God's Provision for His Church

Introduction: Facing a Troubled World with Faith

0:03 We turn again this morning to the 46th psalm, Psalm 46.

0:16 I would ask you to follow as I read the 11 verses of this psalm that one has entitled, and I borrow that title for these studies, The Song of Faith in Troublous Timeless.

0:33 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth do change, 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.

0:56 Selah.

0:59 There is a river, the streams whereof 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 will help her and that right early.

1:17 The nation. The kingdoms were moved. He uttered his voice. The earth melted.

1:27 The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

1:37 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.

1:52 He that is in the midst of the world. He that is in the midst of the world. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations.

2:03 I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

2:19 God never calls upon his people to play the part of the proverbial ostrich who when seeing. fear, or that which would produce fear, on the horizon supposedly sticks its head in the sand. God never calls upon us to do this, because the real world is the real in which is the world that God has made, and it's the world that God controls to its own predetermined end, and therefore God calls upon us to face that world as it is. But the way it is, and what it shall be, is not what we think it is, or what it appears to be, or what the

3:03 experts say it is, or what the experts say will come of it. But the real world is the world that God interprets for us, both in its present circumstances and in its future prospects. And therefore, facing this coming year with many foreboding and ominous clouds hovering over the nation and the world, is essential for us as the people of God to get our spiritual bearings from the scriptures. In order to do this, we're attempting to study together the 46th Psalm, this great song of faith in troublous times, the psalm which

3:46 proved to be such an oasis to Luther and his companions amidst the heat of opposition in Reformation days, the psalm that called forth Luther's great German paraphrase, now translated into our English, And there's just something in the saying of it that makes you feel the weight of its truth. And as we indicated in our previous study, when the heat would get intense and Tim and Melanchthon began to tremble, Luther would say, come, Philip, let us sing the 46th Psalm. And in our previous study, we looked at the setting of the psalm, and we cannot identify it with any precision. His psalm is,

4:31 historically, but it apparently was written after some mighty deliverance of God on the part of his people. The structure of the psalm, it can be approached in terms of our English hymnody as a three-stanzed hymn of praise to God and confidence in God. The stanzas being marked off by the little word sila, which the best we can understand about it is that it was probably a musical term inserted.

5:01 And in our previous study, and I shall only mention the main heads, because it's so pregnant with comfort and consolation that one will find it difficult to do anything in the way of review without re-preaching it. But we saw in our previous statement, our previous study, that the psalm is so difficult to do anything in the way of review without re-preaching it. The first stanza begins with a declaration of the reality and the being of God. God is.

5:39 And then it moves to a description of his relationship to his people. He is to his people refuge, safe retreat, and proven help. And on the basis of that, he draws a deduction. Therefore, this is the logic of faith. If God is God, and if God is to us as his people

5:59 both refuge. Safe retreat and proven help. Therefore, we need not fear no matter what happens. Though there be a disturbance of the very surface of the earth, though there be this disruption of the mountains, though there be this upheaval of the seas, we will not fear. For God is

6:20 the creator of the elements, and nothing that happens in his creation can alter his character or his relationship to his people. 1 John 3, 13-14. 1 John 3, 13-14. Consideration of the second stanza of this great song of praise in troublous times, the song of faith, verses 4 through 7. And in verses 4 through 7, we have this aspect of

The Precise Focus: God's Church, the City of God

6:47 truth set before us, God the provider and protector of his church in the face of any and all opposition. To think our way through this stanza, we shall consider first of all the precise, precise focus of concern in verses 4 to 7. Then secondly, the provision for God's people described. Thirdly, proof given of the validity of that confidence. And last of all, the pronouncement

7:16 of faith in the conclusion of that stanza. First of all then, what is the precise focus of concern in this second stanza? Whereas verses 1 through 3 are general, that is, the people of God are confessing their confidence in God in the face of all natural calamities, there is a more precise area of concern in the second stanza. The first stanza speaks of the changing of the earth, the mountains shaken into the heart of the sea, the waters trembling, the mountains trembling. You see, the

8:01 Concern is with upheaval in the natural world, and we should not spiritualize the mountains, the earth, the sea. What the psalmist is saying is that the things that appear most permanent to me, the terra firma, the surface of the earth upon which I stand, the mountains which I see with my eyes, and the seas which I can behold with my physical senses, mountains and earth and sea that have beheld the rising and falling of empires, but still there is the earth, the mountains and seas. If these most vivid symbols of permanence and changelessness are suddenly thrown into disarray, we will not fear,

8:43 because God is God, and he is refuge to us, he is present help, he is our high tower. But now notice the concern of the next stanza is not the physical earth. But we come head on into these phrases. There is a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God.

9:05 God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved, God will help her. The focus of concern in this second stanza is the city of God, verse 4a. The holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High, verse 4b.

9:23 And then the pronouns in verse... Verse 5, refer back to this city of God, this place where God dwells amongst his people.

9:34 Now how are we to identify then the focus of concern in this stanza of this hymn of faith? What is this city of God? What is this holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High? Well, since the psalm was born in a historical setting, there is no question that the whole imagery arises out of the reality of that place in Palestine that was designated the city of God, the city of David, Zion.

10:12 And if you are acquainted somewhat with your biblical history, you'll remember that David conquered this Jebusite city, and he turned it into his own headquarters. And it was a very well-protected area. It was militarily strategic. It was on one of the lofty hills in what is now called Jerusalem.

10:34 And it was there that the concept of Zion as the city of God, the dwelling place of the king, the place to which David brought the Ark of the Covenant, and subsequently when the temple was built on another site, the concept of Zion was extended to include, the entire city of Jerusalem. And then you find places in the Old Testament where it speaks of the whole nation of Israel under the symbolism of Zion. But if you turn to Psalm 87, and it was providentially kind that this was our normal, the psalm that came up in the normal consecutive reading this morning,

11:15 you have a description and an equating of the gates of Zion with the city. The city of God. His foundation is in the holy mountains. The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.

11:31 Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. The city of God is synonymous with Zion. And it was there that God was pleased to dwell when the tabernacle was cast there, and it was Zion that became the symbol of God's, kingship over his people. However, we will miss the whole thrust of the psalm if we limit it to Zion in terms of its original historical setting.

12:06 There are certain things said in this psalm that indicate that whoever penned the psalm was looking beyond literal, physical Zion. For you'll notice that in the psalm itself, it is said that she shall not be moved. Earthly Zion has been moved. Jerusalem was conquered in the Babylonian captivity.

12:30 Jerusalem was destroyed in the Roman siege in 70 A.D. And Jerusalem, including Zion, shall be trodden underfoot of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. But of this Zion it is said, she shall never be moved.

12:48 This Zion will never know a moving from her place of safety. And her place of stability. Therefore, we know that the psalm is looking beyond the literal Zion because things are said in the psalm that cannot apply strictly to literal Zion. And we know, secondly, that the psalm goes beyond literal Zion because of the teaching of the New Testament.

13:14 And I would direct you just to one portion. There are others. But Hebrews chapter 12 is the classic portion to show that the present, the present significance of Zion. And we are to read the Old Testament in the light of the full revelation of the New and not the reverse.

13:34 Don't reverse that. Read the Old in the light of the full revelation of the New. For the Old is in the New revealed.

13:47 And so you find in the New Testament a picking up of these concepts that are embedded in Old Testament terminology. And we are told that they find their fullest expression in the redemptive work of Christ and in the establishment of His church. Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 27. I'm sorry, and verse 23.

14:10 Verse 22. Pick up the thread of thought. But ye are come unto Mount Zion and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable hosts of angels and to the general assembly and church, and to the 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 the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better than that of Abel. You see, the realities to which we have come if we have closed with Christ, if we've embraced Him as our Lord and Savior,

14:53 one of those realities is we've come to the city of God. We've come unto Mount Zion. We have come to the heavenly Jerusalem. Now, if any of you has a problem with this thing, I'll be glad to see you privately and direct you to some reading that will be helpful to you.

15:12 But since the people of God through the centuries have viewed this psalm as a psalm speaking of the security and stability of the church, I will not debate the matter. I will simply ask, assert it, give you the one or two verses I've given to indicate that that assertion is not mere unfounded dogmatism, but is born of careful exegesis. The precise focus of concern in this second stanza of the psalm is the destiny of the church in the midst of the raging nations.

15:47 What will happen to God's people when the nations rage? What will happen to God's people if the elements dissolve? What will happen to God's people if governments tumble? If nations tumble?

16:02 If whole structures that men have erected crumble and are turned into nothing? What will happen to God's people? That's the great question every thoughtful Christian asks. What is the destiny of Zion?

16:16 What is the destiny of the city of God? What is the destiny of the church? And it is called the city of God because God is its author in sovereign grace. God is its creator in sovereign power.

16:31 God is its preserver in covenant faithfulness. It is called the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High because the church is his peculiar dwelling place. Though he fills heaven and earth, he indwells his church and his people. Nowhere does the scripture say God indwells heaven and earth.

16:52 He fills it, but he indwells his people. And his church. So then, the focus of concern, and this has been heavy and academic, I know, but it's necessary if we're to suck sweetness from this portion of the word. The focus of concern is the church, but not the church in times of relative ease.

17:15 Not the church in her state of glorification, but the church militant. The church in the face of great disruption in the earth on the one hand, verses 1 to 3. The church in the face of great opposition on the other hand, verse 6, the nations raged. A parallel to Psalm 2, as we shall see in the subsequent study.

God's Provision: The Gladdening River of Grace

17:39 Now then, with that being the precise focus of concern, will you consider with me in the second place the provision of God for his people in such circumstances? You will notice that the provision of God breaks down into three aspects. There is a river. The streams whereof make glad the city of God.

18:05 The gladdening river is provision number one. God is in the midst of her. That's the indwelling keeper. God will help her.

18:16 That's the timely helper. Now will you notice, and oh how some of you desperately need this word. Will you listen? As the psalmist contemplates the condition of the people, and state of the church, bounded on the one hand by great upheavals in the world, and on the other hand by great opposition to itself, where does he focus his concern?

18:43 Not upon analyzing the might and strength of the enemies of the church, and trying to outwit and outstrategize the enemies. Not sitting in a corner pouring over tons of literature that speaks to the church. That speaks of the power and the might and the armor and the purposes and the machinations of the...

19:06 No, no, no. Nor does the psalmist look out at the shaking mountains and the heaving seas and the crumbling crust of the earth. Will you notice the theocentric nature of this part of the psalm? There is a God-centeredness.

19:25 The focus of concern was upon the provisions of God. God to his people, not upon the power of her enemies.

19:37 We live in a day when some good people are leading the people of God astray by pouring out their literature, by pouring out their verbiage on the airwaves, cranking out their news releases to fill the people of God with a sense of dread. Look at this enemy! Look at that enemy! Look at this enemy!

19:59 Look at that enemy! Look at this enemy! Until the people of God stand like trembling leaves in the face of a storm. My friend, listen!

20:07 The enemies were there. They always have been and ever shall be. But behold your God! That's the emphasis of the scripture.

20:18 Are the waters trembling, roaring? Are the mountains shaking? There is a God! Hallelujah!

20:26 There is a God in the midst of his people.

20:30 That's the emphasis. Now, I want to leave exhortation to exposition. All right? Let's consider, first of all, the gladdening river.

20:40 The gladdening river. There is a river, the streams whereof may glad the city of God. Now, what's the imagery involved? That doesn't get you very excited, does it?

20:52 To use the language of you kids, that doesn't turn you on. So there's a river. Although, my friend, if you lived in Bible days, that would turn you on. Consider the imagery that's behind this.

21:03 This is poetic language and it's suffused with the language of God. It's suffused with poetic imagery. Back in the days when there were such things as cities, self-contained units, bounded by high protective walls and secured by thick barred gates, it was most essential that a city to be safe have a good stock of food laid up against the time of siege and that there be an adequate supply of water.

21:36 Now, if an advancing army was attempting to conquer a given city, one of the first things that army would attempt to do is this, shut off the water supply. If there were streams flowing into that city, they would seek to dam them up. If there were wells or conduits feeding into the city, they would seek to pollute them, to poison them, anything to cut off the water supply. Once they did that, then they could just sit back and wait.

22:05 They just had to sit back and wait. And it would only be a matter of time before the white flag of surrender would be rung up.

22:14 So the concept of a supply to the city in the midst of the advancing armies of the enemies was a very precious concept to the people of God. Now, notice what God says there. Having looked at the imagery, now look at the meaning as it applies to the church. The people of God, the church militant, are like a city which is surging of a river no matter what happens.

22:44 There is a river. And he says that that river breaks into smaller streams conveying all of that which is needed for the sustenance of the city to every member within the city. There is a river and the streams, the rivulets that flow out of it, and remember, they only can contain what's in the river itself, not some different substance the same substance but the substance no longer in abstraction but the substance available for assimilation. It's the streams that carry the substance of the river to the lips of parched dwellers in the city.

23:27 And notice, it is the city having a river with all of its streams flowing to sustain all of its citizens in the midst of the raging nations, the nations, the nations, the nations, the nations raged but there is a river. There is a river. Now, how do we identify that river? What is the river?

23:48 What's in it? What are the streams? And I confess that I went like a bee from flower to flower, from commentator to commentator, and it seems that as many commentators as I have on my shelves, there are opinions as to what the river is. But I find myself satisfied with only one solid explanation and I rest the whole case upon a text in the book of the Revelation, chapter 22 and verse 1.

24:19 And here I am safe. If I get beyond this, I may not be. But I know I'm safe here.

24:28 And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. Here is a river that brings wherever it goes life. And the reason it brings life is because it comes from that God who has all life in himself. You remember the Lord Jesus said the Father has purposed that the Son should have life in himself.

25:05 And here is the fountain of all life, the living God and the Lamb. And that river flows out from God. It is the very life and grace of God himself. And how is that conveyed to God's people by these many little streams?

25:22 And therefore, if the river is the river of grace, the streams are those conduits, those means by which grace is brought to the hearts of God's people. It would be God's covenant promises. It would be God's holy word. It would be the influences of the Holy Spirit.

25:42 It would be the ordinance, the ordinances of God, the fellowship of the saints. All of those things that God has ordained to be the means by which life and grace inherent in himself are actually conveyed to and appropriated by his people. And I think this position is valid because it says whatever these streams are, they make glad. They make glad the city of God.

26:10 Now let me ask you a simple question. As a Christian, what's the only thing that can make you substantially glad with a gladness that no external circumstance can alter?

26:22 Well, I'll tell you, it's nothing that nature can bring. Whatever nature can bring, circumstances can blast and make you sad.

26:31 Whatever grace brings, circumstances cannot alter because they convey substantial gladness.

26:40 Those are the things of realized communion with Christ, consciousness of his presence, delight in himself, and the light in himself. And in his glorious salvation, the communion of the saints, these things that nature cannot impart and circumstances cannot take away. Here is a river, you see, that cannot be affected by any external circumstances with which the church is surrounded. The nations may rage, the earth may be in a state of upheaval, mountains may be trembling, but there is a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God in spite of the shaking of the mountains,

27:25 in spite of the raging of the nations. This river of grace flows on with ever-increasing fullness and conveys all that is necessary for the well-being of the people of God, no matter what the circumstances. So we've looked at the imagery involved in the river. I've tried briefly to open up the meaning of the conversation and the concept, but in the third place under this gladdening river, notice the contrast that is made.

27:56 Not only the imagery involved in the essence of the meaning, but look at the contrast. The previous verses ended with these words. The waters thereof, that is the waters of the sea, roaring and troubled, though the mountains tremble with the swelling thereof. That is, the sea is in such a state of upheaval that it's actually making mountains to tremble.

28:25 There is a river that makes glad. And as I was meditating upon the contrast, my mind went back to that wonderful summer three years ago when you sent me and Mrs. Martin and the family to Wales to exchange pulpits with Pastor Thomas. And one of the things we used to love to do would be go down when the tide was high there in the promenade.

28:47 We would call it a boardwalk, but it's a concrete walk, so promenade is better. As the Cardigan Shire Bay comes in there in that quiet little resort town of Aberystwyth, and there's a section there where part of the land juts out and then cuts back, and they've made a very high and well-fortified, I don't know what term you'd use, but it's reinforced concrete and a wall goes up about 15 feet high. And at high tide, sometimes waves 10 or 15 feet high come in and they smack against that reinforced concrete. And as you're standing back 10, 15, 30 feet away, you can feel the tremble beneath your feet, the sheer power of the waves dashing against that reinforced concrete.

29:32 However, less than a quarter of a mile right behind that, you cross the street and there is the highest point in Aberystwyth, and they have an old sort of a cable rail car that will take you up to the top. It's what we might call a little mountain. Now it's interesting, when I was standing over on that mountain, I couldn't feel those vibrations when the biggest waves were beating against that reinforced concrete. Standing within 30, 40 feet, you could feel it.

30:01 Tremendous power, but that one little mountain over there didn't even twitch. Now the psalmist says, look, imagine if you're standing on the top of that mountain and the waves became so big and so violent that you even felt that mountain tremble. That's the imagery. Now he says, there is a river that makes glad.

30:20 You see the contrast? The raging seas that terrify and the calm, quiet river that makes glad. And you see, the child of God understands something of that contrast. Do you?

30:38 We'd be less than human if there was not the tendency to be terrified when we see seas raging, when we see the crumbling of institutions and structures that have been such a means of blessing to so many and we see it on every hand, particularly in our nation and in Great Britain. We'd be less than human if there was not some sense of apprehension. But child of God, don't be squeezed into the world's mood. Their hearts fail them for fear.

31:10 All they know is the trembling of the mountains, but we know there is a river.

31:16 And if the river's to make glad the city of God, that means that the waves are never going to destroy that city. And it means that nothing that man can do, can ever cut off that city from its God-given supply. Oh, the contrast of men of the world trembling as they behold shaking mountains. The people of God glad as they drink from the streams of living water.

31:44 That's the first great provision God has made for His church in troublous times. Child of God, filled with fear and apprehension, listen, as certainly as God is, there is a river, the river of life and grace flowing out from God Himself. His changeless character, His faithful covenant, His eternal purposes have determined that the river shall flow and that through Jesus Christ, the great head of His church, there will be the supply of all that is needed that God's people may serve Him and glorify Him while they are yet upon the earth.

32:28 What can you think of as a more difficult task than to give people water in the midst of the wilderness? God said, that's not hard for me. Moses, speak to a rock, I'll give more.

32:41 And 1 Corinthians 10 tells us they drank of that rock that followed them. And that rock was Christ. What more unlikely place to have constant supply of water than in a wilderness? God says, no problem for me, they're my people.

33:00 And they'll never suffer thirst. And the church is in the wilderness. This world is no friend of grace to help us unto God. And yet God Himself in Jesus Christ is determined that that river shall never run dry.

33:21 Child of God, don't dishonor the Lord by those terrible thoughts of unbelief.

33:29 And I say to you as an unconverted person sitting here today, you better tremble than mountains begin to vibrate when the earth's crust begins to heave. You have no river because you're not in the city.

God's Provision: The Indwelling Keeper

33:50 That city flows, that river flows into the city. And only those within that city can partake of its stream. Well, we must hurry on to consider the second aspect of God's gracious provision for His church in troublous times. Not only the gladdening river, but look at verse 5.

34:09 We have the indwelling, indwelling keeper. God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. First of all, the fact of His indwelling, God is in the midst of her.

34:21 The consequence of His indwelling, she shall not be moved. First of all then, the fact of His indwelling. God is in the midst of her. And here again, there is reference back to the historical origin of this concept.

34:37 When God was dwelling in power with His people, and His glory was manifested by that peculiar dwelling above the Ark of the Covenant and in the holiest of holies, the people of God were indestructible because God Himself was indestructible. You remember in the vision given to the prophet? Before Jerusalem could be destroyed, the glory of God had to depart from the temple. As long as the God of glory dwells in the midst of His people, His people are indestructible because God is indestructible.

35:11 God is indestructible. When the glory leaves, then His people are nothing but poor, weak human beings again.

35:21 Although the scriptures tell us that in the church of Jesus Christ, God has taken up His dwelling, and it's a dwelling that will never be withdrawn. Jesus said in John 14, 16, I will send you another comforter who shall be with you forever. He said when He gave the commission to the apostles, make disciples of all the people of the nations. Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

35:52 And then that tremendous passage in Ephesians 2, 17 to 22, which speaks of this great temple that God is building, and the whole end of it is this, that it may be an habitation of God through the Spirit. And God indwells His church. Now, what is the consequence of that? Well, look at the text.

36:15 God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. That is, she shall not totter. She shall not be shaken.

36:24 She shall not fall. In other words, it is a statement concerning the indestructibility of the church. Not because of any inherent might, wisdom, or cunning, but because of the indwelling God.

36:44 Because God Himself dwells in His church. That church is indestructible. There's no other reason for the indestructibility of the church. No other reason than that God has made it His dwelling.

37:03 And as again, as I was meditating upon this, my thoughts went back to childhood days. It's a bad sign when you start thinking of childhood days, isn't it, Mr. Dwight?

37:14 And there was a little, what I thought then, was sort of a little gospel ditty that we learned when I went to the Salvation Army Sunday School, but it got me shouting happy yesterday morning. And you know what the little ditty is? With Christ in the vessel, with Christ in the vessel, with Christ in the vessel, we'll smile at the storm and shout hallelujah, and shout hallelujah, and shout hallelujah, and smile at the storm. There's a lot of good theology in it.

37:49 Remember when the Lord was there asleep in that ship, and the violent storm arrived, rose, and there was, as it were, a little preview of what the psalmist speaks of here? The waters foaming and billowing, Lord, save us, we perish! No, no, they couldn't perish. As long as the Son of God was in that ship, they couldn't perish.

38:12 With Christ in the vessel, we can smile at the storm. That's why I rebuke, I said, oh, ye of little faith,

38:20 that can't destroy me. Why? I'm its master. Peace be sealed!

38:24 I'm amazed, I said, what manner of man is this? If only they understood it was in the ship. If only they understood it was the indestructible Son of the living God. And oh, dear people, we need to understand that he's in the vessel.

38:44 God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved.

38:51 The church can no more be destroyed than God can be ungodded.

38:58 Now individual churches may crumble. The land stand may be removed, but God, God shall have his people here on earth until he comes to gather. Till he comes again. Till he comes to take them.

39:11 I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

39:19 Can you smile at the storm and shout hallelujah? Or are you singing funeral dirges? A lot of people singing the funeral dirge of the church in our day. The church is done.

God's Provision: The Timely Helper

39:33 The church is done. My friend, with Christ in the vessel, we can shout hallelujah in the midst of the storm. The indwelling keeper. And then notice in the third place this wonderful provision.

39:51 The timely helper. The last part of verse 5. God will help her. And that right early.

39:58 Look at the marginal reading if you have the 1901 edition. Number 9 at the bottom. God will help her at the dawn of the morning. First of all, then the fact of his assistance and then the timing of his assistance.

40:13 God will help her. There's a statement of fact. In other words, God is no idle observer of the throes and woes of his people. Help is so simple a word but so significant.

40:29 When you're in the situation where help is the word you need, it's amazing how you're satisfied with its little four-lettered simplicity. Any other verbiage almost seems irreverent. A man's drowning. What does he do?

40:45 He doesn't spill out a poetic yarn about the terrible power of the water. No, he doesn't give you a biological dissertation upon the inability of his lungs to absorb water. He says what? Help!

40:59 That says it all.

41:02 And there's one thing he needs when he's drowning. Exactly what he cries for. Help. And if someone says, Help is coming!

41:10 That's all he's concerned about. He doesn't ask from what source, what the person looks like, if help is coming, help is what he needs. Help is all that can bring the light to his soul in the midst of his dilemma. You kids know what the word help means.

41:26 You're doing that difficult math problem. You come to your mom and dad where you say, Daddy, please help me. Please help me. When we're in dire straits, we say, Please, somebody send for what?

41:39 Send for help. We don't want advice. We don't want sympathy. We don't want even empathy.

41:43 We want help! We want someone to come to us in our best interest. We want someone to come to us in our best interest. We want someone to come to us in our best interest.

41:47 We want someone to come to us in our best interest. We want someone to come to us in our best interest. We want someone to come to us in our best interest. And bring us out of it.

41:49 Now look what the text says. God will help her. She will be in dire straits. God never said the church would be immune from the pressure of her enemies.

42:04 In the world ye shall have tribulation. All that will look godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

42:14 And there's nothing that has ever been raised against the church which, if the Lord allowed it to could not destroy that church. But God will come to the aid of his church.

42:26 He will help us. Remember how the psalm began? God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble, as one man translated it. As a help in distresses, he is thoroughly proof. Thank God he's not only in the midst of us, preserving himself because he's there

42:48 as some kind of an idle spectator or even a sympathetic spectator. He will help us. He will come to the aid of his church. Now notice something about the timing of that help. At the dawning of the morning is a literal translation of the Hebrew. He will

43:06 help at the dawning of the morning. And again, you have poetic imagery here. Our troubles and oppressions as a church are likened to the passing of the night. And it's not just the passing of the night. It's the passing of the night. It's the passing of the night.

43:18 And certainly as morning follows night, as certainly as those first rays of the sun will break over the horizon, heralding the dawning of a new day, he says God will help. Not when the sun comes to midday. We might be famished and done by them. But at the dawning of the morning, God will help his children. Turn to Psalm 30 and verse 5 for an excellent commentary

43:46 on this. Psalm 30. And verse 5. For his anger is but for a moment, his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may

44:01 tarry for the night, but joy cometh in the morning. Now we have a problem. And the problem is this. God does not reckon the night by our time pieces, but by his own. We say, wait

44:19 a minute. When I go to bed, I can count on it. Eight, nine hours later, it's a little longer now. I'm messing up the time business with the daylight saving time in the middle of the winter, but I can count on it. Morning will come. But you see, you can't bind God to your

44:33 time pieces. The hours of the night of travail, the hours of the night of perplexity, the hours of the night when the church seems to lie beneath the influences that will utterly destroy her, the hours of that night are set by God. But at the dawning of the morning, what he regards to be his morning, he will help us. And is not that the history of the church? It's an extended commentary on this promised

45:10 blessing to the people of God. He is a timely helper. When the night of darkness has settled upon the visible church, until it seemed as though the light that was to be set upon the hill was but one. A little flickering of a torch. What has happened? God has bared his arm and come forth

45:35 with might and power to the assistance of his people. He has rolled back their reproach. He has clothed them with power. And the people of God have become as an army, terrible with banners, and going forth in the strength of Christ, conquering and to conquer.

45:53 The history of the church has been the history. The history of God coming to the aid of his people, when it seemed as though all was lost. The history of the church in that sense is the history of outpourings of the Spirit in true quickening and revival. Because God, in the words of Jonathan Edwards, I paraphrase him now, has made a covenant with his Son.

46:21 And he ever has before his eye and his mind that covenant that he shall have not just a little bit of the remnant of humanity. But that he shall have a great multitude, whom no man can number out of every kindred, tribe and tongue and nation. And God remembers his faithful covenant to his own beloved Son. And in his due time, when the first rays of God's morning break upon the horizon, God stirs himself as a man of war, he girds his sword upon his thigh, and he comes forth conquering and to conquer.

46:59 And so, my dear friends, don't write off the church as though the last page of her history has been written. Who knows what God may do in our generation? Who knows what God may yet do to give glory to his Son? Who knows what God may do if he allows us, as the people of God, to enter a period of intense persecution?

47:30 Intense open opposition against the Lord. And so, my dear friends, don't write off the church as though the last page of her history is a visible church, in which it seems as though men will almost swallow up that church. And just when they think their raging has accomplished its design, God will just breathe, as we'll see in the next verse. He'll just open his mouth and speak.

47:49 And his church will be brought out of her state of captivity, out of her state of almost nonentity as far as the world is concerned. And God will once again call upon him. And God will once again call upon him. And God will once again call upon him.

48:05 And God will once again call upon him. And God will once again call upon him. And God will once again call upon him. And God will once again call upon him.

48:09 And God will once again call upon him. And he will then call upon him. And God will then call upon him. And as such, God will call upon him.

48:13 All of the nations will tremble in the presence of his own, dear Son who manifested in and through his people. This I say, then, is God's gracious provision for his church in trouble of times. The gladdening river. The indwelling keeper.

Exhortation to Believers: Meditate on God's Provisions

48:26 The timely helper. And I close, then, with this exhortation, first of all to us who are the people of God. What a blessed thing to be a sinner. be a citizen of Zion, to be part of the city of God, to have God as the supplier of the gladdening river, to have him as our indwelling keeper and our timely helper. Child of God,

48:53 listen, all the present sense of spiritual exhilaration that you've known this morning will vaporize before you go home unless you fuse these concepts to your spirit by meditation and prayer. Pour over this psalm and say, Lord, you've said there is a river. Some of you who are Mr. Fearings and Mr. Ready to Hold, you know something of the deep apprehensions you have

49:20 as you think of these clouds, these foreboding clouds that hang upon the horizon of our own nation, the future of the church. My friends, stop looking at the clouds. Look at the river.

49:36 Long as the clouds are gone, the river will still be there. That river is the one that will sustain us on into eternity, as John saw in the vision in the book of the Revelation. Meditate upon the glory of these provisions. Plead them when the enemy rages. If the time comes when we shall enter and know by experience what we only now know

50:03 by reading our history books. Remember, it doesn't change one iota of what this passage says. There is a river. God is in the midst.

50:15 How can He consider it? God will help you. Would you require its rescue? Did God good will help you?

50:26 How can He know you? Because, if you've been in captivity undernenvigilated, birds and maintenant thinking of・ glancing over you and bringing some emergency- metrics— You know what it is? Are you askingerta a question from God? Or are you asking against him?

Exhortation to Unbelievers: Seek Citizenship in Zion

50:44 No. Where is the nation's roars and its otherwise. Of faith. not fled to him who is the refuge of sinners. And when God strips away all your earthly

50:57 joys, when the streams of creature comfort are dried up, when the burning fire of God licks up all the water of your carnal delights, what will you have to fill your soul then? Nothing but horrible dread and terror of the awful judgment of God to break upon your head. Who will defend you when God comes to judgment? My friend, God's committed to preserve Zion.

51:23 There's only one way to get into Zion. You know what that way is? We read about it in the opening psalm this morning. You've got to be born there. Notice the emphasis. It

51:33 should be said, this one and that one was born in her. There is but one way to become a citizen of Zion. You must be born into that citizenship. And none are born into it naturally but only in God.

51:47 You must be born into it by grace. You must be born again. You cannot see, you cannot enter the kingdom of God, heavenly Zion, the true Jerusalem. But blessed be God, the Holy Spirit is present in the church, ministering with and by his servants and his word. And

52:09 we plead with you to seek the Lord while he may be found. Give yourself no rest until you know that you've become a citizen of God. Be a citizen of Zion, city of God, by that birth from above, which always comes in conjunction with the blessed message of saving grace in Jesus Christ. Flee to the Lamb of God. Cry

52:35 to God through his Son that he will, for Christ's sake, have mercy upon you. This, then, is God's gracious provision for the church of Christ. No matter what the church may face, may the Lord fill us with great joy and strong faith in the light of such exceeding great and precious promises. Let us pray.

Prayer for Faith and Conversion

53:14 Our Father, we bow this morning and we say from the depths of our hearts that we are not worthy the least of your favors, but that you should shower upon us such mercy that we may be able to receive your love and your love for us. May the Lord be with us in this world, and may we while we pray remember His united love, and how we have submitted this flood-妨 mujerdeed sin of unbelief to you. May we use you as a tool and as a teaching pupil, and please forgive us these transgressions

53:59 and every sin fruits of our gain. Come. he'll be available should the time come when we cannot meet as we meet today. We thank you you are not bound to such stated times of gathering in public places, for you've sustained your people when they've met in the ones and twos in the hovels of the earth. We thank you, O God, that

54:25 that river ever flows and will continue to flow until we come to behold him who is its source. O Lord, we plead for those who cannot say, there is a river for me. They are not members of Zion. O God, in mercy, deal with them, draw them out of their state of darkness and spiritual bondage, and bring them into the light of the glorious gospel of Christ. Lord, we would pray especially

55:00 for those in our assembly whose hearts are filled with fear. Whose minds are tormented with foreboding thoughts. O God, apply the word with power to liberate them from their crippling fears and to bring them to exhilarating joy in their God, that they may be made glad by these rivers, the present experience of them and the certain prospect of their availability no matter what.

55:37 Hear us, Lord, in our prayer and dismiss us with the blessing and benediction of your presence resting upon us through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.