Don't make the mistake of looking
upon this psalm as just another psalm, another song. It's a special psalm. I call it the song of holy confidence,
holy confidence, because it declares from verse God is our refuge
and strength of our present health and trouble. To verse 11, the
Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. It declares from that first verse
to the last verse that whatever happens, whatever happens, the
Lord's people are happy, secure in him. For God is our refuge,
he is our strength, and he is our help in times of trouble.
One of the old hymn writers wrote this, a sure refuge, our God
is he. A timely shield and weapon, our
help is he. He'll set us free whatever ill
may happen. And were this world with troubles
filled, all eager to devour us, our souls to fear will never
yield. Our enemies cannot overpower
us, because God is our refuge, our strength, and our help. That's the first verse, God is
our refuge. Now, let others trust in whom
they will. let them trust in what they please. But Jehovah God is our refuge
from the avenger of blood, like the cities of refuge of old,
to which the manslayer fled, and he was saved. He's our refuge,
he's our hiding place. The Lord God is our strength
to exercise faith, our strength to walk in love, And I rest in
hope. Faith, hope, and love. Now abideth
these three. And he's our faith. He's our object of love. He's
our hope. And he's our help. It says, come
boldly before the throne of grace to find mercy and grace to help
in time of need. And he's our help, inwardly and
outwardly. soul and body, now and forever,
the Lord is my help and my strength and he's my refuge. Now, what's
this word in verse 1? God is our refuge and strength
of very present, a very present help. There's seven grand and
glorious names of Jehovah in the scripture. Jehovah Sidkenu,
the Lord our righteousness, Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will provide. But there's
one of those names that we forget so often, Jehovah-Shammah. It's found in Ezekiel, the last
chapter of the last verse. Turn to Ezekiel, the last chapter
of the last verse. This is one of the great and
grand and glorious names of our God, Ezekiel 48. Ezekiel 48,
the last verse. He's a very present help, very
present help. The scripture says, where shall
I flee from his presence? I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea. He's there. Wherever
I go, he's there. In verse 35 of Ezekiel 48, talking
about this city of God, the church, his bride, his people, his temple,
Verse 35, it was round about 18,000 measures. And the name
of that city from that day shall be, the Lord is there. The Lord is present. Look in
your margin. Jehovah Shammah. The Lord is
there. Very present help. God is our refuge. God is our
strength, God is a very present help in trouble. I'll never leave
you, I'll never forsake you. Therefore, look at verse 2, therefore,
the psalmist is fond of this word therefore. Therefore we
will not be fear when true believers in Christ Jesus rest in him as
their refuge, their strength, and their help at all times,
even in the worst of times, even in the most difficult of times.
Jehovah God is our covenant God. Jehovah God is our Redeemer,
Savior. Jehovah God is our strength and
our comfort. And he mentions here four terrible,
troublesome times. Now look at the next two verses.
And let me proceed with this. God's my refuge. God's my strength,
Jehovah God, Jehovah my savior, he's my help. Therefore I'm not
going to be afraid, though the earth be removed, number one. Though, number two, the mountains
be carried into the midst of the sea. Number three, though
the waters thereof roar and be troubled. Number four, though the mountains
shake with the swelling of those waters. What is he talking about? The earth be removed. Well, that
sounds like the end of the world when God destroys the old heavens
and old earth and the earth melts with a fervent heat and passes
away and the mountains pass away and there is no more sea. But
I wouldn't fear that. That would be a glad day. That
would be a wonderful day. That'll be a magnificent day
when Christ comes again and I'll make all things new! Let the
earth go away, I'll be glad. It's nothing but a blot on God's
universe. Let the mountains perish and
be swallowed up by the sea. But this is now. God is my refuge,
my strength, my present help. in time of trouble. This is my
troubles here. My troubles. Your troubles. These
are traumatic times. These are severe, heart-rending,
face-shaking troubles. Now some of you have been through
these. Some of you have been through these times. Some of
you are there now. Some of you haven't been through
them. Some of you will be through them. Some of you may be spared. But here's what they are. They're
the earth be removed. What is this right now? The earth
be removed. I'll tell you what this is. This
is earthly supports. This is earthly securities. This
is earthly foundations from which we draw some help and confidence. For example, a man came up to
me a few weeks ago in another city, 59 years old. My company is shutting down.
I'm out of work. My benefits are gone. My salary
is gone. Oh, they'll keep me up for a
little while, but I'm out in the cold. What am I going to
do? Earthly supports, earthly securities, earthly foundation
be removed. What am I going to do? Husband dies. Like that. Her support, her foundations,
her security is gone. Left three children. What am
I going to do? My husband, my age, a year older
man, wife dies. I'm alone. Main thing in my study,
Martha you remember this, a man from West Virginia, he sat down
just weeping like a baby. He said, Pastor, he said, my
wife and I have been watching you on television. And she died. He said, what am I going to do?
We've been together for 45 years. I never went to the bar and she
didn't go with me. Went along to the neighbors,
she didn't go with me. I never did anywhere without
her. She's my support, my strength. I don't know where she is. Where's
my wife? They checked. Do you remember that? He was
just destroyed. Foundation's gone. I'll tell
you, I bested a lady in a rest home last week in another city.
I've known her for 25 years. Worked in a bank, sharp, intelligent,
been a widow for all that time. Husband died when she was 54.
But she had a nice home, lived alone, children. grown children,
grandchildren. And all that's taken away. And
I went to see her in this rest home and there she stood, little
white haired lady, little white haired lady, she's just two years
older than I am. Surrounded by strangers, sleeping
on a single cot in a little room down at the end of the hall.
Nobody she knows anywhere around her. Earthly foundation stripped. her home gone, everything gone. Now listen, we will not fear
though the earth be removed, and I'm talking about earthly
support, strength and foundation. I've seen children, sat in my
home, two children sat in my home one time, they're parents
are getting a divorce, and they said, what are we going to do?
Don't they care about us? What about us, preacher? Their
security's gone. Like a little child, you take
your security blanket away from him, and he'll cry all night
because he's never slept without it. And that little fellow's
never slept in his room without knowing his daddy's next door.
In another room, his mother. Now they're gone. Tell me about
it. That's earthly foundation to
be removed. But we won't fear. God's my refuge. God's my strength, God's my help. And listen to this, though the
mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. What are these
mountains? They're landmarks. Rising high above the plains,
the mountains. The mountains are guides. You
ought to go to Iowa sometimes. It's flat as this floor. I couldn't
anymore drive up there, I'm lost up there, all the roads look
alike, cornfields and roads, nothing but cornfields and roads.
You could be heading in any direction, if the sun wasn't shining, I
don't even know where you was going. But we are mountains, and the
holy land has mountains. Mount Moriah was one of the main
mountains, landmarks, where you could, a little bit miles to
the hills. Keep your eyes on the mountains,
they'll guide you. God a wandering pilgrim. to the
place of rest. What are our mountains? What
are our landmarks? They're our spiritual guides, our preachers
and elders and teachers. They're our church. What would
you do without this place here? Where you're fed, where you're
taught, just what we're doing this morning, reading what we're
reading, teaching what we're teaching. What would you do if
you had no place to go? This picture's dead. This church is
gone. A lot of people over this country,
a lot of the mountains have been removed and carried into the
sea, and it's all flat. There's no instruction. There's no teachers. Land and
sea is the same. Everybody just looks right in
his own eyes. You listen to these folks on
television discussing all these different things that they don't
know anything about. What are we going to do? The Lord's my
refuge, the Lord's my strength, and the Lord's my help in that
time of trouble. And he'll guide me, and he'll
teach me, and he'll keep me, though the mountains be carried
away into the depths of the sea. And then verse 3, it says, God
may, you know, God may not continue. I hear by me and pray this ministry
will continue. Well, God may not continue. He may, I pray he will, but he
may not. But he'll continue. He'll continue. He'll be your refuge and your
strength and your help. The waters they all roar and
be troubled. What is that? You know, there's
nothing more peaceful than still waters. This is what I believe,
this is what this is saying. A river or a sea is so pleasant
when it's smooth and stale. And when we're young and healthy and have our strength, like many
of you young people sitting out here, you're young and you're
walking by stale waters all the time. There's stale waters in
here and all about you. When our physical bodies grow
old and they are the targets of sickness and disease and old
age and trouble, the waters foam and roll with fury and pain and
distress. Trouble. Times of trouble. roaring and trouble. You know, they talk about the
heart of a wicked man is like the troubled sea. Well, this
old body can get that way too, like the troubled sea. It's been
torn up, just torn up. But I tell you this, in those
times, the Lord is our refuge. The Lord is our strength and
the Lord is our help. And it's coming. I've experienced
it, some of you have, and experienced it. Your body has such a close
kinship with your spirit, and with your heart, and with your
mind. And when you're hurt, it's hard to do anything else but
hurt. Pray for help. That's right. Distress. Well, we're not fair. We're not fair. The Lord's our
refuge. The Lord is my strength, and
the Lord is my help in time of trouble, and I won't fear, though
these things happen. But now I come back to this verse
3, and I see the mountains mentioned again. But this time, there's
no removing of the mountain, no carrying away of the mountain,
no destruction of the mountain, but the mountain shakes. And
it shakes with what? With these troubled waters. You
see, verse 3 says, "...though the waters thereof roar, and
be troubled." That's this flesh, when it pains, and the doctor
says you've got cancer, you've got heart trouble, you've got
a few days to live, and the waters stir, trouble comes. And the mountain doesn't destroy,
it doesn't destroy, that's removed, but it trembles. And that mountain is our I faith. I faith. I trust in him. Oh, should or not? That doesn't
show. Oh, come on now. Listen to Paul over here in 2
Corinthians 4. You listen to Paul in 2 Corinthians
chapter 4. And don't you be surprised when
your dear loved one dies and you say, Lord, why? What purpose
is this going to serve? Why are you doing this? This
dear lady that I saw last week, don't you know, in her loneliness,
walking through that place where she is now, saying, why? Where
is that body? Why am I left like this? Don't
you imagine? The mountain, no matter how strong
it is and how sure it is, it's not destroyed, it's not removed.
We don't lose our faith and lose our grace and lose contact with
God. And listen to Paul in 2 Corinthians
4 where it's said, we have this treasure in earthen vessels.
It's still a dirt mountain. But the excellence and the power
might be of God, not of us. We're troubled on every side,
but we're not distressed. We're perplexed, don't understand
it, but we're not in despair. We're persecuted, but we're not
forsaken. We're cast down, awful down. off or down, but we're not destroyed. Mountain shakes, but he's our
refuge, he's our strength, he's our help. That's right, those
are the earth people, all the securities and strength and foundation. Those
are the mountains, our spiritual guides are gone. Our church is
no more. Our physical bodies are heaving
with pain and agony and trouble. And we tremble. But listen. You pause and consider
that now, Selah. But he said, verse 4, there is
a river. There is a river. The streams,
while shall make glad the city of God. Make glad the city of
God, the holy place of the tabernacles and the host house. What is the
city of God? The city of God is his church.
I don't mean this 13th Street Baptist Church, I mean his church,
his body, his church, his people, his elect, his sheep. We're a
holy temple of living stones. where his body, he dwells in
his church. That's what he says in verse
5. God's in the midst of her. This city of God, God's in the
midst of her. She shall not be moved. She shall
not be destroyed. The gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. God will help her. And that right
early. That's the city of God. He founded
the church. He built the church. He said,
I'll build my church. The gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. It's his church. It's his body.
It's his body. It's his. I'll show you an illustration. Turn to Genesis chapter 2. Genesis 2. Genesis chapter 2. Adam, verse 18, God said, verse 18,
Genesis 2. And the Lord God said, it's not
good that the man should be alone. I'll make a helpmeet for him.
And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the
field, every fowler there, and brought them to Adam to see what
he'd call them. What's that Adam called? Every living creature.
That was the name thereof. Adam gave names to the cattle,
to the fowl of the air, and every beast of the field, but for Adam
there was not found a helpmate for him. One incompanion, a beloved
wife, didn't have her. So God caused a deep sleep to
fall upon Adam. That's the first Adam. You know
who the second Adam is, don't you? Our Lord Jesus Christ. The first Adam is of the earth,
earth, and the second Adam is the Lord from heaven. And the
Lord caused a deep sleep to fall upon the second Adam when he
was nailed to that cross, smitten of God and afflicted, wounded,
slain. He died. Deep sleep. Three days and three nights in
the heart of the earth. And as he slept, God took one
of his ribs out of him. closed up the flesh thereof.
He took out of Adam, opened his side, reached in his side and
took out a rib, closed it up. And the rib which the Lord had
taken from man he made a woman. He made Adam out of the dirt.
He made that woman out of Adam's rib. That rib was in him all
that time. She was in him. The woman was
in Adam. When our Lord Jesus Christ died on that cross, in
that sleep, out of his side flowed blood and water, and the Lord
God took from him a bride, a church. Where did he come from? Out of Adam. Where was she? In
Adam. Where were we? In Christ. Chosen in Christ for
the foundation of the world. Considered in Christ, loved in
Christ, secure in Christ, protected in Christ from eternity past. The church was in him. God took
it out of him, by his death. There's a woman, and what did
he do? He brought that woman down, just like he brought us
to Christ. That's right. He chose us in
Christ. That's where we were, in Christ.
Crucified in him, dead in him, buried in him, risen in him,
seated in him. And then one day God called us,
and he brought us to Christ. and gave us to Christ, and we
loved him, fell in love with him. Eve had never seen Adam. God took that out here and made
this woman, and that man woke her, and God said, here is your
husband, and brought her, and here is your wife. And he brought
us to Christ. And listen, Adam said, this is
bone of my bone. flesh of my flesh, she'll be
called woman, she was taken out of a man, we're called Christians.
Christians, we came out of Christ. We're his bride. Therefore shall
a man leave everything, every body, and cleave to that wife,
and there be one. Christ doesn't have but one wife,
that's his church. Always had that wife, always
had that bride, always been in him, of him, from him, brought
to him, given, the gift of God. God gave her to Adam. And he
embraced her, and he never had but one wife. And Christ had
one church. That's right. Oh my, the city
of God, that's the church, that's his God, that's his people. to him, my Father which gave
them these greater than all. And they won. What's this river? There is a river. There is a
river, the streams where I shall make glad this city of God, this
bride, this church, the holy place of the tabernacle. This
river is God the Father. They have forsaken me the fountain
of waters. He's the fountain of waters.
That river is God the Son. In that day there shall be a
fountain open to the house of David for sin and uncleanness.
That's Christ. That fountain is the Holy Spirit.
Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never
thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well
of water springing up in everlasting life. We have a river. The stream. Well, what are the
streams from God? Justification, sanctification,
redemption, righteousness, comfort, peace, promises, eternal life. The streams make glad the city
of God. All the streams, the sun, the
streams of light from the sun are innumerable. The gifts of
God to us are innumerable. They make our heart glad. Even
in sorrow you can be glad in God. Even in pain, even in the
most distressing times, you can rejoice in him. The heathen raged, verse 6. The
kingdoms were moved. Where are the kingdoms of the
heathen? They're destroyed. He uttered his voice and the
earth melted. But the Lord, he's an enemy to
those who've got belief. But the Lord of Hosts is with
us. The Lord of Hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Could I slip in something here
that will be of great comfort to you? I looked at this carefully.
The Lord of Hosts is with us. Hosts, heavenly hosts, innumerable
hosts. You think about the host of stars
and satellites the sun and the moon, they tell me that it just
goes out so far you can't even imagine it. There's so many you
can't even imagine it. But he's the Lord of hosts, host
of people, host of stars and everything else, and the God
of Jacob. The Lord of hosts is with us,
the God of Jacob is with us. There are three sorts of God's
presence. That's a privilege to the elect
to enjoy, in which to rejoice, in which to find comfort. Three
sorts of God's presence. The first is the Lord of Hosts.
That's his glorious presence. The Lord of Hosts, he's in the
heavens. His throne is in the heavens. The heaven of heaven
cannot contain him. The earth is his footstool. The
angels, the stars, the sun, the moon, all these things are his
servants. He calls them by name. He knows
every fish in the sea, every bird that has fell across to
the ground without your father. He reigns over all things, even
the highest of your head are numbered. That's his glorious
presence. He's an almighty, everlasting,
eternal, omnipresent, omnipotent King of kings and Lord of lords,
beyond imagination. And yet he's my God. He's my Father. He's my Lord. He cares for me. What is man
without mindful of Him? But He does, in that majesty.
Why should I worry? The Lord of Hosts is with me. See what he's saying? The Lord
of Hosts. The God of Jacob is our refuge. This is His gracious
presence, His providential presence. In one word, just a stinker. He betrayed his father. He betrayed
his brother. He stole his birthright. He fled
from home. And yet this God says, I'm the
God of Jacob. Jacob I belove. Esau, I hate
him. I love Jacob. He's a friend of
sinners. That's right. And he walked with
Jacob every step. He lay down to sleep that night,
made those rocks his pillow, and God appeared to him during
the night. He said, I'm your God. I'll never leave you or
forsake you. I bless you. I bless you. I'll be your God. I'll be the
God of Jacob. And God blessed him down to that
foreign land. He blessed him with his boys.
He brought him back to Bethel. He supplied his every need, walked
with him every step. That's my God. He's the Lord of hosts. But he
ordered the life of this one man providentially. He chose
him, he loved him, he called him, he kept him. And he named
him a prince. What's your name? Jacob? No more.
You're a prince. Prince of God. Now, that'll comfort you. And
he said, Selah. You just think about that a little
while. When you're just down there and
the earth's been moved and the mountains are gone and the waters
are rolling and your own faith is shaking, God of Jacob knows
your name. You belong to him. That's right. He'll never leave you. Cast your
care on him. He cares for you. Would you rather
have my help or his? Would you rather lean on Mama
or him? I love Mama, but I need him. I love my wife, but I need,
I have to have him. That's right. Oh, at last. Come and behold
the works of the Lord. Behold the works of the Lord.
Redemption is his work. It's wonderful to behold the
mighty works of God. I finished the work Christ said
you gave me to do. Behold his works. Be thankful
he's given you eyes to behold his work. And he's given your
heart to understand it is not yours, it's his. It makes a difference. Behold the work of the Lord. It's not yours, it's his. And
if he's given you eyes to behold his work and to know it's his
work, then you'll be able to praise him. Praise him. But what desolations he's made,
destruction. Oh, I hate to see that, because
I'm just a man. But the desolations he's made
in the earth, he'll make wars to cease to the end of the earth.
He'll break the bow, cut the spear and sunder and burn the
chariot and fire. The destroyer will be destroyed,
wars will cease, and the instruments of war will be destroyed. Our
closing remarks. So be still. Be still. Oh, I wish I could learn that. David said, come and behold the
works of the Lord. And then be still. And know that
I'm God. And I'll be exalted among the
heathen, I'll be exalted in this earth. And the Lord of hosts
is with us, and the God of Jacob is our refuge. There was a preacher whose name
was Richard Cameron. Spurgeon wrote about him, and
he said three days before he was killed at Amos, he was martyred. Three days before he was martyred.
July the 18th, 1680, that he preached on this sign in his
church and made this statement three days before they killed
him. Be still and know that I'm God. My friends, this text forbids
us to quarrel or murmur against God. All of us need to be afraid
of this sin. Beware of it. It's a dreadful
thing to find fault with God's dealings with us, or saying to
God, what doest thou? It's a good account of Aaron
that when God destroyed his sons, Aaron held his peace. Be still. Let us then, while
we bear the yoke of affliction, be still. Keep silence. Put our mouths in the dust. because
God gives no account of his matters to anyone. There be so many things
I cannot see through or understand, but this I know, the Lord God
is my refuge, my strength, and my help." That's his last message. Wonderful,
wonderful words.