of Psalms chapter 46. It's a very short psalm and I'd like
to read it in its entirety. Psalm 46. God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear,
though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried
into the midst of the sea. Though the waters thereof roar
and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof,
Selah calls, and think of that, 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 is in the midst of her. She
shall not be moved. God shall help her, and that
right early. The heathen raged. The kingdoms
were moved. He uttered his voice, and the
earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us.
The God of Jacob is our refuge, Selah. Come, behold the works
of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He
maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth. He breaketh
the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder. He burneth the chariot
in the fire. Be still, and know that I am
God. I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us.
The God of Jacob is our refuge, Selah. When I was a kid at home, many
years ago, in southern Indiana, we lived in the country down
in the hills. And my brothers and some of my
oldest sisters We would go on Saturday evening many times to our cousin's place, and we
would walk. It was about two and a half miles,
two and a half, three miles. And when we would get ready to
leave in the evening, we knew and our folks knew that we wouldn't
be back until well after dark, until up probably 10, 30, 11
o'clock at night. And so they would impress upon
us the need of taking a lantern. We must take a lantern because
we were coming back through the woods, two miles through the
woods. And with all of the wild grapevines
and all of the trees down and the various things that you could
run into, you needed a lantern. You must have a light. And they
would impress that upon us. You've got to take the light.
You must have the lantern. And so we would take the lantern
and, of course, light it before we left. Generally speaking,
we'd fool around and play till dark, and then we'd build a big
fire up in the edge of the woods and sit around, and the older
ones would tell ghost stories until the younger of us was very
fearful of trying to get home in the dark through the woods.
But anyway, those days, of course, have come and gone, are long
gone. But there's a story there, and of course they're my cousins,
Eugene, he's gone on to be with the Lord. Robert, gone on to
be with the Lord. He just passed away a couple
of weeks ago. He was a Church of Christ preacher and came down
with cancer a couple, three years ago and passed away. So they're
gone now. But the impression that made
on me, and it stayed with me through the years, is that Generally
speaking, when somebody who's looking out for you presses something
upon you and say, you're going to have to have this, you got
to have that light. My dad, my mother pressed that
upon us. You got to have it. And as I
come to this chapter this morning and to the message, I believe
with all of my heart, God has pressed this upon me. These people,
somebody here needs this. Somebody's got to have it. Somebody
going to the woods next week. Somebody may be in the woods
now. Somebody needs the light of this
message here this morning. Somebody's got to happen. And
I'm impressed with that, with all my heart, that this is the
Lord's message. And I hope this morning that
we'll be able to speak in a way that would be honoring to our
God, glorify Him, and that would edify your hearts, and that the
Lord would use it to meet whatever need in your life that there
is now. Nobody knows anything about tomorrow.
The Bible says, Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest
not what a day might bring forth. And we know that our life is
even as a vapor that appears for a little time and then it
just vanisheth away. We don't know how long we're
going to be here. We don't know what we're going to encounter
between here and the time that we leave this world. But we do
know that these are troublous times. Many, many situations
that are very troubling to the souls of men in our day. And
only God knows how much more troubling they will become in
this coming year and in the few days that we have left before
us. So may the Lord be pleased to
give us some light and some blessing and some help this morning. Now
this psalm here is a song For all who are truly the chosen
of God, those that are called to be his own people, and oh,
how we would like to have the fearless courage that's spoken
of in this psalm and I believe we ought to have it. Now the
doctrine of this psalm is that whatever may be or whatever might
come that the Lord's people are secure. This is a song of holy
confidence in the Lord our God. The Bible says in Philippians
4 and verse 7 that the peace of God which passeth all understanding
will keep the heart and minds of all who rest in God, all who
trust God, the Lord will keep their heart. the Lord will keep
their minds. Now, if indeed the Lord be our
refuge and our strength, we're entitled, I believe, to seek
after a spirit which will bear us up above the dreads of common
men, whatever they are. We are entitled, as the children
of God, as those who have sought refuge in the Lord Jesus Christ,
as those who are in Christ, having been put there by a sovereign
act of the Holy Spirit of God, Those of us that are in Christ,
we're entitled, I say, to seek after a spirit, a holy confidence
which will bear us up above the dreads of common men. Now it
is not every man that can sing this psalm. I believe that you
must be a believer. I believe that you must be one
who is in Christ, who is trusting the Lord. God is our refuge and
strength, a very present help in trouble. Are you in Christ?
Do you know the Lord? Do you know the God of the Bible?
Has God revealed Himself to you? Has He made Himself known unto
you? The wonderful thing about this
God is that He can reveal Himself just like that. He can make Himself
known. And once God has made Himself
known to your soul, He's your God. And you can trust Him. You can rely upon Him. You can
depend upon Him. And you will know. Nobody can
ever take that away from you. Once your eyes have been opened,
and the Lord has revealed Himself, and you know Him, then, beloved,
you can trust Him. And this psalm takes on rich,
rich meaning to your soul. You must have God to be your
God. And you must be a prayerful soul,
or you cannot sing the song of peace amid the commotion and
the calamities of this world. You must have God to be your
own God. Now while this is a psalm for
all Israel, I think this is especially, it was especially a song for
the sons of Korah. Now you remember about Korah,
Dathom, and Abiram in Numbers chapter 26. The story unfolds
there and how that they in presumption, Korah, Dathom, and Abiram, how
they perish because they presumed upon ground and they tread ground
that they ought not, they said things they ought not to have
said, and they inserted themselves in a place where they should
not, and the earth opened up and swallowed 250 of them. The
earth just opened up like a big sinkhole. I don't know whether
you ever saw a sinkhole or not, but I've swung out over them
on these grapevines I was mentioning a while ago in southern Indiana.
Big old holes that opened up in the earth. Well, this hole
opened up And fire was in that hole, and these sons of Korah,
Dathom and Abiram, not the sons of Korah, but the descendants
of, or the immediate families, excluding the sons of Korah. Let me get that straight. They
were swallowed up in this hole, and they were burnt up in the
fire. And all that appertained to them, the Scripture says,
were swallowed up. And in verse 11 of Numbers chapter
26, we are astonished when we read, notwithstanding the children
of Korah died not. They did not die at this time. And so, beloved, we see that
this psalm was written for them to sing. that God is our refuge
and strength, the very present help in trouble. Therefore will
we not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains
be carried into the midst of the sea. And so you see that
they could sing this with great fervency, having experienced
a tremendous deliverance by God. And it's only, and I attribute
their escape, and I'm sure they did, to the sovereign grace of
God who certainly spared them. Now, these were a division of
the Levites, and they were made singers in the courts of the
Lord, and surely they would sing with emphasis these words in
this psalm. And I'm sure that oftentimes,
if you were to gather there in the court of the Lord, that you
would hear them singing this particular song. And because
they had saw the earth open up her mouth, swallowed up the offenders
of their household while they themselves were preserved by
sovereign grace. Surely there must have been tears
in their eyes when they sung these words and thought of the
earth opening up at their feet. Now the circumstances, I believe,
under which a man is saved will influence the rest of his life.
I believe it will. I believe that their song was
one that was sung in zeal and earnestness, and I believe their
praise was wholehearted unto the Lord the rest of their days,
because of the mighty deliverance delivered from so great a death. Now, believers learn to trust
that the Lord will yet deliver them. You know, we've been delivered.
The Bible speaks of it in 2 Corinthians 1 and verse 10, how that we've
been delivered from so great a death, and how that he doth
deliver us in whom we trust that we shall yet be delivered by
the hand of God. And so the people of God are
in a process of being delivered. And all of the deliverances that
we experience in our life, they are meaningful, and they give
us a word of praise that the ordinary person doesn't have
in their vocabulary. It gives us some impetus in our
setting forth what God has done, and it makes us to cry out With
the psalmist the Lord hath done great things for us, whereof
we are glad. And the Lord has delivered our
souls. Now, our lives, as I've often
remarked, has been one deliverance after another. One deliverance
after another. Salvation today, salvation tomorrow,
salvation forever for the Lord's people. And in Psalm 34 and 19
it says, Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord
delivers them out of them all. The Lord delivers them out of
them all. So the sons of Korah had been
delivered and they were able to sing this psalm. Well, first
of all today, I want to look at the confidence of the saints
of God as it is expressed in this psalm of holy confidence.
Second, I want to talk a little bit about the courage which grows
out of their confidence. And then thirdly, we will close
by looking at some of the conflicts in life in which that courage
will be sure to be exposed where it will come to the surface.
First of all then, let us consider the confidence of the saints.
Now God's people have a sure confidence. God is our refuge
and our strength. He's a very present help in trouble.
True believers rest upon the rock of ages. Our Lord Jesus
Christ, our God. In Isaiah 36 and 4, you remember
Brother Randy read chapter 37 to us today. I wish he would
have had time to read both chapters because there's some tremendous
things in these two chapters. But in Isaiah 36, 4, the question
was asked, of the people of Israel, what confidence is this wherein
thou trustest?" What confidence is this? Now this was asked by
the Assyrians who had come against Jerusalem and they were going
to destroy it. They thought they could walk
all over Jerusalem just like they had walked over the other
various nations that they had, by God's help if you please,
had been able to overcome. But in this 37th chapter, as
Brother Randy read it, we see how that God, for His own sake,
for His own namesake, said there's not going to be an arrow shot
into Jerusalem by this man. Now He was confident that He
could walk all over Jerusalem, but God was their God, and He
had challenged the Lord And so God took him on, and we see how
that God did away with him. I'll tell you what competence
is this wherein thou trustest. He tried to get them not to trust
in God, telling them, don't listen to Hezekiah. He's going to tell
you to listen. He's going to tell you to trust
in the Lord, and don't do that. Now the confidence of God's people
is altogether beyond themselves. They do not now nor did they
ever trust in their own virtue, in their own valor, or in their
own wisdom. God's people trust in the arm
of the Lord. In Jeremiah, I want to read a
verse here out of chapter 17. I want to read two or three verses
beginning with verse 5. It says, Thus saith the Lord,
Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his
arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be
like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh,
but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in
a salt land not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a
tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots
by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh. But her leaves
shall be green, shall not be careful in the year of drought,
neither shall cease from yielding fruit. Blessed is the man that
trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. Now then, though
the earth be removed, the child of God, that one who is not trusting
in their own virtue, valor, or wisdom, that one who is not trusting
in their own strength, though the earth be removed, he is undismayed. And this does not arise from
his own personal self, sufficiency, but from God, who is his refuge
and his strength. Now the child of God is fearless
not because of his original stoutness of heart and natural firmness
of will, but because he has a God to shelter and to uphold him. The Lord of hosts is with us. The Lord of hosts is with us. Now if he does not fear calamity,
it is because he fears God and fears God alone. God is our all
in all. And if a man fears God, he doesn't
have to fear man. If he fears God, he needs not
fear what man can do unto him. Now, this psalm begins with God,
and with God it ends. It says, God is our refuge and
strength, and then the very last phrase is the God of Jacob is
our refuge. Now, we may be timid by nature,
but God is our refuge if we're true believers. We're weak by
nature, but God is the strength of His people. Beloved, we never
know what strength is, do we? till our own weakness drives
us to trust the living God, to trust in the arm of omnipotence
until we're driven to it. Now no man's going to do it until
he's driven to it. Everybody that's got a crutch
will lean on it first. Whatever it's made out of, he'll
lean on it. But thanks be to God, there are
times when God, because of his great love for us, and because
he would make himself known to us, and because he would have
us to know his attributes, he will drive us to that place of
weakness to where we will come to trust in his arm of power,
his arm of strength. And we never know how safe our
refuge is till all other refuge fail us. Now, you may have a
refuge this morning. I don't know what it is. I won't
waste any time trying to figure out what yours is. I know that
every one of us, every once in a while, we wake up to the realization
that we're trusting in some things we ought not be trusting in,
and we will never know how safe the refuge that the Lord's people
have, until all other refuge fail us. And all other refuges
are indeed lies, beloved, they're lies. Only God is a true refuge. Now when the earth is removed
and the waters of the sea roar and are troubled, being as it
were driven both from land and sea, we will hide ourselves in
God. We will flee to the Lord. We
will look up unto God when we get in that kind of a situation,
that kind of a condition. And you ought to read every once
in a while Psalm 107. You just ought to read it. Now,
it's a long psalm and I don't want you doing it right now,
but if you sometimes would just read that psalm, I think it'd
be a blessing to you. If we look to ourselves for courage,
we're going to fail in the hour of trial. Did you get that? If
you look to yourself, listen for courage, you're going to
fail in the hour of trial because we are broken reeds. That's what
we are. Now the man who trusteth in his
own heart is a fool, Proverbs 28 and 26, but whosoever walketh
wisely shall be delivered. shall be delivered, and the only
man who walks wisely in this world, I don't care how educated
he is, the only man who walks wisely is the man who walks by
faith in the living God. Doesn't make any difference what
you know, only God can deliver, and they will be delivered who
trust not in their own heart, but who walks in the steps that's
ordered by the Lord. Next, this confidence is gained,
I think, by an appropriating faith. First of all, we said
it's a sure confidence we have because it's in the Lord. Secondly,
this confidence is gained by faith, by an appropriating Faith. Don't forget this personal, possessive
word, our. O-U-R here. This is so very,
very important. You know, I often say this, I
talk about this a great deal, about us having our own personal
God. The beloved, that's the only
way that we'll ever be able to survive in difficult and trying
times is to have our own personal God. You say, my mother is a
believer preacher and my mother is a praying woman. Well, bless
the Lord. Bless the Lord. We'll all give
thanks for that together, but that ain't going to do you much
good. It's not going to do you any good, but I'm saying it's
not going to do you much good. You're going to have to have
your own God. You say, my grandpa lives down the street. He's a
believer. He's a believer. Well, that's
wonderful. That's good. But what about you? What about
you? Do you have your own personal
God. We every one must have the God
of the Bible. He must be appropriated by faith. He must be our God. Now God is
our refuge and strength. This God is our God. You will
never enjoy the goodness and the greatness of God if you look
at His goodness and greatness In an abstract manner, you must
grasp them as your very own. Jeremiah said, The Lord is my
portion, saith my soul. Therefore will I hope in him. Now that deep peace and settled
confidence, which is our right and privilege as a child of the
King, will not be ours unless by faith we take the Lord to
be ours in all the fullness of his love and grace. Let each
of us say, congregation, let each of us say out loud at this
time, God is our refuge and strength. Or do you hesitate to say that?
Can you say it? Say it! God is our refuge and
our strength. Well, now if you really meant
that from your heart, you said God is our He's my refuge and
my strength. Now note, if you will, that this
confidence will be strengthened and sustained. Now we said, first
of all, it's a sure confidence because it's in God. Secondly,
it's a confidence that is appropriated by faith. And thirdly, it's a
confidence which will be sustained in us by a clear knowledge of
our God. A clear knowledge of our God.
The Bible says, acquaint thyself with God and be at peace, thereby
good shall come unto thee. Now poor soul, let me say that
you'd be much happier if you knew the Lord better. You'd be
much happier if you knew the Lord better. Now the philosophers
tell us that a proper study of mankind is man. Now that is a deplorably barren
subject if you ask me. We say the proper study of mankind
is the living God. Yet He is only known, as we said
earlier, by revelation, but He is not hiding from His own people. And we ought to know more today
about God than we did last week. We ought to know more about God
today than we did last year. We must growingly know the Lord
and we'll be sustained our strength and our confidence will be sustained
by our knowing of the Lord. Now every child of God ought
to be able to speak of Him in a threefold description as our
refuge, as our strength, and as a very present help in the
time of trouble. Now in your experience, and you
could probably go back through it quickly, Could you say, I
can speak of the Lord in that way? God has been a refuge to
me. God has been my strength. Been many, many times when I
wouldn't have made it if God hadn't undergirded me. If God
hadn't come to my soul and given me some unusual strength, I wouldn't
have made it. And then he's been a very present
help in time of trouble. You ever been between a rock
and a hard place? Have you? I mean, have you ever
been to a place where that if God doesn't do something, if
there wasn't an intervention of God in your life, I mean,
somebody said, you believe in that stuff? You still believe
that God intervenes on the behalf of these people? I surely do. I told you that a believer ought
to be able to bear witness threefold way of what the Lord is to him. And I tell you, God has been
a very present help to me, a help in the time of trouble. And so
I know that they that know thy name will put their trust in
him, they that know the Lord. The more we know the Lord, the
more we see the fullness of the blessing that is in him. Listen,
your peace will be far fuller and deeper if you know the deep
things of God and the secret things which God reveals to his
own by his Spirit. You will not be afraid of evil
tidings since your heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. Now if
you're timid and fearful, If you're a timid and fearful believer,
then seek to grow in the knowledge of God. Then you'll be able to
say, therefore, will we not fear, though the earth be removed?
Now, brother, sister, half of our fears, and I say this in
kindness, half of our fears is due to our ignorance. due to
our ignorance of the Word of God. Due to our ignorance of
what God has said to us in the Word. Ignorant of His promises. Ignorant. And we've lived in
this world, and I tell you, that's one of the things that often
haunts me, the older I get, is that I know that there are many
things yet that could be revealed through a study of this book.
if we would just give ourselves to it. Inexhaustible treasure,
isn't it? An inexhaustible treasure. And
God will keep unfolding and revealing. As long as we live in this world,
as we come to this book in faith, God will keep revealing himself
to us. And so I say that our fears due
many, many times to our ignorance. And I exhort all believers present
to dwell much in the presence of God and ask to be instructed
in the nature, the character, and the attributes of God, the
purpose, the promise, and the providence of the covenant God
of Israel, to be instructed in Him. Solid peace and confidence,
which no calamity can destroy, must, number one, come from God.
It must come from God, from God appropriated and from God growingly
knowing. I hope you got those three things
in our first point. Number two, the courage, I want
to talk a little bit about that which grows out of God knowing,
God appropriated, and God growingly No one. Now the courage which
grows out of this, first of all, this courage I believe is full
and is complete. Now to me that's a blessing to
know. Because as we said, none of us knows exactly how deep
the bucket is, how deep the pit is. None of us knows exactly
how fierce the enemy is. None of us knows exactly how
prolonged our next trial is going to be. and how terrible, terrible
to the flesh and to the mind of the flesh things coming on
this world will be to us. So this courage that the child
of God has, according to this psalm, is full and complete. Therefore we will not fear, says
the psalmist, though the earth be removed. Think of that. Though
the earth be removed. Now the presence of God It does
so, stay the soul and quiet the heart, that the fear that hath
torment is driven away from the Lord's people. Now the base nature
of a man is fearful. The base nature of a man is fearful,
it cannot be otherwise. But through the grace of God,
the heaven-born spirit that's in a man triumphs over nature
and its fear. It triumphs. Never, never, never
succumb and say it's God's will for me to quake and to be shaken
and to be fearful. That is not so if you're a child
of God. You must pray on, friend. You must pray on, brother, sister.
You must seek the Lord until the heaven-born spirit triumphs
over the nature, your own nature and its fears. We're perplexed,
Paul said, but not in despair. We are perplexed. and but we're
not we're not sparing now it's wrong for a child of god to despair
it's wrong and i'll show you why that is this world we know
was full of danger how much we don't know we don't know we know
about the north koreans we know about we know about the iraqis
we know about the islamic world we know a great deal about some
of these and i there's one fellow i won't even try to pronounce
his name Isla Bodden or whatever his name is. We know about him
and about his pledges and about what he's going to try to do. We know about a lot of the things
but we don't know anyway exactly where the next threat will be.
We know that we're in no danger though really if the Lord is
near. If the Lord is near. He's a very
present help in time of trouble isn't he? He's very present to
help in times of trouble. The heart is placid, it's undisturbed,
it's peaceful if we know that we know Him. We know the Lord
is near. Now the peace the believer has
is no pretense of peace. It's no sham thing. It's not
something that they produce themselves, but it's a divine reality. Is
your peace a divine reality which the world can neither create
nor destroy? Well, the peace of a true believer
is indeed this. This courage is logical and it
is justifiable. No calamity will change God's
love to us. Whatever that calamity be, it
will not change God's love to us. You can read the last few
verses of Romans 8. and see that nothing shall separate
us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Earthquake, tempest, famine, pestilence, war, nothing. These
temporal calamities do not touch the vital matter. They do not
touch the vital matter. What is the vital matter? The
vital matter is your relationship with God. And nothing can destroy
that. If you'll be in Christ, your
sins under the blood, soul pardoned, and if you have eternal life
given to you as a gift from God, nothing can touch the vital matter. Such things have no bearing on
the love of God except maybe to make it more clear to us.
when they happen, God will reveal more clearly his love. I was
reading the other day about old Samuel Ruthford and how he used
to talk a lot about the love of Christ. And he said that he
would, he described himself one time as floating on the love
of Christ over the hard places of the world and over the hills
and the valleys, just floating along on the love of Christ.
And then he'd go a little bit deeper and finally said, no,
I'm buried under the love of God, just buried under, so sheltered
by it and protected by it, the love of Christ. And so these
things, my beloved, will only make the love of God more clear.
Famine, pestilence, war, tempest, earthquake, whatever they are,
will only make God's love to us clearer. Suppose that the
most awful things were to occur, would they not occur according
to God's decree? Would they not? Do not we believe
in a God who worketh all things after the counsel of his own
will? Ephesians 1 and verse 11. Is that not what we say we believe?
That this is a God who works all things after the counsel
of his own will. Do you really believe that anything
is left to chance? Do you really believe it is?
That there's some things left to chance. Now, a chance or possible
event, liable but not certain to happen, do you think that
the world is run that way? Do you think there's contingencies? Well, brother, sister, there
are no contingencies. God is in control. God is running
this world. This God, that is our God. And
we must come back to that over and over. God guides all according
to his infallible wisdom. Do you believe God's infallible?
Do you believe he cannot make a mistake? Do you believe he's
too wise to err? Do you believe he's too holy
not to do right? Do you believe that? then you
must trust God. Nothing can happen but what God
ordains. Why should we fear? Why should
we fear? Now, nothing happens without
the divine power being in it. The Lord says, behold, I've created
the smith that blows upon the coals in the fire. I've created
the waster to destroy. And was not the Syrian army waster
to destroy? If you read that 36th chapter
or the 37th that the brother read to us, It becomes evident
that all of their success militarily was the hand of God. Is that
not true? Absolutely. And the most violent and vicious
and wicked men could never, they could not move a finger if strength
were not lent to them by the Lord. Face it. Worship God. Worship God. These things are
in God's hands. And you must continue to work.
Somebody said, well, if all this happened, that happened in some
of these places over in Yugoslavia and other places, and in Africa,
if they have, well, the other day I've seen just pitiful sights.
Here's people in Africa that bands of unruly men had come
through and just cut their hands off. And there they sat with
stubs, just people lined up with their limbs, with their hands
and their feet, having been hacked off with machetes. And you say,
oh, dreadful thing, dreadful thing. My friend, if you were
to see that, could you worship God? Could you worship God? Let's
say that such things as this should happen. Well, What would
we do? Would we give up worshiping?
Would we cease to worship God? My friend, the God of the Bible
does terrible things in righteousness. The God of the Bible, He's a
God of war, and He's a God that kills and makes alive. That's
what the scripture says. Now then, well, He shakes the
earth. He speaks, and the earth melts. Is it not God who looketh on
it and it trembles? The earth trembles when God looks
upon it. Our Heavenly Father worketh all
things. Why should His children give up worshipping? Just because
God's working out His will. Now I'm going to tell you something.
You'll find out one of these days whether you mount anything
or not as a Christian. You'll find out one of these
days. Now you can't tell it now. Can't
tell it now. You're running around here and
you're just proud as a peacock and you just got it all figured
out and you're just a big Christian. Oh, you're so much of a Christian.
You'll find out one of these days whether you're a worshiper
of God or not. You'll find out. You really will. Because you
see, one of these days the sun might not shine. one of these
days things may not be as they are today in your life one of
these days almost certainly change they're almost certainly change
you young people if there ever was a group of young people that
need to find out right now whether their feet's on the rock or not
it's this group of young people right here whether your feet's
on the rock whether you know what this is all about whether
you're trusting God or not whether you worship God or whether you're
just going through the motions Because mom and daddy are doing
it, so you're doing it. Well, one of these days, you're
going to see certain things that if you don't really have it in
your heart, and if it's not real with you, then you'll give it
up. You'll give it up and run in
fear like the people of this world will. So the Lord overrules
all to the good of his people, even what is called evil is turned
to good account by the hand of the Lord. The Lord will work. The Lord will bring to pass that
which is right. God will bring it to pass. Now you may perish while God
is doing it and before God does it, but He is going to do it. The Lord's goodness extracts
the viper's tooth and supplies an antidote to the poison. God reigns in this world, brother,
sister, and don't you forget it. Who is he that can harm you
if you be followers of that which is good? Now, no weapon that
is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that
shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. Moreover,
nothing can shake the kingdom of God. Our best possessions
lie in that kingdom, and as long as that is secure, all is safe.
The gates of hell shall not prevail against that kingdom, and our
most vital interests are safe, because they're beyond the shadow
of harm, because we're in Christ, and our souls are anchored in
Him. Why should we fear, even if the worst thing should happen?
Death itself should come to us. Now, for the believer, death
means to be separated from this body, and to be forever with
the Lord. and then glory, but we must go
through death to get to glory, is that right? We must, okay,
unless the Lord comes, unless the Lord comes. Through the one,
bless God, we get to the other, and we will get to the other. Also, this fearlessness, I think,
is very profitable to those around us. Somebody said faith is catching,
And I do know that fear is catchy. I do know that it is. And so
this confidence is very profitable. No foolishness, brother, sister.
It's time to trust God. Time to rest in the Lord. No
foolishness. No running around here talking
about Y2K like other people do as far as just being literally
taken up with it and sure the Russians are not going to have
their problems figured out and sure the nations of the earth
are going to be way behind the United States. Sure, but let's
not be foolish. Let's trust God. Let's depend
upon Him. No folly, no panic. No need to
panic. Trust the Lord. Trust the Lord. Now one thing more, this courage
brings, I believe, great glory to God. If you can rise above
fear in the time of alarm, the world will be compelled to say,
this is a man of God and this is God's work upon their soul. This is the people of God. God
has done a work upon their soul. Be still, verse 10 of this psalm
says, be still, and know that I'm God. Be still, be still,
be still. Now this religious world has
been pictured ably I think by one who pictured it like a person
in an automobile driving into a filling station and they drive
around and around and around the pump, the gas pump saying
all the time to the attendant, fill it up, fill it up, fill
it up, fill it up! And they never stop. They just
go around and around, and the attendant finally gets to hold
the car enough to get the cap off of it, and takes the hose,
and as it goes around and around, shoots a little gas toward it,
and gets very little in it. But that's the way this religious
world is. They will not be still. And you never know the God of
the Bible till you be still. Till you be still. You gotta
get quiet. And this world is so important.
They don't have time to get still and know that God is God. They
don't have time to do that. But I want to tell you what,
God will slow you up one of these days. I mean he'll throw a chalk
under your wheel and he'll stop you right in your path if he
means that you ever know, that you are to ever know that he's
God. He'll stop you. He'll stop you
on your way to hell. He'll arrest you and turn you
around. He will stop you and you will
be still if you ever know that he's God. You will be still.
It's not optional. It's going to happen. Now, that
brings me to the third and last thing, which we must hurry here.
I just want to say a word or two about the conflicts to which
this courage will be exposed. To which it will be exposed.
If you become fearless, that courage of yours, that courage
which is God's, which he puts in you, this courage will be
tried. It will be tried in ways that
are novel and unusual. get it here though the earth
be removed you ever see the earth removed? well we've seen it removed
in buckets on the front end of a front end loader or something
like that but I never saw the earth removed in the sense that
the writer here is talking about and also think of it a terrible
novelty it is the old earth has stood for ages how old is your
situation? how old is it? you say well my
situation I've been in trouble for a long time preacher never
did think the Lord would ever deliver me well Your situation,
the Lord can move anything. He can. He can move anything.
And He's able. The whole foundation, you say,
it slipped from under me. What will I do? What am I going
to do? Remember, new trials will bring
new grace. I read it this morning, I had
to, out of James. He giveth more grace. He giveth
more grace. New trials will bring fresh grace
and prove the value of the old promises. Then these are trials
that are mysterious and threatening also. Gonna try that courage
you got. This fresh courage You got on
Sunday morning, February the 7th, you listened to a preacher
in New Covenant Baptist Church, and you went out, had fresh courage. Fresh courage. It'll be tried.
It'll be tried, sister, brother. It'll be tried. I mean the winds
are gonna blow. The ill winds gonna blow. There'll
be things happen this week. What would you think if you were
to see the mountains moving and carried and they were on their
way to the Pacific Ocean. What would you think if the whole
western part, California, Oregon, and Washington fell off into
the ocean, and you see the Rocky Mountain Front moving toward
the ocean? What would you think? What would
you think? You say, that's a preacher. I mean, that would be a trial.
That would be a trial. Well, it's taken into consideration,
isn't it, right here? It's taken into consideration.
Though the earth be removed and though the mounds be carried
into the midst of the sea. Think of it. I'm telling you,
trials many times mysterious and very, very threatening. Now these mountains have stood
the test of time, but beloved, some afflictions are like this
and you cannot understand. You just could never believe
that it could have happened to you. that these things could
happen. You'd never believe. Daddy is
here this week. Next week, family meets, the
father is gone. Never would have believed it
could have ever happened. But it's happened. And mother is suddenly removed
and taken away. Well, we never would have believed
such a thing would have happened. But it has. And then The son
is taken away, or the daughter is suddenly removed and taken
away. My, my, how many things can happen that are very mysterious?
And many afflictions are like this. Cannot be understood. Do you have the courage? Will
you trust God? Will you be able to go on? Remember,
if all the devils in hell had a hand in your troubles, you
need not fear. You need not fear. God is greater
than all the demons of hell. Now, could I get an amen for
that? God is greater than all the demons of hell. I gotta believe
that. I gotta believe that. Now some trials are utterly ungovernable. You can't govern them. Though
the waters thereof roar and be troubled. You cannot do anything
with the sea when it rages, can you? Think of the noise the raging
of the waters make. There's no need to fear noise,
friends. You remember, if you read Isaiah
36 and 37, you'd find that the people were instructed by Hezekiah
to just keep still. don't say nothing when that Rabbi
Shaka or whatever his name was when he was doing all the talking
just keep still say anything say there's an awful lot of noise
preacher I've been listening to this fella and CNN and this
this and that and other than an awful lot of noise well there
is a lot of noise in this world a lot of noise but you don't
need to fear all that roaring of the water The Lord sitteth
upon the flood, yea, the Lord sitteth king forever. Don't give
way to panic, God is God. What is your present trouble?
Whatever they be, you must not let yourself be buried in despair.
Hope on, hope ever. He can deliver from the jaws
of the lion, and he will deliver you without fail. The Lord liveth,
and blessed be my rock. As long as the Lord lives, our
hope lives also. The believer will not be forsaken.
It pleased the Lord to make you his people. If heart and flesh
both fail, God will be the strength of your heart and your portion
forever. The Lord Jesus has made an end
of dread, fear, horrors for his people. Whether we live or die,
it's okay. We'll dwell eternally in the
presence of the Lord. We're secure in Christ Jesus. Let the world crash around us. Let the stock market crash. We'll
not fear. May God help us to look out of
the windows of our refuge at all of the calamities around
us. Look out the windows. If you're
going to look at it, look out of the windows of your refuge. In other words, make sure that
your soul is anchored in the Lord and then look out if you
want to see what's going on around you. The poet said, a fortress
firm and steadfast rock is God in time of danger, a shield and
sword in every shock from foe well-known or stranger. Well, what will you sinners do?
Those who have no refuge and strength, no present help in
the time of trouble. What must the ungodly be in for? Take the poet's advice and we're
done. Ye sinners, seek his grace, whose wrath ye cannot bear. Fly
to the shelter of his cross and find salvation. Father, in the
name of Jesus, we thank Thee that we've been privileged to
open up this psalm, to think upon it, to study together today. And I do pray that the message
will be received. I pray that it will be strengthening
and encouraging to all of our hearts. Above all things, help
us to band together as brethren and sisters in Christ, members
of the Bride of Christ. band ourselves together as we're
bound in Christ to one another, to encourage and provoke one
another to love and to good works, to hold each other up, to pray
for each other, to encourage each other. And I do pray that
in the day when these people are greatly tried, these poor
sisters are tried, these poor brethren, Lord, are tried, greatly
pressed, I do pray that you'll draw near to them and give them
a remembrance of Psalm chapter 46. Give them remembrance of
February 7, 1999. Give them a remembrance of the
God, the God of power, the God of might that rules and the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth and we say amen, amen and amen, amen.