. Father, we do ask You to help
us to look to Your sovereignty in
all things for our daily walk, for our daily lives. May Your love constrain us. May
Your Word direct us. May Your Spirit empower us May
we go forth this week, Father, as testimony and witnesses of
You. May You keep us. We pray for our members that
are not here, Lord. We pray for them continually.
We ask, Lord, that You would bring them back to us. We ask,
Lord, that You would convict their hearts. We pray for others. Again, Lord,
as we've seen here, would You expand our numbers? Would You bring others in, Father,
for the labors and the work? We might be edified. Father,
we ask that. And again, we pray for the food
that we're about to eat now. We ask You to bless it. We ask
You to be with those that have been watching and listening.
Lord, we ask prayer for them as well, whatever situation that
they're in and why they're listening and why they're watching. Lord,
I pray that You would be with them, keep them, Instruct them,
may this be of help. May they glorify God by it, Lord. So be with us now in our time
of fellowship. To the glory of God, in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.