Alright, if you would, let's
open our Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 33. Deuteronomy chapter
33. We begin reading in verse 26, the
blessing to Jeshurun, which is a blessing that applies to all
of God's people. Verse 26 of Deuteronomy 33. There
is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the
heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky. The eternal
God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. And
he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee, and shall say,
destroy them. Israel then shall dwell in safety
alone. The fountain of Jacob shall be
upon a land of corn and wine. Also his heavens shall drop down
dew. Happy art thou, O Israel, who is like unto thee, O people
saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, And who is the sword
of thy excellency? And thine enemies shall be found
liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread upon their high places. Let's turn to 282. 282. Go safe to the rock that is higher
than I My soul in its conflicts and sorrows would fly So sinful,
so weary, Thine, Thine would I be. Thou blessed Rock of Ages,
I'm hiding in Thee, Hiding in Thee, Hiding in Thee. Thou blest rock of ages, I'm
hiding in Thee. In the calm of the noontide,
in sorrows low now, In times when temptation casts o'er me
its Thou blest rock of ages, I'm hiding in thee. Hiding in Thee, Hiding in Thee,
Thou blessed Rock of Ages, I'm hiding in Thee. Thou oft in the conflict when
pressed by the foe, I have fled to thee. and breathe out my woe. How often when trials like sea
billows roll, have I hidden in thee Rock of my soul, hiding in Thee,
hiding in Thee. Thou blest rock of ages, I'm
hiding in Thee. Turn back to 126, 126, Rock of
Ages. Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself
in Let the water and the blood from
thy wounded side which flowed be of sin the double cure. Save from wrath and make me pure. Could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no longer know? These four sins could not atone. Thou must save and Thou alone. In my hand, O Christ, I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling. While I draw this fleeting breath,
When my eyes shall close in death, When I rise to worlds unknown,
and behold thee on thy throne. Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let
me hide myself in thee. A scripture reading will be taken
from Psalm 91 this evening. Psalm 91. He that dwelleth in the secret
place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the
Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress. My God, in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee
from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome pestilence.
He should cover thee with his feathers and under his wing shalt
thou trust. His truth should be thy shield
and buckler. Thou should not be afraid for
the terror by night or the arrow that flyeth by day or the pestilence
that walketh in darkness or for the destruction that wasted that
noonday. A thousand shall follow thy side, and ten thousand at
thy right hand. But it shall not come nigh thee.
Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of
the wicked. Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge,
even the Most High, thy habitation, there shall no evil befall thee,
neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall
give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot
against a stone. Thou shalt tread upon the lion
and adder. The young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample
under feet, because thou hast set his love upon me. Therefore
will I deliver him. I will set him on high, because
he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I
will answer him. I will be with him in trouble.
I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy
him. and show him my salvation. Let's bow together in prayer. in him, that there's righteousness
to be had in his obedience, that there's cleansing from our sin
in his precious blood. Father, how we thank you. How
we thank you for this passage of your word that we've just
read. Father, as we look into it in
just a few moments, Father, I pray you'd apply your word to our
hearts, that we would be able to leave here this evening comforted
and assured in Christ our Savior because of who he is and because
of everything that he has done for his people. Father, we thank
you for this place that you've given to us. Father, I thank
you that you've given us a place of worship. What a special blessing
that you've given your people, a place we can meet together
in worship, a place of peace, a place of love and caring. where we do care one for another,
but that you've given us a heart's desire, a focus, is to hear the
gospel preached, to have our Savior be exalted. Father, how
I thank you. Father, I pray you'd bless your
word. You continue to bless it as it's preached here and in
this pulpit, on the radio and the internet. Father, bless your
word to reach the hearts of your people, to call out your people,
to call them to repentance, and to faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Continue to cause your word to go forth in power, to edify the
hearts of your people, to comfort us and encourage us for this
journey that you've called us to go. And what we pray for ourselves,
Father, we pray for your people everywhere, everywhere your gospel
is preached. We pray you bless it for your
great namesake and to the good of your people. Father, for those
who are in a time of trouble and trial, we pray for them.
How we pray that you would comfort their hearts and that you give
us some confidence and assurance that you will work this thing
out according to your divine purpose. Give us the grace to
rest right there, knowing you do all things well. Father, again,
bless us. Give us an hour of worship, we
pray. was in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ. For
his glory, we pray, give thanks. I belong to the king. I'm a child of His love, I shall
dwell in His palace, For he tells of its bliss in
yon heaven above, And his children its splendor shall share. Sing it with me. I'm a child of His love, and
He never forsaketh His own. He will call me someday to His
palace above, I shall dwell by His glorified throne. I belong to the King, and He
loves me, I know, For His mercy and kindness so free. are unceasingly mine, wheresoever
I go, and my refuge unveiling is He. I belong to the King, I'm a child
of His love, And He never forsaketh His own. He will call me someday To His
palace above, I shall dwell by His glorified throne. I belong to the King, and His
promise is sure. That we all shall be gathered
at last In His kingdom above By life's waters so pure When
this life with its trials is past I belong to the King, I'm a child
of His love, and He never forsaketh His own. He will call me someday,
? To his palace above ? And I shall dwell by his glorified throne
All right, let's open our Bibles
again to Psalm 91. Psalm 91. I've titled the message, The
Believer's Security. I titled that because when you
read through this psalm, you see the believer's security in
Christ all the way through this psalm. Even Satan knew this psalm
referred to our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember when Satan tempted our
Lord in the wilderness, he quoted verses 11 and 12. For he shall
give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways.
They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot
against a stone. Now, Satan completely twisted
the meaning of that, didn't he? But he did quote it and applied
it to the Savior. And our Savior did not give in
to any of Satan's temptations at that time. He never gave in
to any temptation to sin, did he? And that's why the believer
is secure. Because Christ our Savior is
perfect. And the psalmist here, we don't
know who it is who wrote this psalm, but whoever wrote it lists
five reasons that God's people are secure. They're concrete
reasons. Throughout this psalm, you read
the word because. Because. There is always a because
for faith. That might not be exactly right
English, but there is always a because for faith. Do you know
there's no such thing as blind faith? There's not. It's not
like, well, you know, I trust, but I don't know why. I mean,
I just trust everything will be okay, but I don't know why.
No. Faith is never blind. Faith knows
whom I have believed. That determines my comfort level.
Knowing whom that I have believed. The believer has good reason
to know their soul is secure because they know Christ. because
they believe him. So here's the first thing. The
believer is secure because Christ has delivered us. Verse three,
surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler
and from the noisome pestilence. Now I'm going to look at this
in reverse order. Let's look first at the noisome
pestilence. That word noisome pestilence
means perverseness that destroys. Now that's our sin, isn't it?
It's a perverseness that destroys. God must punish us. He must punish our sin with eternal
death. And that's a fearsome plague. It's a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God because God's holy. He must
punish sin. But the believer doesn't fear.
The believer does not fear death. The believer does not fear God's
judgment. The believer will stand in that
day of judgment. Now, why is that? Does faith
say, well, I don't know why, but, you know, it'll just turn
out right in the end. Somehow, you know, God will see
I've done more good than bad. I'll find out God's too kind
to punish somebody like me. No, that's not the reason. Those
are invalid reasons. Believers have a solid, concrete
reason not to fear judgment because The Lord Jesus Christ already
suffered the fearsome plague of death for me as my substitute. And that's what verse one is
talking about. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most
High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Now, what's
the secret place of the Most High? It's the Holy of Holies. That's the place where the glory
of God dwelt above the mercy seat. And that was veiled off. Only the high priest could go
in there just one day a year, on the day of atonement, when
he brought in the blood of the sacrifice. And God said, this
is where I will meet with men. I'll meet with men at the mercy
seat that's covered with the blood of the sacrifice. God said,
that's the only place I'll meet with men. That's the only place
I'll meet with men and not destroy them. Through a mediator, sprinkling
the blood upon the mercy seat. And that was given to us, and
they observed that for thousands of years. But all that was done
is a picture of how God's people have been delivered from death
for their sin. This took place. The high priest
going and sprinkling the blood took place in that secret place,
the Holy of Holies. It's not secret anymore, is it?
No. What happened when Christ died? He gave up the ghost. He said,
it's finished. He gave up the ghost. What happened in the temple? The veil in the temple was rent
in two. The Holy of Holies is wide open. The place, the way
to God is wide open. As long as you come in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not a secret place anymore.
See, Christ died for his people. He shed his blood before the
Lord to satisfy God's justice for his people. And justice is
satisfied. So his people are delivered.
God's justice demands they be delivered. I tell you how completely,
if you believe Christ, you don't have to fear judgment. This noisome
pestilence is not even looking for you. God's justice is not
even looking for you. If Christ died for you, it's
already satisfied. So God's people have been delivered
from death because Christ died for us in our place. And the
psalmist knew it. Believers are so secure. He says,
surely he shall deliver thee. Wayne, there's no doubt about
it. He shall. Believers are secure in the shadow
of the almighty. And I read a lot about that this
week, the shadow of the almighty. And this is why I'm convinced
the psalmist is talking about. He's talking about the shadow.
that those cherubim with their outstretched wings over top of
the mercy seat, that created a shadow underneath. That place
in the mercy seat where the blood was sprinkled, that's where we're
secure. That's why the believers secure.
It's because of the sacrifice of Christ, because the blood
has been shed and the blood has been applied, God satisfied.
So believers are delivered from sin. They're delivered from the
condemnation of it. Christ already suffered that
for us. We're delivered from the ruling power of it in the
new birth. And one day we'll be delivered
from the presence of sin. And there's a because for this
now. It's because God loves his people. Look at verse 14. Because
he has set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him.
I will set him on high because he hath known my name. Now every
believer has set their love upon the Lord Jesus Christ. If God
has saved you, you love him. You love his son, you love the
Savior, and you love the way that God saves his people. You
wouldn't have it any other way. You love it. But this is what
we also know this. Every believer can honestly say,
I love God, but only because he loved us first. Isn't that
right? He set His love on us first. That's the only reason
that we love Him. We're not delivered from our
sin because we love God. If that was our message, we'd
be preaching salvation by works, wouldn't we? No, and that's not
so at all. Sinners are delivered from God's
wrath because God loves sinners. And He showed His love for sinners.
It's a concrete thing. God showed His eternal love for
His people when he sent his son to die in our place, to be the
propitiation for our sin. The father went to the extreme
to sacrifice his son, to put his son to death. Now, after
God did that, do you think there's any way that God will let any
of his elect perish? No, of course not. He will deliver
everyone for whom Christ died. God loves his people too much
to let them perish. And what's more important, he
loves his son too much to let his sacrifice be in vain. He
will deliver his people. The psalmist said he'll deliver
his people because they know his name. Now, salvation is knowing
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. John 17, our Lord's great high
priestly prayer, he said, this is eternal life, that they know
thee. Salvation is knowing Christ.
If you would be saved, you must know him. You must believe him. You must know him. And not just
any Jesus now. It's the Christ of this book,
the Christ revealed as he is in this book. We must know him. We must know what this book says
about him and we must believe him. There's salvation in no
other name other than the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
here's the thing. The one and only way we can know
God is if He reveals Himself to us. The natural heart can't
love Him, the natural mind can't know Him. The only way we can
know Him is if God is pleased in mercy and grace to reveal
Himself to us. And that's what He does to His
people, just like He did to Jacob. He revealed Himself to Jacob,
didn't He? He revealed Himself to Moses at the burning bush.
He reveals Himself to His people. God is so gracious. He's the one that gives us faith
in Christ, isn't he? And then he blesses us for having
it. He's the one that makes himself known to his people. And then
he blesses us for knowing him. Now, that's how gracious God
is. Of course, he's going to deliver his people from their
sin. That's amazing grace. Now the psalmist here also talks
about, verse 3, about the being delivered from the snare of the
fowler. What's that talking about? Well, you know what a fowler
is. A fowler catches birds in traps. And he doesn't just set
out to a big sign, you know, here's a trap. You know, they
camouflage it and do everything they do. Or catches these poor
birds and shoots them and things. Well, he don't just set out there
so everybody knows he's there. I mean, he's a fowler. He's sneaking
and trapping them, tricking them. Well, scripture often refers
to God's people as helpless birds, sparrows, doves. If God saved you, you can identify
with that. You go out into the world, you feel pretty helpless,
don't you? Just a helpless sparrow, worthless, helpless. Well, how
do we know God's doves and his sparrows aren't going to get
trapped by the fowler? And I tell you who the fowler
is, it's false religion. False religion is a trap. They're
camouflaging what they're doing. I forget who I was talking about
this week to that. About, you know, preaching the
gospel. We preach the gospel. In plain, just no frills, no,
we're not trying to fool anybody in what we're doing. We preach
the gospel. We're not fooling somebody to get them in the door
and then later on we're going to teach them the truth of the
scripture. No. God don't work that way. We just preach the
scripture. That's all I got. If you're interested
in more charisma and more attractive psychology and things, I'm not
your guy. This is all I got. Now, false
religion, they're going to promise you one thing. They're going
to get you in there with all the glitter and all the gold, you
know, and then they're going to deliver something else. And
when it's too late, you're going to realize you're trapped. That's
what the fowler does. Well, how do we know God's people
aren't going to get fascinated with the gold and the trinkets
and the shows? How do we know we're not going
to get trapped like that? Because, now there's a because
for this. Because a believer hides in Christ. Verse 2, I will say of the Lord,
He is my refuge and my fortress. He's my God. In Him will I trust. Now our refuge is the Almighty. He's my God. I belong to Him. He made me His. I belong to Him. That's a mighty good refuge.
If your refuge, if His name is the Almighty, what might can
come and take you from Him? He's the Almighty. If Christ
is my refuge, nothing can harm me. Absolutely nothing. Now we
know that spiritually. Spiritually, nothing will ever
touch the soul of God's elect. Nothing. And that's true physically,
too. Now, I'm not saying nothing will
ever touch us physically, because it will. Just look around us. But it won't happen without His
permission. It won't happen without the permission of the Almighty. I believe I can leave it there,
can't you? I can leave it to His permission. If Christ is
my fortress, nothing can break down the walls of salvation that
surround me. They can't come in and trap me,
take me away from Him. I'm safe in Him. But look at
Galatians chapter 5. Now there's a warning to us here.
God will deliver His own. I know that. You do too. I know
that. I believe that. I find such hope
and confidence in that God will deliver His own. But now you
take heed to yourselves. The Apostle Paul told those Ephesian
elders, you take heed to yourselves and to your doctrine. Look here
at chapter 5 verse 1 of Galatians. Paul says, stand fast therefore
in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and be not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage. Don't get entangled again with
that trap of the fowler, the trap of false religion. Stand fast. Well, how are we
going to do that? How are we going to stand fast?
There's just one way. It's by hiding in Christ. By
making Christ our refuge. We stand fast by preaching Christ
and Christ alone. Every service. We stand fast
by listening to preaching that's nothing but Christ. Because everything
else, the moment somebody strays from Christ, they've gone off
into this junk that false religion uses to ensnare people, to entangle
them again in the law. And I'm not going to get trapped
in that net of the fowler if I'm trusting in Christ alone. That's what he says at the end
of verse 2, he's my God. In him will I trust. If I'm trusting
in him, the fowler can't get me. The snare can't get me. God's
delivered his people from sin. All right, here's the second
thing. The believer is so secure they
have no reason to fear anything. Verse five. Thou should not be
afraid for the terror by night, nor the arrow that flyeth by
day, nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness. nor for
the destruction that wasteth at noonday." Now, I don't know
about you, death sounds pretty scary to me, doesn't it, Hugh?
What are these things the psalmist is talking about here? Well,
the terrors by night and the pestilence that walketh in darkness.
Those are all the storms that are caused by our sin. There's
spiritual wickedness in high places. There are God's judgments
that must come against sin. The Passover, remember when God
said, I'm going to pass through the land of Egypt That happened
at night, didn't it? He came through and killed the
firstborn. And the arrow that flies by day, the destruction
that wastes at noonday, those are God's judgments against sin,
too. Hold your place there and look back a few pages. Psalm
58. In verse 6, Psalm 58, verse 6. Break their teeth, O God, in
their mouth. Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Lord.
Let them melt away as waters which run continually. When he
bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut to
pieces. Now that's God's arrow of justice.
He's bending back his bow to shoot those arrows of justice. And God's arrows of justice always
find their mark. It's a bullseye every time. Wouldn't you like to shoot an
arrow like that? God's arrows find a bullseye every time. These arrows are also the accusation
that Satan hurls against God's elect. Satan is the accuser of
the brethren hurling these accusations. In Ephesians chapter 6, Paul
called them the fiery darts of the wicked, the fiery arrows
of the wicked. Well, how do I know all those
things together? Things that come at night, things
that come by day. How do I know none of these things
are going to destroy me and cause me to be damned? They sound pretty
frightening. Why shouldn't I be afraid of
them? I've definitely sinned. I know that. I've definitely
sinned. God would definitely be right to shoot his arrows
of justice and cut me to pieces. He'd be right. Can't argue against
it. And Satan, the accuser of the brethren, every accusation
he could possibly hurl against me, I'm guilty. I can't say I
didn't do it. Then why won't God destroy me
because of those accusations? Why don't I have to be afraid
of those things? Because God is our defense. Verse four, he
should cover thee with his feathers and under his wings shalt thou
trust. His truth shall be thy shield and buckle. And our God
defends His people from all this danger that we just read about.
He protects us from the dangers that we can see, those things
that fly by day. He protects us from the dangers
of the things we can't see, we don't even know are out there,
the things that fly by night. And the illustration the psalmist
uses here is a mother hen. That's a good illustration. It's
a loving illustration. That mother hen, she's out there
in the barnyard. Her little chicks are out there.
And they're too dumb to know nothing. All they're doing is
just picking a grain of the dirt. I mean, and they're as happy
as they can be about it. They have no idea there's any
danger in this world whatsoever. But mama knows. And she sees
danger they can't see. And when she sees it, she calls
her chicks to run to her. Now maybe sometimes her chicks,
maybe they see or sense some danger, but if they do, I promise
you, mama saw it first. And she calls those chicks, and
they come, and they just run right under her. And she spreads
her feathers out, gets those chicks under her, and she just
sits down. Now those chicks are safe. They're safe hiding under mama. Danger is all around. I mean,
if she's called them under her, there's real danger around. The chicks don't know. I mean,
danger is circling the head, the hawks up there, whatever,
you know, foxes. The chicks don't care. All they
know is I'm warm and I'm safe under my mama. Those feathers
are warm, they're safe, they're just chirping and talking to
one another, so happy, everything's happy, this is wonderful. There
might be danger out there, I don't care, mama's going to take care
of that. Now, I suppose a hawk could go and get that mother.
I don't know how that works, but this is just an illustration.
But to be sure, we know how secure the believer is. The psalmist
goes on and tells us God's truth is our shield and our buckler.
We're not just depending on some creature of God to keep us. Nothing
can harm anyone who's trusting in Christ because God's truth
is our shield. in our buckler. It's not just,
oh well, it's going to work out somehow and I don't know how.
No, it's God's truth. Now a shield is what a soldier
holds out in front of him as he attacks. He's using that shield
to ward off the enemy as he attacks. The buckler is something that
would go all around the soldier to protect him on every side.
That's God's truth for the believer. God's truth is both our shield
and our buckler, the truth of salvation in Christ our substitute. You know, we preach this and
we must preach sound doctrine. We must preach true doctrine
because the truth of salvation in Christ our substitute, this
truth that the Lord Jesus Christ took my sin away from me and
He took it into His own body upon the tree and He paid the
debt in full by His sacrifice That truth protects me from every
danger. Nothing can get through God's
truth and make my salvation untrue if Christ is my Savior. See how
important that is? The truth of Christ, the truth
of salvation in Him that's accomplished by Him, that's all in Him, will
stop every fiery dart, every fiery accusation of Satan. God,
the judge will stop every one of those accusations cold because
in Christ, every accusation is false. So there's nothing to
fear, whether it's the arrow that flies by day or by night,
the pestilence that walk within the noondime or the pestilence
that comes by night, there's nothing to fear. Now, that doesn't
mean that we're not going to spend some time scared out of
our wits. There are things that we're going
to see that will frighten us half to death. And there are
things that we're going to see that will be very sobering. And
they ought to be. They ought to be sobering. But
none of those things can harm a believer. Look at verse 7.
A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy
right hand. But it shall not come nigh thee.
Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of
the wicked. The believer is going to see
the judgment and the destruction of the wicked. We'll see the
wicked going off in their way, snared in the trap of the fowler
of false religion. And that ought to frighten us.
Something wrong with us if it don't. That ought to be very
sobering to us. Very sobering. If that doesn't
bother us, something's bad wrong, isn't it? Something's bad wrong.
But Scripture says you're going to see that, but it won't come
nigh you. Not if you believe Christ it won't, because He already
bore that for you. Isn't Scripture full of examples
of that? The plagues in Egypt. There's darkness all through
Egypt, so dark you can't see your hand in front of their face.
There's light in Goshen, where Israel dwells. The flies and
the frogs and the blood turn to water. Egyptians had all that. Israelites had none of it. And
the Passover. God passed through the land of
Egypt and killed the firstborn of every Egyptian that night. How many people was that? But
he didn't suffer the destroyer to come into one home with their
blood on the door. Pharaoh's army drowned in the
Red Sea. Israel saw that. They stood on
the bank without one weapon. and watch the mightiest army
and up to that time, the history of the world comes straight for
him and they watched him be destroyed. Now, I'd be glad, wouldn't you? If I stay on that shore, I'd
be glad to see him destroyed. But now, buddy, that's a scene
of destruction. Human beings dying under the
wrath of God. That Passover. Oh, I'd be glad
to see my firstborn there, wouldn't you? But to hear those wails
of mothers and fathers and families crying for their firstborn that
haven't been slain? That ought to sober us up, shouldn't
it? Why aren't I standing where they're
at? I ought to be. Why not? God's
distinguishing grace is the only answer. God made the difference. by putting us in Christ. Thirdly,
the believer is secure from all evil. Verse 10, he says, There
shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy
dwelling. Now, evil is all around us, and we take it everywhere
we go. We are evil. Well, how can evil
not come nigh my dwelling if I am evil? How can evil not come
near me? I am evil. How can it not hurt
me? Well, here's the because. Because Christ is our dwelling
place. Because we dwell, we live in
the secret place of the Most High. Verse 9. Because thou hast
made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High thy habitation.
That's why there is no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague
come nigh thy dwelling. See, a believer doesn't just
dwell in Christ on Sundays and Wednesdays. The believer dwells
in Christ always. We lodge there. We live there. We can't live anywhere else.
God put us in Christ before time began. Well, nothing can take
us out of it. Now, there was a time in our
experience, we didn't know anything about that. There was a time
in my experience, I didn't know. I didn't know God. I didn't know
Christ. I knew a lot of religion, knew
a lot of doctrine, but I didn't know God. I didn't know Christ.
I had no concept that God would have put me in Christ. We all
lived in sin. We walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.
By nature, there's no difference between me and the child of disobedience.
Here's the difference. Here's the because. But God. But God, who's rich in mercy,
caused us to be born again by his grace. And when we were born
again, now we had eyes to see. Now I see, oh, God put me in
Christ. And you know what? I choose to
be there. I choose to be right where God
put me, in the Lord Jesus Christ. I wouldn't want to dwell any
place else. I wouldn't want my refuge to
be anywhere but Christ, would you? Because outside of Christ,
there's only destruction. There's only evil. But in Christ,
there's salvation. In Him, there's no evil. The
Lord taught us to pray, didn't He? Deliver us from evil. Deliver
us from the evil one. Deliver us by putting us in Christ. The believer dwells in Christ. So we're safe from God's wrath. I did some reading this week
and I disagree with some of the things I heard and read. This
does not mean that the believer is safe from the evils of this
life, from the evils of our flesh. A believer is subject to all
the same diseases as everybody else in the flesh. We all get
sick. We all die. We've had no disease
among us that's not common out in the world. Isn't that right?
A believer is subject to evil in this world, to evil men, to
hatred from them, mistreatment by them. We know many martyr
examples. I got a whole book, the Fox's
Book of Martyrs. We got lots of examples of it.
But here's the believer's comfort. Nothing can touch my body unless
God allows it. This evil can't touch me unless
God allows it. And you know, we just don't know
for sure. all the ways that God is protecting
his people. Look at verse 11. 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. Angels are very real created
beings. And my strongly worded advice
to you is don't go looking for them. Don't go looking for angels. It would be very detrimental.
It'd be bad for us if we could ever see an angel. Because you
know what we'd do? We'd be prone to worship it.
Now, it wouldn't be a good thing for us. Here's what we ought
to be looking for. We ought to be looking for Christ.
You know, people want to, they want to look for something miraculous
and just, you know, fascinating. Well, I'll tell you what. You
look for God's grace in Christ. There's nothing more fascinating
than that. Seek to be found in Him. Seek to be accepted of Him. There's nothing better than that,
is there? But there's no denying these angels, created beings,
they exist. And they exist to serve the Lord.
And from what we read, it seems like that part of them serving
the Lord is them serving and protecting His people from dangers
that they see in the world, that they face in the world. We see
people in car wrecks. We see people have near misses
and we think, that should have killed them. How did they ever
live through that? How did that happen that they
didn't die in that? I've used this illustration before
about driving home behind my daughter, Holly, and she was
in college, coming home for the summer, and her car, hydroplane,
in heavy traffic on I-64, and that car just spun like a top. and all this traffic going. Her
car just spun through all those cars and came to stop on the
side of the road, right by the barrier there, like she parallel
parked there. And there she stopped. I mean,
those cars had to miss her by that much. And I thought, how'd
that happen? Maybe it was an angel directing.
I don't know. I don't know. But we do know this, I wouldn't
be surprised, would you? God used some means to do that,
I don't know. The Lord may use angels to comfort,
strengthen his people, just like those angels came and ministered
to the body of our Lord Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.
I don't know for sure. I know this is part of their
function from what I read in scripture. And I want to be very,
very, very clear about this. The point of these verses is
not angels. You got that right. The point
of this is not angels. The point is that our God is
in control of everything and nothing can touch his people
without his permission. And we just don't know all the
means that God uses to protect his people. Sometimes it may
be angels. I don't know. He could just use
the very power of his word. That'd be all it took, wouldn't
it? But either way, God will protect his people. Evil will
not harm them. If evil comes and kills this
body and I'm lying in a casket, I want everyone to remember this.
Evil didn't harm me. God used it to set me free and
take me be with him. It didn't harm me. It didn't
harm me. And I know this, and this is why I'm much more concerned
about than my body is my soul. Nothing can touch the soul of
anyone who believes in Christ because we're safe in And it's
going to get mighty ugly down here. But in the end, we're going
to have the victory in Christ. Verse 13. Thou shalt tread upon
the lion and adder, the young lion and the dragon shalt thou
trample under feet. Now, Christ is the one who crushed
Satan's head at Calvary. Christ is the one who's got the
victory. And this is referring to Satan, the lion. and the Adders. Scripture talks about Satan as
a roaring lion and deceiving serpent. And our Lord Jesus Christ
has triumphed over him and God's people are going to triumph over
Satan too in Christ. Now, even more strongly than
I would advise you not to go looking for angels, don't you
go looking for Satan. Just don't go looking for him.
If we find him, he'd sift us like wheat just like he did Peter.
The point of this It's not that one day we're going to be able
to lord it over Satan. You know, you hear these false prophets
say, I told Satan, do this. I told Satan, get out of here.
Now that's not the point. That's not what this means at
all. This is what it means. One day, the believer is going
to have the complete victory. They're going to have everything
that God promised Adam as he kicked him out of the garden.
You're going to have everything. Satan's power is going to be
destroyed. God's going to put him in a place
where he won't be able to deceive anybody anymore and we won't
be even able to hear his roars. His roars won't frighten us anymore.
God's going to put him away and we will enjoy the victory that
Christ has won for us. No evil can touch you. And fourthly,
the believers are secure because God hears our prayer. Verse 15,
he shall call upon me and I will answer him. I will be with him
in trouble. I will deliver him and honor
him. Now, our Lord has given this
promise to his people, that he hears the prayers of his people. That ought to be more breathtaking
to us than it is. God hears the prayers of his
people. That's exactly why James said,
the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much
It's not because we're so righteous in such great prayers. It's because
God promised to hear our prayers. And knowing that God hears our
prayers, God's not going to break his promise, is he? And God hears
our prayers. Then that ought to give us confidence
to come to God in prayer. And in times of trouble, our
cry is going to be faint and it's going to be weak and the
Lord's still going to hear it. He promises to hear it. and to
honor us. There's nothing more secure,
that nothing can make us more secure in knowing God will be
with us. He won't grant every request
I make in prayer, but he'll hear it and he'll be with me. So if the Lord's with me, what
more do I want? I mean, well, I got to fear. And that gives
us confidence in private You know, so many people tell me
that they find prayer so difficult. You know, we don't say everything
just right. We ramble. We sound so childish. We ask for childish things. I
know not what to pray for as I ought. And you know, the Lord
still promises to hear his children. He still promises. And public
prayer, boy, public prayer is one of the most difficult things
that there is. Public prayer ought to be a little
more pointed, a little more well thought out, you know, a little
shorter, so that we lead the congregation to the throne of
God. And I've never felt like I've
done that as well as I should have. I've never felt like I've
done that as well as I should. But you know, even then, the
Lord promises to hear the prayer of his people. Doesn't that help
you to encourage you? He hears the prayers of his people.
He'll be with us. Then there's nothing to fear.
And lastly, the believer is secure because the life we've been given
is eternal life, verse 16. With long life will I satisfy
him and show him my salvation. Now, eternal life is a long life,
isn't it? It has no beginning, has no ending. Then it can't be lost. It can't
be lost because God's the one who saved us. Christ is the one
who delivered us by suffering our punishment for us. God's
heard us in our prayers. He put us in Christ. You read
it in a study. What God's done be forever. It's
eternal. Then it can't be lost. Now I
ask you, can you think of anything that makes you more secure than
that? That's the believer security. It's all in Christ. All right,
let's bow together in prayer. Our father, How we thank You
for this, Your Word. How we thank You for all the
precious promises of Your Word, that You make these precious
promises to Your children, knowing that we're but dust, knowing
that our faith and our love and our hope and our confidence is
so weak and so small, but yet You make these promises to Your
people and that You uphold Your people Not with the strength
of our own, but with your mighty arm. With your almighty arm. While our love is so weak and
so fickle, yours is eternal. It's unchanging. While our faith
is so weak, not even worth mentioning, your faithfulness is perfect
and eternal. Great is thy faithfulness. Our
power is nothing, but you are the almighty. Father, cause us
to rest in our Lord Jesus Christ, cause us to run to him and to
hide in him and to stay there having no other hope, no other
confidence, no other plea, but Christ our Savior. It's in his
precious name we pray and give thanks.