I titled this message, The Promise
of Divine Protection. The Promise of Divine Protection. My, what's that worth? Living in a world that we live
in, as you get older, you grow older,
You see things differently than when you were 20 years old, even
30 years old. You see the world. To me, I look
at the world differently. As I get older, each year goes
by, I see things a little differently than I did a year before or years
before. And it makes me more appreciative
of God's divine protection. You look at all that goes on
in this world, that goes on in this town. And
yet we have His promise. We have His promise of His protection.
Now this psalm, the first application of it is to Christ. Satan quoted
from this psalm, he shall give his angels charge over thee.
Satan quoted from this psalm when he attempted the Lord in
the wilderness, there in Matthew chapter 4, which we'll be looking
at here shortly. So we know that it applies to
the Lord Jesus Christ, and He had the promise of His Father,
divine protection. But what He has, we have. What
He has, we have. Now, in the beginning of this
psalm, you'll notice there's no name attached to this psalm. But we can tell by reading it
that it was written by someone who had tasted of the mercy of
God. Someone had tasted of God's mercy,
God's care of them throughout their life. Most of the people
that I've read said that Moses was probably the one who wrote
this psalm, since he speaks of the terror by night, the arrow
that flies by day, the pestilence that walks in darkness. Israel
experienced these things in Egypt. When they were in Egypt, they
experienced these things. So it's probably written by Moses. But we do know this. Even though
it's written by Moses, it speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ and
God's promise of divine protection for Him. But what applies to
Him applies to us. It also applies to us. Now, verse
1. In verse 1 here, here's the key
to this whole psalm. He that dwelleth. He that dwelleth. That's not a part-time visitor,
is it? This is someone who has close communion with God. And we know that it applies to
Christ because while He was up on earth, it says, He was in
the bosom of the Father. while he was up on this earth.
He was still in the bosom of the Father. He dwelleth. And
he that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High. And I
thought, where is the most secret place that one can dwell with God?
Has to be his heart. Has to be his heart. Has to be
the very bosom of God. He that is has such communion
with God, drawled up to Him. As I heard one say, hugged up
to Him. He dwelleth. He stays there. He has much communion with God
Almighty. There is a secret place of safety
that the believer has that this world knows nothing of. We truly,
we truly have a secret place to resort to at all times, at
all times. When a believer finds himself
in trouble, in trials, heartaches, he has a place to go to. He has
a secret place that the world knows nothing of. And that secret
place is God's presence. That secret place is before the
throne of God. That secret place is God Himself.
We have that. We have that in Christ. It's
the very presence of God. Look over in Psalm 31. In Psalm 31, look in verse 19. Oh, how great is that goodness!
which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee, which thou hast
wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men.
Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride
of man. Thou shalt keep them secretly
in a pavilion from the strife of times." Oh, it's his presence. Allowed into the presence of
God. That's real. That is real to the believer.
To those who know Him, His presence is real, and we are allowed into
it. This is that place that our Lord
said He was going to prepare for us. He said, I go and prepare
a place for you, a place in the presence of God, a place of acceptance
in His presence. That's what our Lord did for
us. And it's there that we abide. We abide under the shadow of
the Almighty. the shadow of His presence. We
are never out of His presence. Can't comprehend that, can we?
We're so used to, we're just so bound by time and place. But we are never out of God's
presence, ever, for any given second. We're not out of His
presence. And there we abide under His divine protection.
I believe it would amaze us if we knew how divinely protected
we have been all day long. All day, just driving down the
interstate. You ever drive down the interstate and you're going
70 miles an hour and you realize it just hits you. Man, it hits
you. You'll be over that fast. You're going so fast. You're
driving by a semi. I was behind a semi about three,
four years ago. And we were just driving down
the interstate. And I watched him start to veer off the road,
and he went over the bridge on the interstate. And I was right
behind him. And it was over with that fast.
I stopped, and two or three others stopped, and the truck was hanging
off the bridge, the interstate bridge, and there was a huge
drop-off. Just the back wheels were hanging there, and it killed
him. That fast. Divine protection. Here's the
reason I was saying this. I was behind him, but I was going
to pass. And when he hit the right side
of that bridge, he ricocheted over to the left side of that
bridge, rode down the rail of that bridge, and then went over
the bridge. But I hadn't made it beside of him yet. Divine protection. Sometimes those things happen
to wake us up. Let us know those things. We have His presence. We are never out of His presence,
and we always have His divine protection. And how secure is
that? How secure is God's divine protection? Now, if you have my protection,
you're in trouble. I promise you, you're in trouble. I find that wherever I get, I
probably could whip myself out of a wet paper bag. But we have His divine protection.
at all times. And he never grows weak. He's
just as strong as when he created the heavens and the earth. Just
as able to keep us. He's just as able to keep the
last believer as he was the first one. Just as able. Oh, Job knew something about
this. And I know you think, well, Job, man, look what happened
to Job. But you know, Satan says, you put a hedge about him and
I can't touch him. And the Lord removed some of
those hedges. He said, alright, you can have
this part. You can touch him here. You can touch him there.
You can take this. But he had to have God's permission to touch
Job. To touch him. It's like the proud waves of
the sea. When God says, hither shalt thou come. And no further. He says the same thing to Satan.
Hither shalt thou come. But no further. You can only
do this, and that's as far as you can go. We have His divine
protection. Let me read some scriptures here.
In Psalm 17. Look over in Psalm 17. Psalm
17, verse 8. He speaks here of his wings,
the shadow of his wings. Keep me as the apple of the eye. That's the pupil. You protect
that, don't you? You don't let anything get in
your eye. You protect, you wear safety glasses. If you're smart,
you wear safety glasses. When you're doing work or doing
something, you protect your eye. He said, keep me as the apple
of your eye, protect me like The pupil of your eye. Hide me
under the shadow of thy wings. Put your wings over me and hide
me. Hide me. I've got some pigeons
out to shop. And they've got little babies
now. They've been hatching them out. And every time I open the
door up, there's either the mother or the father. One of them is
sitting in there with those little ones. And when I open that door
up, they cover those little ones up with their wings. I can reach
my hand in there and she'll take that wing and just clap me like
that. Just like that. Quick. It always
scares me. I know it's not going to hurt,
but it just scares the daylights out of me when she just flips
that wing. Like, get out of here. But she just covers those little
pigeons up, buddy. She protects them with her life.
I think of that whenever I think how she just broods over them
and just takes care of them. And that's just a pigeon. Thank
heavens to God. How much more God? How much more
our Father? Look at Psalm 36. Psalm 36, verse 7. How excellent, precious is thy
lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men
put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. Then look at Psalm
57. Psalm 57, verse 1. Be merciful unto me, O God, be
merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth in Thee. Yea, in the
shadow of Thy wings will I make my refuge. Hide me under the
shadow of Thy wings until these calamities... Do we ever have calamities? Do
calamities ever come your way? He said, until these calamities
be passed, be overpassed, Keep me safe till the storm passes
by. That's what he's saying. I'll
trust under the shadow of his wings. And I'll save the Lord. Here is an expression of faith.
This is our Lord speaking. This is the God-man, the mediator,
Christ Jesus speaking. And this is every believer speaking.
I will say of the Lord, but it can be read like this. I will say to the Lord. He is
my refuge, or thou art my refuge, and my fortress, my fortification,
my strong tower, my strength. Look over in Psalm 146. Psalm 146, look in verse 3. Put not your trust in Prentice,
nor in the Son of Man, in whom there is no help, no salvation. His breath goeth forth, He returneth
to his earth, and that very day his thoughts perish. Happy is
he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope, whose
expectation is in the Lord his God." God is the one that we
run to in times of trouble. When trouble comes, people run
to this one or that one, or the believer will go and run to God. The God of heaven and earth.
Not a God of our imaginations. I'm talking about the God who
created heaven and earth. The God of redemption. That's who
we run to in times of trouble. The armor of flesh cannot help
me. I just read you that there. He says the very day his thoughts
perish when he returns to his earth. His thoughts perish. I find in Him all I need. I find in God, God
the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, all I need.
What more can be provided than that? All I need I have in Him. It says in Colossians 2, in Him
you are complete. I tell you this, in Him you are
completely safe. Our lives are hid with Christ
in God. He is my God. In Him will I trust. In Him will
I have full confidence. There's a psalm, I didn't write
it down, but there's a psalm that says, He that is our God
is the God of salvation. He's the Savior. He's the Redeemer. He's the God who saves. And He's
the only one who can save. Only one God. And the only one
God can save. Now we hear the believer's confidence
here. We hear the Lord's confidence
as the God-man. And every believer Here in verses
three through eight. Surely, truly, he shall deliver
thee from the snare of the fowler. The one who tries to trap the
bird and the bird is unaware of it. He doesn't see the fowler
set the net. We would be shocked. I believe
we would be shocked if we knew how many nets were set for us
that he delivers from and we never knew it. Never knew it. He'll deliver us from that which
we cannot see. Many traps were laid for our
Lord. When you read the Gospels, how
many times did they try to entrap Him in His words, in His conduct? They tried to trap Him constantly.
But He was delivered from the snare of the fowler. And so were
we. So were we. But I'll tell you
one of the greatest deliverances that He's delivered us from here
is the curse of the law. That curse is real. People can
laugh at it. They can make light of it as
if it doesn't exist. That curse is real. People find
this out every day. It's hard to tell how many thousands
a day die and find this out. This curse is real. And He has
delivered us from the curse of the law through His blood and
righteousness. We don't have to worry about
it. Don't have to worry about it. He delivers us from the snares
of men. And He delivers us from evil
spirits. Oh, how He delivers us from evil
spirits which we cannot see. David said this in Psalm 23,
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I'll fear no evil. Why? Are you pretty strong? Are you strong? I don't even
want to tell you what I had hanging up in my bedroom one time. A
poster of this, twisted. But yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou
art with me. I had a poster one time that
said, and I hung it up once in my room, because I'm the meanest
SOB in the valley. Isn't that stupid? That is absolute
ignorance. I'm sure glad God taught me different. Because thou art with me. That's
why. Thou art with me. And from the
noisome pestilence, from the most destructive forces that
there are, He said He'll deliver you from the noisome When Israel was in the land of
Egypt, all those plagues, and this is why it appears that Moses
probably wrote this, all those plagues and all that went on
there, not any of it touched Israel. None of it. All the judgment, and this is
what he's saying here, we're talking about these pestilence,
these arrows that fly by day, and the destruction at waste
at noonday. He's talking about the judgments
of God. The judgments of God will not touch any one of His
children. He said they'll not come nigh
thee. The judgments of God will not come to your door because
the blood's on it. The blood is on the door. And
when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. That's right. The judgments of God will not
visit your house. And he shall cover thee with
his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust. Under his wings
shalt thou have confidence. Under his wings shalt thou rest. He will protect his own in a
most tender fashion, like a father protecting his children with
his feathers. He pitieth them that fear him,
the Scripture says. And he shall cover thee. The
believer is covered. The believer is covered in the
spotless robe of His righteousness. That's what we're covered in. That's what God sees when He
sees His children. The righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's what you're covered with. And under His wing, shalt thou
trust The promises of God are to those who trust in Him. It's
not to those who don't trust. It's not to rebels. It's to those
who trust Him. You know, you find in the Gospels
that those who were healed were those who believed Him. No one
walked away healed who didn't believe Him. There were three blind men. They
said, Lord, we want our sight. And the Lord said, Do you believe
I'm able to do this?" And they said, yes, Lord. And the evidence
that they believed, they received their sight. They received their sight. They
took Him at His Word. His truth. And I wrote over that
Christ. Christ said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. His Christ, His truth, shall
be thy shield and buckler." His Word, which is Christ. He's the living Word and we have
His written Word. And His Word is where we find our hope. Where
do you find your hope? In His Word, in His written Word.
And we find our hope in the living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Word of God. He's our hope. That's what Paul
wrote to Timothy. Christ, our hope. He's all the
hope we have. He's all the hope God has given
us. He's all the hope we need. We don't need any other hope
besides Him. He's all we need. Henry said this one time, I wrote
it down. He said, when you are in trouble, under heavy trial, read the Word
of God. Read the Word of God. God is
not known apart from His Word, and nor are His promises known
apart from His Word. When you're in trouble, read
the Word of God. Search the Scriptures. And don't
be afraid of the terror by night. Well, nighttimes... You know, as believers, we should
never be more afraid at night than we are at the day, should
we? God's the God of the night as well as the day. But it's
in our nature. We still have that old nature
with us. And when nighttime comes, we
become more afraid. Do you check the door? Me and Vicki do that every night.
Do you check the front door? Do you check the door downstairs?
Do you lock it? I'm not saying don't lock it,
but we're saying do you lock? We're checking the doors. One night when she was going
to London, I forgot to do that. I left the door open. I left
the door standing open. I walked through there and I
thought, man, oh man, what am I thinking? But you know, I was
just as safe, really and truly, I was just as safe as if that
door had been bolted down and padlocked. I was just as safe. God is our protection. He protects
us. He protects us. He's the God of the night as
well as the day. He never sleeps nor slumbers. That's what it
says in Psalm 121. He that keepeth Israel never
slumbers nor sleeps. We do and we need it. We need
to sleep. I thank God we have someone who
doesn't. I thank God we have one who stands on watch 24-7.
and never slumbers or sleeps. Because this is a tough world
to live in. It's a tough place to live. Men nor devils can touch
you. They're all under His sovereign
rule. Whether it be by day or by night. Nor the arrows that fly by day.
There's nothing that we can do about these arrows that fly by
day. And he's talking here about wars, earthquakes, this big earthquake
that happened in China. All those things. All these things that God brings
upon this world for judgment. He said you don't have to worry
about it. The judgment of God is not falling on His children.
It's not going to fall on them. He knows where you live. He knows
where you live. I was preaching at Donny Bell's
several years ago. And one of the members of his
church lived out in that direction toward the church. And when I was there, he showed
me the path of a tornado that went through just below his house. There was a house just, you'd
probably say two blocks maybe, down below his house. He lost
a few shingles. But that tornado wiped everything
out. It looked like somebody took a chainsaw and went down
through the field and wiped out trees and all those places. And he was within just two blocks
of that. He knows where your house is.
He knows. He guides it. Scripture says this. He hath
his way in the wind and in the storm. He has His way. His sovereign way. He has it. The lightning. I like to watch a lightning storm.
I think it's just awesome to watch the power of a lightning
storm. The lightning says to Him, here
we are. I believe it's over in Job. I
didn't write that down. The lightning says to him, here
we are. Where do you want us to strike? The lightning never strikes a
tree, a ground, or a person that God Almighty hasn't directed
that lightning bolt. I believe that. I believe that. Here we are. We are your servants. The wind, the rain, the storms,
everything. It's His service. He says here, nor for the pestilence
that walks in darkness, the disease, the plagues that went through
Egypt didn't touch Israel, did it? When God sent that through,
it was judgment. I know we get sick. I know we
have cancer like other people have cancer. But he's talking
here about a pestilence sent by the judgment of God. He said,
it'll not touch you. It'll not touch you. The disease
and plagues of this life are not to be fretted over. They're
not to be fretted over. Nor the destruction that wastes
at that noonday, the final judgments of God, of all this that has
been spoken of. He says, don't fret over it.
Don't fret over it. You're under my divine protection.
Just as the Lord Jesus Christ, as He walked on this earth, when
He entered His earthly ministry and preached the gospel, how
many times did they want to stone Him? And it says He passed out
of the midst of them. They didn't say. He just walked right past
them. And they're wanting to kill Him.
And they're wanting to stone Him. And He just walked right out. How
many times did they seek Him? And He said, My hour. has not
yet come. He can't touch you. God's children
are under His divine protection, and nothing can harm them without
His permission. And if He does allow it, you can just be sure
of this, we needed it. We needed it. A thousand, he
says here in verse 7, a thousand shall fall at thy side in judgment,
and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it will not come nigh
you, it will not come nigh thee. A thousand shall fall who thought
they would stand. They shall fall whose only hope
is not Christ. They shall fall by their own
sin and self-righteousness. They shall fall. But those who
trust the Lord, those who trust the Lord Jesus Christ, shall
stand when everyone else and everything else are falling,
the mountains departing to the midst of the sea. The believer
is not. He's not. They shall stand, listen, they
shall stand in full agreement with God when He casts the wicked
into hell. Only with thine eye shalt thou
behold." You'll see it one day. And we're not rejoicing that
people are perishing at all. The way of saying this, one day
you'll see the justice of God vindicated, and we'll rejoice in that. And you'll behold that with your
eyes. Every believer will see that. Now here we have the believer's
redeemer and refuge in verse 9. Because God is thy refuge and
habitation. Here in verse 9, let me read
it. Because thou hast made the Lord, or because the Lord is
thy refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation. There is no other
reason why we are kept safe from all these things that we've just
read, all these pestilence and all these troubles and all this
judgment, is this. God is our dwelling place. That's
the only reason. God's our dwelling place. He's
our place of safety. He's our habitation. He's our
place of habitation. He's the one who has saved us.
The Scripture says, He hath made us, and not we ourselves. We
are the sheep of His pasture. Therefore, we are safe. We're
safe, safe in Him. These things, He says, shall
not come nigh thee, for He shall give His angels
charge over thee. Scripture tells us in Hebrews
1, the angels are ministering spirits sent forth to minister
for them who shall be heirs of salvation. They're very real.
They are very real. We do not worship angels. But
they have charge. They have charge over Christ,
protecting Him as a man, as the man Christ Jesus, as the mediator,
as He walked through this life. And they have charge over everyone
of us children as we pass through this life. We're not alone. Never
alone. Never alone. Not only is God
set for our defense, but the whole host of heaven. Think about
that. The whole heavenly host is set for our defense. Elijah said to Elisha, well,
he asked the Lord to open his eyes. And he said, there's more
with us than there are with them. And he opened his eyes and he
saw that whole hillside full of flaming chariots of fire and
angels. And they shall bear thee up.
This is the verse Satan quoted. And we know that our Lord could
have called twelve legions of angels. He said, I could have
called twelve legions of angels. But He didn't. But He could.
He could have. But this promise is also to us.
He shall give His angels charge over thee to bear thee up. Oh, how many times we would have
fallen if the angels hadn't kept us up. Took away temptations. Took them away. You and I would
stumble and fall. We'd lead the way if the Lord
didn't edge us up by His promises and His warnings and His angels. And he says here in verse 13,
I'll wind this down. Thou shalt tread upon the lion
and adder. And our Lord sure did that, didn't
He? Satan who went about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour,
the Lord tread upon him. The young lion and the dragon
shalt thou trample under feet. You know, Paul said, in Christ,
we are more than conquerors. We're not a defeated people.
We are more than conquerors. And he said, you will triumph
over all enemies. When this is all over, we'll
see that. And he says here, because he
has set his love upon me. You know, the key here is God's
love for me. It's not my love for Him. But
when I was reading this this afternoon, He hath set His love
upon me, therefore will I deliver Him. The Lord Jesus Christ truly
set His love upon the Father. He did. You know, God first loved us, redeemed us, called us, gave
us a new nature to love Him. Christ was born loving God. He was born loving Him. And I tell you this, my love
for Him is so frail, not worthy to be spoken of. It's His love
for me. It's His love for us. It's Almighty
love. It's Almighty. And it's unchanging. Unchanging. Because He has said,
His love upon me. Therefore will I deliver him.
Deliver him from Satan. Deliver him from sin. Deliver
him from wrath. I'll deliver him. Deliver him
from the grave. I'll set him on high. Where is
our Lord seated at right now? At the right hand of the Father.
Where are we seated? Same place. Right hand of the
Father. Because He hath known my name. He hath known my name. He knew
the name of the Father. He knew God. He knew Him perfectly. And we know God in Him. God has
been revealed to us in, by, and through the Lord Jesus Christ.
We know His name. We know His name. And He shall call upon me, and
I'll answer Him. I will be with him in trouble.
This is the promise of the Father to Christ and this is the promise
of the Father to us. I'll be with you. When you go
through the water, he said, I'll go with you. When you go through
the fire, I'll go with you. I won't watch you, I'll go with
you. I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy
him. Not this life, you know that.
You know the long life in this life is not desirable. There's a point where it's just
too long. Really. There's a point where it's too
long. But here he's talking about eternal. Eternal life. With long eternal life will I
satisfy Him. That's the only kind of life
that will satisfy Him. I don't care how long you live
on this earth. This life won't satisfy you. You will not be
satisfied in this life. But this life that he's speaking
of here, eternal life, divine life, the life of God, now it'll
satisfy. He said, I'll satisfy. And I'll
show Him my salvation. And that is Christ. Christ is
God's salvation. Boy, if you've seen that, you
have the promise of God's divine protection. All right, Mike.