Turn with me, if you would, to Psalm 46. And while you're turning, I just want to, along with Clay, say thank you for everything. Thank you for having this conference. I'm so thankful Dad wanted to have this conference. And I'm so grateful to all of you for your effort, all of the preparation and the food You ladies and men, everything you do, I'm so thankful to you. It is truly so good to be here. And it is so good to be with David and Clay. Clay told you, we both used to work for David.

He had a business. And he hired me when I was living in Franklin, Tennessee. And not too long after he hired me, felt led to move to Rocky Mount Virginia. And I was going to keep working for David as a rep in Rocky Mount Virginia. And I said, how about hiring Clay to take over my place? He said, OK. So Clay had Franklin, Nashville, and I had the Virginia area. And that's the moment his business really started to tank. We were not good at selling heater bands for plastic injection molding. And thankfully, the Lord removed us from that job.

Hopefully, we're a little better at this, I hope. But honestly, I'm truly, truly thankful. Psalm 46, we looked at verse 10 last night. Psalm 46, verse 10, and I want to look at the entire psalm this morning. And the first line ought to bring great relief to us. It ought to bring truly, truly great relief to God's people. Verse 1 says, God is a refuge for us. God is our refuge. Now let me tell you why that ought to bring great relief to us. It's because the thing that we need refuge from the most is our sin and the results of our sin or the wages of our sin.

We are sinners. Just in case we have forgotten that, just in case we've got caught up in the world, caught up in our lives, and we are sinners. Sometimes it takes a minute to learn that in life. But the older we get, the more we realize it to be so. We are sinners. We're sinners. We're true sinners. I'm so ashamed of my mind. I thank God for his grace in keeping my thoughts to myself. Boy, we're sinners.

Refuge means shelter. It means a place of safety, a place to run and hide. Refuge. And the thing that we need a place to run and hide from the most is number one, our sin. Number one, our sin. We commit sin and we don't think a thing in the world about it. We find every excuse. We don't think a thing in the world about it until God convicts us of it.

You know, that's grace. That's grace. God's grace. And His mercy and His kindness and His love that He would convict us of our sin and bring, I mean, real guilt. Not just, oh yeah, amen brother, I'm a sinner. I mean, real guilt. Oh, I'm sorry. His Word on our conscience says to us, if we belong to Him, it will say to us, Thou art the man. You're the man.

And our sin, which so easily besets us, and it so constantly besets us, it grieves us, and it haunts us, and it strikes fear into us, because we know God can see it. We know our God can see it. I can remember a point in my life when it really hit me. God sees everything I'm doing. God sees my thoughts. God sees my actions. We haven't pulled anything over on him. We haven't done anything in darkness, anything in secret that he cannot see. And we know the same thing that David knew. David said, against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight.

We are constantly in need in our conscience, our minds, our hearts, our guilt, our shame. We are constantly in need of a refuge. God's people are constantly in need of a refuge because of our sin against God. Now let's see if we can get a hold of this. If we can get a hold of this, we will have gotten a hold of the glory of the gospel. Our sin is against God. Let me repeat that and let's start there and lay that foundation. Our sin is against God. We need a refuge because of our sin against God. And God is our refuge. God is our refuge for our sin against God. That's amazing, isn't it? That's really amazing. We need a place to run and hide from the vengeance of God on our sin. Those of you who have had God revealed to you.

Will God punish sin? Will God punish your sin? Will He clear the guilty? No. Does He sweep the sin of His people under a rug? No. And yes, He will punish sin. For anyone who couldn't see all the heads nodding up and down. Yes, He will punish sin. The only place that there is to run and hide from the vengeance of God on our sin is in God. That's the only place. In God. Our just God and our Savior. Our just God is our Savior. What's His justice on? Me. My sin. Our just God is our Savior. God is our refuge. Jesus Christ is His name. What is God's name? Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. All through the scripture, Jesus Christ is called the chief cornerstone.

And the Lord said in Matthew 21, speaking of himself, he said, whoever this stone falls on, in judgment, in wrath, it is going to grind that man or woman to powder, whoever the stone falls on. But he said, whoever falls on this stone, Whoever falls on this stone for mercy, for refuge, for a place to hide, for a place of safety, he said, shall be humbly broken. Broken to receive what he or she so desperately needs. Whoever falls on this stone has been made to fall on the stone. Whoever falls on the stone has been lovingly called to fall on the stone.

Our Lord, the chief cornerstone, said, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest. Labored and heavy laden over your sin against me, I'll give you rest. I will put you in the cliff to the rock. I'll hide you there and you'll find safety from the judgment of me.

Who is our judge? You know we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Did you know our judge is also our advocate? Think about that. What if the judge who held the decision was our advocate? The one pleading. We're pleading for mercy. We're pleading Your Honor, not guilty.

Okay. He said, I'll put you in me. I'll hide you from the judgment of me. I'll hide you in the rock. The rock is me, he said. The cliff in the rock is me. That's amazing. Our sin is against God. Our sin is against God. We need a refuge from our sin against God and in Christ, for Christ's sake, God is our refuge. That's a glorious gospel. We have the most glorious gospel that there is. We actually have the only gospel that there is. This is the only good news that there is. Verse one says, God is our refuge and strength. A very present help in trouble. That means not only is he willing, he's able, and he won't put it off. Right now. Right now.

When Peter got out of the ship and started walking on the water to go to the Lord, you know he was doing fine until he took his eyes off the Lord, and the moment he took his eyes off the Lord, he started sinking immediately. When he cried, Lord save me, He did not mean later on. He did not cry, Lord, save me tomorrow. I think I'm going to get serious about this tomorrow. I think maybe let's wait a little bit longer in life. We'll get on down the road a little bit. And then he meant right now. Right now, Lord, save me right Do you know He got it right now? Right now. The Lord was a very present help for him in his moment of trouble.

And the Lord will be a very present help for every soul who comes to Him. Every soul who has been made by Him, He's going to get the glory for all of this. Man has no responsibility in man's salvation. God starts the work, performs the work, and finishes the work. But the work takes place. And any sinful soul who he causes to come to him in sincerity, not lip service, not religion, I mean in sincerity, seeking mercy and seeking free grace, forgiveness, refuge, help right now. from sin, not from financial burden, not from the things of this world, from sin against God, mercy, from judgment against God.

He will save you right now. He will save you right now. You say, Gabe, how can you know that? He said so. That's what he said. That's what He said. He'll save you right now. You come to Him in your heart, pleading for refuge, pleading for salvation in Christ alone. Christ is my only hope. He's all I have. I have nothing, nothing else. Nothing more, nothing less.

I'm begging for mercy in the blood of Jesus Christ. You come to Him right now. He will save you right now. He's a very present help. I need to be saved right now in the blood of Jesus Christ. I need it. Yesterday's over. You know, people say, oh, I was saved back in 1973. I had a car wreck and I was sitting there. Well, great. I need to be safe right now. I need to be saved right now. Save me. Today is the day of salvation for every person here. Verse 1 says, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. What that means is, though all of our foundations are taken out from under us, everything on this earth that we rely on and stand on and believe is a sure footing for us. when obviously it's not because they will be taken out from under us. That's what'll happen to every soul who Christ, our only refuge, is revealed to. All of the false foundations that we thought we were standing on and all of our false religion, it'll fall out from under us. Everything we thought we were standing on will crumble.

All of our self-righteousness, the moment Christ is revealed, self-righteousness starts to crumble. All of our deeds, all of our decisions. Did you know I don't trust one of my decisions? If I can make a decision, I can unmake a decision. All of our morality. We thought we were so moral. And then the moment you see Christ, the moment you see God and His holiness, our morality starts, I'm not as moral as I thought I was. Verse three says, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. That's what will happen to the waters of a troubled soul. In the mountains of a shaking, false hope. Once God's people see Christ their refuge, as verse 2 said, they will not fear. Because they will clearly see, verse 4 says, there is a river.

A river of blood, a river of redemption, a river of mercy, a river of peace, a river of life, a river of righteousness, a river of grace and comfort and love. Where does this river flow from? Revelation 22 says it, flows from the throne of God and of the land. Christ is the river.

He's what makes glad the city of God, verse 4 says, the people of God. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst of her. God is in the midst of the river. God is in the midst of the city. God is in the midst of His people. He is in the midst of His people. Verse 5 says, God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved. What that means is every soul in the refuge stays in the refuge. Verse 5, God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved. God shall help her and that right early.

That means first thing. First thing. Sing that promise over and over again to me. I love to tell that story. Tell it over and over again. God the Lord will help you right now. In Christ. In Christ. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Come to the Father through the Son and He'll help you right now.

And here is the reason why. Here's the reason why. It's because if you come, He drew you to come. This is the reason why. If you come to Christ and not your decision, and not your religion, and not your denomination, and not your doctrine, and not your decision, if you come to Christ and you count all that other stuff dung, He will help you because number one, He drew you to come. And it's the evidence of the fact that He's already helped you. Coming to Christ is not the cause of salvation, it's the evidence. It's the evidence.

John 6.37 says, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. No man can come except the Father which sent me draw. So He will help. His promise is He will help because He's already helped. Now, I love verse 6. I just love this so much. This is what man did and what God did.

The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved. He uttered his voice, the earth melted. All right, now that's what man did, and that's what God did. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved. He uttered his voice, the earth melted. Who's the heathen? That's me, and that's you. And what that means is, He broke us. That's what it means.

He broke us from our arrogance and our pride and thinking our way was better than His way. Thinking we had a say in the things of God. And a right to the things of God. People think they have a right to the things of God. Nobody has a right to the things of Gabe, except for my own. He broke us from shaking our fist in the face of God.

Do you mean to tell me that's what we did? That's what we did. All he had to do was utter his voice. Speak the Word only. Oh, speak the Word only. That's what we need. I don't need to speak this morning. He didn't need to speak this morning. We need one man to speak the Word only. He uttered His voice and we melted.

Thank God. Verse 7, it says, The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. How do you know? How do you know he's with us? God has a people. He has an elect people. How do you know we are among them? How do you know he's with us? Here's how we know.

It's because he uttered his voice and broke us. That's how you know. When he speaks to his people, the first thing he says is, you're a sinner against me. And He broke us. He spoke. He broke. And He caused us. He revealed our only refuge. He caused us to come running to Him for refuge. And in that, He was merciful to us and gracious to us. And He proved to us that He was for us and with us by doing that.

Oh, verse 8 says, Come, behold the works of the Lord. What desolations He hath made Just look at this. Just behold this. Look at the desolations. I mean, he broke it down, all the way down. Look at the desolations. Behold the works of the Lord. Behold everything he's broken down in his conquering victory. That's what this is, his conquering victory. Behold the spoils of his battle. Where was the battle?

It was on the cross. Don't you thank God for the cross. Don't you thank God for the victory of the cross. The Lord Jesus Christ took our sin and God's righteousness and holiness, as we just so clearly heard about, and a conflict happened. And God dealt with it. And God conquered it and put an end to it. And the end result is He abolished death. Don't you love those evergreen trees? Boy, I'm going to use that. He abolished death. He abolished the sin of His people. He abolished death. Verse 9 says, He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth. He breaketh the bow and cutteth the spear and sundered. He burneth the chariot in the fire.

Whose war was it? Who was at war? We were. It was our war. We were the ones who were naturally at enmity against him. But he broke our bow. And he cut our spear. And he burned our religious chariot, that high horse chariot we were riding on. He burned it in the fire of his judgment and wrath. And after he did all of that, he broke down the middle wall of petition between us. He broke the bow, he broke the spear, he broke the chariot, and he broke the wall. So making peace. So making the wars to cease unto the end of the earth. He did this for people all over this world.

Verse 10, he said, be still and know that I'm God. I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth, because our Lord humbled himself, made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant, was made obedient unto death, even the death of his cross, for his people, because he did that for the people that God the Father chose and loved and selected and said, here, you do it. You save them. Because he did it, the Father has highly exalted him. and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess he's Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Thank God he was exalted. Thank God He is exalted. Thank God He will forever be exalted.

That's where God's people want Him to be. Exalted. We must decrease. He must increase. He is exalted as the Judge, the Savior, and the King. That's who He is. Verse 11 says, The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. I love how the last line is the same as the first line. The God of Jacob is our refuge. You know the message doesn't change? Start to finish, it just doesn't change. The God of sinners is our refuge. We're never gonna get over that. We will never get over that. We'll never want to get over that. Thank God. Thank God. The very last word in the psalm is selah. And it means just be still and ponder that a while. Just dwell on that a while. Chew on that a while. Rejoice in that a while. Amen. Amen.