God is Our Refuge

Introduction: Facing the New Year with Ominous Clouds

0:04 As all of you are no doubt aware, this is the last Lord's Day that we shall meet in the calendar year 1973, and I'm sure the thoughts of many, if not all of you, are reflecting again at how quickly another year has passed and become history with influences upon us and through us that will reverberate for all eternity. None of us has lived in time for time alone. Every day we have lived in time, we have lived for eternity, and it's a sobering thing to reflect upon that solemn and inescapable fact that 1973, though behind us, in a very real sense will be with us forever. And as we look ahead, not with the rude impiety that attempts to play God, but with genuine concern and natural interest, as the people of God, we are very much aware that there are tokens of God's judgment upon our world, and in particular upon our own nation.

1:26 And all of us, though we'll admit it or not, have a sense of something of an ominous nature, like the gathering of a cloud, and we wonder when it shall break upon our heads. Yes.

1:46 We do not live in an ivory tower that protects us from the stench of Watergate, from the wrench of the present energy crisis.

2:01 We do not live immune from a spiraling economy, the pinch that all of us feel in many ways. And because of these things, I am deeply concerned, as your pastor, that we not lose our spiritual bearings in such times. As God has called upon us to live and to glorify Him and to serve our generation. And I believe God has laid upon my heart the 46th Psalm as the focus of our expositions for at least several weeks.

2:38 Psalm 46, a psalm given various titles by uninspired men who have drunk from its fountains with great joy. Some have called it the Song of Holy Confidence. Some have called it the Song of Holy Confidence. Some the Song of Faith in Troublous Times.

2:58 It was Luther's psalm. In fact, some have even given that as the legitimate title. So precious was this psalm to Martin Luther in the period of the Reformation, with its great upheavals on every hand. And when timid Melanchthon would sometimes bear his heart to bold Luther and say to him that he felt it was more than he could bear, Luther would say to him, Now, Philip, let us sing the 46th Psalm.

3:25 And out of that, in heart, I meant to get to you before, to find the proper pronunciation of that first phrase, Ein feste Burg, how do we pronounce it, you know what I mean, yes. I'll get it later so I can say it correctly. But this great hymn of Luther's, A Mighty Fortress, is our God. He took his thoughts from the 46th Psalm, this psalm of holy confidence, this song of faith.

3:53 In troubleless times, and here before us is spread a feast of blessed spiritual substance for all the saints. And at this point, I think of that little song that we used to sing as young Christians when after being in a street meeting and worshiping, we would come and feast together. And we used to sing, Come and dine, the Master calleth, come and dine. Well that phrase went through my mind in preparation for the sermon.

4:19 Dear children of God, come and dine. The Master calleth, come and dine. And here is a feast for us as God's people as we face the coming year with all of the gathering of these ominous clouds and the sense of something, dread and drastic, hanging above us and looming before us. This is the song that you and I must learn to sing with the Spirit and with the understanding if we are to come through such times, whatever they may be, triumphant in our God.

Setting the Table: Three Introductory Matters

4:52 Now, if you are going to have a feast, you must first of all set the table and spread the meal. And so for the first few minutes I want to spread the table, set the table and spread the feast. By considering three introductory matters with you, first of all we shall look at the setting of the psalm, secondly, the structure of the psalm, and thirdly, the fundamental assumption of the psalm. If we're rightly to appreciate the meal and to know how to break it down and assimilate, I mean the null equivalent of I into our spiritual systems, this is an absolute necessity. First of all, then, a word about the setting of the psalm. The title that you have, read something like this, for the chief musician, a psalm of the sons of Korah, set to Alamah, a psalm. Now, these titles are not inspired, but many times they do give us a key to the actual setting in which the psalm was written. For I remind you that these psalms were not written in a vacuum. These psalms came out of

5:59 the crucible of the dealings of an individual or the people of God in the circumstances of real life. They are not detached, theoretical reflections of religious philosophers upon life. They are the groanings of real believers in the midst of real problems in the real world. In which they were called upon to glorify God. They are the praises run out of real situations in which the true God really manifested his power to his people. And if we can find the precise historical context out of which the psalm came, many times it lends itself to a keener insight into the psalm itself. Now, sad to say, and yet, on the other hand, not sad to say, we do not know the precise historical setting out of which this psalm came to us. There is some strong conjecture, and Kyle and Dalish are quite committed to the position that this psalm came

7:08 out of the circumstances described in 2 Chronicles 21, or 2 Kings chapters 18 and 19, in which God gave to Israel an unusual deliverance from her pain. But that cannot be asserted with any degree of confidence. It is a conjecture. It has some semblance of reasonableness. But this much is clear, that the psalm came out of a situation in which the people of God found themselves in troublous times. And the very first verse lays that fact before us. God is our refuge. In the midst of trouble, or in troublous times, or in distresses. It is a psalm in which the

8:04 contemplation focuses upon God's relationship to His people in troublous times. Not only so, there is this sense of anticipation of perhaps greater troubles. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth do change. Though this happen, and though that happen, God is still to us our refuge and our strength.

8:30 It is a situation in which there is opposition to Zion, the people of God. Look at verse 6. The nations rage. The kingdoms were moved. It is a situation in which the nations are at war.

8:43 He maketh wars to cease unto the ends of the earth. He breaketh the bow and cutteth the spear in sunder. From the psalmist, from the psalmist, from the psalmist, from the psalmist, from the psalmist, from the psalmist, itself, we know that whatever precise historical setting gave birth to the psalm, it is a situation in which the words upheaval, opposition to the church of God, war, tumult, raging, natural calamities, all of these things are the verbiage which describe the general context of the psalm, need I say anything, as to its very, very basic relevance to our own day, when these are the words that even the secular men are using with reference to our times. Then in the second place, just a word about the structure of the psalm. If you have an American Standard Version, you will notice that there is an extra space between verse 3 and the beginning of verse 4, and between verse 7 and the beginning of verse 8, and at the end of verse 3 you have that little mysterious word, Selah, at the end of verse 7 you have Selah again, and at the end of verse 11. And so the structure of the psalm is basically a three-stanza hymn of praise, the divisions being marked by the Selahs,

10:10 verses 1 to 3, verses 4 to 7, verses 8 through 11. Now you say, Pastor, what in the world is that little word Selah? Well, again, I wish I could tell you, but I can't, because the most profound Hebrew scholars are not agreed as to its precise significance. It was something added later on in the history of God's people after the original penning of the psalm, but all are pretty much agreed that it has some kind of liturgical and musical significance. Probably.

10:45 Now you notice what I'm saying? In all probability. Not assertion, but it is the statement of strong probability that it was a call to pause. Usually it comes after a very significant and vital statement, calling the congregation of God, having sung that truth, to stop and let it sink in. To use the words of Jesus, let these words sink down into your ears. And perhaps at that point the instruments would come in. You can play a little bit while the people thought and meditated upon it. I don't know.

11:24 But the divisions are very natural in the psalm where the Selahs are placed. And so we have in verses 1 to 3 a statement of God, the protector and sustainer of His people in the face of all and any calamity. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Psalm 18 many words of specific meaning.

11:51 For we will not, we fear, though the earth do change, and though the mountains be shaken into the heart of the seas, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains tremble with the swelling thereof. What is the Psalmist saying? He's saying, God is the protector and sustainer of his people in the face of all and any calamity. Stanza number two, verses four to seven.

12:17 Marksicks, chapter 11. 2.3-4. advise a special account.

12:19 protector and sustainer of His church in the face of any and all of its opposition. See the words, the city of God, the tabernacles of the Most High, God is in the midst of her. Here the focus is upon the city of God, Zion, heavenly Jerusalem. And we are not spiritualizing when we say that is distinct reference to the church. We are simply interpreting the psalm in the light of Hebrews chapter 12, in which the church is called the city of God, Zion, heavenly Jerusalem.

13:00 And then the third stanza has to do with God the victor over all His enemies in the world. Notice the locus of these verses, verse 8. What desolations He hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth. Verse 10, I will be exalted among the nations.

13:23 So here you have the structure of the psalm moves in a very definite progression from the vision of God as the protector and sustainer of His own in the face of all calamities. The protector and sustainer of His church in the face of all calamities. In other words, this psalm is God's answer to the three most burning questions that every thoughtful Christian asks as he sees 1973 pass into history and he looks ahead into the coming year. He asks these three questions. What will happen to me? As a believer.

14:15 What will happen to the church of God? What is going to happen to the world? And the psalmist answers those three questions. He answers those questions.

14:28 Now he doesn't tell us whether red China is going to invade Israel. And I say all such usage of the prophetic book is at best misguided zeal and at its worst is making merchandise of men's idle curiosity. It doesn't answer such questions and I will not dabble in them. It doesn't answer such questions as to whether or not there will be a crippling of the economy and the famine, etc.

14:57 No, no. What it does do is tell us that which is absolutely certain and which the child of God, if he knows this, knows all he needs to know. To face every contingency with the posture of faith and with the vision of the glory of God. To face every contingency of his God and Savior.

15:20 Child of God, listen not to the world's idle dreamers. It's professional optimists who are always assuring us that man is alright and he'll be able to patch things up. Listen not to the professional pessimists who tell us all will crumble and man will destroy himself.

15:40 And we've got both screaming out their gospel of humanistic optimism and humanistic pessimism. Listen. to the voice of God the Holy Ghost stand with him lay to heart his words and learn to sing as the new year comes and the old passes this song of faith in troublous times having looked at the setting of the psalms said a word about the structure of the psalm now consider in the third place and we're just spreading the table and I hope this is acting like the appetizer getting all your spiritual juices flowing so that you want to dig into the meat and taters the fundamental assumption of the psalm there is a fundamental assumption in this psalm and if you miss it you'll abuse it it is assumed that the speaker or speakers in the psalm are not merely men as creatures made in the image of God but it is assumed that they are men having entered into special covenant relationship with the living God he does not say or they do not say in the opening words God is a refuge and strength but God is our refuge and strength

The Fundamental Assumption: Covenant Relationship with God

17:05 God sustains this relationship to us further on in verse 7 we have the same emphasis Jehovah of hosts is with us the God of Jacob not the God of all creatures the God of Jacob the God of Jacob the God of Jacob the God of Jacob the God of Jacob that one to whom the covenant promise was renewed that one to whom God spoke in fulfillment of his faithful promise given to Abraham and in turn renewed to Jacob to the end that one day Messiah might come and be the savior of his people the fundamental assumption of this psalm is that those who speak in it are in this covenant relationship to God that's what we're talking about seen in the next stanza we have the city of God we have the tabernacles of the most high and according to Hebrews 12 22 and 24 only those who have come to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant are members of that city I read now from Hebrews 12 verses 22 to 24 but ye are come unto Mount Zion and unto the city of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to innumerable hosts of angels to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect and to Jesus

18:34 the mediator of a new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling you see all the citizens of Zion are envisioned as those who come unto Jesus mediator of the new covenant it is only they who can say our God our refuge our strength citizens of Zion the city of the living God and so I say to any of you who are strangers to the application of the blood of the new covenant strangers to the renewing power of the spirit given in the framework of the new covenant this is children's bread don't you seek to snatch it with dog's teeth this is no promise for you Psalm 46 is no word for you except as it becomes a platform from which to plead with you to seek the Savior by whose merit alone you can become member of Zion's city of God by whose merit alone you can become one in whose mouth these words are warranted God is my refuge and my strength so much then for spreading the table setting the table spreading the feast the setting the structure this fundamental assumption of the psalm now let us begin this morning a consideration of stanza number one

Stanza One: God the Protector and Sustainer

20:01 God the protector and sustainer of his people in the face of any and all calamities and in this first stanza there are three lines of thought that I would suggest are here very clearly set before us first of all there is a declaration God is and then there is a declaration there is a description God is our refuge and strength the very present help in trouble and then there is a deduction therefore will not we fear I don't know how far we'll get this morning we'll go as far as time permits first of all there is in the very opening phrase of this tremendous song of faith in difficult times a declaration God is in these opening words the psalmist declares he does not seek to prove he does not seek to argue he simply declares the reality of the being of God God is when contemplating all of the possible calamities that might befall the people of God as human beings in the world the peculiar calamities that may come to the people of God

Declaration: God Is

21:26 envisioned as the city of God when contemplating all of the upheaval in a world full of turmoil and war the psalmist starts with the one changeless commodity in the entire universe the being of God and my own mind and heart has been gripped anew with the soundness of this kind of spiritual perspective what changes may face us in the coming year what changes may face us in the coming year we don't know we can guess we can surmise astute political analysis analysts can make their analyses and give them to us those economic prognosticators those men that look down and see where they feel the economy is going can say thus and thus is liable to happen and all the rest certainly there will be change and we can only guess what the changes may be but oh dear child of God if your mind is not if your mind is filled with all of these possible changes you'll never sing this song of faith in troubleless times the thing that must fill your vision the thing that must fill all of your contemplations is this declaration this affirmation of the reality of the being of God God is

22:53 though mountains may pass though the face of the earth may be changed God who made the mountains made the sea and made the earth is not affected by the changes in his creation now this is simply the language that faith will always speak wherever faith is present have you already thought of the verse I'm going to quote Hebrews 11 6 but without faith it is impossible to please him for now here's the acting of faith for he that cometh to God must believe what that he is that's it that he is faith always confesses in the present moment a present God he is now who is the he he is the eternal God creator of heaven and earth sustainer of his universe the absolute sovereign who does according to his will in the armies of heaven and earth this God revealed in holy scripture as totally self sufficient not dependent upon his creatures not caught up and frustrated by their whims and fancies the God spoken of in Psalm 2 who actually laughs with derisive laughter

24:20 when little puny man rages against him and says we'll tear him from his throne and the psalmist says he that sits in the heavens will chuckle he that sitteth in the heavens will laugh now that's the God who is now you see the problem with unbelief is that it may have a past God and a future God but it always lacks a present God you remember when Israel was brought out of Egypt they didn't deny that God brought them out they said would that God had not brought us out they didn't deny that he was the great I was he was the great I was nor is there any indication that they doubted his ability to fulfill future promises but what was their problem right now we're hungry right now we're hungry right now the Egyptians are at our back right now the Red Sea is there right now what was the problem the problem was unbelief had no present God had a past God he's the great I was he's the great I shall be but faith says he's the great I am here's the declaration of this song of faith's triumph in the midst of troublous times the declaration that God is you see there's a very real sense in which unbelief

25:48 is a form of deicide it says that he who is the eternally existent never changing great I am is dead in the present he was alive then and shall be alive there but he's dead now whereas faith looks out at all of the forms of present upheaval all of the possible national personal and calamities and says yesterday today today and forever Jesus is the same all may change but Jesus never glory to his name glory to his name glory to his name all may change but Jesus never glory to his name you see the doctrine of the immutability of God is no theological abstraction it is a most practical necessity in troublous times and that's precisely the context in which we are in which God couches explicit statements of that doctrine such as Malachi 3.6 I am the Lord I change not in what context does he say that when Israel is being disciplined for his sins and he says therefore these sons of Jacob are not consumed oh my dear friends don't allow don't allow any man be he a Christian

27:16 in profession or not allow no man to rob you of the sheer spirit of spiritual joy of facing the coming year and all of its possibilities with this declaration God is all that he has been from eternity all that he has ever been in himself and to his people all that he has ever been in the government of this world he is right now and every day and every moment of the coming year God is well he moves then from declaration to description having given this declaration of the reality of the being of God he gives a description of the particular relationships of God to his people in the midst of troublous times now this psalm is not meant to be an exhaustive or comprehensive or balanced treatment of the relationship of God to his people we might do a topical bible study sometime on the relationship of God the relationship of God to his people and we bring within the orbit of that study he is a father to his people he is a lord over his people he is the succor of his people and we take all the biblical imageries and all the biblical analogies and we come up with this tremendous panorama of the vastness of God's relationship to his people

Description: God Our Refuge, Strength, and Present Help in Trouble

28:43 so what we have in this psalm is a description of those facets of God's relationship to his people most of all most needed and most comforting in troublous times now notice the psalm says God is a refuge and strength a very present help in trouble you see the psalmist is thinking of God's relationship to him not in general not in ordinary times but in particular the relationship of God to his people in troublous times now this word trouble is a very powerful word it's the very word used in Daniel 12.1 to describe the great tribulation of the people of God it's parallel to our word in the New Testament for tribulation severe affliction and there's a sense in which many of you some of us came through what we might call some of us of the troublous times of the Second World War some of you are young enough that you've never known anything to border on troublous times and there's a sense in which that's been an unreal existence that you've lived because the scripture teaches that the people of God

30:12 serve God and honor God and walk with God in this life in the midst of trouble this psalm was never meant to be something dragged out once in a while for a select few it was to be part of the continuing possession of the people of God because of their continuous involvement in trouble in distresses in affliction a few verses very quickly to demonstrate the reality of what I've said Psalm 50 and verse 15 as the psalmist anticipates I should say as God anticipates his relationship to his people and what that will necessitate on their behalf and that to which he's committed on his behalf he says in verse 15 and call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me assumption being that the people of God will have their days of tribulation that's the same word used in Daniel 12 their days of trouble Psalm 77 and verse 2 Psalm 77 and verse 2 in the day of my trouble I sought the Lord my hand was stretched out in the night and slacked not Psalm 91 and verse 15 Psalm 91 15

31:41 he shall call upon me and I will answer him now notice I will be with him in trouble assuming that those who dwell in the secret place of the Most High are not going to be exempt from trouble this idea as A.W. Tozer once said that God's going to take us all wrapped up like a neat Christmas package and send us off to heaven that way is entirely unscriptural he's going to drag us through the fire he's going to bring us through the flood and here he assumes that the child of God will come into periods of intense distress called a circumstance of trouble the prophet Isaiah gives the same perspective Isaiah 33 and verse 2 O Lord be gracious unto us we have waited for thee be thou our God thou our arm every morning our salvation also in the time of trouble the prophet anticipates that he and the people of God shall pass into a period of intense trial called tribulation called troubling you have the same thing from Jeremiah chapter 16 verse 19 Nahum 1 7 it's throughout the Old Testament but what about the New Testament it's the same thing in fact the apostles made this part of their fundamental teaching to the new converts we read in Acts 14 22 that when they made their returning trip to these young churches they exhorted them

33:09 and reminded them that through much tribulation they must enter the kingdom of God they said if you go to heaven all dressed up like a Christmas package you think you're going to you may not be part of the true people of God God drags them through the fire God brings them through affliction Paul writing to the Romans says that we rejoice in tribulation because tribulation worked with patience and you have Romans 8 I am persuaded tribulation shall not separate me from the love of Christ Romans 12 12 patient in tribulation 2 Thessalonians 1 6 and then you come to the book of the revelation and this was so much a part of God's people then that John describes himself your brother in tribulation your brother in tribulation so much was it part and parcel of the common experience of God's people experience of the people of God now why have I said all of that to emphasize this principle this description in Psalm 46 is a description of those particular relationships of God to his people that are only precious in the midst of trouble and if God is going to show to us certain facets of his character and his relationship to us he will show them to us not in abstraction the psalmist learned this of God in the midst of experience and that's where

34:38 you and I will learn therefore we can face every possible contingency with great confidence not only because we believe that God is but because we believe he is these particular things to us in our particular times of distress now what are those things look at them three things he says God is first of all our refuge now what is a refuge well it's a quiet protective retreat from a pursuing enemy or an impending danger and again and again in the Psalms and particularly in the prophet Isaiah we have this concept of God as the refuge of his people Psalm 14 6 62 7 and 8 91 2 Isaiah 25 4 and in every one of these instances the refuge concept is mentioned in a context of danger immediately present or imminent it is when the people of God felt themselves in a circumstance of unusual danger that they contemplated God as their refuge Isaiah takes the imagery of a gathering storm and what do you do when you're caught out in the open field in the gathering storm you look for some place quiet safe dry

36:06 in which you may hide for protection from that which will beat down upon the earth that's the picture the psalmist said God is He is now what He has ever been but in a special way He is our refuge He is that into which we flee under the pressure of present conflict and danger and in the anticipation of future dangers secondly He says He is our strength now this is a very flexible word in the Hebrew a broadly used word it can mean strength in the normal sense that we use strength ability to perform I have no strength I have no ability to perform God is our ability to perform all that He lays upon us now that's a wonderful biblical truth the New Testament statement of it Philippians 4.19 I can do 4.13 I'm sorry I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me now that's a great biblical truth but I don't think that's what the psalmist is saying remember these aspects of God's relationship to Him have to do particularly with distress tribulation with trouble and what He is doing is using the word in another legitimate sense of its usage God is our refuge and our strong hold it is a synonym

37:35 for refuge Kyle and Daly translate it He is our safe retreat our safe retreat so whether we view it strength in general it is not strength needed to perform deeds of heroism running from a storm is not the activity of heroes hiding in the cleft of the rock in the face of impending calamities this is not strength for deeds of heroism it's strength to bear up until the storm passes so if we think of the word strength in its broader more general sense or in its more limited sense and I believe it is the latter God is our safe retreat He is our refuge but in being our refuge He will never fail us we'll never get there and find that the roof leaks when the storm breaks upon us or the lightning can strike us He who takes God to be His refuge will find Him a safe retreat then thirdly He said He is a present help in trouble let me give you two other renderings of this phrase one is a help He has been found exceedingly now that's overly literal but it gives the force of the original a help He has been

39:03 found exceedingly or as a help in the distresses He is thoroughly proved as a help in distresses He is thoroughly proved in other words the psalmist looks back upon past situations of intensified distress of concentrated trial and testing and He declares that God was present with special aid and assistance that's the sense of the word help when you're in the midst of something you can't handle you say will you please help me what do you say you're not saying just look at me and sympathize and nod your head and say you really got a problem on your hands fellow help me means lend the necessary assistance now when you kids have a problem and you say daddy help me with my math what you want is the exercise of our brain to assist you in the exercises of yours now if you're trying to lift up a heavy object and you say daddy mommy help me what you mean is lend the strength of the members of your body whatever my need may be come with a commensurate supply of wisdom strength grace or power to meet the need now the psalmist says as a help in distress as one who has come to our aid in the midst of our trials he is thoroughly proved in other words God is never an indifferent spectator

40:33 to the trials of his people Isaiah 63 9 says in all their affliction and it's the same Hebrew word he was afflicted in all of their troubles he was troubled in all of their troubles he was troubled the angel of his presence saved them now this is precisely what God is at all times in all circumstances to all his people through all the ages for how many so ever be the promises of God in him in Christ Jesus in Christ they are yea and amen to the glory of God and that little ditty we used to sing is true every promise in the book is mine every chapter every verse every line and why are they mine because how many so ever be the promises of God in Christ is the yea and the amen 2nd Corinthians 1 and verse 20 so much then for the description now do we have time let me just touch on the deduction he draws from it alright if the preceding is true this declaration God is this description of God's relationship to his people now there is a deduction a therefore you see this is the solid logic of faith

Deduction: Therefore Will Not We Fear

42:01 faith is no mindless subjective grace it has its formulations as fixed as 2 plus 2 equal 4 when faith can say God is and affirms the reality of his being when faith can say God is and describe his relationship to me refuge strong and safe retreat and very present help in trouble then faith can make this deduction and it will never be proven false therefore will not we fear that is we will not be swallowed up by that dread emotion that cripples our walk drives us into corners makes us jump at every shadow drives us to impulsive mindless deeds blinds us to the vision of God and deafens us to the promises of God and that's exactly what fear does it does all of those things and there's nothing more pathetic than a child of God to be so gripped with fear that he's jumping in every shadow every little shadow in the stock market every little shadow in the peace talks in the mid east every little shadow in the oil crisis jump jump jump jump jump jump jump until he's a bundle of jumping nerves and he says God is his God he's as much

43:31 a discredit to his God as if he went out and got drunk and came staggering down the street we will not fear we'll not jump at shadows a Christian gripped with fear can look at the promises of God and find a loophole out of every single one he'll find a way way out I remember one time dealing with someone who was gripped with unbelief and every promise I turned to they found some way out and I finally said look if you want to be miserable go right ahead even God himself can help you if you're determined to find an out from every promise then your eyes are so full of unbelief you can't see the promises as they stand in scripture this is what fear does and the psalmist knew this and so he declares in his deduction of faith we will not fear now you see fear is all the world can have when it sees what we see one of the marks then of those days prior to those tremendous upheavals that will be as it were the forerunners of the return of our Lord in power and glory what will it do to the world well you listen to the words of Luke 21 verses 9 and 26 and when ye shall hear of wars and tumults be not terrified be not afraid be not terrified for these things must needs come to pass first but the end is not immediately

45:00 verse 26 and there shall be signs in sun and moon and stars and upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity for the roaring of the sea and the billows men fainting for fear and for expectation of the things which are coming on the world for the power of the heavens shall be shaken he said the ungodly are marked by this awful crippling power of fear but the psalmist says in this song of faith we will not fear now then notice what he says will not create fear three possibilities he said that even they will not produce fear look at them he mentions first of all the disruption of the earth itself will the earth be moved then he mentions the dislocation of the mountains not only the disruption of the earth in general but the very dislocation of the mountains notice though the mountains be shaken into the heart of the sea and thirdly the disturbance of the seas let them waters roar let them foam let them roar so badly that they even make the mountains rumble now stop for a minute and think what the psalmist is saying and this is mind blowing when you lay hold of it what are the most permanent symbols that are permanent symbols of stability and permanence in the physical earth in the physical world

46:29 the earth on which we walk hundreds of generations have walked upon it and are buried in the bowels of the earth and the earth remains nations and dynasties have risen and fallen and gone into oblivion the earth remains and will remain until that final cataclysmic judgment in which God will consume with fire and introduce the new heavens and the new earth what's more stable than the mountains what's more stable think of the mountains in our own country the Rockies standing in their majesty long before any settlers pressed westward who fought them crossed them and settled on the west coast think of those majestic mountains the Himalayas the Swiss Alps the other Alps in the European countries what is a more vivid symbol of permanence than a rugged stone mountain stretching its fingers to the sky and generations write of their beauty and poets marshal all of their faculties and pen their accolades about the mountains and they die and the mountains remain what is a greater symbol of permanence than the ebb and the flow of the seas generation upon generation now the psalmist you get what he's driving at

47:58 he says look here's faith deduction because of who God is because of the relationship he sustains to us though the most permanent things that I know of the earth the mountains and the sea though all of that is utterly disrupted I will not fear why because not one thing of God is altered when God's creation is altered and not one thing of God's relationship to his people is changed no matter what changes in the physical earth that's what God is God is refuge strength help let the mountains be jolted and not just slip off from that geological fault on the west coast and just barely make it into the bay but let them jump a thousand miles into the heart of the pacific and let the news come to me that that's what they've done I'm not going to panic I've got no panic buttons God still is no mountains jump without him doing the pushing tell me that the seas are no longer rising and falling in normal tides but they're boiling like a mighty cauldron and the rumbling is making the mountains even to shake he says you're not going to find me getting shaken because the mountains are shaking because my God is who set the mountains

49:26 and has kept them in their places and when he sees fit to rumble them shake them up a bit that's fine he's still my God and he's still my refuge he's still my strength he's still my present health in trouble now follow me and here's the whole point and crunch of the application to the new year what is more permanent the surface of the earth or the stock market now think for a minute you see the earth upon which Wall Street is constructed has witnessed many arise and fall from the stock market and I don't mean to mock economic disaster any kind of disaster is a tragedy but I want you to get the point what is more fixed the American democracy or the Rocky Mountains on the west coast they were there before the American democracy was formed they were there and they'll be there after it sinks into oblivion my friend listen you see what he's doing he's arguing from the greater to the lesser if the greatest calamities fill me with no fear how can any lesser if I will not twitch before a six foot seven two hundred and seventy pound defensive tackle of the Los Angeles Rams I'm not about to run scared before a little kid four foot two sixty three pounds you get the message

Conclusion: Facing Judgment and the New Year with Confidence

50:54 he's saying let the people defensive tackles come at me six foot seven two hundred and seventy pounds I'll not fear why because my God's bigger than he is that's what he's saying that's precisely what he's saying he does not change nothing of his relationship to us changes and so I conclude the message where those who put in the sealers conclude that you better stop and let that sink in God is our refuge and strength a very present health and trouble there therefore will not we fear though the earth do change and though the mountains be shaken into the heart of the seas though the waters thereof roar and be troubled though the mountains tremble with the swelling thereof oh listen to me dear unsafe person here this morning fellow girl man or woman visitor listen to me there's a time coming when these things will actually happen when the Lord Jesus comes from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire to take vengeance there will be upheavals of this entire created order and those who do not know God is their refuge and strength will cry to the rocks and hills to fall upon them and to hide them from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb you better take seriously God's threats of coming judgment this is not preacher's talk almighty God in mercy has sent forth his gospel

52:23 and he says repent believe seek the Lord while he may be found and oh dear Christian what a foundation you and I have we're not being chucked under the chin by carnal and humanistic optimism we dare to face whatever is before us and say we will not fear why? because God is and he is to us all that he was to the psalmist because he was only that to them in virtue of the mediation of Christ the Messiah and he is that to us in virtue of that same Savior and Lord Psalm 212 blessed is the man that trusteth in him it's the same word in the Hebrew blessed is the man that finds in him a refuge oh what a blessed thing to know him as our refuge dear parents this is perhaps one of the hardest things to say Lord I want that posture even with reference to my children what will they have to face my friend is God more concerned about them than you I want them to be more concerned with God than don't you dishonor him with deicide that says God was and God shall be but he is not present God is may the Lord make this to be his own word to our hearts as we face

53:52 this coming year in some little measure the Lord's begun to make it his word to my heart and he may call upon us to say it in circumstances other than these past circumstances in which we couldn't listen to his command and we may we be found as those who can sing the song of faith in the midst and out of the crucible of whatever troublous times God may bring to us let us pray of skin and of the external but oh may we be found as your people fortified with might by the spirit in the inner man walking with you day by day coming to know you better for you've said they that know their God shall be strong and do exploits grant that this word may have its many areas of needed application in all of our hearts and minds