Alright, Psalm 91. Most people believe that this
psalm was written by Moses. We have a way of, when we're
turning the psalms, to identify all of them with David,
but David didn't write all the psalms. One reason why people
believe that Psalm 91 was the Lord used Moses to write it,
though there's no identification there in the psalm, but the one
before, Psalm 90, is a prayer of Moses, the man of God. But whether David wrote it or
Moses, it really doesn't matter. But this psalm, like so many
of the psalms, is a Messianic psalm. It speaks of the Messiah,
speaks of Christ. And when you speak of Christ,
you speak of His people, because they are inseparable. The Lord
Jesus Christ and His people in Him are one, that they may be
one even as we are, Father, He prayed. And this psalm contains
promises of deliverance for the Messiah and for his people. This psalm contains promises
of protection and victory for Christ and his people. And this psalm is identified
with the ministry of our Lord. We see this psalm in his ministry. If you'll turn to Luke, Chapter
4, when Satan tried and tempted the Lord on
the Mount of Temptation, when he had been there for a good
while without food or water, fasted, and Satan came to him in this
hour of weakness to tempt him, You remember reading about it.
Well, Satan used Psalm 91 in this temptation process. Luke
4, verse 10, Satan said, back in verse 9, "...if thou be the
Son of God, cast thyself down from hence." Prove it. For it is written, Psalm 91,
"...he shall give his angels charge over thee." to keep thee,
and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time
thou dast thy foot against the stone." So this psalm was used there
by Satan in the temptation of our Lord, speaking of the care
of the Father for his Christ and for his people. He'll give
his angels charge over thee. Look at Psalm 91. You'll read
that in verse 9. Psalm 91, verse 11, he says,
"...for he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee
in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their
hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone." This is a thread that runs through
the Word of God, the angels. Paul said they are ministering
spirits sent forth to minister to those who are the heirs of
salvation. Angels didn't just minister to
our Lord. And you'll read where many times
in his earthly journey they ministered to him. But they ministered to
us. unseen and unknown and unappreciated
too often. But they are ministering spirits
sent by God to minister to them who shall be the heirs of salvation.
David wrote this in Psalm 34, listen, the angels of the Lord
encampeth round about them that fear him. Just like a an army camped around
a certain area to protect it from the enemy. Angels of God
encampeth round about them that fear the Lord, and he delivers
them. You see, our enemy, Satan, as
a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. We wrestle
not against flesh and blood. but against principalities and
powers, rulers of the darkness, unseen, spiritual wickedness
in our places. Folks, we can't deal with, not
equipped to deal with, and don't want to deal with, are dealt
with by the angels. That's right. But His angels
will deal with the flesh. Turn to Matthew 18. If they're called upon, they
will. But I get the picture here. This psalm says, he gives his
angels charge over thee. They've got a mission. They're given a job to do in
reference to God's people, ministering spirits, keep them in all their
ways, lest they dash, they're put against a stone, encamping
about them, to protect and deliver them. And here in Matthew 18, our Lord talks about the little
ones. Now, He's not talking about infants in a mother's arms. Of course, He does refer to them
naturally. They're as much His people. As
we're much His people when we're infants as well when we're grown.
You see, the disciples had argued about who was the biggest and
the greatest and the most important. And he said to them, he didn't
just say this to Peter, he said it to all of them. He said in
verse 3 of Matthew 18, I say unto you, except you be converted
and become as little children. You don't become little children,
you become as little children. Humble. Children have no class system. division, greatest and most important
and richest and prettiest and all that, they're just children
on the same level and plane. They get along, they're children,
they're humble, they're dependent on others. They know that. And he tells his people, your
pride and arrogance and vainglory and self-praise and you've got
to go, you've got to come down, be converted, changed, humbled,
broken, stripped as a little child. And then through this
whole chapter he talks about these little children. Verse
6 he said and verse 5, whosoever shall receive such little child
in my name receive as may receive one of his children. Verse 6,
"...whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe
in me." That believe in me, there's the key. They believe in me.
They may be ten years old. I'm not saying a ten-year-old
can't believe. He certainly can. Or twelve, or twenty, or forty,
or sixty, or ninety. But those who believe in Him
are little ones. They've been converted and become
as little children. They're little ones. They believe
in Him. And that's what He's talking
about all the way through here. And then verse 10, now watch
this, take heed that you don't despise one of these little ones. Take heed now. His children, his elect, his
redeemed. His children. Be careful that
you don't despise one of them. And get it in for one of them. And line up against one of them.
and seek to hurt one of them, and to misuse one of them, and
to tear down one of them. Be careful now, for I say unto
you that in heaven there are angels who encamp about them, who have been given charge over
them, who are ministers to them. There are angels whom God has
ordained and ordered to take care of them, They behold the face of my Father
which is in heaven. They're in touch with Him. Be
careful. The Son of Man has come to seek
and to save little ones, lost ones, helpless ones, sinful ones. And He thinks enough of them
that if a man has a hundred sheep, one of them goes astray, he'll
leave the hundred and go get that one. So His angels Little children, that's what
I'm talking about today, little children under his care. So let's
look at it here in Psalm 91. Little children under his care.
Verse 1 of Psalm 91, He that dwelleth in the secret place,
the secret place. Where is it that we dwell? Where
is this secret place? Well, this secret place is His
presence. The presence of the Lord is called
the secret place. Why is it called the secret place?
Because it's not known to most people. It's not experienced
by anyone except His own. It's a secret place. Secret place. Let's see a few Psalms that refer
to this. Psalm 27, verse 5 and 6. Verse 5 and 6 of Psalm 27, in
the time of trouble he'll hide me in his pavilion, in the secret
of his tabernacle shall he hide me. He'll set me upon a rock. Psalm 31, turn the page, Psalm
31 verse 19, Oh, how great is thy goodness, which thou hast
laid up for them that fear thee. which thou hast wrought for them
that trust in thee before the sons of men, thou shalt hide
them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man. Thou shalt
keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues, he
that dwelleth." You know, when I think of the secret place,
I think of the Holy of Holies behind the veil. No one allowed
in there but the high priest, and he only once a year, not
without blood. But there's where the chicana
glory was, between the cherubim, over the mercy seat, presence
of God. That old high priest once a year
would lift the veil and go into the secret place, sprinkle the
blood on the mercy seat, and he'd come out. Go in, come out,
once a year, secret place. Well, you and I as priests of
the living God, because Christ is our great high priest, we
don't go in and out. We dwell there. Oh, look at it! He that dwelleth in the secret place, within the
bagel, in the presence of God, the secret place of the Most
High, oh, the glory of it! Oh, the riches of it! Oh, the
security of it! Oh, the peace of it. We dwell
there all the time. And look at the word, abide.
Lodge. L-O-D-G, that's where we lodge. My habitation, that's my home.
We lodge under the shadow of the Almighty. Secret place. shadow of the Almighty. Psalm
17, the psalmist said, keep me as the apple of the eye, pupil. Protect me as a person protects
the pupil of his eye. I told someone, no part of our
body is protected quite like the eye. It's got a shelf built
over it to keep the rain out. It's got eyelashes up here to
filter, and eyelashes here and eyebrows to filter out the dust
particles. It's got a door that shuts and
closes everything out that would harm. Protection. God has designed the protection.
And it's built in and surrounded by hard bones to deliver it from
danger. And that's the care the Lord
put about his people. Keep me as a pupil of the eye. Hide me under the shadow of thy
wings. Psalm 57 says, In the shadow
of thy wings will I make my refuge till these calamities are all
past. That's where we are. Where do
we dwell? In the secret place. Presence of God. under the shadow
of the Almighty, protected and kept secure as the pupil of the
eye. Verse 2, who's our refuge? I will say of the Lord. I will
say. I know who Moses says here, what
David said in Psalm 23. I don't know about everybody
else, but the Lord is my shepherd. I don't know about everybody,
but the Lord is my shepherd. And Moses says here, I'm going
to say of the Lord, He's my refuge. He's my refuge. I read what Paul said a while
ago, I'm not ashamed. I know whom I have believed. I know whom I have believed.
It's not a what, it's whom. My refuge is not a place, it's
a person. I know whom I have believed.
I'm persuaded. He, the Lord, is my refuge. He's my refuge from the storm.
You know, turn to Isaiah 28. A lot of folks have refuges. Isaiah called them Isaiah 28,
false refuges, refuges of lies. Verse 15, verse 15 of Isaiah
28, you've said, you have said, we have made a covenant with
death. With hell are we in agreement.
We're not afraid to die and we're not afraid of hell. When the
overflowing scourge of God's wrath, calamity shall pass through,
it won't come nigh unto us. We have a refuge. We've made
lies our refuge. Under falsehood have we hid ourselves.
Verse 17, Judgment also will I lay to the lion, and righteousness
to the plummet, and the hail will sweep away the refuge of
lies, and the waters shall overflow your hiding place. If we've got a false hiding place
and a false refuge when God's judgment and wrath comes through,
it'll rout us out of that false refuge and flood it. But Moses
says, the Lord's my refuge. The Lord's my refuge, and judgment
cannot sweep Him away. And not only that, but He's my
fortress. He's my hiding place, He's my refuge from the storm,
and He's my fortress against all my enemies. He's my strong
tower. And when the enemies of my soul
come upon it and say, I'll have that soul, my Lord said, you
will not. He's my tower, He's my fortress,
because He's my God. He's my God, in Him will I trust.
He can be trusted. In Him, I will say of the Lord,
and the word Lord there is Jehovah God, Jehovah my Savior. Capital
L, capital O, capital R, capital D, the Lord. When you see it
written like that, it's the Jehovah God, my Savior. I'll say of Him,
my Messiah, the God-man, my Redeemer. He's my wreckage. He's my fortune. He's my God in whom I trust,
who can be trusted. Now, turn to Psalm 146. And let me issue a warning like
the psalmist. Let me issue a warning. Don't
put your trust in a man, or a man, or an organization, or a plan,
or denomination. Don't put your trust in anything
that has to do with flesh. Now listen to it in Psalm 146,
verse 3. Put not your trust in princes,
leaders, kings, powerful men, rich men, nor in the Son of Man,
Son of Man, in whom there is no help, there's no salvation
in men or their organizations or their Gospels are their plans,
are them. Listen, verse 4, his breath goes
forth. You know everything that stands
between a man and the grave is one breath? It's such a flimsy. That's all. When he stops that,
he stops existing. Oh, God has just cut his breath
off and he's gone back to the dirt. Don't trust Him. He just lives by a tiny thing
called breath. His life is a vapor. Listen,
He returned it to His earth. His earth. He came from it and
He's going back to it. That's His habitation and home.
That's His origination. The dirt, going back to the dirt. God reigns in the heavens, the
heavens of the Lord. And all things, man, he owns
a pile of dirt. That's his habitation. Don't
trust him. No matter how impressive he is
and how charismatic he is and how persuasive he is, he's just
a breath. He's going back to his dirt and
listen. And when he does, that very day, his thoughts perish
with him. His ideas, his philosophies,
his principles, his plans, his great and wonderful things that
he's organized and promoted and got you to follow. Don't follow
him. He's not going the right way.
He's not the right one. He's just a breath. He belongs
in the side. And when he's gone, you're left
out there by yourself. Because his ideas die with him.
And not only that, but listen. Happy, listen, is he that hath
the God of Jacob for his help, his strength, his refuge, his
fortress, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made the heavens
and the earth, the sea, and all that therein is, who keepeth
truth forever. Oh, that's the one. Nowadays,
Moses said, he's my refuge. He's my fortress. He's my God,
in whom I trust. Oh, that's sheer happiness, peace. And listen to what he says here. He's willing and able to deliver
us. Listen, He'll deliver you. He'll
deliver you from the snare, from the trap, from the dungeon of
the fowler. He'll deliver you from the noise
and pestilence. He'll deliver you from the curse
of the law being made a curse for you. He'll deliver you from
the penalty of sin. Listen, there's no condemnation
to them who are in Christ's youth. He'll deliver you from all fear
of death. He came to deliver those who
all their lifetime were subject to what? Fear of death. But we
don't need to fear death. We've already died in Christ. He that liveth and believeth
in me will never die." And He'll deliver this body from
the grave. The same Holy Spirit that brought
forth our Lord Jesus from the dead shall bring forth your mortal
body. Don't be afraid, He'll deliver
you. From the snare, from the trap, from the dungeon, from
the curse, from the penalty, from the power, from the grave,
from the noise and pestilence, and He'll cover you, listen,
He'll cover you with His feathers, He'll cover you with His righteousness,
He'll cover your nakedness, and your beauty is His beauty, your
comeliness is His comeliness, and He'll, under His wings, shalt
thou trust, under the wings of healing, and I'm not just talking
about physical healing, I'm talking about healing of the soul. Sins
and sicknesses and diseases and leprosy, the wings of healing
and health are His wings. And listen, and His truth, His
truth will be your shield, your buckler. He'll put to flight
your enemies. He'll put them to flight. And
verse 5, I shall not be afraid. Oh, I guess I've heard this a
lot of times, and I've said it. It's a foolish thing to say,
I'm not afraid. I hear men say that. I've heard people say, I'm not
afraid of anyone or anything. Well, I'm sure they're speaking
of things seen, and people encountered in the flesh, and the bigger
you are and the stronger you are and the better weapon you
have, Oh, you can say that, but this is not talking about flesh. Thou shalt not be afraid. Thou
shalt not be afraid. Of what? Well, let's look at
it. The terror by night. Darkness
falls. And the workers and the works
of darkness roam and prowl. We don't need to be out there. After 10 p.m., I wish all the
children were home, I'll be honest with you. You see these towns
put in a curfew of 11, 11.30, and everybody kicks up their
heels, but I'll be honest with you. Except for emergencies and
people that have to be at work and 11 to 7 and all this sort
of thing, emergencies, just out there knocking about on the streets,
that's when trouble That's where trouble is, that's when trouble
comes. Darkness. Workers of darkness, children
of darkness, deeds of darkness. Most evil is at night. But if you have to be there,
He'll keep you. You don't have to be afraid of
the terrors of the darkness. And then He talks about, you
know, one scripture in the Psalms says, even the night will be
light about me. when I'm walking in his care.
But here he talks about don't be afraid of the error that flies
by day. When I think of an error, I think
of something that swiftly comes and suddenly comes without warning,
an error that flies by day. Errors fly swiftly and suddenly.
There's an accident in the minds. slate files, without warning,
or in the mill, there's a crane that drops something on a man. There's an automobile going down
the highway, and here comes another one, out of control. A friend
of mine's son went one morning to pick up his wife and child
at his mother-in-law's place. driving down a four-lane highway,
six o'clock in the morning. Here came a man going fishing,
pulling his boat. And that boat broke loose from
the thing that holds it on the bumper
and turned and went across the medium, came right through that
boy's window, pierced the boat. Arrows that fly by day. Heart
attack. Friend of mine throwing hay up
on the wagon when I was a kid. Oh my God. He fell on his back
dead. Shootings in the school. It's
a place of business. This is the day of sudden death.
But don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. I'm not afraid of anybody. If
you're in Him, you needn't be afraid. But what is this pestilence
that walketh in the darkness? You don't see that either, the
pestilence of germs, diseases, plagues, demons, unseen enemies. But God controls all things. He's sovereign over all these
things. You see, I'm talking about, He that dwelleth in the
secret place, He that abides under the shadow of the Almighty,
over whom He has given His angels charge and control, He'll deliver
them, He'll cover them with His feathers, His truth will be their
buster, and they don't have to be afraid. even of those things that can't
even be seen under a microscope, that can destroy. And then, here,
listen to this, nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. What
is that? Noonday. Destruction. Total destruction. The way that seemeth right to
man, the end is destruction. But I'll tell you what this is.
I believe it's connected with verse 7 and 8. It tells us what
it is. In that day, that noonday, that
bright shining day when nothing can be hid from the brilliant
light of His presence, it's judgment day. A thousand will fall at your
side. You'll be there. There'll be a judgment. Scripture
says that the sea gave up the dead. The death and hell gave
up the dead, the graves gave up the dead, and all men, small
and great, stood before God, before God at noonday. The brightness
of His presence, of His judgment, of His throne, nothing hid, nothing
secret, shouted from the housetop. And a thousand will fall at your
side, and ten thousand at your right hand, swept away, but it
won't come near you. And with your eyes, you will
behold and see the reward of the wicked." That's right. In that day, we'll stand at the
judgment. It's appointed unto men once
to die after that judgment. We shall all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ. God has appointed a day in which
He'll judge the world by that man whom He raised from the grave.
And they'll follow. Unbelievers shall not stand in
the judgment, they'll fall. Psalm 1 said they will not stand
in the judgment, they'll fall. They'll fall a thousand at your
right hand and ten thousand at your left hand. You'll stand. Think about it. Who shall stand
in His presence? By His grace, I'm going to stand,
and you are. Verse 9, "...because I was made the Lord, which is
my refuge, even the most high, your habitation." The Baptists
aren't going to stand. The Catholics aren't going to
stand. The Mohammedans aren't going to stand. Believers are going to stand
in Christ. That's right. Thou shalt not
be afraid of the darkness, the terrors,
of the hours that fly by day, the pestilence that walks in
unseen places, and the destruction that will waste at noonday. A
thousand shall fall at your side and ten thousand And in Christ,
your refuge and habitation when that overflowing scourge sweeps
men away. Verse 10, And no evil will befall
you, and no plague will come to thy dwelling. He'll give his angels charge
over you to keep you in all your ways. And they'll bear you up
in their hands unless you dash thy foot upon a stone. You tread
upon the lion and the adder, the snake, the young lion, the
dragon, shall you trample undefeated." Now, I want to look at these
last three verses, and we'll go. "...because he hath set his love
upon me." And you can read that both ways. Because he set his
love on me. And because by His grace, I set
my love on Him. Where you find a love for Christ,
a love of Christ, you find a love for Christ. Where you find those
whom He hath drawn with an everlasting love, you'll find those who love
Him. We love Him because He first
loved us. And because that love is between... Peter said, Lord, You know everything.
You know I love You. There's no doubt about that,
no argument on that score. I love you. I am my Beloved's
and He's mine. And because that is the relationship,
therefore, number one, I'll deliver Him. I'll save Him from sin,
from death, from hell. I'll save Him. I'll redeem Him.
I'll deliver Him. Turn Him loose, the Scripture
says. Turn Him loose! I found a ransom. Turn him loose. Our God says
to the law, to Satan, to sin, to the grave, turn him loose! I found a ransom. I'll deliver
him. And I'll set him on high, seated
together with Christ in the heavenlies. I'll do it. This is not something
you do for God, something God does for Quit putting these critical,
spiritual, everlasting deliverances in the hands of a man. Now, God
will, if you will, know that your will got nothing to do with
it. Our Lord came down from the mountain, and that leper came
to him and said, Lord, if you will, you can make me whole.
He said, I will. Well, the Lord said, well now,
will you do something? Oh, if you will, you can make
me whole. I will be thy whole. And from that moment he was whole.
God says, I will deliver him. I'll set him on high and he'll
call on me and I'll answer him. What's he calling for? Whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Call him
for redemption. Oh, I pray about other things
and everything and little things and big things, but I don't know. I don't know what to ask for,
do you? Except one thing. Lord, save me. I don't know whether God wants
me to get well or not on this earth. Yeah, I'm going to get
well someday, but I don't know. I find it very hard. I find it
very hard to find God's will. We don't know the things for
which we should pray, but I do know one thing beyond a shadow
of a doubt. Lord, save me or I perish. Keep
me as the apple of your eye. Deliver me from the snare of
the fowler. from the trap and the dungeon
and sin. Deliver me! Save my soul. I'll answer him, and I'll be
with him in trouble. There is no trouble that he'll
encounter that I won't be with him. Though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil. Thou art with
me. Thou art with me. And I'll honor Don't seek honor here. The fashion of this world fadeth
away. If you want to be known here, you want to be known there. You want the praise of men or
the praise of the Lord. It doesn't usually go together.
I hate that. I'm sorry about that. But the
applause of this world and the applause of the Kingdom of God
usually don't go together. People usually give one for the
other. But God said, I'll honor you in due time. I'll honor you. Like no honor you've ever imagined.
Our Lord said to that crowd, does this offend you? Wait till
you see the Son of God ascend up where He was before. And I
say that about you and me, every believer. You just wait. You
ain't seen nothing. Talk about glory. And then in
closing, with long life will I satisfy him and I'll show him
my glory. With long life. That long life
is not here. Too many of God's chosen servants
have died young. David Brainerd at 29. Robert
Murray McShane at 29. Spurgeon at 58. Augustus' top
lady at 35. But they have long life. They're
not dead. They're not dead. The long life is eternal life. He'll keep me till the river
rolls its waters at my feet. Then he'll bear me safely over
where my Redeemer I shall meet. Our Father Bless your word preached
today for thy glory. Turn every heart in this place
to Christ, away from the idols of this world to the King of
glory. Bless us through this day and
order our steps for Christ's sake. Amen.