Last week, as we were looking at Matthew 14,
I showed how it tied into Psalm 23, or at least
I endeavored to do that. But this morning, we're
going to look at this entire psalm as a backdrop
as we go into next week. No doubt this is a familiar
psalm to many of you all. I don't know if I have
favorites. I guess if I did, it would probably
be Psalm 46. I will tell you if I visit people
in the hospital, typically the psalm that I will
read or to many saints that I've prayed on their
deathbed, Psalm 46 is the one that I usually
turn to. Let's read it in its entirety and ask
God to help us. The psalmist writes, God is our
refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore, We won't fear, even though the earth
is removed and the mountains be carried in the
midst of the sea, though its waters roar and
be troubled, though the mountains shake with
its swelling. Selah. There is a river whose streams
shall make glad the city of God, the holy place
of the tabernacle of the Most High. God is in
the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God
shall help her just at the break of dawn. The
nations raged. The kingdoms were moved. He, that
is God, uttered his voice and the earth melted.
The Lord of hosts, Yahweh Sabaoth, is with us.
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. Come,
behold the works of the Lord. who has made desolations
in the earth. He makes wars cease to the end
of the earth. He breaks the bow and cuts the
spear in two. He burns the chariot in the fire.
Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted
among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth.
The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob.
Is our refuge. Selah. Let's pray. Father you
are our king. We are your servants. Lord we have
come. Not only to sing praises. But Lord God
we want to hear. From you our king. Our sovereign
who reigns over us. To be instructed Lord. To
grow in our most holy faith. That Father Lord.
You would take the word of God. And open it.
Plant it deep within us, Lord, that it might
produce a righteous fruit, Lord, in our lives.
God, all of us have dealt with fear, worry, anxiety.
Lord, there's not any of us here who can say
that we have never experienced those emotions.
But, Lord, when we look to you as our God and
King, we can have peace even amidst turmoil.
Lord, would you feed us with manna from on high
this morning. Would you show us Jesus from Psalm
46. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. So the backdrop.
What do you do personally when life is careening
out of control? Fear suddenly now takes a hold
and grips your heart. Or when chaos now wreaks
havoc in your life in some way. Because if we're
honest, each of us would say this, life is uncertain.
I have been with many people, immediately after
they received a phone call, they were unexpecting.
And their life is forever marked, the day before
the phone call and the day after. Because life
is full of twists, it's full of turns, and there's
no way that we could possibly foresee everything
that will come our way. So what do you do when
the unimaginable takes place? Well, I think we
can look to Psalm 46. This is, as I said, a well
-known, it's a very beloved psalm. I think it's
good for us to remember that the psalms are songs.
In fact, all the psalms, the 150 psalms, are
the Psalter. It's a songbook of Israel. So when
we look at Psalm 46, it's known as a liturgical
song, meaning it was to be used in corporate
worship. So what we just read, ancient Israel
would have gathered in a synagogue and had been
singing it. Now I think today it's probably best
known as the backdrop for Martin Luther's famous
hymn, A Mighty Fortress is Our God, based on
Psalm 46. It is a song of victory, of triumph,
victory, mighty deliverance. We celebrate in
this psalm God's strength in delivering and protecting
his people. But I feel like we will miss the
import of it if you don't understand the backdrop
to it. Now many scholars connect Psalm 46 to
the Assyrian invasion of Jerusalem when Hezekiah
was king of Judah. So let me give you the situation
at that time, and I really think it will give
some light here on this text. So you have Sennacherib,
who is the king of Assyria, a horrible nation.
You have Hezekiah, king of Judah, southern kingdom.
Assyria was the strongest, most ruthless, violent
nation on the earth. They were barbaric people,
historically known to be very cruel. They were
fierce in the way that they thought. In fact,
when they would capture people, they showed little
to no mercy at all. But they had risen to be
the premier military power. They vanquished nations,
left destruction in their wake. In fact, their
area today that they controlled would be Iraq,
Syria, Jordan, and even Lebanon. They held quite
a bit of power. It seemed as though there wasn't
any army that could withstand them and much less
defeat them. The moment that this cruel nation
would have been mentioned, it literally would
have struck terror into the heart of the bravest
warrior. You would have rather have gone to war
with any other nation except Assyria. And up
to this point, 100 % victory. They had no defeats.
They looked as though they were invincible. And
now they set their sights on conquering Jerusalem.
That tiny little capital city in southern Israel.
So they attacked it. They laid siege to Jerusalem.
And they insisted on a full and complete surrender.
Militarily, Jerusalem was no match at all for
Assyria. It would have been an easy conquest.
In fact, you have the Rabshika, who was the Assyrian
commander. He comes into Judah mocking the Jews
and their God. And we see that in 2 Kings 18.
Here's his words, the Rabshika, the Assyrian
commander. Do not listen to Hezekiah, that is
your king, when he misleads you by saying, the
Lord Yahweh will deliver us. Has any of the gods
of the nations ever delivered his land out of
the hand of the king of Assyria? Look around
you. Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad?
Where are the gods of Zepharvaim, Hannah, and
Evah? Have they delivered Samaria? out of my
hand? Who among all the gods of the lands have
delivered their lands out of my hand? That the
Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?
He's mocking them. Basically, he comes into their
land and by the way, he speaks in the native
tongue so that everyone can hear him. He says,
you think that Yahweh, you think your God can
deliver you? Has any other God of any other land
been able to deliver? We're batting a thousand
here. Now listen and put yourselves in those
who would have been living in Jerusalem at that
time. What would they have been thinking? The
world's most powerful, cruel, violent army has
just laid siege to your city. They will do whatever
it takes. They are ruthless. If you fall into
their hands, it means certain torture. And by
the way, every other land has been defeated.
I'm sure the men were thinking, what's going
to happen to our wives and children? If Assyria
is victorious here, what's going to happen when
our women and children fall into the hands of
these barbarous people? Because you know what
happened? Women were raped. Babies were thrown
against rocks or slain with a sword, dashed in
pieces. Now, I knew that from earlier, but I
thought, well, I'm just going to look that up
and just see from a secular source. So here's
what I found. Researchgate .net. Here's what
they said about ancient Assyria. It is well documented
for its extreme cruelty toward conquered peoples.
It included flaying, impaling, and burning victims.
The practice of dashing infants against walls
or rocks upon capturing a city was a deliberate
method used to wipe out a whole lineage and to
strike terror into any rival nation. So they
were doing it to set a precedent, a deterrent,
if you would. Because if you know, hey, surrender
to us, because if not, here's what's going to
happen to your babies. This is a horrible, horrible
people. Now, what was the capital of Assyria?
Nineveh. You're probably thinking, oh, Nineveh.
Where was the prophet Jonah commissioned to go
preach a message of repentance? Nineveh, the
capital of Assyria. Now do you start to understand
why Jonah didn't want to go? He is very reluctant.
He's very resistant. He hates the fact that God
wants any preacher to go into that ancient city
and preach a message of grace and repentance.
They're violent. They're barbaric. And Jonah
wants them to face judgment, not receive mercy
from God. So you have God's people. They're living
in very dangerous times. And when you live in
dangerous times, you need strong leaders. So
we see Hezekiah. What does he do? He goes to
the only place where he could find any help at
all. He did not consult with Israel's military
leaders. He did not consult with political strategists
or the wealthy men of the city. They were all
powerless. Instead, he goes into the temple and
he prays to his God, Yahweh. And we find the
prayer in 2 Kings 19, beginning in verse 14.
Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, house
of Yahweh, spread it before Yahweh. Then Hezekiah
prayed before the Lord and said, O Lord God of
Israel, the one who dwells between the cherubim,
you are God, you alone of all the kingdoms in
the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline
your ear, O Yahweh, and hear. Open your eyes,
O Yahweh, and see. Hear the words of Sennacherib,
that's the king of Assyria, which he has sent
to reproach the living God. Truly, Lord, the
kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations
and their lands. That's true. They have cast
their gods into the fire, for they were not gods,
but they were the work of men's hands, wood and
stone. That is why they destroyed them. Now therefore,
O Yahweh, our God. I pray, save us from his hand,
that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that
you are the Lord God, you alone. Hezekiah is
not denying that there's imminent danger. There
is. Jerusalem is in peril. Hezekiah is a realist.
It is absolutely true. All the other nations
had been conquered. But the gods of those nations
were not gods, okay? They were useless idols,
wood and stone. That's why they could be burned
in fire. They were impotent to save and deliver.
But now Sennacherib was coming to overthrow the
people of the Almighty. He had set his side on
God's covenant people. But the God of Israel
is not some local deity. He's not a regional
deity. Because that was the prevailing thought
at that time. Every nation had its own gods.
And whoever won in battle, they thought, well,
that God. So if you won on a mountain, well,
that's the God of the mountain. Let's go into
the valley, and the God of the valley will defeat
the God of the mountain. That's how they thought.
And Hezekiah is like, that's rubbish, that's
foolish. You are the creator of heaven and earth.
You are God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of
the earth. Universal territory. You've made heaven
and earth. Now, the Lord heard Hezekiah's prayer.
And he sends the prophet Isaiah to speak to Hezekiah.
So what will God's response be to Hezekiah's
prayer? Same chapter, a little bit later. Then
Isaiah, the son of Amos, sent to Hezekiah, saying,
Thus says the Lord God of Israel, Because you
have prayed to me against Sennacherib, king of
Assyria, I have heard. And this is the word which
the Lord has spoken concerning him. The virgin,
the daughter of Zion, has despised you, laughed
you to scorn. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken
her head behind your back. Whom have you reproached
and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised
your voice? and lifted up your eyes on high against
the Holy One of Israel. Verse 27. But I know
your dwelling place. I know where you live. I
know you're going out and you're coming in. I
know your rage against me. And he says, here's
what I'm going to do. Verse 28. Because you rage
against me and your tumult have come up to my
ears, therefore I will put my hook... in your
nose and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn
you back by the way which you came. Basically,
shut up, fool. You have no power against me whatsoever.
And so we look down at verse 34 and 35 and we
see what happened. God says in verse 34, for
I will defend this city, Jerusalem, to save it
for my own sake and for my servant David's sake.
I made a covenant with David and I'm going to
keep my promise. Look at verse 35. This is the
answer. And it came to pass on a certain night
that the angel of the Lord, the angel of Yahweh,
went out and he killed in the camp of the Assyrians,
remember they're the ones laying siege to Jerusalem,
185 ,000 soldiers. And when people rose early
in the morning, there were the corpses. And I
love this, all dead. Isn't that redundant? Yeah,
there are corpses. Of course they were all dead.
185 ,000 killed. Israel didn't lift a finger.
Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, in his arrogance,
he thought he was invincible because he had a
premier military force. His past success filled
his heart with pride. He was arrogant. He was
lifted up. He thought, I have accomplished all
this by my own strength. I've not had any help.
And yet the truth was that God was simply using
this evil man. as a tool to execute God's judgment
on those pagan nations. That's why God raised
him up. Sennacherib was nothing more than a pawn,
a tool in the hand of the Almighty that he was
using to accomplish his own sovereign purposes.
But as my grandma would say, he got too big for
his britches, and now he's going to pay for it.
Arrogance, folly is in the heart of this pagan
king. He's assuming no one's ever going to defeat
me. And pride goes before destruction. And a
haughty spirit before a fall. And by the way,
now, I spent a little time on this. That's the
backdrop for Psalm 46. All that is what Psalm
46. So now let's go to the psalm. You see the
first three verses. I've already read them. But
you see the situation here. It's like describing
a great earthquake. Not a small earthquake. This
is magnificent earthquake. The earth is coming
undone. The earth is being removed. Mountains
are falling. Mountains are shaking. And they're
falling into a turbulent sea. Okay, that's what's
happening. This is a very frightening scene.
Again, if you're living at that time, this would
have been enough to strike terror into the heart
of the most courageous man. And against this
backdrop, Assyria is at your doorstep. The psalmist
confidently says, go sing this song. God. is
our refuge. He is a place to which we run and
hide. He is a place where we find strength and
security. When the storms of life come, where
do you run? Where do you turn? God offers absolute
protection. Now, the psalmist did not say that
God gives refuge. The psalmist did not say God
will point out where refuge may be found. Instead,
he said God is our refuge. He. Yahweh, God, Elohim,
he is the place of protection. You want to be
safe? It's found in him. And by the way, that's
the promise of Emmanuel. What's Emmanuel, Matthew
1? God with us. That's our hope. God is with
us. God does not abandon his people in time of
trouble. And he refuses to do so. Now, he may
not, folks, remove the trial. He may not remove
the thing that is causing you pain. but he promises
to be with you in it. God offers you himself
the gift of his presence. He's our shelter, but
he's also our strength. What's that mean? He
gives you the ability to handle anything that
he in his providence brings into your life. Your
life may feel uncertain, and there are people
in this church, and I know that it does. Certainty
really doesn't exist. Is your heart broken? Some
people are. Does your life feel like it has no
meaning? God says, listen, turn to me. I will
be refuge. I will give you the strength that's
needed to endure. Because the truth is, all of
us, as the saints of God, we all go through uncertain
times. What do we do when life is uncertain?
We do what God's people have always done. We
run to him. Because notice the text. He is a
very present help in trouble. Literally translated.
God is a help in distresses found exceedingly.
I know that's awkward. It's cumbersome. That's
why it's not translated that way. Let's see what
it's saying. Our father is always, always willing
to help his children. The very moment you need
him, he's there. Isn't that what a good father
does? The moment you need him, he's there for
you. So what the psalmist is saying, he's a present
help. There is immediate access. You don't need
to make an appointment with God. You don't need
to check his calendar or see if you might reach
him or when he might be available. No. When life
is uncertain, when life is chaotic, the believer
has immediate access to the Father. Because you're
his son. And you have 24 -7 access to the throne
room of God. God is our Father. He's also our
King. As a father, he cares. Jesus said, not
a hair will fall from your head, what the Father
in heaven noticing. But as our king, he wields
all power to do whatever we need him to do. His
arm is not shortened. In verse 2 and 3, it says,
therefore, I love this, that because of that,
we're not going to fear. The logic. Since the
Almighty, Elohim, God Most High, since He is
our refuge, since He is our strength, therefore
we have no cause to fear. I love this with Psalm
27 .1. The Lord is my light and salvation. Whom
shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my
life. Of whom shall I be afraid? God is with
us. He's Emmanuel. God is with us. He won't leave
us. He'll never forsake us. Therefore, we have
no reason for worry. We have no reason to fear.
What about if the earth is removed? What about
if the mountains start suddenly crumbling and
falling into the sea? If you go back into the
Bible, the reason the psalmist uses mountains
is because the earth and mountains represented
stability, security, permanence. They considered
them to be permanent. So the psalmist is describing
a situation here where the very foundation of
human life is being compromised. The earth is
coming undone. It's ultimate disaster. So everything
in your life that is stable suddenly becomes
unstable. What do we do? Even when the world
seems to be unraveling, rogue nations seem to
be threatening, we can be calm. We can be confident.
Because God is with us. The created order is
very unreliable. But God remains unchanged. He's
the same yesterday, today, and forever. See,
I love this. This is why we can go to him. He's
a rock. He's an anchor. God is unfazed by the
circumstances of life. Now, listen, the psalmist
does not deny sadness. He doesn't say you won't
be sad. He says you just don't have to fear.
You don't have to fear. You may grieve. You may
lament over the situation you are enduring. But
you don't have to live in terror because of it.
Look at verses 4 and 5. In verse 3, you had turbulent
waters, a turbulent sea. But verse 4, I love
this. There is a river whose streams make glad
the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most
High. Notice, notice the contrast. In verse 3,
you got turbulent, churning waters. Mountains
are falling under the violent sea. But in verse
4, there's a gentle stream, a river. passing
through Jerusalem, the city of God. Now Jerusalem
doesn't have a river passing through it. What
he's saying is where God is present, remember
where is the temple? In Jerusalem. There's peace,
there's tranquility, there's even joy. So what
the word picture is giving here is the world
is languishing, the world is reeling, but not
the people of God. There is a difference for
them. There's a sense of calm. and well -being.
Why? God is in our midst. Here's the promise
of stability. She shall not be moved. The city
of Jerusalem shall not be moved. I don't care
what Sennacherib says. And here's the promise
of consolation. Why won't she be moved? God will
help her. And that right early, in the early
morning hours. What happened? When did God strike
the Assyrians dead? Sometime through the night.
And when Israel woke up, there was 185 ,000 dead
Assyrians. They didn't lift a finger. But I want
you to notice something else. So you've got that
river there. It's the streams whereof make glad
the city of God. This is an important picture
because in the arid Near East where Israel is,
even today, water is a very precious commodity.
It's a picture of life. It's a picture of prosperity.
So this gentle stream flowing through Jerusalem
was a sign of God's provision. So God not only
defends his people, but he also provides for
his people. But it's not just a gentle stream.
It's a river. There's abundance. This is a picture
of grace. Now, there is this picture of a river.
If you know the Bible and you go all the way
to the last chapter of the Bible, all the way
to Revelation 22, there is another river pointing
to the end -time vision of a new Jerusalem. Revelation
22 .1. And he, the angel speaking to John, showed
me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal,
proceeding from the throne of God and of the
Lamb. That river represents the perpetual, refreshing
providence and peace of God. Now that's a mouthful
to say very fast, I will tell you that. So in
verses 2 and 3, the created order is disintegrated.
But in verse 5, God is in the midst of her. She's
not going to be moved. Absolute stability. God
stands with his people and the people of God
stand against turmoil. Because he's with us.
Now in verses 1 -3 you saw a natural calamity,
but in verses 6 and 7 there's human caused calamity.
Look at the text. The nations are raging, kingdoms
are being moved, but God uttered his voice and
the earth melted. Now look at this. The nations
raged. What's that mean? Political uproar. Military
campaigns are being waged. So the context, again,
the Assyrian army is laying siege to Jerusalem.
So let's put it this way. Assyria is raging.
Notice the text. God lifts his voice. That's
the end of it. Assyria was terribly powerful,
but God's word has ultimate power. When Jesus
comes at the end, How does he strike his enemies
down? With the word of his mouth. He speaks and
they're done. That's the same thing that's happened
here. You find Assyria, the most violent, fierce
fighting people, destroyed simply by a word.
And this is how God deals with raging nations.
He simply speaks and it says the earth melts.
Before him. Because God rules over creation.
He's sovereign over the rise and fall of kingdoms.
He controls the raging of nations. He also controls
the shaking of kingdoms. Listen, the political
front is certainly tenuous at best. I mean, it
changes. And we don't know what the future holds.
But we know who holds the future. Notice the
text. The Lord of hosts is with us. And this
is something that's so very important. The Lord
of hosts, Yahweh, the Lord of hosts, Sabaoth.
That's a title that was given to God. He's the
supreme commander of the heavenly armies. You
could also say he's the commander of angelic
armies or the army of angels. So notice a contrast.
Assyria had a very impressive army. But the Lord
of hosts, the supreme commander of the supernatural
army, It's with us. That's why God's people don't
have to fear. I mentioned this last week when
we were talking about Psalm 23, and I'll mention
it again this morning. In 2 Kings 6, do you remember
now the king, not of Assyria, but of Syria? The
king of Syria wanted to come and find the prophet
Elisha. He hated him because Elisha was informing
Israel of his plans to attack. So he sends his
army, he dispatches the Syrian army to go over
to the city where Elisha and his servant were
to surround the city and take Elisha and let's
get him out of the way. Let's kill him. So now
what happened? Elisha's servant wakes up and
he sees the Syrian army all around the city and
he's terrified. He said, what are we going to
do? We're vastly outnumbered. Now pick up the
text in verse 16. Elisha answered his servant.
He said, don't fear. Same thing the psalmist
is saying. For those who are with us are more
than those who are with them. Elisha, I think
you're mistaken here. Verse 17, Elisha prayed
and he said, Lord, that is Yahweh, I pray, open
his eyes that he may see. Then the Lord opened
the eyes of the young man and he saw, and behold,
the mountain, he didn't see this before, the
mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire
all around Elisha. What's that mountain being
full of, the horses and chariots of fire? That's
the angelic army. God had dispatched his angelic
army to go defend Elisha. And what does the psalmist
say in Psalm 46? The God of hosts, the Lord of
hosts, Yahweh Sabaoth. Listen, the Rabshika and
Sennacherib, big deal what they say. God and
his army are with us. He's the warrior God. But
he's also the God of Jacob. Covenant keeping
God. Who's Jacob? Jacob's name was changed to
Israel. This is the God of Israel. The people
of God. unlike those pagan nations, are in covenant
with God, and thus he will move and do whatever
he must do to protect and defend his people.
The earth can quake, the mountains can fall,
but God will defend her. Let me just say this,
this covenant thing, let me give it a little
side here. This is why I place a premium on baptism.
It is ultra important. Why? It's the covenant
sign. It's what marks you off as the son or daughter
of God. We're not pagan people. We're not heathen
people. We are the baptized people of God. What
do you mean by that? Because in baptism, God's
name, the triune name, was placed upon you, and
we are marked off as his people. Why is that
important? Because God has bound himself by an
oath to his covenant people. He has placed his
steadfast love upon his covenant people. This
is why we cannot fall, although we do suffer,
because nothing ultimately can separate us from
God's love given to us in Christ. This is why
this is so important. Not earthquakes, not rogue
nations, not a quick -spreading virus, not a
rapidly deteriorating culture. Nothing can separate
us from the love and protection of God found
in Christ. Look at verses 8 and 9. Come, behold
the works of the Lord. The psalmist is saying,
look through the eyes of faith. Perceive through
faith what God is doing in world events. See
what his hand is doing. Who has made desolations
in the earth? Referring to God's judgment upon
his enemies. How did God defend Israel? He defends
and protects his people by judging their enemies.
He judged Assyria. Israel didn't have to lift
a finger. They didn't have to fight. God fought
for them. Notice it says he breaks the bow and
the spear and he burns the chariots. All those
are instruments of war. God is creating peace.
Who's the ultimate peacemaker? God is. There's
no human power or human authority that can outmatch
his authority. No one can. So I think of King
Sennacherib. He thought he was untouchable and
he's no match for the king of kings. Psalm 118
verse 6 says, The Lord, Yahweh, is on my side.
I will not fear. What can man do unto me? Do
you see what he's saying? Do you see the security?
Do you see the hope that you have? So what's
our response? Look at verse 10. Be still and
know that I am God. I will be exalted among the
nations. I will be exalted in the earth. Now
this be still, I will tell you, this is something
new I learned this week. Be still has a dual
context. If you look at it in context, the first
context is not to us to be still. It's actually
addressed to the nations which are raging. God's
saying, quiet down now. You be still. You are
to drop your weapons. It's a command. It's a
stern command. Drop your weapons and recognize
my authority. But secondarily, it does apply
to God's people. Be still. Let go. Relax. This
is not a suggestion. This is not a TED talk.
It's a stern command. Relax. Let it go. Your
God is in control. Quit wringing your hands.
Quit staying up all night worried. That's not
going to do anything. Stop doubting and trust
in God's ability to protect and defend you. That's
what he's saying here. Don't panic. Don't fear.
Because we recognize that our Father in Heaven
has complete, sovereign authority. We know that
He is God. We see that He's Elohim, God Most
High. On many nights, our children have woken
up in the middle of the night and sometimes they're
scared and they cry out for me and cry out for
Daddy. When I enter the room and just hold them
and assure them of my presence, then they're
once more at peace. They drift back off into
sleep. Likewise, when we realize, friends, when
we know that our Father God, and if you can know
this, if we can keep this truth before us at
all times, if we know that our Father God is
near, that he's right there with us, we can be
at peace. What a precious commodity. It's what
the world searches for and it's elusive. They
won't find it. Peace is found in the Prince of
Peace. God says, I will be exalted in the earth.
Why is he saying that? Because what did Sennacherib
think? He thought he would be exalted in the
earth. After all, he had already destroyed and
defeated, conquered many countries. He thought
no one could oppose him. But God says, no, the
nations belong to me. I will be exalted. Yeah,
the nations may rage in rebellion, but God guarantees
his ultimate triumph. I will be exalted in the
earth. And look at verse 11, the last verse there.
The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob
is our refuge. He's bookending this. He's really
wanting to leave an impression here. Yahweh Sabaoth,
the Lord of hosts. Remember? The supreme commander
of heaven's army. He's with us. He is our refuge.
He's the hiding place. Proverbs 18 says, The
name of the Lord, the name of Yahweh, is a strong
tower. And the righteous run to it. And they're
safe. Friends, our hope is not in the absence
of trouble. Don't put your hope there. It will
not be found. It's not in the absence of trouble,
but rather in the presence of God. Jesus, in
the world you will have tribulation, but be of
good cheer, I've overcome the world. You will
have trouble. You will have affliction. You will
have trials in your life. So your hope cannot
be that I'm going to have smooth sailing. No,
our hope is in the presence of our King with
us. And this is what gives life meaning. This
is what gives life joy. This is what makes life
bearable, I think. So as we close, Lord willing,
next Lord's Day, we'll look over to Matthew 14
and Jesus and Peter walking on the water. This
psalm richly complements that particular passage.
Here the waters are raging. Next week we'll see
Jesus walking on raging waters. In Psalm 46 we're
said, don't fear. The Lord of hosts is with us.
If you return, you don't need to. In Matthew
14, Jesus comes to disciples walking on the water
and they're afraid. And what does he say? Take
heart. Be still. It is I. Don't be afraid. I'm
with you. The psalmist wrote, there's a river
whose streams make glad the city of God. In John
chapter 2, Jesus spoke of a river. He said, he
cried out, if anyone thirsts, let him come to
me and drink. Because he who believes in me,
as the scripture has said, out of his heart will
flow rivers of living water. The point is, here's
the point, that the God who is Israel's refuge
in Psalm 46 is revealed in the gospels as Jesus
Christ, the divine son. That is why we call him
Emmanuel, God. with us. He is present in every
storm of life. And blessed are all who put their
trust in him. I close with this because I feel
like I must. Friends, when we hear word of gospel
or who God is, we need to be warned. And I think
this is so very apropos. A storm is coming. The
wrath and judgment of God is coming. A day of
fierce judgment and of darkness is coming. And
there's only one refuge. There's only one shelter.
There's only one ark. There's only one door,
one gate, one way. And that is Jesus the Christ
sent from God. Blessed are all those who put
their trust in him. And friends, today most of
us have. And we get to come to the table and
we celebrate and commune with the risen Christ.
But if you haven't today, I implore you, I beg
you, and God commands you, repent of your sins
and bow your knee before Jesus and trust in him.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you, Lord, for your
word. It is rich. It is so very good. Lord, I'm
so very thankful, God, that you have given to
us the Psalms, Lord. I'm thankful for Psalm 46.
God, feed us, Lord. Let us not have spiritual
amnesia that as soon as we walk out these doors,
this simply becomes a distant memory. But Father,
Lord, in times of trouble, in times of peril,
Lord, help us to remember that you are our refuge
and strength, a very present help in a time of
trouble. Therefore, we will not fear. God, there
are some of my brothers and sisters here this
morning, and that's where they are. They find
themselves in that scary moment, that dark moment
of uncertainty. God, may you encourage them.
Lord, there are some in here today who, Lord,
they are dead in their sins, and they will face
the unrelenting, unmitigated wrath of God. Lord,
I pray this morning, God, would you please convict
them, open their eyes, and show them the beauty
of the gospel. And Father, Lord, some of us,
Lord, whose life right now there seems to be
in a reprieve, and Lord, we're enjoying your
blessing. God, we want to simply say thank you,
Lord. God, help us to remember. Help us not to
soon forget. And Lord, as we come to the table
of Christ, as we come to the table of the Lord,
we do so confessing our sins, finding forgiveness
in the broken body and shed blood of Jesus, our
Savior and Lord. It's in his name we pray, Lord.
Amen. I'm going to ask as the junior church comes
in that the deacons come and prepare the table,
please.