The Psalms are a book of praises. As a matter
of fact, and you probably know this, the very word Psalm means
praise. It means praise. Praise to God. Look at verse 1 of the 48th Psalm. Great is the Lord, and greatly
to be praised. in the city of our God, in the
mountain of His holiness. The subject of the Psalms is
God. God. The triune God. The Word of God is about God, the Word. The triune God, Jehovah, the
Almighty. The Almighty. Let me read you
a verse or two from another psalm. I'm in the ninth psalm now. Verse
10. And they that know thy name,
they that know thy name, that means more than just to say God. Those who know who God is, something
at least, who God is, his character, his being, They that know thy
name will put their trust in thee. Those that know God will. For thou, Lord, hast not forsaken
them that seek thee. Sing praises, sing psalms to
the Lord, which dwelleth in Zion. Declare among the people his
doings. In light of that, in considering
our great and glorious God. It's not surprising to know that
worship, that the word worship, the worship of such a being as
God means prostrate. Worship means the prostrate. His names, plural, because one
name is not enough to get an inkling as to who God is. That's
why again and again to Moses, to Abraham, to Jacob, throughout
the scriptures he revealed himself by various names because one
is not enough to describe his glorious character. His great
attributes. One name is not sufficient to
describe who God is. Who God is. When I pastored for
a couple of years the little church in West Virginia, and
my children were still very young, sometimes after service we would
be driving home and I would ask my sons in the back seat, Larry,
Roger, were you fellas paying attention? Were you paying attention
to your father as he preached this morning? Oh, yeah, Dad,
we were listening to you. I'd say, well, that's good. What
did I preach about? And they would say, God. Pretty
safe, pretty safe, God. Could you be more specific? Well,
God. Now, I want to do that today.
By God's help, by God's enabling me, because I can't do it otherwise.
I know that, I know that. But I pray that God would make
his word effectual. I want to preach to you today
about your God. I know, children of God, that
some of you are going through some heavy trials, some difficult
times. And we don't know what tomorrow
holds. James said, we ought to be careful
about saying, I'm going to do this tomorrow or that tomorrow. James said, you don't know what
shall be on tomorrow. For example, Wednesday night,
well, Wednesday evening before service, I led Bess in by the
arm. And then when service was over,
let her back out to the car. And she said to me, Larry, I
haven't fallen for a while. She said, I'm doing good. I haven't
tripped. I've not fallen for a while. And what? In less than
a day, 24 hours, she had taken a serious fall. We just don't
know what tomorrow might bring. We just don't know what tomorrow
holds. But I want to remind myself. And you are this. Who holds tomorrow? Don, that's where our comfort
lies. We don't know what's going to
happen this afternoon. Man, our world, as we say, could
be turned upside down that quick. But our comfort doesn't lie in
knowing what shall happen. Our comfort doesn't lie in knowing
what tomorrow holds. Our comfort lies right here.
Who holds all my tomorrows? That's where my comfort lies.
And that's what I want to speak to you. God is the cause. This is where the Psalm begins.
Again, here in Psalm 46, verse 1. God the cause. God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble. God, our help and our hope is
the title of my message. God. If He's our God, if He is
our God, then most certainly He is our hope and He is our
help. He must be. If He's our God,
He's my hope and my help. We see this throughout the Psalms. God is our refuge and strength. He's the cause. He's the cause. Our refuge. Our God. Isn't that glorious? I remember
years ago talking to Bob. No. No, I was going to say Bobby
Estes, but it was his brother-in-law Maurice Montgomery. And he was
saying, I never in my wildest dreams, when I was a young boy
growing up, I would go out by myself and just lie in the field. And at night look up at those
stars, the moon, And I would just wonder, why am I here? I'm so insignificant. I'm nobody. Oh my soul, he said, but I never
in my wildest dreams that one day God Almighty would reveal
to that young country boy who he was. God. God. Isn't that something? And naturally, if he is our God,
if we belong to him, As Bobby sometimes sings, I am his and
he is mine. If he is my God, if that's my
foundation, it's no wonder that in the next verse we read this.
If God is our foundation, he's the cause, therefore, are you
looking at it? Therefore. Well, naturally, We
would expect it to be so. We would expect this to follow.
If the great Jehovah is our God, that the majestic sovereign is
our God, therefore, therefore will we not fear. Though the
earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the
midst of the sea. Look again at verse 5. God is
in the midst of her. God is with his people. God is
always with His people. God will never forsake His people
whether they realize it or not, whether they act like it or not,
whether they seem to believe it or not. Bless God, their security,
their help and their hope is not dependent upon their faithfulness. Oh, that may affect their comfort,
but it will not affect the realization of where their hope and help
lies. It's in their God. God is in the midst of her. That's
the cause. Again, we're not surprised to
find this as the fruit. She shall not be moved. She shall
not be moved. If God is in the midst of his
church, his people, his elect, his chosen, his redeemed, his
beloved, his bride, if God is in the midst of her, she shall
not be moved. Who would move her? Louie, who
would move her? If God is in the midst of her,
if God is her refuge, her very present help, her strength in
time of trouble, she shall not be moved because who shall move
her? That is the equivalent of what
our Lord said in the New Testament. Upon this rock, there's the cause. There's the cause. Upon this
rock I'll build my church." And here's the effect. The most certain,
sure fruit of that. If the church is built upon Jesus
Christ himself, the foundation, the rock, on which she's built,
then naturally this must be, this must follow. As we read
here in the psalm, she shall not be moved. Therefore, the
gates of hell shall not prevail against her. Verse 7 of the psalm,
the Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. Selah. Calm down. Think about it. Think about it. Oh, when the
storms of life are raging, see love. Think about it. God controls the storm. Calm down. Think about it. God
sent the storm. And our God, no matter how severe
the storms may be, No matter how strong the storms of life
may rage, our God is still where he's always been. You know what
the heathens said to David. David's hiding out in a cave.
David has been pursued by his very own son. Before that, by
Saul, I mean, David led a checkered life, valleys, mountaintops,
back to the valley, on the mountaintop, back in the valley. And on such
an occasion as that, his enemies in mockery said, where's your
God now, David? And you know the story about
Brother Henry Mahan when his son died in Vietnam. Henry said
he prayed that God would bring his son back, and Henry said
he brought him back in a box. a pine box and some preacher,
free will preacher in Ashland called him up. Can you imagine
this? He hated Henry's God. He couldn't get to Henry's God
so he called up Henry and said, where's your God now, Henry?
And Henry, by God's grace, gave the same answer that David did
when his enemy said to him, where's your God now, David? And David
said, my God's in the heavens. And he hath done whatsoever he
had pleased. Selah. Selah. Rest easy, John. Rest easy. Our Father's on board. Our Father's on board. The great
shepherd of his sheep never abandons sheep. He never says, you're
on your own, every man to himself. Oh no, he says, you're in my
hand. You're in my hand. I've loved you with an everlasting
love. None shall pluck you out. Selah. Think about that. Robert Hawker. commenting on a verse concerning
the names of God or the name of God. Let me read you the verse
and then I'll read you his comment on it. This is speaking of Israel's
often rebellion. But they rebelled against me.
This is in Ezekiel 20. They rebelled against me. This
is God speaking. They rebelled against me and
would not hearken unto me. But I wrought for my namesake,
that it should not be polluted before the heathen, for my namesake,
among whom they were, that is, the children of Israel in Egypt,
and whose sight I made myself known unto them in bringing them
forth out of the land of Egypt. Wherefore, I caused them to go
forth out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness
for my namesake." And Hawker wrote, the name of Jehovah is
interested in the salvation of his people. For the Lord will
not suffer, John touched on this in his lesson this morning, for
his own glory. for his own namesake. The Lord
would not suffer the enemy to triumph in the ruin of Israel. Sweet thought. Sweet thought. The blood of Jesus pleads more
powerfully for his people than all their undeservings plead
against them. Oh, that's another Selah. That's
another calm down. That's another rest easy. God
for his own namesake, God for his own glory does for us what
we cannot do for ourselves. For his glory. Oh, I can rest
easy on that. You mean God has purposed that
this sinner's salvation has something to do for his glory? Could there
be a greater cause than that? Could there be a greater reason
than for me to rest easy? Surely God will not give his
glory to another. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The psalmist asked
himself the question in Psalm 42 verse 5. Actually he asked
himself this question twice in verse 11 as well. Why art thou
cast down, O my soul? Why art thou cast down? That's
a good question. That's a good question. But it
didn't end with the question, did it? It didn't stop there. Why art thou disquieted in me? Why are you pacing the floor?
Why are you biting your fingernails? Why are you so fretful? Why are
you cast down? Hope thou in God. God, the Almighty, the everlasting
God. From everlasting to everlasting,
Psalm 90. From everlastingly is what it
reads. From everlastingly thou art God. Moses in that psalm was saying,
God, you've always been God. There's never been a time you
weren't God. There's never been a time that
you weren't everything that that name says of you. You've always
ruled. You've always been majestic.
You've always been marvelous. You've always been God. You've
always sat upon the throne. You've always ruled in the armies
of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. You've always had
your way and you're having your way in this dark day child of
God that you and I live in. God is still in the heavens.
doing whatsoever he had pleased. Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? Hope thou in God. God. Bring... No, I was going to say bring,
no. Come. Come before your great
God and Savior Jesus Christ. Get along with Him and ask of
Him, Oh Lord, be pleased, refresh me. Refresh me by reminding me
again who you are. And if He's pleased to do so,
you'll arise from your knees saying, Oh, it is well with my
soul. If He is such a great God and
Savior as He is, then it must be well with my soul. Hope thou
in God. I will yet praise Him. Look again
at verse 10 of Psalm 46. Be still. Oh, that is such a
great testimony for a believer when he's going through heartache
and difficulty, simply to be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth. He's still God. Rest easy. Rest easy. In the beginning, we read in
the very first sentence of God's Word, in the beginning, God. No explanation of His beginning. That tells us where the earth,
the heavens and the earth began. Oh, but not God. Not God. He said, I had no beginning.
I had no end. Now that right there is indicative
of God's greatness. Think about that, John Copeland.
Can you get a grip on that? You better shake your head no.
Neither can I. Neither can I. Everything we
do, we're creatures of time. We're here for just a little
time. Our life's a vapor. Everybody around us, their life's
a vapor. Everything we see is going to
perish and God says, I had no beginning. My sons one time asked
me that, individually, on different occasions. Where did God come
from? Where did God come from? I said,
He didn't come from any place. He's always been. He never had
a beginning. He never had a starting place. Everything springs from Him,
but He's everlasting. And my sons looked up at me with
them big eyes and scratched their head and said, Dad, I don't understand
that. And dad looked down at them and scratched his head and
said, I don't understand it either. But that's our God. From everlasting
to everlasting. He had no beginning and had no
end. In the beginning, God. No second opinion. No apology. God to begin and God to everlasting. Turn, if you will, to Revelation
chapter 19. Revelation chapter 19. In the beginning, God, in the
very first sentence of the very first book of God's Word, and
we come to the end and find the very same thing. God ruling and
reigning. And everything in between is
just a proof of that. In verse 6, no, verse 1. Let's look at verse 1 of Revelation
19. And after these things, after
the judgment, After all those terrible judgments
we read of, after these things I heard a great voice of much
people in heaven saying, hallelujah, hallelujah, salvation and glory
and honor and power unto the Lord our God. You mean all those God purposed
to bring to heaven are in heaven? Really? You mean God accomplished
that? If anybody thinks God can accomplish
anything he wills to accomplish, you're trusting a wrong God.
If your notion of God allows him to fail in anything whatsoever,
God controls everything. I like what Mr. Spurgeon said,
God controls the revolution of the planets as much as that speck
of dust that just floated out into the air. God's in control
of everything. everything. Yes, he does it on
purpose. And look down in verse 6 here
in Revelation 19. And I heard, as it were, the
voice of that great multitude. We read of in verse 1. And as
the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thundering
sang hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. reigneth. Oh, how great thou
art. Our concept of God determines
our attitude in worship, does it not? That's why, that's the
reason you see so much utter nonsense going on all around
us and they call it worship because they have a misconception of
God. And that's why there is no bowing
down before Him. That's why, unlike the children
of Israel, after crossing the Red Sea and seeing that great
work which God had done stood in holy wonder. Man's misconception
of who God is doesn't produce that. How could it? How could
it? He's like me. He's just like
me. Well, that's nothing to adore.
That's nothing to marvel about, Don. Oh, but, but, if God Almighty
ever gives a sinner an idea of who he is, he'll bow down. He'll bow down in the dust at
the feet of God Almighty. He'll take his proper place and
he'll look up and say, my God, how great thou art. That's how
it should be. He'll prostrate himself. And
anybody that stands up and pops their own suspenders and calls
it worship? No, no, no. They've not prostrated
themselves because before God, that's what sinners do. Our concept
of God, His Majesty, His absolute Godhead, Godhood, God over all,
very much determines our comfort and trust, does it not? You remember
when Daniel was thrown in the lion's den? when the king was
tricked by those jealous of Daniel in the kingdom. And he was forced to put Daniel
in the lion's den and he said, oh Daniel, is your God able to
deliver you? The king didn't sleep that night,
we're told in Daniel 6. He tossed all night long because
he loved Daniel. The next morning he got up early
and went to the mouth of that lion's den where a big stone
had been laid. And he said, oh Daniel, was your
God able to deliver you? And Daniel said, rest easy, oh
king. Just calm down. My God came and
shut the mouth of the lions. My God has delivered me. That's our God. He always delivers
his people. Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? My God is able to deliver thee. How great thou art. I looked up, wanted to get a
little bit of the history of that old hymn, How Great Thou
Art. It was written by a man named
Karl Boberg or Bomberg, doesn't matter. He was a Swedish preacher and the story is that he was
coming from a service one evening when a great storm came up. He
had to rush for shelter and he watched it. He watched it. Afterwards
in his room After the storm had subsided and there was a great
calm, he opened his window and looked out over an ocean. And at the same time, he heard
the ringing of bells, church bells in the distance. And he
wrote a poem. It was a poem originally. It
became a hymn with further translations and additions, but it was a poem.
And the title of it was, Oh Great God. Oh, great God. And on this website, at the end
of the brief history of that hymn, they had this. What's your response? What's
your response? Yesterday, I'm deciding to accept
Jesus. I thought, oh no. Oh no. After giving the history of that
great hymn, they said, now if you'll accept
Jesus, if you'll say this prayer, God has saved you. And they said,
congratulations, welcome to the family of God. They introduced
how great thou art and then said that? Oh no. Oh no. When we read that hymn, Oh Lord
my God, when I in awesome wonder consider all the worlds thine
hands have made, I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, thy
power throughout the universe displayed. I see. I see, the man wrote. God, I
see. Those who see God, see God in
everything. See God everywhere, Lester. Those
who don't see God, those who are blind, they don't see God
in anything. They look out on this creation
and they talk about evolution, and Mother Earth, and Earth Day,
and the Big Bang Theory. These be our gods, they say.
Oh, but those who can see, they say, oh, how great thou art. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2
that the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know
them because they are spiritually discerned. A paraphrase of that
is this, the blind man just doesn't have the equipment to understand.
He's natural man. He's a lost man. He doesn't have
the life of God. That's why he can stand with
the believer, look up at those stars, and while that believer
is saying, oh, how great thy art, he's kissing the frog and
hugging the tree. He's blind. He's blind. Oh, but not so concerning the
believer. I watched the news broadcast
the other day about some ignorant thing going on. And even the
broadcaster said, what in the world is happening? Read Romans
1 and it'll tell you. This generation is under the
judgment of God Almighty. Under the judgment of God Almighty. They refuse to believe the truth,
Paul said in 2 Thessalonians 2, and God sent them strong delusion
that they might believe a lie and be damned. These be our gods. Earth Day, Earth Day. Paul in
Romans 1 again three times said, God gave them up. God gave them
up. Men claiming to be women and
women claiming to be men. I heard one of them say, God
made a mistake when I was born. And this newscaster that in many
respects has to have a little sense, sat there and said, ooh,
isn't that, that's just wonderful. You're so brave. And they gave
him a reward the other day. That man's cheese had slid plum
off the cracker and they gave him an award. God gave them up. God gave them up. There's no
other explanation. This nation is under the judgment
of God. Oh, but child of God, I said
that. And I'm happy to move on away
from it. I said that to bring you to this,
to bring me to this. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you brethren because God didn't leave you
in that darkness. The only reason you're not marching
and worshipping Mother Earth is because God opened your eyes. Oh Lord my God. When I in awesome
wonder, I see the stars. I see. I see. Louis, you see. You know who
God is. My, so what a marvel. What a
wonder. Blessed are your eyes, our Lord
said, because they see. They see. Simon Marjona, Blessed
art thou. Flesh and blood has not revealed
this to you, but my Father which is in heaven, Simon, you can
see." Who was Simon? He was a fisherman. He was a
fisherman. Oh, not much to get excited about. There he sits, day in and day
out in the boat with his brother Andrew, fishing, fishing, fishing. Not very glamorous, not very
glamorous. Simon Bar-Jonah, God Almighty,
God Almighty is going to come by Jesus Christ in the flesh,
the Son of God, and he's going to say, Peter, follow me. Peter would have never believed
that. He'd say, man, you must be out of your... What are you
talking about? Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah. You see me. Child of God, brothers and sisters
in Christ, put your name in there. And while you're doing so, pray
that the Lord would make it a blessed time of remembrance to your heart. Blessed art thou, Larry Criss. God's revealed me, Jesus Christ,
to you. The only begotten of the Father.
Me. The only mediator between God
and man. I know who he is. The only way
to God. The only name given among men
in heaven or in earth by which they shall be saved. I know him. My soul. What a marvel. And when I think, the man went on the right, and
when I think that God his son not sparing sent him to die,
I scarce can take it in that on the cross my burden gladly
bearing, he bled and died to take away my sin. Oh, glory to his name. That demands
a response. a response of, will you make
your decision for Jesus? Oh, but will you bow down before
the sovereign throne of your glorious Redeemer and worship
Him? Worship Him and cry to Him from
the depths of your heart. Then sings my soul, my Savior
God to thee, how great thou How great thou art. Look at verse
11 and we'll close here. The psalm ends just as it began. Did you notice that? It ends
just as God is our refuge. The Lord of hosts is with us.
The God of Jacob, verse 11, is our refuge. Selah. Selah. Think about it. come to leave
this world and this life and everything I had, going to let
it go, going to let it go. Hold it with a loose handle,
Brother Scott used to say. Children of God, he would say,
hold everything you have in this world with a loose hand. You're
soon going to have to let it go. When I face death, described
in the Word of God as a river, when we come to cross that last
river, Never been there before, John. I've never been there before. I won't be coming back to tell
you about it. No. Will my God still be God then? Will he still be my refuge and
my strength then? Will his grace still be sufficient
then? Well, my soul, why wouldn't it
be? Changes not. I remember brother
Lindsey Campbell telling about his father-in-law, his wife Diane's
father of course, to whom Lindsey was very close. This man was
a believer, had been for many years. Near the last few years
of his life, he began to develop Alzheimer's. Lindsey said he
was at the house one time and he heard the man say, he stopped. Lindsey said he didn't know,
the man didn't know, his father-in-law didn't know anybody was around
within earshot. And this dear saint of God prayed,
Father, God, I don't know exactly what's happening
to me right now. I don't understand it. But please,
Don't allow me to do anything that would dishonor your name. Oh, if we would let that guide
our attitude, our actions and reactions to things, if we would
let that guide, oh God, don't let me dishonor you in this. Child of God, the death of a
believer means nothing. Redemption means nothing, rather,
if I'm not brought home to glory. It was in vanity. It was a waste. Christ died for nothing if I'm
not brought to glory. You remember when the children
of Israel, this is in Joshua chapter 3, when they come to
the Jordan being led by Joshua, Moses, the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ. Moses can't bring us over to
Jordan. Joshua, Jesus, the salvation
of the Lord must do that. And Joshua told them, we're going
to cross over Jordan. We've got to cross Jordan before
we go into the promised land. But when the priest, carrying
the ark of the covenant, go in before you, when their feet steps
into the water, they're going to divide. Just like at the Red
Sea. Joshua 3, that's exactly what
happened. That's exactly what happened.
The priest stepped in and the waters of the Jordan separated
and were congealed. And they followed the priest
over. The happiness of a child of God
rest here, that Jesus Christ, our great high priest, who bears
the everlasting covenant on his shoulders, Joe, he's already
dipped his foot into the water, into the Jordan. He's already
passed over, John, and now we can follow our glorious high
priest and say, oh, death, where is thy sting? Oh, grave, where
is thy victory? As we pass over to the other
side and see Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. Be still and know that I am God. Rest easy. Rest easy. God bless
you. Thank you for your attention.