Psalm 11. David was a man with a lot of spiritual
experience. God put this man through a lot
of trials. He put him through a lot of ups
and downs. He had to run for his life. He
had to hide in caves. And then he was on a throne.
And then his family was after him. I mean, what an experience
that David went through. But God put him through that
to write the Psalms. There's not a Psalm in here that
when we read it, we cannot identify with David, and to some degree. When you read Psalm 51, we call
that the Psalm of Repentance after he had sinned with Bathsheba,
where you can identify with David. in Psalm 51, that heartfelt repentance
toward God. David went through a lot of things. But God put him through that
for us and to write these Psalms. And here the occasion for this
Psalm is that David has lost Saul's favor. Saul is after David. Saul wants to take David's life. Saul is jealous. of David. He wants to kill this man. He
wants to kill David. David has lost his faith. And
his so-called friends, David's so-called friends here are telling
him, they are advising him, run for your life. David, run for
your life. But faith knows no hiding place.
It knows no other hiding place but the Lord. That's the one we run to in times
of trouble. I read that to you in Psalm 46.
That's what you now read. That psalm goes along with this.
Faith knows no other hiding place than the Lord. It is inconsistent
with faith. Faith in God. To believe God. To trust in the Lord. And to
run and hide out of fear. That's inconsistent with faith.
True saving faith is inconsistent. Run and hide out of fear of the
enemy. As I read to you, God is our
refuge. He is the believer's refuge.
He's not everyone's refuge, but He's every believer's refuge.
He's our refuge and He's our strength. We couldn't go through the things
we go through, not with grace and graciousness Courage, if
the Lord was not our strength. Christ in you is your strength
to go through whatever God brings your way and my way. He's our
strength. A very present help in trouble.
Always present. Even though you can't tell it.
Even though you may not detect the hand of God. It's always
present. If Christ is in you, is He not
always present? If He's in you, He's present.
Now it says here, in the Lord, He says, in the Lord put I my
trust. How say you to my soul? Flee
as a bird to your mountain. What is trust? What is it to
trust? Trust the Lord. Well, if you
look it up, it means confidence. It's to have full confidence
that He's able to do just as He says. Full confidence. It's reliance. Absolute reliance. I'll show you some scriptures
here in just a minute. It is just absolute reliance
on Him. His grace, His mercy, His power,
His goodness. It's absolute reliance on Him.
It's conviction. Strong conviction. The Lord is
able. I'll show you this over in Daniel here in a minute. He's
able to deliver. It is a firm belief and confidence
in the Lord. Not a God, not a God of our imagination,
but in the Lord, in the One that is revealed in these pages. Strong
confidence in Him. Faith, God-given faith that David
speaks of here when he says, In the Lord put out my trust.
It's a staying grace. It's not a running grace. It's
not a fleeing grace. Not at all. Faith enables a man
to stay upon God when everything else fails. I just read you that
in Psalm 46. When the mountains depart, and
someday they will, this world and the mountains, our health,
whatever it is, is going to depart sooner or later. Our confidence,
our hope, and our strength is in the Lord. It's in Him. It's a staying grace. Look over
in Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. This is the hall of fame of faith.
Listen to the Scriptures here. helps describe those who believe
God. In verse 33, it says, Who through
faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises,
stopped the mouth of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped
the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed
valiant in Turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received
their dead raised to life again. Now it turns, and others were
tortured. They were tortured, not accepting
deliverance, saying if you'd recant, we'll let you go. They didn't. They took the torture,
not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.
Others had trial of cruel mockings. and scourgings, yea, moreover,
of bonds and imprisonments. They were stoned, they were sawed
asunder, were tempted, were slain with a sword, they wondered about
in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented."
Does that sound like God's people? It is. Those are God's people that are
being written about and spoken of here. These are God's people. of whom the world was not worthy.
They wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens, and
in caves of the earth. And these, all having obtained
a good report through faith, had not received the promise
yet of the coming Messiah." Boy, they have now, though, haven't
they? They're not wondering about in sheepskins and goatskins and
in the caves now. They're standing in His presence,
worshiping Him. But they did not accept, it said,
deliverance. They took the torture. They took
it. Saving faith is a staying grace. It will enable you to
stay upon God in troubles and trials. All hope of salvation
rests in the Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn't matter if it's when
the sun's shining or when it's not shining. We rest in His person. He's God. We believe God. We trust Him. We look to Him.
We worship Him. And that one is Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ. We rest in His righteousness.
Not trying to produce a righteousness. We don't get up in the mornings
and go about trying to do something good so God will accept us. He
hath made us accepted in the beloved. We rest in His blood to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. His blood cleanses us. from all
unrighteousness. It's not my repentance that cleanses
me from any sin. Not one tear has ever cleansed
my sins. It's the blood of the Lamb of
God that washes away our sins. Repentance is a gift of God.
Repentance is evidence of a new birth. But it never puts away
sin. The blood of Christ put away
sin. And we rest in that. We don't rest in that plus our
repentance. We rest in His blood alone to put it away. In Him
we are complete. Let me read you some very familiar
scriptures of the language of faith. Turn to Hebrews 7, verse
25. Hebrews 7, verse 25. Here is the language
of faith. Wherefore, he is able also to
save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them." This is faith. This is a faith that's of God.
I'm confident that he's able to save any sinner, any wretch,
whether it be a Pharisee like Paul or Mary Magdalene, whom
he cast out seven times. He's able to save. The Lord Jesus
Christ is able to save any sinner that comes to Him. I mean, you
think of the worst ones. You can think of some, you know,
we live in a day where you turn the news on, you have these serial
killers and these, all these just wicked things. God's able
to save them. He's able to do it. Society doesn't
want that. Society just, they want to kill
Him. And I can understand. But God's able to save. I tell
you what, if he'd turn his hand loose on us and let us go, they'd
want to kill us too. And rightly so. Look over, I believe it's 1 Timothy. See if I wrote this down right. In 1 Timothy, I believe it's
chapter 2, here is the language 1 Timothy 2, it is 2 Timothy. In 2 Timothy, chapter 1, verse
20, Paul says, for the witch cause
I also suffer these things nevertheless. I am not ashamed, for I know
whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to
keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." That
is the language of faith. Now turn over to Romans chapter
8. These are very familiar scriptures. We ought to make them more familiar
as we grow older. Romans 8, for I am persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." He
said nothing. That's the language of faith. Now, David says, why? Why do you say to me, flee like
a bird to your mountain? Speaking here to these, and I'm
sure these are friends David's talking to, and he said, now
why do you say to me, flee like a scared bird? A bird at the
first sign of danger flies, flies away, get away from it. And David
says, why do you say to me, flee like a scared bird? Why do you
say, feel like a bird to your mountain? Why do you suggest
such a cowardly thing? Why? Is God not able to deliver? Did He not deliver Israel out
of Egypt? Yes, He did. I was talking to
someone here just a few weeks ago. We were talking about some
trouble that we were talking about between us. We were just
talking about some trouble that comes in our lives. And I said,
well, God parted the Red Sea once. He can do it again. He
can part the Red Sea again. If He'd called for it, same God
isn't. Same power. He can part the Red
Sea again. I want to show you some scriptures
here. Turn over to Daniel chapter 3. Why, he said, do you say to
my soul? Why do you say to me, flee like
a bird to your mountain? Why do you suggest such a thing? Daniel chapter 3, look in verse 15. Now if you be ready, that at
what time you hear, now he's talking here to Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego because they did not bow and worship Nebuchadnezzar. These people had made up this
thing so they could entrap them. But now if you be ready that
at what time you hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut,
psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship
the image which I have made. But if you worship not, you shall
be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning, fiery furnace.
And who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?"
Well, he thought he was somebody, didn't he? God showed old Nebuchadnezzar
who God is later on. Shadrach. Here's faith now. Here's faith. Here's the faith
of God's elect. Shadrach. Meshach. and Abednego
answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not
careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God
whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace,
and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, if he doesn't, if it's his will
to let us burn It's His will to let us burn. If not, be it
known unto thee, O King, that we will not serve thy gods, nor
worship the golden image which thou hast set up." Well, they
didn't flee to the mountain, did they? They stood firm in their faith in God, knowing
He was able to deliver them out of that fiery furnace. This is
a real event here. This is not a fairy tale. This
is not just a bedtime story. These are three men getting ready
to be put into a fiery furnace. That really happened. Then was
Nebuchadnezzar full of fury. It just angered him. He thought
they were just arrogant and obstinate. And the form of his visage was
changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Therefore he spake
and commanded that they should heat the furnace Won seven times
more than it was wont to be heated. That's how angry he was. He said,
I'll make this thing seven times hotter. I'll show them. I'll
burn them up. He commanded the most mighty
men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Cast them into the burning fiery
furnace. Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen,
and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into
the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore, because the
king's commandment was urgent and the furnace exceeding hot,
the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning
fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar, the king,
was astonished, astounded. He rose up in haste and spake
and said unto his counselors, Did not we cast three men bound
into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the
king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see
four men loose walking in the midst. I see four. Where did
that other one come from? How did he get in there? It's his fire. It's his three
men. It's his three children. A very present health and trouble.
A very present health and trouble. And they have no hurt. And the form of the fourth one,
he's like the Son of God. He is of a different countenance.
Walking around, the Lord Jesus Christ walked around in that
furnace with those men, those three men. I tell you what, I think that's
when we most see Him in the furnace. When we most seek Him and see
Him and come to some real understanding of Him, it's in trouble. It's usually always in trouble.
And they came out, and it says there in verse 27, and the princes,
governors, and captains, and the kings, counselors, being
gathered together, saw these men upon whose bodies the fire
had no power. Nor was the hair of their heads
singed." It wasn't even singed. Neither were their coats changed,
nor the smell of fire. There wasn't even the smell of
smoke on them. He said not even the smell of
it had passed on them. Nebuchadnezzar spake and said,
"'Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath
sent his angel and delivered His servants that trusted in
Him. David said, In the Lord put I
my trust. In Him. Oh, he said, In the Lord put
I my trust. The wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow
upon the string. David's friends, so called, are
pointing out the danger of staying and not fleeing. They're pointing
that out to David. Now, they may have meant well,
but their advice was deadly to the foundation of faith. It was
deadly. It was deadly advice. If the
leader flees, if the shepherd runs, what's his sheep going
to do? As Spurgeon said, and I've quoted
this often, and especially since I do this now, it really just
rings in my ears, the limping of the leader. is the lameness
of the people. David said, don't even suggest
such a thing to me. That's nothing but destruction
to the foundation of faith. The real wicked here is anyone
that does not trust the Lord. That's the real wicked. The friends
of David were the ones giving him this advice. They were proving
to be the real enemies of faith. Don't think that those who would
destroy faith always live in the next neighborhood. They thought. David's friends here made this
suggestion. Peter said it. Peter said, No,
Lord, you're not going to die. He said, No, you're not going
to die. And although Peter was not an enemy of Christ, yet he
was used of Satan. And it's shocking how many times
we get used. We get used more often than we'd like to even
think. Oh, Judas betrayed Our Lord was
a kiss. Enemies to the faith are not
always that evident. Not always. He said, the bow
is bent with the arrow of unbelief. That's what it's bent with. The
arrow of unbelief. Ready. Ready to shoot at the
upright in heart. Ready to shoot at everyone of
God. The arrow is always bent. It's pulled back. At any given
time, if the Lord allowed it, He's going to shoot at you. Satan
has you in his sights. He's very real. His followers
are very real. And they have every one of God's
children in their sights. They privately are in the dark,
are poised to shoot. They just need an opportunity.
Their business is in the dark. They're cowards. They do business
in the dark. But here's why we trust in the Lord. He has a lock on their trigger
finger. He's got a lock on that trigger finger. They can't pull
it. They cannot pull it, and if He
allows them to pull it, He guides the arrow. He guides the arrow. Turn over to 1 Kings. 1 Kings chapter 22. In 1 Kings chapter 22, let me
see, verse 34. And a certain man drew a bow
at a venture, and he smote the king of Israel. He drew that
bow back, see here, he smote the king of Israel between the
joints of the harness, right there in that one little open
spot. I mean, here's what's going on. This man aims up in that direction
and just lets it go. And it hits right in that one
spot and killed the King of Israel. Now, religion and the world said,
what a lucky shot. Wasn't it? You know they said,
boy, what a lucky shot. God got that arrow. They may
bend the bow, but God guides the arrow if He allows it to
be shot. And His purpose will be fulfilled. We trust in the Lord who reigns
over all. That's why we can say, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil. Why? Because thou art with me. Not because I'm one of the meanest
ones in the valley. It's because thou art with me. And he says here, if the foundation
be destroyed, what can the righteous do? If the foundation's a government,
you look at our country and all the perversion that goes on now
in this country, it's just unbelievable. But if the foundations of government,
of law and order be destroyed by the perversions of men, what
can the righteous do? What can we do? We can pray. The fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much. Do you believe that? The fervent prayer of a righteous
man availeth much. What can the righteous do? He
can pray. He can call upon the Lord. He can go before the throne
of grace to find help in time of need. Our Lord said all flesh
has been placed into His hands. And it's still in His hands.
Now, the whole government system is still in His hands. He's not
relinquished that. He's not lost that. It's still
in His hands. He is able to subdue all enemies
of righteousness. He's able to do that. He's able
to bring this nation to its knees. He's the one that's able to turn
it around. What can the righteous do? You pray. You call upon Him. You call upon Him. Never underestimate the prayer
of a righteous man. Our Lord, who is the righteous
man, said, I know you always hear me. Was it Queen Mary that
feared the prayers of John Knox? Was it her? She feared the prayers
of John Knox more than she feared a great army. Oh my. But there's also something
else here. The very foundation of true religion
is at stake. If we start to flee, and back
off from the truths of the gospel. God chose a people. Christ came
into this world and became a substitute for those people. Christ was
made to be sin for those people who do no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. If we back off from
that, if we flee those things, if we start to water down those
things, those foundations will be destroyed. He said, what can
the righteous do? The very foundation of faith
that we preach in Christ, if we water it down, we water down
the truth, we destroy this foundation. We preach that Christ is God,
that He has all power over all flesh, that all things are of
God, that all our afflictions are appointed by Him. He's able
to deliver us out of them all. than to flee when trouble comes
over the gospel. Why? To destroy the foundation.
It's nothing short of destroying it. Our actions have to match our
message. Has to match our message. Walk in the righteous desert.
Pray that the Lord would restore. these foundational truths. Preach these foundational truths
every time we get the opportunity. Every time we're given the opportunity,
we stand and preach Christ crucified. And in preaching Christ crucified,
you'll preach all the foundational doctrines. You'll preach them
in doing so. We can declare them every time
we have the opportunity. We can pray and preach them every
time we're given a chance. If the foundations be destroyed,
what can the righteous do? Call upon God. Call upon Him
to turn this mess around. And David said, The Lord is in
His holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven.
His eyes behold, His eyelids try the children of men. We do
not have to concern ourselves with the foundations of heaven.
They're established. They are established in truth
and righteousness. No sin will ever enter the Holy
of Holies. Not a lot. There will never be
a deterioration of that foundation. The Lord is in His holy temple.
And that also means this. The Lord is in His church, which
is the temple of Christ. He dwells in you. He dwells in
His church throughout this whole world. The Lord is in His church. He's in His church. He's in the
midst of her, it says in Psalm 46, 5. He is in the midst of
her, she shall not be moved. The Lord's throne is in heaven
where there is no decay. Everything on this earth decays,
but there is no decay where He is, where His throne is. No decay,
no enemies, no question as to who's going to sit on that throne. No question. High above this
sinful earth. Notice this, it's a throne. It's a throne. And being His
throne, we know that it is a throne of justice. The judge of the
earth will do right. It may look like injustice going
on to men, and men deal with each other in injustice, but
God is will justly give to every man his desert. In his time. In his time he'll deal with every
man justly. And then it's a place where he
governs the world. It's a throne of government.
From his throne he governs the heavens and the earth. I'm not
worried about a meteorite slamming this earth. I'm not worried about
those things. He governs the earth and the
skies. He governs everybody on it. I'll tell you, when the war
in Iraq will cease, when He puts an end to it, He maketh wars
to cease until the ends of the earth. If He doesn't put an end
to it, it'll not stop. It won't stop until He puts an
end to it. Because men are just bent on
killing each other. That's when it'll stop, when
He puts a stop to it. And then it's a throne of grace. It's a place where sinners can
boldly come, find grace to help in time of need. I say to every
sinner, come. Come to the throne of grace.
Find mercy to help in time of need. Come. His eyes behold,
his eyelids try the children of men. God is a God of knowledge. He's perfect in knowledge. He
knows and He sees the heart. No thought can be withheld from
you. It says in the Scriptures that
He's going to judge the secrets of men's hearts by that man Jesus.
The secrets. Things that we wouldn't tell
each other. Things that we would not mention.
Things that go through our mind. He said that's going to be to
judge the secrets of men's thoughts. When natural men, unregenerate
men stand before Him, they're going to be judged for things
They had never let anybody know it was going to come up. And
they're going to know it. They're going to remember it. He's a
God of knowledge. He looks and deals with the heart.
God is omniscient. None can hide himself from God.
God does not look upon the outward countenance as we do. He looks
on the heart. He sees the very motive and intent
of every one of our hearts. He knows if I'm thinking about
work or if I'm thinking about him. Really? I mean, every time
I've sat there, I've been thinking about business. He knows that. I'm glad he's merciful. Aren't
you glad he's merciful? You have to rest your mind, pull
it back, and try to listen again. Then your mind goes off, and
you rest, pull it back, and try to listen again. When I was in
school, I didn't pull it back. I basically just kept daydreaming.
But boy, don't daydream over the gospel. Here, I do. I do try to listen. And I have
to catch myself listening. Pay attention. You can think
about that later. I do. I tell myself, I say, you
can think about that later. Listen. When the Word's being
read, the Word's being preached, listen. God's a God of, He's
a God of knowledge. He looks on the heart. Scripture
says, by Him actions are waived. This is not a radio sermon, is
it? He sees through the pretense.
He sees the real person. So it says over in Psalm 139,
Whither shall I flee from thy presence? It says over in Jeremiah
23, Can any hide himself from God? And he says here in verse 5,
The Lord trieth the righteous. He trieth our hearts. He trieth
our love toward Him. He trieth our faith. He tries
the righteous, but thank God it's Him who tries us. He knows where the measuring
line is. He knows where the full mark
is. That's why I'm glad He tries us. He knows where the full mark
is. He said, I'll not lay on you anything you can't bear. And He gives us great comfort
to know that all our afflictions come from Him. And it says, the
scripture says, whom the Lord loves, he chastens. He chastens
every son whom he loves. Every child of his is chastened. He's chastened. And not one of
us can live such a life in this life that we don't need chastening. I've lived long enough to know
that. My parents can tell you that too. And your parents can
tell me that. None of us can live like that.
But whom the Lord loves, he chastens, he corrects, he disciplines. He disciplines with a loving
hand. Love drips from that hand. He
guides and directs his children, sends them trials, afflictions,
and then his blessings, and what he does. He calls them just what they
are, the wicked. Him that loves violence, his soul, his very
being hates. Now, men can hate me. I'll be alright. I'll get over
it. I'm sure I'll continue on. But
God hates me, having deep, deep trouble. Deep, deep trouble that
God hates. Hates a person. And yes, God
hates the wicked. He hates the wicked. You know,
in religion, before I heard the gospel, I was always told God
loves the sinner. He just hates his sins. Where do you think those sins
come from? You can't separate that. Where
do you think the odor and the smell comes from? It comes from that wicked that
hates God. But it's not like the hatred
of men. Men hate without a cause, don't they? Our Lord said, they
hated me without a cause. God has a cause. God's hatred
has a cause to it. It's against sin and wickedness
and violence. It's against the very nature
they're born with. And they have made themselves men. Now listen,
men have made themselves the objects of his hatred by that
which they love, which is violence and sin, and not God. God must hate sin and the workers
of it. It says in Psalm 5.5, He hated the workers of iniquity.
He hated them. And upon the wicked he shall
rain snares, fire, and brimstone. and a horrible tempest, this
shall be the portion of their cup. Let there be no mistake. The wicked shall never taste
the Lord's mercy. And don't mistake God is love
as a weakness in God. You love that little girl. And
if anybody intruded into your house, you'd do whatever it took
to take care of her. You do whatever, and that's what
God's going to do. Out of love to His children,
He's going to cast this world into hell. He's going to deal
with their injustice, their violence, their wickedness and wretchedness,
but it's an act of love of God toward us. He's going to get
rid of all this Satan, sin. Their portion is going to be
the lake of fire which burns forever and ever. That's hard
to think of. I know. It is. It's hard to think
of. But here's the reason the righteous Lord loves righteousness.
This is the reason God hates the wicked. He loves righteousness.
You cannot love two opposites. He loves righteousness. He loves
that which expresses His own image. And the wicked do not
express His image. They mar God's image. They mar. Therefore He hates them. The
only reason, let me say this, not close, the only reason God
can love sinners like us is because of His Son, Jesus Christ. Because when He looks upon us,
He looks upon us in Christ. And when He does that, He sees
His own image in us. He looks upon His own image.
Christ is the image of God, the express image of God. And if
a person is in Christ, chosen in Christ, loved in Christ, regenerated
in Christ, God sees His own image. He sees
the image of His Son. He doesn't see sin. He doesn't
see a wicked, God-hating man. I tell you what, He dealt with
that man at Calvary. He put that man to death at Calvary. Two thousand years ago, God dealt
with this wretch. He dealt with my sins. He dealt
with my wretchedness. When He made Christ to be sin,
He dealt with Him. He dealt with me. He put me to
death. As far as the law of God is concerned,
I died. I died. I put to death. I put to death. And now when
God sees me, He sees His image. He sees Christ
in you, the hope of glory. He sees a new creation. God sees
a new creation. That's what he sees. That old
man's been crucified. He looks upon that new man, born
of God. That's what he looks upon. And he says here, His countenance
doth behold the upright. Here's why I say it. God's favor
is upon the upright. He calls us upright. Because that's the way you are
in Christ. You're upright. In Christ, you're holy, you're
righteous, you're upright. He makes everything to work for
our good. You have God's favor. We have
God's favor. Oh, he says, why do you say to
my soul, flee to a mountain? Flee to your mountain. Oh, he said, in the Lord, in
the Lord put out my trust. In the Lord.