Our Strength And Help

Old Testament scripture reading this morning will be found in Isaiah 57, verses 14 through

21.

And it shall be said, build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstruction from my people's way.

For thus says the one who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy.

I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the

spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.

For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry, for the spirit would grow faint before me in the breath of

life that I made.

Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain, I was angry.

I struck him.

I hid my face and was angry.

But he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart.

I have seen his ways, but I will heal him.

I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners, creating the fruit of the lips.

Peace, peace to the far and to the near, says the Lord, and I will heal him.

But the wicked are like the tossing sea, for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up mire and

dirt.

There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked.

New Testament scripture reading would be Romans 8, 28 through 39.

And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good.

For those who are called according to his purpose.

For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the

firstborn among many brothers.

And those whom he predestined, he also called.

And those whom he called, he also justified.

And those whom he justified, he also glorified.

What then shall we say to these things?

If God is for us, who can be against us?

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also

with him graciously give us all things?

Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?

It is God who justifies.

Who is to condemn?

Christ Jesus is the one who died.

More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding

for us.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

As it is written, for your sake we are being killed all the day long.

We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor

things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be

able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Good morning.

Happy Independence Day.

Psalm 46.

Why'd I pick this psalm?

Ask God for wisdom.

Lord, what do we need to hear in our day and our hour when

our world seems to be turned upside down?

Maybe we'll lose our freedoms.

How are we to stand against the foes of this world?

Martin Luther penned that song from Psalm 46.

It gives us stability because we know whatever freedom is taken from us,

that we are in Christ.

We are a free people indeed.

We are a nation within a nation.

We have to be reminded of those things.

So follow along as I read through Psalm 46.

God is our refuge and strength, our very present help in trouble.

Therefore, we will not fear.

Though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though the

waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at swelling, there is a river whose streams

make glad the city of God, the holy inhabitation of the Most High.

God is in the midst of her, and she shall not be moved.

God will help her when morning dawns.

The nations rage, the kingdoms totter.

He utters his voice, the earth melts.

The Lord of hosts is with us.

The God of Jacob is our fortress.

Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolation on the earth.

He makes wars cease to the end of the earth.

He breaks the bow and shatters the spear.

He burns the chariots with 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 fortress.

Let us pray.

This is your word, Father,.

Your powerful word, your instruction to empower us to live a life worthy of

the calling of Christ.

There's a song sung in the glory place in

Jerusalem, and a song given to us.

We know you have put a new song on our heart, and we delight in

singing your praises.

We delight in lifting your name on high.

It shows the glory of your character, which we need to see.

So help me express that, Father, today in Christ's name.

Amen.

Worry, anxiety.

I was going to preach on that, but I was worrying too much about it.

It's a daunting thing to take the word of God and to bring it to bear, but

I don't do the work.

I'm just expressing what I see in the scriptures and the

comfort it is.

I think of the heritage in our country,.

And we can't ignore it.

I'm from a military family.

My dad was in the Marines.

My uncle was a captain in the Navy.

I love this country, but we have to think of it.

Forgive me for weeping, because we see things deteriorating, but we don't see

God's purpose in it all.

God has purpose in everything, even the disturbances in what's going

on right now.

We are proud to be Americans, but are we proud to be Christians in this land that He is so

richly blessed?

This word of God, as we think back in history, was probably read by,

I think of the pilgrims who landed on the land and lost many loved ones that year.

I think of the civil wars.

I think of the nurse in the house that was made up as a hospital, and blood is just

everywhere, who came to this psalm to find comfort and strength.

I think of the guy in the foxhole in Normandy.

He's lost his best friend.

See, that's the good fight, but how will we fight in our day and age?

We will fight as soldiers of Christ who is bound by Him.

Our fight is different.

Our fight comes with fervent prayer and understanding Christ for who He is,

that He is our sovereign.

In the first part of this glorious book, it says God is our refuge and strength,

our very present help in trouble.

Therefore, we will not fear though the earth gives way.

It gives us hope in the midst of that because God always contently instructs

us to these reminders when we're at our weakest.

He is doing His work.

When things are burdening us about their surroundings and how there's so much hate and so

much disunity, we have to remind that the gospel, the

power of the gospel, is what is going to unite, that the church of

Jesus Christ that stands firm in this country will be a

resounding love sound to our neighborhoods, to our families.

John Calvin says this, that our faith may rest truly and firmly in God, we must

take into consideration that these two parts of His character, His

immeasurable power by which He is able to subdue the whole world under Him, and His

fatherly love which He has manifested in His Word.

When these two things are joined together, there's nothing for which we can hinder our faith

from defying all the enemies that may rise up again against us.

We're not in conflicts like other countries, but we know there's

opposition to the gospel.

The gospel is, it brings people to bear of their own sin.

And we see the magnitude, what He's saying in this first verse is the immeasurable

wisdom of God and His power.

Edwards, I read through his sermon which is just a beautiful display, he

says, to think of God's immeasurable wisdom is like putting the ocean in a nutshell.

It's immeasurable.

What do we find comfort in in this refuge?

That God is all wise and He keeps us.

He holds us.

He holds us in the shadow of His wing and nothing will harm us.

Oh, is there trouble and discord and disease and all the plagues of the world?

Yes, it does make us immune from it, but we're able to withstand.

And the glory of God is as we persevere and we hold to these truths that

are so empowering to hearts that are not hearts of stone anymore.

They're hearts of flesh.

And they take the Word of God and it rests in it.

Do we weep for our neighbors?

Yeah, we should.

But again, the character of God.

Here's the character of God.

In Psalm 91, just turn there, just remind, because the Word of God has

to fulfill this.

Describe it to us.

Because God is so immeasurable that we'll never fathom

His full greatness.

It will always be a consuming thing in our life and in all eternity to understand who God

is.

We understand from Isaiah that His thoughts are above our thoughts.

Whenever we get to thinking that, what are you doing, Lord?

No, His wisdom is beyond ours.

His comprehension is...

To think of God is so...

We can't get Him in a box.

He is the Almighty.

He is our Creator.

Listen to how the psalmist speaks of Him in 91.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.

For He would deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.

He will cover you with pinions and under the wings you will find refuge.

His faithfulness is a shield and a buckler.

You will not fear the terror of the night nor the arrow that flies by day nor the pestilence that

stalks in the darkness nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.

Can we not use that to instruct us, to comfort us, to build us up so that we have this promise

that ensures us that He's going to protect us?

We've read in Romans 8 this beautiful display of God working

all things to the good and we don't understand the good because we can't comprehend God enough.

Those who seek God will be fulfilled.

There's always a seeking God in the midst of trial to be

comforted by who He is.

As we celebrate the Lord's table today, the most ugly display of mankind of

crucifying a man on the cross, God used it for His glory.

The cross always brings to bear as we think of our

turmoils and our troubles and you think of the departure that the Father had with the Son.

We will never fathom that.

They had perfect harmony.

From eternity past to this place.

Where He walked the land,.

There was a separation at that moment and He did that for our behalf.

He grants us wisdom in His Word.

Look how the Proverbs speaks in Proverbs 2.

Again, there's a seeking and finding.

I'm going the wrong way.

Do you ever go the wrong way, Tim?

Oh, yeah.

Okay, good.

I'm good.

Instruction and warning.

We always must receive warnings.

Chapter 2, My Son, if you receive My words and

treasure the commandments in you, making your ear attentive to wisdom, inclining in

your heart to understanding, yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice from

understanding, if you seek it like silver and search it for our hidden

treasures, you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

Lord, grant us wisdom as we walk this land where we

still experience freedom.

Let us not take it for granted.

Let us use it for the kingdom of Christ.

As I think back in history, I think, this is just my opinion,

that God's answer in the prayer of the early Puritans, they established schools

and seminaries that are all liberal now, but they came to make a city on

the hill.

They were under control of the government and their religion, and they came here and they

faithfully did the work that was established.

Did they do it perfectly?

No.

But they had a goal in mind.

And God's blessed that.

We've experienced a blessing of peace in our country because of the answered prayers that the Lord

sees fit to answer.

Would we be a praying church that would put hard things and difficult things before the throne of God?

It's what He asks us to do.

The things that burden us and weigh us down, Lord, change the heart of my enemies.

Instruct them.

Help me have the grace to forbear

to be long -suffering for the lost.

I don't know about your heart, but my heart needs to be changed more and more in the likeness of

Christ, because I can walk away from an unbeliever and give up too

easily, whether it's our family member or friend.

So back to the psalm.

Do we find more instruction in preparedness and more promises?

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth gives way.

Verse 2.

Though the mountains be moved in the heart of the sea, and though its waters roar and foam,

though the mountains tremble at its swelling, He gives a depiction of things that are

immovable that God Himself tells us if it moves, do not fear.

And He gives us this promise, and we see a foreshadowed promise of the dwelling place with

God that's in the church.

And there's a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most

High.

God is in the midst of her.

She shall not be moved.

God will help her when morning dawns.

Just take that glimpse there.

We see a foreshadowing of the dwelling of God.

As John wrote, He came and He tabernacled amongst us.

But now, you know, as a reminder of the communion table that Christ Himself comes and

intercedes on our behalf.

He is the faithful high priest who sits at the right hand, and nothing will

move us.

The river.

You have a river in Genesis and a river in Revelation.

And reminded that water, we come to Christ and He'll well up in it, this wellspring of

life.

The Proverbs says, Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

It's this grace multiplied in our life.

Let's then take away from the text that this river is supplying what God has in store

for His people.

It's a habitation of the Most High that we come and meet with

God Himself as we meet with one another.

The dwelling with God, as we long anticipate the final

restoration, we will be with Him and we will be His people.

There's a time where we aren't with Him completely.

But the Spirit intercedes and we commune and we fellowship with one another.

And this is where we find our strength.

We find that God is here.

If you go across the country and you meet a brother in Christ.

And you're like,.

Man, it's like I've known Him for 50 years.

There's a connection.

That God is here.

This water of substance, help in time of trouble.

God grants us hope in the midst of turmoil, judgment.

He supplies us with all we need in life and godliness.

As Peter wrote in 2 Peter, His divine power has given us

all we need.

We need be remembered that because our days are tough.

Our days are troubling.

Work's hard.

Our hearts are prone to wander.

Lord, I fear it.

I need your steadfast love.

We come and anticipate.

Meeting with God here.

And He promises that He is here.

He is here.

And He strengthened us.

And we go out.

And we continue in this song.

And the nations rage and the kingdoms totter.

He utters His voice.

And the earth melts.

The Lord of hosts is with us.

The God of Jacob is our fortress.

He's our stronghold.

He's our protection.

He knows us.

He's created us.

He's created us for His own glory for those who have received and receive the benefits of

this precious covenant that will not be separated.

As Levi read in, Nothing will separate us from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus.

I need to hear that when I'm struggling in the fight of my own flesh or the enemies around

me.

And quite frankly, I can become very passive and comfortable in my American life.

Uncomfortable.

And God says, Wake up, old Christian.

Get to work.

Be faithful.

He says,.

Come behold, verse 8.

Come behold the works of the Lord.

He has brought desolation on the earth.

He makes wars seized to the end of the earth.

He breaks the bow and shatters the spear.

He burns the chariots with fire.

It's an awesome display of past and present.

God had displayed His power and His might against the enemies

of the Lord.

He faithfully fulfilled all His promises.

And the latter part, He says, 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 fortress.

Be still.

Be still.

You who know Him.

Be still and understand that He will accomplish what He's told us here.

Be still.

Know that as we seek Him, as we

quietly walk this life.

I don't know about you, but I can be not quiet in my own murmurings.

Edward says,.

You must be still as to the actions and outward behavior,

so as to the inward frame.

Of our hearts,.

Cultivating a calm and quiet submission of soul to the

sovereign pleasure of God, whatever it be.

Be still, my soul,

waiting.

That someday every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

What a glorious promise that will be.

What a glorious promise.

To you who have tasted the goodness of God, this is the God you stand

against.

We know our sin is forgiven in Christ.

I want the unbeliever in this room to know that that promise.

Of you being broken.

And lowly at heart, it goes especially to us, but to the brokenness,

the one in the world who has not received the glory and goodness of Jesus Christ.

He says,.

Come to me, you who are heavy laden, wearied down

with life, come, this gracious King of ours,

Creator of all the universe, who holds the islands in His hands, says,.

Come,.

Come as a shepherd who's gentle, He's gentle and lowly in heart, and learn from me.

Learn how to love your family, love your neighbor,.

But most important,.

Love me, because I am the one who has

created you and know you.

Those same truths we have to remind ourselves as we go through difficult times that God is a

God that He knows us intimately.

And as we walk in this land in freedoms, we never take for

granted what God has established by breaking,

breaking the bow and the wickedness of the world.

As we're burdened for those.

Who are the child in the womb,.

Injustices, let it burden our hearts to a place of prayer

and be the people God's called us to be.

He says in Thessalonians to live a quiet life, a peaceable life,

that our war for our freedom, which is in Christ,

is going to be from kindness, gentle answers with the truth of

God.

Here, let me show you this.

Let me show you what my Redeemer's done.

Let me tell you that He knows you more than you know yourself.

We won't win battles with riots,

with shaking fists, by giving somebody a glass of water.

Let's pray.

Father, we thank You.

For this table.

That we're about to have.

That reminds us of this covenant of grace and love.

That's bound.

By the blood of Christ.

Help us take this psalm.

And find comfort.

For who You are,.

That You are God, this immeasurable in wisdom.

We thank You for the freedoms we do have,.

Father,.

And if we are locked up for the Gospel, we know we will be free in Christ.

We will always be free from the tyranny of sin and the comfort that comes from

knowing You.

We thank You and praise You in Christ's name.

Amen.