If you're still there, Psalm
46, Lord willing, this will be our text this evening. I've titled the message, The
Believer's Refuge and Confidence. You know, this psalm is so obviously
written to believers for our instruction, for our comfort,
for our confidence in Christ. I read as I was looking at the
different things you can read, you know, this week. This is
one of Martin Luther's favorite psalms. He would sing it frequently
in times of trouble, and he'd gather his friends together to
sing this 46th psalm. I don't know what the tune is,
but I've been singing it in my heart all week after I began
reading it Sunday. So let's look at it and see what
we can learn. He begins, God is our refuge
and strength. a very present help in trouble.
God is our refuge. Like I said, this is written
to believers. That's only true of believers, that God's our
refuge. But you know, everyone has a refuge. Everybody does.
Most times they're forgotten and filled with mothballs and
stuff, but it's just a refuge they plan on using in case times
ever get tough. When I was in high school, I
had a good friend, Kelly Lee. Kelly's parents bought a house,
a great house, and all his kids would gather there together,
because down the hill, they owned a tennis court. Man, we played
tennis all the time. And in the hill, their backyard,
there's a bomb shelter. Now that's a Cold War thing,
a bomb shelter in your backyard. And we'd go in there sometimes.
I mean, thick cement walls poured down in this hill. But it wasn't
much good for anything. You know, there were shelves
in there. Maybe one time they were stocked with something and
it was all empty. I don't even recall there was
a door on it. It wasn't a very good shelter anymore. It was
forgotten. It wasn't tended to. It was a
useless refuge. And for the most part, that's
what people's refuge that they make up, that's what it is. It's
useless. They have refuges for things that they'll encounter
in this life. You know, people save up money for a rainy day.
They'll spend a lot of money on a security system for their
house or, you know, the best locks, you know, money can buy
on their doors and windows and so forth. They'll have investments
spread out all over to spread their risk. And there's nothing
wrong with having those things. It's fine to have. I wouldn't
be too sure about them. Just wouldn't be too sure. They'll
be gone like that one day. And spiritually, people have
refuge. You talk to anybody. I don't
care who they are. They haven't read a word out
of God's Word. I haven't read a verse out of
it in years. But they've got a refuge. Maybe
it's their works they've done of religion. Or it could be as
simply as, I've done more good things than bad things. And I'll
just kind of roll the dice and hope it turns out right in the
end. Well, is that good enough? They've got a refuge. They made
themselves a refuge. But now, is it good enough? Look
at Isaiah 28. You know this scripture, Isaiah
28. We've got a fellow at work. He's a nut. And he's his refuge. I mean, I've just known him for
two years, has been everything. I mean, you can't imagine. His
current thing is following the Jewish dietary laws. Now he doesn't
have to follow the rest of the Jewish laws and just the dietary
laws. And there's no talking sense
to him. Well, is that kind of refuge
any good? He's confident now in this refuge. Three months
from now, he won't. He'll have another one. But for
the time being, this is refuge. Is that good enough? Isaiah 28,
verse 14. Wherefore, hear the word of the
Lord, ye scornful men, the rule of this people which is in Jerusalem.
Because you've said, we've made a covenant with death, and with
hell are we at agreement, when the overflowing scourge shall
pass through, it shall not come unto us. For we have made lies
our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves. Therefore
thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation,
a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make
haste. Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness
to the plummet, and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of
lies, and the water shall overflow the hiding place, and your covenant
with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell
shall not stand, when the overflowing scourge shall pass through. Then
you shall be trodden down by it. That refuge won't stand. In that day of judgment, there'll
just be one, just one refuge. It's a safe hiding place from
God's wrath. And that refuge is the refuge
that God laid, that sure stone, a sure foundation, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's our refuge. Every other
refuge will be swept away. Christ is our refuge in the day
of judgment that's to come. But He's also our refuge, the
believer's refuge, in a storm of dislife too. I thought back
today, as long as I've been around, there's been storms. If not,
for me personally, my close friends and loved ones, there's storms
constantly. Well, we'll see some of these
storms in the next verses, but I'll tell you when those storms
come, the believer's confidence is God is our refuge. He's where
we hide. He's our refuge and He's our
strength. That's a good thing because we don't have any. We
don't have any spiritual strength. You know that. And what little
bit of physical strength we have can be gone like that. I mean,
it's going to be gone. An invisible virus. could leave
us without strength, paralyzed and bed-ridden tomorrow morning.
That's how little strength we have. And you know we don't have
any strength but Christ. Look over in Isaiah 25. He's
our strength. Isaiah 25, verse 4. For thou hast been a strength to
the poor. strength to the needy in his distress. That's us, poor
and needy. He's a strength to the poor and
the needy, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat
when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the
wall. Christ is our strength. He's our strength just as much
as He's our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification and redemption.
He is our strength. All power belongs to Him. And He's our strength. That's
where we get our confidence from. It's our strength. The One who
is our strength has all power. And David goes on. He's our refuge.
He's our strength. And God's a very present help
in trouble. He's promised to never leave
nor forsake His people. Now that's the opposite of mean.
Mean, what we tend to do when someone we know is in trouble,
we tend to kind of pull away and become unavailable Because
it's hard work to help somebody when they're in trouble. Not
our God. He's a very present help in time
of trouble. He's very present. Not only is
He present, He's very present. Well, how present is He? Verse
5, Jason read it. God is in the midst of her. He's
right in the middle of her. He's so present, He's in His
people. He dwells in the hearts of His
people. Listen. Trouble surrounds you. But our
Lord is closer to you than the trouble that surrounds you. That
trouble surrounds you, He's in you. He's a very present help
in time of trouble. His very name is Jehovah Shema. The Lord is present. Wherever
you go, He's there. I told my daughter Holly that
before she went off to school. Just like every parent, you know,
you send them off to school, a time traumatic experience.
And my comfort was, Wherever she goes, he's there. And I told
her, you just remember now, wherever you go, he's there. A very present
help in time of trouble. But he's not just there. He's
an active participant, an active helper. Look back at Deuteronomy
33. At the end of his life, this
is what Moses summed it up. A very present help, an active
participant. Deuteronomy 33, verse 26. There is none like unto the God
of Jethro, who writheth 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. He will thrust out the
enemy from before thee, and shall say, Destroy them. Therefore,
because he is our help, because he is our very present help,
we will boldly say, The Lord is my help. I will not fear. I won't fear what men do to me.
I won't fear circumstances. I won't fear anything because
the Lord is my helper. And there's going to be things
come up in this life. We're talking about a refuge,
a strength, and a help in this life. They'll scare the normal
person to death. Look at verse 2 in our text.
Therefore will not we fear. Though the earth be removed,
though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, we
will not fear. You know for the believer, fear
is totally irrational. We get fearful because we live
in this weak body of sin that drags us down. But there is never
reason for us to fear. It's totally irrational. God
is our refuge. He's our strength. He's our helper.
What's there to fear? What can harm you if God's your
refuge and your strength and your helper? There's no reason
to fear even the most turbulent circumstances. Dave is not talking
here about the day, the last day when Christ returns. There's
not going to be a fear for the believer on that day. That's
the day of joy when Christ appears. He's talking about today, in
this life, in this world, what things could happen that would
cause us to fear. You know, if there were a huge
earthquake and all the earth The ground that I could see,
as far as I could see, it was waving like water on the ocean. And the mountains around my house
were sliding down into the Ohio River. I saw on television those
rocky mountains sliding into the Pacific Ocean. There might
be a little bit of alarm. Adrenaline would be flowing in
my body, wouldn't it? Heart would be racing. You might
be looking for some cover. We'd all be together there. But
even then, there'd be no reason for fear. Our helper, our refuge
is on the throne. And to us, you know, nothing's
more sure than the ground under our feet. You know, there might
be earthquakes and things, but now it's too big to move very
far. It's pretty sure. There's nothing
more certain than those rocky mountains. I mean, I've seen
those things and it's just unbelievable. It's just a big flat space and
there they are. Enormous, they're beautiful, what God's made. They're
going to be there tomorrow. Now, they just are. You can't
conquer them because of their sheer size and strength. That
mountain is going to be there as long as this earth is standing.
I'm sure of it. But even that's not what David's
talking about here. I don't believe. I think he's
talking about people. There are people in our lives
who seem like the whole world to us, aren't they? In this life,
and I'm talking about this life, my wife is the world to me. My whole world is wrapped up
around her. She gives my world meaning and
beauty. She's the reason I get up and
go to work in the morning because I'm going to support her and
want to give her the best. And my earthly world is built around
her. I wake up in the morning next
to her. When I leave work, I come home
to see her. When I go to bed, I sleep beside her. And when
I wake up in the morning, there she is. My whole world revolves
around her. She's a big part of it. And you
know what I'm saying. I'm not saying that Christ is
not my world. I'm saying she's a big part of
this life. What happens when that world's
gone? What happens when God takes that world away? I'm confident
there'll be sorrow, deep sense of loss, but not fear. There
won't be fear. that God's forsaken me. Nope. There won't be fear that there's
nothing left for me and that I've lost everything, because
Christ is my everything. He's my refuge. He's my strength. He's my help. We love these other
people. And we're thankful for them.
Oh, we just love them. We're supposed to love each other,
need each other, be bonded together. But I'm telling you, we can live
without them. We don't want to. It'd be hard.
It'd be sad. But we can. live without Him.
We cannot live without the Lord Jesus Christ. We can't live without
Him. Other people, now they're important
to us, but she's not my foundation. Christ is my foundation. People
become the world to us. People are mountains to us. People
who are always there. People who you can count on.
You kind of can navigate behind their landmarks. They're so big
to us. No matter where we are, we can
see them. Oh, they're my mountain. They're a source of comfort.
They're a source of strength. I can just keep an eye on them
and keep my bearings. To children, parents are a mountain. You ask a little child who's
bigger than your dad. Nobody's bigger than my dad.
Nobody can beat up my dad. He's a mountain. My dad was a
mountain in my life. He died and I walked outside
and I looked around. And I thought for 38 years, I
never knew a day without him in this world. And now he's gone.
Well, was there fear? No, sir. Sorrow, yes, but not
fear. A pastor is a landmark to God's
people, pointing them to Christ. He's the landmark that points
us to Christ. We have older believers, friends
who we've known for years. We've watched them for years.
I'm just a little boy watching these older believers who are
still around. And Scripture says you mark them
and follow them as examples. Now, there are the mountains
that we're looking at. Well, what happens when the Lord carries
that mountain away? And that mountain's no more. I'll tell you what happens. The
landscape changes, but the truth doesn't. The landscape changes,
but our refuge doesn't change. Our strength doesn't change.
Our helper doesn't change. There's no reason for our faith
to fail, even when the landscape changes, because our faith is
in Christ. It's not in the mountains. It's
not in the earth. It's not in our world. It's in
Christ. Listen to me. Everything. Everything you know, everything
you touch, everything you think, everything that you Everything. But Christ will change. If you
count on it, it will change. It will fade away. It will be
gone. Everything. And if your refuge,
your help, your strength is in anything or someone or something
other than Christ, you should fear because it will be gone.
But there's no reason for fear if the Lord is my refuge and
my strength. If my faith is in Him, When everything
else is gone, and everyone else is gone, He remains. Our refuge remains unchanged.
He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. The landscape will
change, but He never will. Well, read on in verse 3. Though
the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains
shake with the swelling thereof. Jason said it when he was reading.
Tough times. Difficult, difficult times. We
need a refuge in this life because this life is a tempestuous sea
just full of white cap waves and turbulent waters and everything's
constantly unsettled. There's always everything's always
changing and noise and thunder and you just can't find a place
of peace. And there are times you think
your whole world's spinning out of control and you'd give anything
for still waters. Just peace and quiet. How precious quiet is. If that's what you desire, you
run to Christ. You hide in Him. Because our
refuge is the One who speaks peace. See, these waters that
are troubled, they're not all just out here. They're in here
too. When our hearts are troubled and churning. A stormy sea in
the heart. He'll speak peace to our hearts
the same way He spoke peace to that sea. All the disciples were
new, they were going down with the ship, and the Lord just said,
peace, be still. See a glass. Quiet, calm. And that's what He'll do to our
hearts. It's okay as long as He's there. It's okay even if
the mountains are carried into the sea. It's okay if He's there. He'll give peace. And we won't
fear though the mountains shake. Now the mountains will shake.
I believe what he's talking about there is our faith. Even those
rocky mountains. They might tremble. They might
shake. But there still would be no reason to fear. Because
our faith has better foundation than those rocky mountains. I
mean to tell you, they're going to be there until this earth
goes away. And our faith has a better foundation
than them. Our faith will be shaken. When
we ask, why is this happening? What's going on? What's the Lord
doing? Why is He doing this to me? I
don't see any good in this. All things are supposed to work
together for good, but I don't see any good in this. Our faith
is shaken. And our faith will be shaken.
There's no point in sugarcoating it. It will. But Christ will
never fail. Never. There's no reason to fear. We'll shake, but He won't. And
left to myself, I would leave Him. Left to myself, I would
fall away from Him, because I don't have any strength. But there's
still no reason to fear, because He won't let you go. That's where
our faith is. He won't let us go. Now, verse
4. In the midst of all this, 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, in His grace, has provided
a river in this dry, barren, dead world. And it's not a wild,
rushing river where people go whitewater rafting and try to
get a thrill. This is a calm, peaceful river. Now, we live on the river. We'll
go for walks. I take our dogs out on walks.
That river will just be choppy and wild looking. And the other
day, I mean, it was glass. I thought, I wonder why he came
to see the current moving. That's this river. Glass. Peaceful. Calm. And where there's
water, there's always life. And this is the river of the
water of life. And it flows to us from the whole
Godhead. It flows from the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit. In Revelation 22, I'll read it
to you. This river flows to us from the
throne of God, God the Father. Revelation 22, verse 1. And He
showed me a pure river of water and life, clear as crystal, proceeding
out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. It comes from God
the Father, from His throne. Now look over in Zechariah 13. I want you to see this. Zechariah
13, the next to last book in the Old Testament. It flows to
us and God the Son. Zechariah 13, verse 1. And that
day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David
and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. That is the fountain of the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Immanuel's veins. plunge beneath that flood, lose
all their guilty stains. And sinners plunge beneath that
flood, lose all their reason for fear. It's all gone. This
river flows to us from the Father, the Son. In John 7, we see it
flows from the Holy Spirit. John 7, verse 37. In the last
day, At great day of the feast, Jesus
stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, if he needs water,
let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the
scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. But look, verse 39, This fake
he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive.
For the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because Jesus was not
yet glorified. This is the Holy Spirit coming
and dwelling in the hearts of His people. And out of Him flows
rivers of living water. Flows from the whole Godhead.
Now, in ancient times, water is critical. You know, if you
had a river or stream flowing by your town, if your enemy could
cut that stream off, cut off your supply of water, they'd
conquer everything because you can't go long without it. We
have a refuge. And the water, supply of water,
is never ending. The enemy can't cut it off. If
you look back at John 4, while our Lord was talking to this
Samaritan woman, John 4, verse 13, Jesus answered and said unto
her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. But
whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never
thirst. But the water that I shall give
him shall be in him, a well of water springing up into everlasting
life." See, this is the water that gives life, that makes glad
the hearts of God's people. And it says here about the streams
making glad God's people. What are these streams? Well,
it's all the blessings of God that flow to us from Christ,
the stream of justification. stream of sanctification, the
stream of life, peace, joy, rest in Christ. And this water, the
water of life, makes glad the city of God. It's the holy place
of the tabernacles of the Most High. It's where He dwells. This
city is the church, God's people, the church that He purchased
with His own blood. And this is a city that He's inhabited
with people He made. He chose them. He redeemed them. He made them fit and translated
them and gave them citizenship in His city. And this is the
city where Christ reigns. He rules and He dwells. Citizens
of that city have no reason to fear because Christ is there
in the midst of them. Verse 5, that's what he says,
God's in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God shall
help her. And that right early. Like I
said a minute ago, how near is our God? He's in the midst of
His people. He's in the hearts of His people.
He's in the assembly of His people. Where two or three are gathered
together in My name, there am I in the midst of them. Right
in the midst of them. So the only way we can be moved
is if somebody can move God. Now if you took enough explosives,
and you took enough men, and you took big enough machines,
and you had enough time, men can move mountains. They've done
it. They've drilled tunnels through them, leveled them off to put
roads through them. If we had faith the size of a
mustard seed, we could move mountains. But you can't move God, our refuge.
It can't be done. He is the eternal rock of ages. And when she needs help, His
bride, His church, the one that He loves, when she needs help,
our Lord is right there. He'll help, David says, and that
right early. Never late. We'll wish it was
sooner sometimes, but He'll never be late. And it will be right
early. You know, there are times you're
in the midst of that trial and there's no end in sight. You
look back, you can't really see where it began. I mean, you just,
oh my soul. And you think you've reached
the end, and suddenly, the Lord delivers. He helped right early. We'll be surprised how quickly
help comes. We ought not be surprised when
the Lord answers prayer, but we are. He helps right early.
Now verse 6, the heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved. He uttered
his voice, the earth melted. Here we see what men do and what
God did. The heathen raged outside the
city of God. That's all there is. There's
no quiet. It's just they're raging in violence. They're never satisfied. They'll overthrow some king.
They'll set a new one up. Then they'll throw him over.
They get tired of that and they'll attack the city of God. They'll
attack the sovereignty of God. That's what men do. All God does
is speak. He just utters His voice and
the earth melts. God just speaks and the enemy
is destroyed. They're melted. They're gone.
And all that's left for God's people is peace. Someone asked
me recently, why keep preaching? Nobody believes you. Why keep
preaching? The Word of God. That was my
answer. And I wish I had thought of this
first. The Word of God. He utters His voice and earth
melts. He speaks. And the hearts of
His people are melted. And He gives peace. That's what
happened to this enemy. That's what happened to these
enemies. That's what happened to Saul of Tarsus, wasn't it?
All the Lord did was spoke. His heart was melted. What will
He have me do, Lord? Maybe He'll do it some more.
The only way He will is through His Word. If the Lord is pleased
to speak, our hearts will be melted. Well, verse 7, the Lord
of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. The Lord is the Lord of hosts.
He doesn't have some small army. It's not just a little kingdom,
a little walled city off in the corner somewhere. He's the Lord
of hosts. The Lord of hosts is with us.
Well, if the Lord of hosts is with us, who can be against us?
And this Lord of hosts calls himself the God of Jacob. He
identifies himself as Jacob. Well, if anybody ever needed
a refuge, I'm telling you it's Jacob. He is a cheat. This is a man who deceived his
own father. Now, you know, teenagers will
try to do that, right? You deceive your father so you
can stay out after curfew or, you know, get into some sort
of trouble. This man deceived his sweet old father who was
feeble and blind. He deceived his father. Stole
the birthright from his brother. John talks about people in business
always having an angle. I think it started with Jacob.
I mean, this guy had an angle in every relationship he had. He's working an angle. I mean,
he's going to get something from somebody all the time. If anybody
ever needed the city of refuge, it's Jacob. Somebody's always
going to be after him. That's the way people work angles. That's what happens to you. Jacob
was a scoundrel, wasn't he? But he was chosen. by God. He
was redeemed by God. God revealed Himself to Jacob. He touched that man. God Almighty
touched Jacob. Changed his name. And when He
changed his name, He didn't just change his name, He changed his
character. No longer are you cheap. You're a prince. And the
Lord stayed with Jacob to the end. And it's no surprise Jacob
stayed with the Lord to the end. How did he die? You talk about
turbulent. He had a turbulent life, didn't
he? He went down there to Egypt, leaned on a staff and died, worshiping
God. Are you a sinner? I wish I could
find some Jacobs and tell you to run to Christ. He's the God
of Jacob. That's hope for sinners. He's
the God of Jacob. Not good people. Sinners. That's
our hope. Verse 8, Come, behold the works
of the Lord. what desolations he hath made
in the earth. Come behold the works of the
Lord, his works of mercy, his works in salvation, his work
of putting sin away, his work of regeneration, his work of
keeping his people. These are great works that he's
done for his people. Come behold them. And then don't
fear. And then come behold the works
of the Lord against his enemies. You look through history. No
one who's ever stood against the Lord has prospered. They've
always been destroyed. Egypt was desolate when Israel
left. The most mighty nation on earth,
when Israel left, their army was gone, their king was gone,
all their firstborn were gone, all their workers were gone.
They're desolate because they stood in the face of God Almighty. You come behold the desolations
that He's made of His enemies. But he maketh wars to cease unto
the end of the earth. He breaketh the bow, he cutteth
the spear in thunder, he burneth the chariot in fire." Now there's
always going to be wars. Don't be surprised when there's
wars. There's always going to be wars. People love to fight. But don't fear. We know who's
going to bring them to an end. This war in Iraq is going to
go on until the Lord says enough. Because it's the Lord that quiets.
The battle, the noise and the fighting of the battle. He ends
the destruction that war brings. One day he's going to bring an
end and there'll be no more war. He destroys all the weapons that
the enemy has. You know, here we think we've
got to make a little headway over there in Iraq and the insurgents
pop up and start fighting again. He destroys their weapons. They
can't come back and fight against him. No weapon in its form shall
prosper against him. And he destroys them all. He
breaks their bows, he destroys their spears, and he burns their
chariots with fire. Others he destroys at the bottom
of the Red Sea, but either way, they're all destroyed. Well, what about all those Jacobs?
What happened to them? Those that reigned to find refuge
in Christ, they were born enemies of God. What happened to them?
I'll tell you. The Lord Jesus Christ made peace
for them through the blood of His cross. And he sent to them
the gospel of peace. And he broke the wild ass's cult. He destroyed those weapons of
war and he reconciled them to God. And now there's peace. And no reason for fear. Peace. Now, verse 10. Be still and know
that I am God. I'll be exalted among the heathen.
I will be exalted in the earth. Be still. How many times are
we told in Scripture to be still? I looked it up. Seventeen times. Be still. Seventeen more times
we're told to stand still. Just be still. Just quit fidgeting
and fussing. Be still. The battle's over. The war's won. Be still. Don't
get so alarmed. Just be still and admire Christ. It's hard to concentrate on something
until you're still. Be still and admire Him. Concentrate on Him. I wonder
why I, you must be like me, spend so much time looking at the events
that are around us instead of Christ on the throne. We'd be
a whole lot more still. Be a whole lot more quiet once
we learn. And I'm not just talking that
we can spit it out, you know, when it seems appropriate. But
we learn in our heart, God is God. There's no reason for fear
once we know God is God. Now, this is good. I don't know how long I've preached,
but this is good. Part of being still is not murmuring
against God, not complaining about his providence. And I'll
show you a wonderful example as to be still. 1 Samuel chapter
3. Our children in their Sunday
school lesson are studying by Samuel. Samuel's mother, Hannah,
prayed for him. The Lord gave this boy to her,
and she, after a certain amount of time, brought Samuel back
to Eli to serve the Lord. Now, that boy laid one night,
and the Lord spoke to him. In the morning, Eli said, what
did the Lord say to you? Samuel didn't want to tell him.
He said, now you tell me. Samuel told him what the Lord
told him. He said, Eli, the Lord's going
to judge your house. He's going to destroy it. Both
your sons are going to be killed. You're going to die. Your house
will be destroyed because of the evil that your sons did,
and Eli, you didn't stop it. What did Eli say? How did he
respond to that? Verse 18, 1 Samuel 3, And Samuel
told him every wit, and hid nothing from him. And he said, It is
the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him That's being still. Wish I could
learn it. That's what that is. Be still
and know that I'm God. He'll be exalted among the heathen
and the four corners of this world. He will be exalted. He's
the Lord of hosts. He has a people from this whole
globe and he will be exalted. In this world and in the world
to come, he'll be exalted when every knee bows and every tongue
confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. But until that time, he will
be exalted in the earth by his people wherever you find them.
And you'll find them in all four corners of this globe. You'll
find them exalting, praising the name of their Savior, of
their refuge. Now verse 11, the Lord of hosts
is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. He repeats what he said up here
in verse 7. We need to have things repeated to us. There's no need
for fear, no fear for alarm. The God of Jacob is our refuge. We may be a scoundrel, we are,
but the God of Jacob is our refuge. He's our strength. He's our help,
a very present help in time of trial. All right. Well, I hope
that'll bless you.