I have, in just the last eight
or ten days, heard from a number of friends, faithful men and
women, into whose lives God has brought
heavy, heavy trials. A very good friend of mine who's
a faithful, faithful pastor, Preached the gospel of God's
grace for nearly as long as I've been in this world. Pastored
a very small rural congregation up until just a couple of years
ago, very small group. About two years ago, God began
to bless his ministry in a remarkable way. Large number of people gathered,
found a place to worship, got a new place to worship. Last Tuesday morning, he woke
up about four o'clock in the morning. It was as though the
Lord had shook him and whispered in his ear, the eternal God is
thy refuge. Underneath are the everlasting
arms. He got up, started studying that
passage, meditating on it. You need to try to guess who
he is. None of you would know him if I called his name. When his wife woke up, he started
telling her what great blessing God had given him in that passage. And then suddenly, a thought
flashed into his soul. And he said, the Lord must be
preparing us for a heavy, heavy trial. And words cannot describe. the
heaviness that's on his heart now. That afternoon, his son
walked into his former wife's house, emptied a .357 revolver
into her chest. I never am more utterly helpless than when I try to help God's
people when they're really hurting. really hurting. I'm not talking
about hangnails and stumped toes, I'm talking about hurting. I know full well that my best
efforts to help, every word that comes out of this mouth is just
as likely to hurt as it is to help. And so usually I say very
little. I wait until I think maybe God's
giving me something that will be of some help. Well, here's
some help from God for your soul and mine. So pastor, I don't
need that. You listen carefully. You're
going to need it soon. I promise you. I promise you. Deuteronomy 33 verse 27. The eternal God is thy refuge,
and underneath are the everlasting arms. And he shall thrust out
the enemy from before thee, and shall say, destroy. What a word from our God for
our needy souls. the eternal God. David says,
from everlasting to everlasting thou art God. This is the name. Hold your hands
here at Deuteronomy. I put a page mark there somewhere.
Turn back to Exodus 3. This is the name by which God
made himself known to Moses when Moses saw him in the burning
bush and the Lord commanded Moses to go back to Egypt and to speak
to Pharaoh and command Pharaoh to let his people go. And he
sends them to Egypt to bring Israel out of Egyptian bondage. And Moses knew himself totally
insufficient for the task. In verse 13, Moses said to God,
Behold, when I am come to the children of Israel, and shall
say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you. And they shall say unto me, What's
his name? What shall I say to them? And
God said to Moses, I am. I am that I am. And he said,
thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel, I am hath sent me
unto you. I am the eternal God, Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. Oh, what little insignificant,
meaningless things we are before the eternal God. How little, are you listening to me? How
little are our greatest trials before the eternal God? How light
are our heaviest burdens to the eternal God? The eternal God
is eternal. I try my best to think about
that. It's just beyond me. It's just
beyond eternal, eternal. Creatures of time cannot think
in any adequate way about eternity. But this I know, he who is eternal
is immutable. He does not change. He cannot be changed. Nothing
touches Him. Nothing bothers Him. Nothing
alters Him. His purpose is sure. The eternal
God possesses all things. He made it all. He owns it all.
He can do with it all exactly as he sees fit and he always
does. He always does. The eternal God,
now try to get hold of this, the eternal God encompasses and
comprehends all things. I can still make a pretty good
size circle with my arms. I'm encompassing. everything
in their circle. I comprehend it all. I surround
it all. The eternal God encompasses everything. Everything. He comprehends it
all. He holds it all. I'm talking
now not about the God of this generation, the little peanut
worthless good luck charm being carried around in their religious
noggins. God they use when they need Him. I'm talking about the Eternal
God. Our God is the Eternal God. Our Father, the Eternal God,
is our Eternal Father. Our Savior, the Eternal Christ,
the Eternal Son, is our Eternal Savior. The Blessed Spirit of
God, our Comforter, our Eternal Comforter, is the Eternal God. All his purposes, all his mercies,
all his covenant blessings, all his decrees concerning the people
of his choice and love are eternal things. The eternal God chose
us in Christ before the world began in eternity. He predestined
all things for us from eternity. All we have experienced, all
that we now experience, all that we shall experience in the day
to come, God Almighty brings to pass according to the good
pleasure of His will which He purposed for us to our eternal
salvation in Jesus Christ before the world began. Everything. Everything. No accidents. No chance things, no bad luck
or good luck. No, no, no, no. God Almighty
purposed it and brings it to pass exactly on His timetable
according to His purpose and according to our need at this
specific time. As it was in Noah's day, so it
is now. All who were shut into the ark
were saved from the floods that God brought down from heaven
and brought up from the deep. Noah and his family went through the floods. Can you imagine? what he must have experienced.
Can you imagine? I hear preachers say, Noah, while
the waters were rising and the ship was tossing and the storms
were raging, Noah was singing, blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.
I kind of doubt it. I kind of doubt it. He had never
experienced such a thing before. Nobody had ever known such a
thing before. But God shut him in the ark, yeah. He shut him
in the ark. He was safe, yes he was safe, but I expect he
couched down in that ark pleading with God Almighty as never he
had before. Lord God will this ship hold
up. What tempest, what storms, what
terror, what fear. But the flood only did him good. Wiped away all his enemies. had
never heard it. Now listen to me. That same flood
destroyed everything outside the ark. Everything. Everybody. Everybody. So it is
now. We who by the grace of God have
found grace in the eyes of the Lord and have been shut up in
Christ had been given faith in him, brought into him, shut up
in him by the hand of God's grace. The floods that fall on us may
terrify, but they won't harm. They won't even get us wet. But those same floods destroy
everybody outside the ark. You see, trials don't change
anything. I know people have little spasms
of religion when they go through trouble. Some of you know from
experience, if somebody wants to see me when they're going
through difficulty, call me. I'll be glad to come. But I'm
not going chasing ambulances. I'll leave that to lawyers and
free will preachers. I'm not going trying to get folks
to make a profession of faith when they're going through difficulty.
Christ in glory now, Brother Darrell McClung. If I heard him
say it once, I've heard him say it a thousand times. He said,
anything built in the storm will die in the calm. And you can
bank on it. You can bank on it. Oh, those
who merely have a profession of religion, who merely cling
to an experience, sooner or later, God's going to send a flood to
wipe them away. The believer, he's still in the
ark. You see, God's people in this
world are a tribe people. The eternal God is our refuge. How we rejoice in that fact,
how we need to remember it, He who is the eternal God, immutable,
never changing, never varying, ever faithful, ever true, He's
our refuge. And nothing under heaven is sweeter
to the storm-tossed soul. than the knowledge of that fact.
He never changes. But oh, what changes we experience. God's people in this world, as long as we are in this world,
must suffer tribulation. In this day of health, wealth, prosperity, Preachers promise you, if you
believe in Jesus, everything will be taken care of, God will
heal all your troubles. I promise you, you believe in
Christ. Now I don't promise you. My promise is no better than
theirs. God says in his word, in the world you shall have tribulation. And it will not end while the
world stands. It will not end. You believe
on Christ, you enter into a warfare with hell. And it's a never-ending
warfare. You believe on Christ, you enter
into a warfare with your own flesh, and it's a never-ending
warfare. You believe on Christ, and immediately
you've begun something which brings darkness and trouble to
you persistently until you leave this world. I don't mean the
believer's life is a morbid existence. No believer would swap it for
anything. But the believer's life is a
life of continual trouble by which the eternal God causes
us continually to flee to him and cling to him for refuge.
Believers have all the troubles anybody else has in this world.
They're people familiar with storms and tempests and crossed
winds and raging seas, nights of weeping and days of darkness,
with the heat of trial owned them chillness and coldness,
ice in their hearts. And add to all that, will you
understand something? The world can't grasp. All our
troubles come to us by the loving hand of our Heavenly Father on
purpose, all of them, to do us good. Isaiah said, thou hast been a
strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress,
a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast
of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. We are a people
who need a refuge. That makes the next word in our
text, oh, how precious, the eternal God. is thy refuge. Turn to Isaiah 32. Incessantly
surrounded with enemies within and without, ever assaulted by
trying winds, with the billows of raging seas going over our
heads, we need a refuge. Is that what you need? That's
what I need. Then hear this word from God
the Holy Spirit. Oh, Spirit of God, speak to our
hearts. The Eternal God, in all His greatness,
glory, wisdom, power, goodness, mercy, love, and grace, the Eternal
God is thy refuge. And this Eternal God is a man
just like us. That means David Coleman, he
knows I don't mean he just knows about, he knows everything you
know and experience in this world. Look at Isaiah 32, verse 2. A man, not just a man, God Almighty,
but just as much a man as though he were not God. A man shall
be as a hiding place from the wind, a cover from the tempest,
as rivers of water in a dry place, refreshing. as a shadow of a
great rock in a weary land. I remember years ago, I was just
a boy, oh, 17 years old, I guess. I ran across Proverbs 18.10 in
my reading one day, and I've committed it to memory. I learned to recite it well,
recited it often, quoted it frequently in preaching. I'm beginning to
learn it. The name of the Lord, that's
Christ. He is the name whereby we must
be saved. He is the name by which God identifies
himself. He is the name by which we come
to God. The name of the Lord is a strong
tower. The righteous runneth into it. You see, when you need a refuge,
I mean when trouble is hard on you, When you're scared, when
you're frightened, you don't walk to a refuge, you run to
it. The righteous runneth into it
and is safe. Turn if you will to Mark chapter
4. A few years ago I preached a
message to you from this passage. I think I called the message
the parable of every believer's life. This is a pretty good picture
of our lives. Verse 35. The same day when evening was
come, the Lord Jesus saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the
other side. Now remember, they got into this
little boat because the master said, get in. They're going across
this sea to the other side because the master said, go across the
sea. They were in compliance with his will and his word, doing
what he told them to do. And when they had sent away the
multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship, and there
were also with him other little ships. And there arose a great
storm of wind. You mean the Lord deliberately
sent them into the eye of a storm? I believe that's what it said,
isn't it? I believe that's what it said. And the waves beat into
the ship so that it was now full. Now you talk about trouble, you're
getting a little boat or a good size boat, get it full of water,
you're in trouble. Wind blowing and howling, the sea tossing,
and he was in the hinder part of the ship asleep. He was asleep
on a pillow. And they awake him and say unto
him, Master, don't you care? Carest thou not that we perish?
They're scared to death. They're going to die right there.
He told them when they got in the ship, we're going to the
other side. And he got in the ship with them. But when the
storm arose and beat into the ship, and it was near full of
water, they were terrified. 35 years ago, the Lord Jesus put
this sinner into the good ship Grace. And he said, we're going
to the other side. And he is in the ship with me. And he sails right through the
eye of heavy storms. And I've often been terrified.
and cried because he seemed to be asleep. He was really at the
helm of both the storm and the ship, but he seemed to be asleep. Don't you care? Don't you care? And he arose and rebuked the
wind and said to the sea, peace be still. And the wind ceased. And it was
a great call. And he said to them, why are
you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? Oh, how many times I've heard
those words. And they feared exceedingly, reverenced and trembled. and said one to another, what
manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?
He is that man of whom Isaiah spoke, who is a refuge and a
cover in the time restored, that man who is God Almighty, that
man who protects us always. It's my task, my privilege, my
responsibility, My delight to help God's people through difficulty. But I feel utterly helpless. I can't help. Most of the time,
just can't help. Just can't help. But I can point
you to one who can. The eternal God is thy refuge. They that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings
as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. I've told you this before, but
it'll bear repetition. I've read that passage in Isaiah
40, 31 so many times. Whenever you make this mistake,
and I make it a lot, you read a text and you think to yourself,
it looks to me like that ought to be said just exactly opposite
of that. Be assured it's written exactly as it ought to be written.
I read that text and I think, well, it ought to read, they
shall walk, and they shall run, and they shall mount up with
wings as eagles. But that's not how it reads.
They that wait on the Lord, you take refuge in Him. I'll tell
you exactly what's going to happen in your life. If you've never
believed Christ, oh God help you to flee to Him today and
you're going to go out of those doors. I mean if you, right now
where you sit and you look to the Son of God and cast on Him
all the care of your soul, trusting His blood and righteousness,
you're going to walk out those doors soaring like an eagle.
The Lord saved me. I promise you, you will. And
then after a while, you'll come back down to the earth and you'll
run. And you'll run into a little snare, a little trouble here
and there. Well, all things work together for good, I believe
that. Go on. And then after a while, you'll
walk. Walk. Walk. The fellow who's walking through
a dark valley, is real confident. He's walking because he's got
peace. He's walking because there's nothing in the darkness to terrify
him. He's walking because he's walked
this path before and he knows it's going to be alright. Turn back to Joshua chapter 20.
Let me show you something. You're familiar with God's command
to Moses in the law, he commanded Moses to tell Joshua when you
cross over the river Jordan and take possession of the land of
Canaan, you build six cities, three on this side of Jordan
and three on that side of Jordan, and call them cities of refuge
and maintain the road to the cities, keep them up. Because
the law requires that any man who kills his neighbor accidentally,
they're out working one day and chop down a tree and a fellow's
ax slips out of his hand, kills his neighbor. That his neighbor's
near kinsman is obliged under law to avenge the blood of his
slain brother. And the man who unintentionally
killed another man. Not talking about capital murder
now. We're talking about a man who unintentionally killed another
man. His brother is required under law to kill him. He's required
to kill him. Unless he gets to one of those
cities. One of those cities of refuge.
And so Joshua, when the land was taken possession of by the
children of Israel, obeyed the command of God. In verse 7. And they appointed Kadesh in
Galilee, in Mount Naphtali, and Shechem in Mount Ephraim, and
Kirjath Arba, which is Hebron, in the mountain of Judah. And
on the other side, Jordan, by Jericho eastward, they assigned
Bezer in the wilderness upon the plain, out of the tribe of
Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead, out of the tribe of Gad, and
Golan in Bashan, out of the tribe of Manasseh. Now, the manslayer
could run to any of those cities. All of them were within one day's
walk from any place in Israel. And they could run into one of
those cities. And when they entered into the city, the avenger of
blood, by law, could not touch them as long as they stayed in
that city, as long as they stayed in that refuge. Stay right there
now. Just stay there, everything's
all right. Just hang on right there, everything's all right.
Until the death of the high priest, then he can go free. Now, our
high priest, who is also our city of refuge, will never die. That means we are forever safe
in this city. Did you ever read closely and
notice the names of those six cities and what they mean? Kadish
means holy. Christ is a holy refuge for guilty
sinners. Because of His obedience, because
of His righteousness, because of His blood, because He is a
rightful, just, holy refuge. It's only a right and holy thing
for Him to protect us. He receives us on grounds of
holiness and holds us on grounds of holiness. The word Shechem
means shoulder. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
mighty, broad-shouldered refuge. He goes and finds his little
lambs, his lost sheep, and picks them up and lays them on his
shoulders. And that's where he carries them
all the way home. Hebron means fellowship. The Lord Jesus Christ, our refuge,
as we flee unto him, into the name of the Lord, our high tower,
and find safety. There, God Almighty makes himself
known to us, and we have fellowship and communion with the Father
and with his Son. Beezer means a fortified place. Christ, how often in the scriptures
he's called our shield, our defense, and our fortress. He is our fortified
refuge, our almighty God. Rameth means exalted. I like
this. Christ is our exalted refuge. Exalted refuge. That means he
is a refuge beyond the reach of assault from anybody. No enemy can shoot a dart that
will reach that refuge. No enemy can shoot a cannon that
will reach that refuge. No foe can harm that refuge. Admirable heart, in that refuge
you are beyond the reach of any assault. I don't mean that you'll
cease to have assaulters. I mean they cannot reach you
beyond the reach of heart. Golan means revealed, manifested. Flee to Christ and learn of God. Take refuge in Him. And he will
make known his secrets to you. Take refuge in him, and you will
learn who God is and what he's doing, but nowhere else. Now
what's this next part of the text? The eternal God is thy
refuge, back in Deuteronomy 33. And underneath are the everlasting
arms. We are weak, helpless, often
fearful, trembling sheep. Sheep, yes. Believers, yes. But often full of fear. David
said, what time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. Faith and fear can't go together.
Ask David about that. Ask your own soul about that.
Ask any believer about that. What time I'm afraid, I'll trust
in me. Let me see if I can illustrate
it for you. When Faith was a little girl, we used to go walk in the
woods. She was about Will's age, a little older. And he's kind
of that way now. I remember distinctly one day,
I was walking with Faith out in the woods, and thick laurels,
thick brush. And I've only been turkey hunting
one time. Couldn't find the turkey with
a scope. There's no possibility. But this particular day, we walked
up on one. Now if you've never experienced
it, let me tell you what fear is. It's walking up on a turkey
and it take off. I mean, it makes noises. You'd think the heavens were
falling in. Faith jumped in my arms. And I grabbed her and hugged
her, and she was just as safe as she could be. And she snuggled
down tight and held on tight, and she was trusting me to take
care of her. But as I held her against my chest, I could feel
her heart pounding on mine. Of course, she's still afraid. She's still afraid. Children of God. flee to Christ
the refuge and snuggle up in the everlasting arms. And he
will feel the beat of your heart as you tremble before him. He who cried unto God while he
walked on this earth, now listen, this is what the book says about
him. and was heard in that he feared. Is that what the book
says? He was heard in that he feared. Oh, blessed embrace. Underneath are the everlasting
arms. Sweet to lie passive in his hands,
And no, no will but His. This is our safety. Hold thou
me up and I shall be safe. As Paul said to Agrippa and Festus,
this we must confess. Having therefore obtained help
of God, I continue to this day. Our safety. is all in Christ. Our protection is all in Christ. Our protection is His everlasting
arms and His everlasting arms beneath us. Now, just in proportion,
just in proportion as we growingly realize our own utter helplessness,
so do we growingly realize our strength in him. Thy right
hand hath holden me up. Thou hast given to me the shield
of thy salvation, and thy right hand hath held me up. Now let me tell you what that means. It's good to know that I'm in
the father's hands and no man can pluck me out of his hands.
But our God is so gracious and so accommodating to our feeble
needs that he gives us even greater
words of confidence and assurance. He says underneath are the everlasting
arms. That's better than around. If
the everlasting arms are underneath me. That means I can never sink
so low. But those arms don't yet hold
me. Underneath are the everlasting arms. Did you hear those words?
Why then do we hang our heads? Why our distressing doubts look
back to the everlasting covenant, everlasting love, everlasting
mercy, everlasting grace. God in his everlasting purpose
of love has brought these things to pass exactly as he would. Look up to the eternal God. There he sits on the throne of
grace. There is that man who is our refuge, Christ Jesus,
our great High Priest, who ever spreads his hand and pleads our
cause with God above. There the Blessed Spirit finds
orders of mercy to come and comfort us. Look underneath. There the
everlasting arms are to support us. The everlasting arms of the
Omnipotent God. This is our safety. lean hard
on the everlasting arms. Now, look at the last sentence
of our text back in Deuteronomy 33. I can barely take time to
mention it, but I can't fail to mention it. and shall say, destroy them. Our blessed Savior was tired
and tempted like as we are so that he is touched with the feeling
of our infirmities and he is able to succor them that are
tempted. The Lord Jesus is able to succor. Most modern translations translate
that word help. Help doesn't do it. Sucker is
a better word. Sucker is what a mama does for
her poor child. Sucker is what a father does
for his needy family. It is to help with compassion,
to help with empathy, to help as one who feels what you feel. Now, in that he himself has suffered
being tempted, he's able to succor them that are tempted. Did you
notice when we read that last sentence of verse 27 in Deuteronomy
33, the word them is italicized. And as I've told you many times,
that means it was added by our translators. The verse actually
ends with the word destroyed. And again, well, that looks awkward.
They don't say destroy them, no, no. Turn back to Psalm 59. Let me show you a passage of
scripture I ran across when I was preparing this message. I had
never noticed it before. Psalm 59, verse 10. The God of my mercy shall prevent
me. The word prevent means go before.
The God of my mercy shall precede me, shall go before me, shall
walk before me. In other words, I don't walk
in any path where he doesn't walk. He goes before me. God shall let me see my desire
upon my enemies. What is that? What is that? Look at this strange word. Look
at it. Slay them not. What? Slay them not. You remember God
gave specific orders when the children of Israel possessed
the land of Canaan, some of those inhabitants were not to be slain.
He says slay them not. How come? Because if you kill
them, if you get rid of all their enemies, my people will forget. Slay them not, lest my people
forget. Scatter them by thy power, and
bring them down, O Lord our shield. One of the reasons God doesn't
destroy our enemies in utter annihilation, when first he gives
us faith in Christ. One of the reasons he leaves
us to live in this body of corrupt flesh. One of the reasons he leaves
us to face so many hardships is because if he allowed us to
live here without trouble, we would soon forget him. We would
soon forget our need of him. We would soon forget what he's
done for us. So he says live with him. But
the day is coming when the eternal God, who is our refuge, shall
thrust out our enemies from before us. That is, our very eyes will
behold him, thrust him out. But he will not annihilate them.
Oh, no. Oh, no. Hell is not annihilation.
Hell is eternal punishment from the presence of God. And we will
forever remember what God has done for us by His almighty grace. And we will cry, O death, where
is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
Because the eternal God is our refuge. Revelation 19, we read
of the destruction of Babylon. And we hear the great choirs
of heaven singing, Alleluia! Alleluia! Salvation to our God! As the smoke of her torments
arises up to increase the praise of delivered saints in God's
glory. The eternal God is thy refuge. And therefore the God of peace,
you can be sure, shall brew Satan under your feet shortly. Now
look one more time at Deuteronomy 33. Verse 28. Israel then shall dwell
in safety alone, with no more foes and no more troubles. The
fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine, no more
want, no more need. Also his heavens shall drop down
with dew. Happy art thou, O Israel, who
is likened to thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield
of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency, and thine
enemies Everything, everything that caused
you ever to question God, to doubt His goodness, everything
that caused you to tremble shall be found liars unto thee. And thou shalt tread upon their
high places. Amen.