Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.onetwentysixfive.com/sermons/48234/psalm-461-11/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] We'll pick up in Psalms chapter 46 and start reading in verse 1 says, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help and trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof, sila. There is a river there streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most high.

[0:34] God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved. God shall help her and that ride early. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were removed. He uttered his voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge, sila. It begins good, Donate, says, God is our refuge. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help and trouble. Therefore will not we fear through the, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with swelling thereof, sila. And so he's saying, God is our refuge and God is our help in a time of trouble. And then he makes this list here, the Psalmist does, of these what we would consider to be bad things, harsh things that are coming over the world, coming over coming over the people of the world. But he says, therefore will not we fear. That word therefore puts us back to verse one when he says, God is our refuge, God is our help, he is our strength, and he is those things, folks, when everything's going good in your life and in my life, when everything is going fine, when the bills are paid, and there's food in the pantry, and there's food in the refrigerator, we need not forget that God is our strength then as well, and God is our help then as well. But we don't, we don't really think as much about God in those circumstances when when everything is flowing smooth and everything is flowing good in our lives, we don't think so much about God being our strength. It's when we get down into the valleys, it's when the storms come our way, it's when these things happen in our lives and we and it puts in our mind, God where are you now?

[2:32] God, you were there for me yesterday when I had everything going my way, what happened God? Why did you leave? My God has not left me, my God has promised he will be with me all the way, even to the end, he is the same yesterday, today, and forever, my God does not leave me in those times, my God stays right by my side, he helps me, sees me through, if I need it, he'll pick me up and carry me across those torrents, he'll take me across the wind or through the wind, help me get across the wall whatever it is in my way, my God has promised that he will help me and the rest of his children, hallelujah.

[3:19] And I'm glad I've got a God like that, these people out there in the world, they worship, they worship different gods, some of them worship their money, some of them worship their cars, some of them worship their their prestige in the public office, some of them just worship a little bit everything, I'm talking about gods like these little Hindu gods that we see out there, these little Buddhist gods that we see out there, folks it's right here in America, it's right here in our city of Johnson City and it may be next door to you, it might be within your own home that somebody is worshiping a God other than Jehovah God, but my God, Jehovah God, the God of Israel, the God of the Old Testament and the New Testament, the one that the Bible says is the Ancient of Days, he is the One True God, he is the Living God and he is the One that is our repute and our strength, our presence, our help in a very bad time of trouble, that's my God, that's the God that these people were running about in this song, he's the only one that can and will help us.

[4:32] Hallelujah, therefore will not we fear though the earth be removed and though mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though the water is therefore roaring be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling they're uh feel out, now folks I don't know if you've ever seen it or not, but I haven't, I've never seen them happen to be removed, I've never seen these things happen that that the psalmist here is describing, what's he talking about here, hey it goes it goes on down, we've already read it once, it goes on down in the scriptures, it says says the heathen raves the kingdoms were moved, he uttered his voice, the earth melted, that ain't happened folks, the earth has been flooded, the earth has been flooded, you start reading about that over in the sixth chapter of Genesis, God destroyed the entire world by water, but the earth has not melted, this is a future event that we're reading about here in the scriptures, hey when these mountains get removed and I understand the psalmist was just was making a point here, he says though the water is therefore roaring and be troubled though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof, he says there is a river the streams whereof shall make glad the city of

[5:50] God, the holy place of the tybernacles of the most high, he says though these things take place though it seems like the world is caving in all around us, it seems like the world is against us folks, if you feel like the world is against the church you are absolutely 100 correct my bible says, Jesus said himself if they if they hate you know that they hated me first, they don't hate me because of who I am or because of anything I've done, they hate Jesus Christ for who he is and for what he is done, they hate the one that I'm associated with, not me myself, we need to keep that in mind because we start thinking look what I've done, I've caused these people over here to hate me, folks that's pride, it ain't nothing that I've done they hate me because of who my king is, they hate me because of who my present help is in these times of trouble, they hate me because I've associated myself with Jesus Christ or rather because Jesus

[6:57] Christ has associated himself with me, folks from the beginning of this day and you look over at the pageants, you look at the healers in the Old Testament, they hated the God of the Israelites, they hated the God of the Jews and it has not changed, he's still the same God of the Gentile that he was for the Jews and they hate him now, they hate him now, it has not changed, I praise God that he made him away from me, a Gentile, he made away from me to be grafted in, he made a way that I could that I could that I could join to him in the holy city Jesus Christ said, hide in the vine and you are the branches folks I'm the branch, offer that vine, that vine being Jesus Christ, the folks the branch cannot survive without the vine, if the branches removed from the vine it will wither up, it will dry up and it will go away, it will die, but praise God that vine is ever living, the vine is eternal and as long as I am attached to that eternal vine, I will be eternal as well, God said he will give me everlasting love, I am putting my faith in the word of God, that's and that folks just the word of God is a present hill, it's a it's a present hill in a time of trouble, but it goes on, he says though the water's there I'll be troubled, though the mountain shake was swelling there, there is a river,

[8:32] I just got through talking about troubled waters, he says but there is a river, there is a river, folks you read all throughout the bible, sometimes it's talking about a physical river, sometimes it's talking about a spiritual river, folks either way a river in scripture does one main job, it has one main purpose and that is to bring life, folks over there over there in Egypt, they depended on the Nile River to bring them life, they depended on it to flood their lands, they depended on it to fertilize the land with the sediment that came up, you read over in Ezekiel 47, it's talking about the house of the Lord and it says that there's a river that comes out from the threshold and it flows eastward, talking about a river for the house of the Lord, where was Daniel hanging out, he was hanging out by the river Hedekal over in the Book of Revelation, it says that there's a river flowing from the throne of God, it's crystal clear and the tree of life is blooming on either side of it, folks rivers give life, my God gives life, he is not a God, I'm the dead, he is a God of the living, hallelujah, there's a river, the streams where I shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles, of the Most High God, there's a river there, folks I didn't know seeing that river one day,

[10:01] I didn't know seeing the river that flows out from the throne of God, that river is a picture of life and listen God himself is a picture of life, where does that river flow from, it flows from the throne of God, it flows from the place of life, it flows from the place where life sits, where life itself dwells, all life is given by God, all life comes from God, I don't care what science is doing out here in the world, I don't care how many things they think that they can clone, how many things they think that they can copy, how much they think that they are giving life under these states, folks my God gives life, he is the only one that gives life, he is the God of life, period, we don't need to pay attention to things like that going on in the world, you know what that is people doing those things, that's people trying to play God, that's people trying to be God when they are trying to give life into something that was dead, only my God can do that, folks according to Ephesians 2, we were dead and our trespasses and sin and it took Almighty God to come our way and to breathe life back into us, our way of His Holy Spirit, it took God to bring something that was dead to life, what did he say to Israel over in the book of Ezekiel 16, he said, when I passed by thee and I saw thee polluted in thy blood,

[11:24] I sat under thee, live, I sat under thee, live, only God could make them live, only God can keep the church alive, keep the church safe and my God will do that until he calls the church home and I'm confident that he will because my Bible describes all those things, my Bible describes God taking care of his own, taking care of the church, taking care of the Jews, folks that little speck over there in the Middle East we call Israel right now, that is not the promised land, it is not the land that is promised to those Jews in Scripture, over 300,000 square miles was promised to those people, it ain't listed like it in the Scripture but when you take the measurements, when you say from this river to that sea, when you say from this point in the south to this point in the north and you add all that up, it comes up to an area of over 300,000 square miles, they don't have that, they don't have anywhere near that, in fact since the beginning of time Israel has managed to possess about a tenth of the land that they were promised to possess in the Bible, if God promised it to Abraham and to his descendants,

[12:37] I promise you it will happen, one of these days they will possess everything that God told them that they would possess, it won't be for you, it won't be for me, it will be for the Jewish people, whether we like it or not is Gentiles, whether we like that or not that's the way it will be, God is in the midst of her, of who?

[13:00] There, or was back up, there is a river, in the streams where all shall make glad the city of God, the place of the tabernacles of the most high, God is in the midst of her, in the midst of what? In the midst of the city that it just brought up, God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved, God shall help her and that right early, God is in the midst of that, well what's going to be in that city?

[13:26] God's people is going to be in that city and only the people of God will be there, only the people of God will dwell in that city, it says that God is in the midst of her, God is in the midst of his people, hey folks Jesus Christ came here and Jesus Christ was God manifest in the flesh, I believe that with all of my heart because the Bible teaches that he was in the midst of his people, it says he came into his own and his own received him not, talking about the Jewish people, talking about those that the Old Testament was written for, and it says that they received him not, they rejected it, the Bible says that the Book of Isaiah, he was despised, he was rejected, folks I'll be honest with you, take a look at him, he was despised and he was rejected because of those Jews, had accepted him as my side on his first ad-bent to this earth, there would be no hope for me and you as Gentiles to have salvation, so don't be mad at the Jews for rejecting them, the heathen raised the kingdom's removed, he uttered his voice, the earth melted, the Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge, so long, the heathen raised and the kingdom's removed, now folks there have been times that's happened throughout history, when the heathen raised, you look at Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king, he raged, he come into Jerusalem, he seized Jerusalem, burned it to the ground, that was a movement of a heathen raging, let's know what this is talking about though, we are talking, this is a picture of end time prophecy and not only here,

[15:09] Psalm 45, Psalm 47 and Psalm 48, all picture the same thing, it pictures an eternal kingdom of Almighty God, it says that the heathen raised, the kingdom's removed, he uttered his voice and the earth melted, folks, this would be what we refer to as the battle of Armageddon, that's what most of us know that as the battle of Armageddon, it says that the kings, the kings, they all come against Almighty God, the nations, they come against Almighty God, but not only against Almighty God, they come against Israel as well, God's chosen people, God's chosen land, they come if they're coming against Israel, they're coming against Jerusalem, which is the city that God has placed his very name upon, folks, it does us no good, it'll do them no good, they'll come against God, because God will slaughter them, my Bible says that Jesus Christ will come out of the eastern sky, riding his horse and the armies of heaven will follow with him and he will slay these people with the sword of his mouth, he ain't going to need us to fight, we're just tagging along behind him to watch the show, that's all in the world the armies of heaven are doing, we won't need to fight, Jesus Christ will take care of all this himself, the heathen raised, the kingdoms were moved, he uttered his voice and the earth melted, after all these things that we're talking about here, after all these things and Peter does an awesome job of describing it, the earth will be burned up, it will be burned, it will melt, the Bible says that the very elements will be melted, the air will melt, water will melt, can you imagine that?

[16:54] All this says the elements will be melted, says here the Lord of Hostes with us, or I'm sorry the heathen raised, the kingdoms were moved, he uttered his voice, the earth melted, these heathen and these kings and these kingdoms and these armies do not stand a chance against Jesus Christ, praise God, I'm glad I'm on the winning side, I'd hate to think that I was part of these kingdoms that moved against God and folks, hey once upon a time I was that's why I can raise my hands in praise right now toward God because at one time I was part of the kingdoms of the world that would come against God, I was part of the kingdoms of the world that hated God with my actions, with my speech, with my thoughts, I hated God but I'm on his side now, I'm on the winning side and I will be a spectator to this event when Jesus Christ conquers all.

[17:51] The Bible says the last enemy to be conquered is death, is death itself, praise God, the Lord of Hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge, the Lord of Hosts is with us, hey that's our comfort, that's our peace, that's where we get our solace from, is knowing that the Lord of Hosts is with us, the Lord of Hosts, what is the Lord of Hosts, it's the Lord of Armies, and he's not only the Lord of Hosts of his own people, he's Lord of the Armies over the earth, whether they like it or not, or whether they even realize it or not, they ain't one helicopter, no, not one military helicopter, not one military tank, not one military APV, none of these things could take off one single inch if it went for Almighty God, allowing it to happen, he's Lord of Hosts, he is Lord of the Armies, but it says the Lord of Hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge, describing these these end time, this end time prophecy here, he says the God of Jacob is our refuge, see law, continue on to verse eight, 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 cuteth the spear and sundry, he burneth the chariot and the fire, be still and know that I am God, I will be exalted among the heathen,

[19:20] I will be exalted in the earth, the Lord of Hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge, see law, come behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth, oh we think, we think that the flood was a bad time and it was, listen it ain't gonna be nothing compared to the end of this thing when it wraps up, it will be nothing compared to the flood came and it drowned everybody, there's going to be bodies strung everywhere at the end of this thing, the bible describes that valley where this great battle supposed to take place, it says that the blood will flow up to the horses bridle, up to the horses bridle, that's about yay tall, that's about yay deep, on most horses, hey folks and I take that literally, I don't take that symbolically, I believe that that will literally happen, that the blood of Jesus Christ enemies will flow up to the up to the horses bridle, folks that's scary, thought once again I'm glad I'm not on that side, that's the losing side, I'm on the winning side with Jesus Christ, it says behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth, he maketh wars to cease under the end of the earth, he breaketh the bow and cuteth the spear and sunder, he burneth the chariot and the power, when is all this taking place, after the kings have moved against him, after the kingdoms have moved against him, after the armies have come against him, after all he says, my God Jesus Christ will put an end to all war, period!

[20:57] He does it by breaking the spear, by breaking the bow, he does it by burning the chariot in fire, he says be still and know that I'm God, I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth, God Almighty will get the respect and he will get the praise and he will get the acknowledgement that is due to him, we've heard it said countless times, I've said it countless times, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is indeed, praise God, Lord, he is Lord, but every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that some will do it in faith, some will do it in believing and others will do it because they are made to do it, I've explained to you all before, if you read that not only in the Old Testament and the original Hebrew, but if you read it in the Greek in the New Testament, when it says that every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess, that word for bow means to be broken, some people will be made to acknowledge Jesus

[22:02] Christ, but either way they will acknowledge it, actually it means to be broken or to be crushed, either way they will bow down before Jesus Christ, I'm glad I'm one of those that can do it in faith, I'm glad I'm one of those that won't be made to do it folks, but at one time that wasn't the case, I remember, I remember very plainly as a teenager, my mama was on my case, she was all those when we were teenagers, but my mama was on my case about my disbelief in the Bible and she even got one of my brothers in on the conversation, the brother that wasn't even saved, but she got him in on the conversation too, but I remember her telling me that very line that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess and I told her then I said I will not bow, I will not bow, I told my mama that, now listen I was a stubborn teenager, I was 16, 17, 18 years old, but I told her that just plain as day I will not bow, if he's real I will not bow before, not understanding this scripture here,

[23:05] I knew what the scripture says, I knew the Bible more than most church covers back then, I knew it very well, I knew what it said, but I told my mama I will not bow before Jesus Christ, and after I got saved and I got even deeper into the Bible, got even deeper into my studies, I started studying Hebrew and I started studying Greek in those days and I found that I was like my goodness boy I was wrong one of many times as a teenager I was wrong, but I'm glad I won't be made to bow, I'm glad I'll do it voluntarily, I'll do it because he saved my soul, I'll do it because I want to, not because I'm made to, but anyway he maketh wars to cease on the end of the earth, he breaketh the bow, he cuteth the spear and sundry, he burneth the cherry with fire, be still and know that I'm God, I will be exalted, among who? Among the heathen, I will be exalted, among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth, folks, these are I will statements of

[24:08] Almighty God, and if Almighty God says I will do this and I will do that, or this will happen for me, it will happen to cause me, I promise you with every fiber of my being if God said I will, it will happen, you can bank on it, he says I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth, the Lord of hosts is with us, who? These Jews, these Jews that were singing this song, the Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge, when is he our refuge, folks, as the church, he's our refuge all the time, as these Jews, he was their refuge all the time, but why did they just get through singing about the end times, they got through singing about end-time prophecy, they got through singing about things that we have not seen, things that are not in history just yet, they got through singing about that, that tells me that the Jewish nation is alive and well in the last days, God has always got a remnant of his people on this planet, it's been that way since the get-go, it was that way all throughout the

[25:14] Old Testament, even though Satan himself tried to demolish the people of God, even though he tried to destroy them all throughout the Old Testament and own into the new God, has always got a remnant of his people, because he made a promise to him, he made a promise to Abraham and to his seed that these things would come to pass and that promise has not been broken, there ain't no way that little that little speck on the map over Israel surrounded by all these muslim nations, there is no logical way it could have survived all these years since 1948, that when it was recognized as a nation surrounded by enemies, surrounded by these heathens that wanted them dead, the only way that could have happened is if Almighty God was the one doing the protecting, and that's why it's still there, and that's why it'll be expanded one of these days, because God promised that that would happen, he promised that they would have their land, he promised them a certain amount of land and they will have it, now listen, when God comes, when Jesus comes to reign on this earth, it ain't going to be limited to that area over there we're talking about, he will reign over the entire earth and he will reign in righteousness, he will reign with a rod of iron, he will reign, folks, this is what we refer to as the thousand year reign, or the millennial reign of Jesus Christ, everything's going to be peaceful, everything's going to be wonderful, everything's going to be great, that's when the wine, the leg down with the lamb, that's when the child can play in the asshole, with the adder, with the poisonous snake, that's when all of these things are going to be able to take place, it's during that millennial reign of Jesus Christ, the most amazing thing about that though, is not that I'll be part of that reign, is not that I will reign with Jesus Christ, the most amazing part is after a thousand years of peace and tranquility, there are still people that decide to rebel against Jesus Christ, you read about it over in Revelation, that's when Satan's loosed for him his whole from the bottomless pit, and that's when he goes and he gathers all the armies of the earth, there are still people after a thousand years, after a thousand years of peace, there will still be people who rebel against Jesus Christ, and that's the ones that we're talking about, are going to be strong all about the earth, namely in that valley over there, over there in the Middle East, but folks God is our present help in a time of trouble, he was for these Jews, he is for the church right now, but not just in a time of trouble, we got to remember what we read just a few minutes ago, it says uh, it says though the earth being removed, though the mountains to be carried in the midst of the sea, though the waters there, roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake, he's talking about all these bad things, all these horrible things going on around, but he says God is our refuge, though these things happen, God is our refuge, folks this is kind of an extension of the of the second half of the sermon from this morning, when we were talking about the the two builders and what kind of house that they built, what kind of foundation that they had, folks this is a good extension of that, it doesn't matter what comes our way, it doesn't matter the winds, it doesn't matter the rains, it doesn't matter any of these things because almighty God is our refuge,

[28:40] God will look after his people, God will protect us, God will help us, God will guide us out of the midst of trouble, it may not be in a way that we thought it would be, but my God promises this for his people, we just got to hang on for the ride, that's all we got to do, follow God, Jesus said, Jesus told his disciples when he was calling them out, follow me, don't follow your families, don't follow your friends, don't follow these others out here, you follow me, any man that will be my disciple will take up his cross and follow me, he'll deny himself and do these things and follow me, some words of Jesus, all we got to do is follow, oh he's already guaranteed victory, he is guaranteed victory in this book, we is the church, we go to heaven, when these times come to pass, we do nothing but sit back and watch Jesus do what Jesus said that he was going to do, what he had to do exactly the way he said,

[29:44] I don't believe that we will draw the first bow, we will throw the first spear and folks quite frankly I don't think we'll have to put up a shield either, I don't think we'll have to do any of these things, Jesus crossed himself, he's going to slaughter the enemy with the sword of his mouth, so no matter, no matter these waters that come your way, he is our refuge, he was a refuge to these Jews and he was a refuge to them as they sung this song, he was a refuge to them before this, he was a refuge to them and he'll be a refuge to them in the future folks, he was a refuge or he is a refuge to the church now, he was at the very beginnings of the church and he will be in the future, he will always be our refuge no matter what comes your way, no matter no matter the storm, no matter the wind, no matter any of these things, no matter what comes our way, God is our refuge, we do not depend on ourselves, we depend on Him and only Him, thank God, God bless y'all, I appreciate you.