The Church's Stronghold

It's good to be back with you this morning, had a great time on the trip in Mexico, and I look forward to plan is to share about that tonight.

Kind of a message, but also sharing what the Lord did in Mexico.

You should be here to hear that. You should hear how our church is impacting those places.

And so it's it's an encouragement. Nahum chapter one,

I try to think about different ways to share analogies. Often I share something about sports or hunting or history.

So I'll try something a little different today. I'll talk about the Lord of the Rings. So in the second book of the

Lord of the Rings, there are books. Did you know that? I mean, I guess you can relate to the movie if you need to.

But in the second one, there's the situation where the people of Rohan have to retreat.

They have this last ditch effort, this last place of refuge that they are going to go to.

And that place, J .R .R. Tolkien has named Helm's Deep, this great fortress that's in a mountain and supposedly impenetrable.

And you go there and there is the place where you can be safe. Now, a couple of things about that, number one,

God is our refuge. He should not be our last resort.

He should be the first priority, the first place we flee to. Secondly, I wonder, what would you think about that story?

If all the people fled to the refuge, but the refuge was like refrigerator boxes or something, right?

Cardboard boxes, that just wouldn't make as this great battle between good and evil and the fellowship of the ring, as it were, and the orcs, like it just wouldn't make sense for them to be hiding in a cardboard box.

I want to encourage you this morning, I actually want to challenge you a bit. And some people, even in this room, the refuge that you are seeking today, it's like that cardboard box, that's your stronghold.

That's what you're hiding in. And I encourage you today to listen to this message, listen to what the scriptures say.

Yahweh is our stronghold. God is the place of our refuge. God is our fortress.

And we explore that from the text today and we see how it impacts our lives. So would you stand with me as we read

Nahum chapter one, just contextually? I'll start in verse two and I'll read through verse eight.

Our focus, though, is the second part of verse seven. So Nahum chapter one, verse two, the

Lord is a jealous and avenging God. The Lord is avenging and wrathful. The Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries, keeps wrath for his enemies.

The Lord is slow to anger and great in power. And the Lord will by no means clear the guilty.

His way is in the whirlwind and storm and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

He rebukes the sea and makes it dry. He dries up all the rivers, Bashan and Carmel wither.

The bloom of Lebanon withers. The mountains quake before him. The hills melt.

The earth heaves before him. The world and all who dwell in it, who can stand before his indignation?

Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.

The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble.

He knows those who take refuge in him. But with an overflowing flood, he will make a complete end of the adversaries and will pursue his enemies into darkness.

Father. Help us today, Lord, may every breath we give.

Be for the king and his kingdom and help us to understand this text.

Help me to preach in power, depending on the Holy Spirit and shackle to the text.

Pray that Christ would be exalted in this place and that we would believe here, not just doctrinally, not just positionally, not just on paper, but we'd believe in our hearts that Christ is the power of salvation.

We need the gospel. There are some in this room, whether they be children or adults.

They need to be converted even today. That their stronghold is that cardboard box and they need to flee to Christ.

There are church members here who are genuinely converted, and yet they're in the stronghold, but it's like they're looking out at other things or their foot, one foot out the door, it seems as they maybe want to be tempted to run to other places for safety.

Help us to understand this text, how it applies, may we be different today than how we came in all for the glory of Christ.

I need your grace and we need your grace to hear. We pray that you would give it to us and we know that you are a gracious God and we pray in Jesus name.

Amen. Would you be seated? Just a simple thought. You can keep this in your mind for the whole sermon.

That God is the church's. Refuge, God is the church's refuge.

Now, three clauses in this text, I've pointed that out already, but just a bit of review and we're going to take a sermon on each one.

So we already did the first one. The Lord is good. Clause number one and clause number two.

That's this morning, right? A stronghold in the day of trouble. And then clause number three, he knows those who take refuge in him.

So that will be next week. Now, we established already that God is good.

And today I want you to see, I kind of talked a little bit of grammatical jargon there, but there is a an untranslated preposition in the

Hebrew. All that it does is it connects the first clause there.

The Lord is good with the second clause. Just just to let us know that God's goodness is directly tied to his being a stronghold for his people.

That is, this is not unrelated. The Lord is good and part of his goodness is that he is a stronghold and the day of trouble.

Now, what's the point of this verse? Right. It doesn't matter, right? You're like, what's this text mean to you?

It doesn't matter in the words of the great theologian, the rock. It doesn't matter what you think, right?

It doesn't matter what the text means to you. It matters what it means. So what does this text mean?

Well, the overarching point is that God is going to bring judgment against Nineveh, and yet he promises himself as a place of safety for his people.

I mean, actually, technically, that's even true for the Assyrians. Right. This is the refuge.

This is Helm's Deep, if you will. If you will flee from your sin and you'll run to God for mercy, he will be a stronghold run and you will be received in the book of Revelation.

We have this. Picture of God's judgment, and it tells us

I think it's Revelation six, it tells us there that the kings of the earth and and the generals and all the peoples of the earth that that God's judgment is coming and instead of running to him for mercy, you know what the text tells us, they call upon the rocks to fall upon him.

They don't want to face the judgment of God, but the point of our text and the

Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble. He knows those who take refuge in him. The point of the text is that we should run to God for mercy, not away from him.

The book of Nahum foretells the destruction of Nineveh, but remember, Nahum's name, we've maybe only covered this once or twice, twice.

Nahum means comfort. And so this book is simultaneously one of terror and warning to the enemies of God.

And yet it is also one of comfort to his people. God is good. He is the stronghold in the day of trouble.

Now, the word here for stronghold, we can use a definition, lexical definition here, a place or means of safety or protection in the

ESV. Now, in the in the Old Testament, this is used some thirty five times. The ESV chooses these kinds of English words to translate this word.

So I'll just read some of those stronghold like in our text. Sometimes it's translated as refuge.

Sometimes it's translated as strength or helmet or protection or fortress.

So you understand you get you get in the picture like that's the range of meaning here for this Hebrew word.

So God is a fortress. He is the protection of his people. He is their refuge in the day of trouble.

A few thoughts I'll mention here that come to my mind when we consider the fact that God is a stronghold for his people in the day of trouble.

The first I will mention is grace. We'll just go through these quickly. The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble.

So Nineveh here is receiving judgment and Judah is being reminded of the protection of God.

But I want to encourage you with something. I want to remind you of something here. This is not because Judah is deserving.

Judah's history is a history of unfaithfulness. Their history is a history of forgiven, of forgetting

God, of idolatry and syncretism. You understand the word syncretism.

You should. You see it all the time, but you should know the word. The word syncretism means just kind of taking several things and putting them together in a blender and coming out with a religion.

So the people of Judah did this. So it's not that they overtly denied Yahweh. Like, I don't believe he exists.

No, they would confess his existence, but then they would mix his worship with pagan worship.

I know you're like, well, I'm in 2024. I can't relate to that at all. Right. You know, we see that happening all the time.

So this is all that was going on. And the point here is that God offers himself as a stronghold out of his grace.

Secondly, it makes me think of his power. Here is a stronghold in which you can and will be safe from all the enemies of the world.

No demon, no sickness, no persecution, no sorrow, no trial, no sin can dislodge the people of God out of his hands.

It reminds us Romans 8, 38 and 39. Paul says, for I'm sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present or 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, the same God who has the power to destroy nations, has the power to protect his own.

Now, if you remember the Lord of the Rings and the Helms Deep, there was a weak spot. They found the weak spot, right?

There was a weak spot in the fortress and they found it and they exploited it. I'm telling you this morning, there is no weak spot in this stronghold.

Matthew Henry says the same almighty power that is exerted for the terror and destruction of the wicked is engaged and shall be employed for the protection and satisfaction of his own people.

He is able both to save and to destroy. This stronghold reminds us of God's grace and his power.

Thirdly, this stronghold reminds us of his justice. We need to be clear here.

Remember, verse six, take your beady little eyes and feast them on verse six.

Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger?

His wrath is poured out like fire and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.

So this, I think, tells us clearly that God is a stronghold ultimately from the context here.

He is a stronghold from himself. Do you understand what the text is communicating?

Who can stand before the wrath of God? Here comes the judgment of God upon Nineveh.

This Assyrian power, this in the time that this would have been written, the world leader, right?

Like who can stand before the indignation of God? Answer, God can.

Christ can. God protects his people from his indignation. This point, this purpose here, the text is pointing us to Christ.

Christ is the stronghold. How do we know? Because Christ is the one that shields his people by taking upon the righteous wrath of God himself in order to be the stronghold.

Right. Listen, I'm just telling you, when the day of judgment comes, you don't need a cardboard box.

You don't even need Helm's Deep. It's not strong enough. You need Christ. Jesus's life is the opposite of the

Ninevites. Their lives, just like our lives, cry out to God for judgment.

But God's Christ's life calls out to God for righteousness because Christ's life is righteous.

It calls out to God, I should say, for blessing because his life is righteous. And yet what does he do?

He lays the righteous life down upon the altar of Golgotha to be a curse, to become a curse upon a

Roman cross. And here God's wrath is poured out upon Christ, as verse six says, like fire upon our substitute.

On the third day, Jesus rises again from the dead and he is our stronghold.

The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble. We are safe from God's wrath only in Christ alone.

Fourthly, I'll mention this God being our stronghold should bring to our minds the word supply.

Now, I take this I'm stealing this from Benjamin Keech, but he writes a little bit about this and he reminds us that a strong tower would not just be a place of safety, but also a place where weapons are stored.

Let's just think about this analogy. This is also true of our stronghold.

And if I could prove it biblically, I would say, do you remember when we were walking through Ephesians six and we were talking about spiritual warfare and we talked about how each piece of the armor is given to us by Christ?

Like when we run to the stronghold, we are equipped for the battles of the day. Too many

Christians are trying to fight battles today outside the stronghold. I need this little thing.

I need that little thing. No, what you need, ma 'am, what you need, sir, is Christ.

You need clothed in the gospel. You need reminded again that God is for you, not because of you, in spite of you, because of what

Jesus has done. His grace is new. His mercy is new.

Every morning, Lamentations three twenty three says you need Christ. Don't fight outside the stronghold.

Run into the stronghold and find there a supply of every spiritual weapon that you need.

Grace, power. Justice, supply. Why? We think about these things.

In the stronghold now. Secondarily here, we need to consider the second part of this clause, and that is the

Lord is a stronghold and the text says there in verse seven in the day of trouble.

Now, I don't know what your Bible says or a few translations floating around out here, but I know that in the

Hebrew, the article is not present.

So you could and your translation may have something like this, that the Lord, he's a stronghold in a day of trouble and the article is not there.

The ESV has chosen to go with the day of trouble. Now, contextually,

I think that's a fine translation. The day of trouble brings to our mind this day of judgment upon Nineveh.

So the day of trouble should bring to our mind the destruction of Nineveh, 612

BC. So this is written maybe around 650. So it's still what, 38 years in the future when the text is written.

612 BC, that's the day of trouble. Now, here's something really interesting. I find just thinking through this in 612

BC. Do you know who is the king of Judah in 612

BC? It's a man. Somebody in here might find this really interesting, but it's a man by the name of Josiah.

So King Josiah is king in 612 BC. Now, here's what's interesting about Josiah.

Maybe about 10 years or so prior to 612 BC, Josiah finds something very important.

You remember what that is? I mean, his his his administration does. What do they find?

The book of the law. And in some about 10 years before 612

BC, they find this book of the law. And what does God send? Now, it's short lived, but what does

God send to the people of Judah? A revival. There's a there's a brief period of revival.

Now, it's brief because Josiah makes some mistakes and he die. He dies in 609

BC. But I find it fascinating that as God is wiping out, on one hand, the

Assyrian empire, that on the other hand, those who take refuge in him are experiencing him as their stronghold in the day of trouble.

So I think the day of trouble is a fine translation and that we should think of the judgment in 612

BC. However, we should also think about not just that judgment in 612

BC, but we should also understand what the Bible is doing here. It's laying a foundation.

It is foreshadowing. It's pointing us forward to the final judgment. You know, we've already talked about the whole point of the book of Nineveh.

One part of it is giving us a taste of the judgment that is to come on the wicked.

And in that day, in that day, God is a refuge for who?

For the church. God is a refuge, a stronghold for the church.

There is only one shelter to the coming storm of God's judgment.

And that shelter is Jesus Christ. And at the end of the Sermon on the

Mount, Jesus says that those who hear his words, put them into practice.

They're like the wise man that builds his house up on the rock. And when the storm comes now, a lot of people take this as, you know, just the storms of life.

But I think what Jesus is actually saying is at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, there is a storm coming and that storm is the wrath of God and judgment of God.

And only those who hear his words, who rest in him, who trust him will be saved from that storm.

Everyone else is like building their house on what? You know, the verses on sinking sand.

So there's only one shelter. The day of trouble is inevitable and you are in need of a stronghold, that stronghold is

Christ, his perfect life, substitutionary death and victorious resurrection.

It is the blood of Christ that you must plead if you hope to escape the judgment that is to come upon this world.

I was thinking this morning about this analogy and just imagine that an

F5 tornado is coming to Perryville, a terrible thing to imagine, I know, but let's say that that is going to happen and someone calls you up and the wise man would call you up and say, let's run to Connell's shelter, right?

Or let's run down to the elementary school in the new shelter or the or the high school in the shelter.

Let's go and find a shelter. The foolish man would say, no, let's don't do that. I've got a great cardboard box that I'm going to hide in.

Protect me from the tornado that is to come. Well, that's dumb, you know, that's dumb, but I'm telling you, it's not nearly as dumb as those who try to hide in their works to avoid the wrath that is to come.

Those who try to hide in their family ties to avoid the wrath that is to come.

Those who try to hide and say, well, I've been baptized, I joined a church, I gave money to the church.

Hey, I recited a prayer. I was in a meeting and the guy said, hey, if you'll just repeat this prayer, you'll be saved.

And so I said that prayer and went on about my life. So that's my shelter. No, friend, the only hope we have is

Christ. He's the stronghold that we need. Now, contextually, we have the judgment that's coming up on Nineveh 612, and then we've seen biblically that that points us onward to the final judgment.

But let me now take some time, really the rest of our sermon and talk about the days in between those days.

That is, there's the days that happen. There are days that happen between Nineveh's judgment and the final judgment.

And these days are often a lot of little days of trouble. In fact, the word, the Hebrew word in our text for trouble, it's translated other places in the

ESV as adversity, tribulation, distress, anguish.

So I do think the primary application of the text before us is the refuge that God's people have in the midst of wrath, his righteous wrath.

But I also think that there is application for us to consider this morning during the various and constant troubles that the church faces, trials of various shapes and sizes seem to constantly in the history of the world be befalling the church.

The day of trouble is inevitable. The day of trouble is inevitable, but also so are days of trouble.

Days of trouble are a reality. This is a fallen world. In fact, sometimes days of trouble seem to outweigh days of happiness.

Days of sorrow seem to outweigh days of of peace and prosperity.

In fact, it only takes one day of sorrow to wipe out, it seems, many days of happiness.

John Gill puts it this way. The whole time of this life is a time of trouble to the saints, though it is but a day, a short time in which they meet with much from their own corrupt hearts and the sin that dwells in them from Satan and his temptations, from carnal professors, their principles and practices and from a profane and persecuting world and from the

Lord himself, who sometimes lays his afflicting hand upon them and hides his face from them.

And yet he is their rock and their refuge, their strong tower and place of defense where they find safety and plenty in all their times of distress and one.

Let me tell you something, I'm not being morbid here. I'm not trying to burst your bubble. I'm just trying to be real with you.

Days of trouble are inevitable. Therefore, you need a stronghold.

The question you need to ask yourself this morning is when a day of trouble arrives.

Where am I going to go? The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, he knows those who take refuge in him.

The Lord is our stronghold. But here's the reality. You are so often running to other things that you think are better options for safety.

Now, I just use a practical example, right? The fact that you get up in the mornings and you're so busy, you're running around, you don't read the

Bible, you're not having time of prayer or there are times in the evenings that you're doing other things and you're not you're not you're you are neglecting family worship.

The point is, the church is tempted. Don't deny this. We are tempted to look for safety in other strongholds.

We're tempted every day to find another stronghold. The Lord is our only sufficient stronghold.

He's our only worthy stronghold. He's our only power of protection. And yet we're so often running to other places.

I'll use some biblical examples. Psalm 20, verse seven, says this, some trust in chariots and some in horses.

But we trust in the name of the Lord, our God. Some here today are making chariots and horses your stronghold.

I am not. I don't even know what a chariot is. I understand the point. You believe in God, but maybe you think this morning the

American military power, it'll protect you. China can't ever get us.

Russia can't get us. We've got the American military. Or maybe even you trust in your own personal weapons.

I don't want to try to take my guns. Look, gun ownership is good. You know my stance on that.

We should have the Second Amendment. It's right. But I just need to remind you this morning, it's not our stronghold.

It is not our fortress in the day of trouble. Is there any possibility this morning that you've idolized chariots and horses?

Or what about wealth? There's several verses of this. Psalm 52 7 says it this way.

See the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and sought refuge in his own destruction.

The man who trust in his riches seeks refuge in what?

His own destruction. So here's the analogy. The F5 tornado is barreling down on you.

But don't worry, I got a hundred dollar bills, right? What's that going to do for you?

It ain't protecting you from that. You'll be wiped out. And some are trusting in your riches.

What's your giving practice like to Providence Baptist Church? I don't know that.

I don't want to know that. But I'm just telling you, God knows. Are you are you stingy with the Lord because you find a sense of security in your money?

You just got to you got to press things a little bit harder. You give up things that you should do so you can make an extra dollar because you find refuge in your finances.

I'm telling you, when days of trouble come, money or chariots or horses, they'll not give solace to your soul.

OK, what about just your own fortitude? You got the American sense of fortitude.

You know what I mean? They used to be the American way, right? Today, I don't know what it is, but you know what

I'm saying? You know, you're like, I'm OK. Other people need a refuge. You can worry about those people, but I'm OK.

I can do it myself. I can trust in my own grit or maybe in a church like this.

And in the way that we lean, which I think is biblical, but the way that we lean politically, maybe some of us would say number

November 5th is it's so critical that you are actually viewing

Donald Trump as a as a stronghold. And God has a word for you.

Jeremiah 17 5 curses the man who trust in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the

Lord. Well, what is the point here, church, in all that I'm saying? I'm saying to you that the scriptures are replete with constant warnings of what happens when we make anything else other than God alone our place of refuge, when anything else becomes your security, your little security blanket.

You remember the show Peanuts and you've got Linus. It's Linus, right? He's always carrying around the blanket.

The dude always has his blanket. Why? It makes him feel safe. That's his that's his piece of security.

What is that for you? Is it your phone, your money, your friends? What is it that you're leaning into today that you believe this is my stronghold?

It will fail you if it's not the Lord. Pharaoh will not help you.

Egypt will not help you. Don't go there. Fitting in with the world.

Now, that's where the world's watching. The world's watching. We care so much about what the world thinks. Getting the world to like you, accept you, applaud you, approve of you.

This does not afford the refuge that you think it does. As soon as the world sucks you in, oh, it turns on you in a heartbeat.

The Lord never does. The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble.

He knows those who take refuge in him. Or what about doctrine? It's very weighty to me this week.

I believe in the sovereignty of God, one says, and therefore I am immune to adversity.

And I'll simply give this example. Many preachers have preached sovereign grace who have fallen terribly morally.

Doctrine itself is not a refuge separated from Christ. Let us constantly pursue and seek and rest in Christ.

Of course, I've avoided some obvious vices, and I'll just mention them now. There are obvious vices that people run to for refuge during days of trouble.

Work's not going right. The kids aren't going right. The election's not going right. Sometimes all on the same day, right?

Things aren't going right. Things are hard. Things are tough. Where are you going to turn? I'll turn to drugs.

Now, that may be illicit drugs. Or maybe it's drugs a doctor gave you.

Hey, listen to me, church, I'm not trying to cause controversy, but I will stand here.

Just because a doctor prescribes it to you does not necessarily mean that you should be taken.

You need to listen carefully, these things cannot be our refuge or some of you say alcohol.

You know, I just can't deal with this right now. So let me just numb myself with drunkenness or the list goes on and on and on.

Maybe for you, it's popularity or fitting in or making sure the community likes you or you just you want to be noticed or you've got to have this certain education or you have to have something right at work.

You want to just be the man or whatever the case may be, or you look for an escape.

Some of you, perhaps today, you're looking for a refuge in pornography or sexual morality.

For others, it may be overeating. You just overindulge yourself, eat and eat and eat. Or maybe it's movies or maybe it's video games or YouTube or sports or anything just to give you that sense of safety so that you can ignore everything else.

And I'm pleading with the church today to understand this is biblical Christianity. God is our stronghold.

It's God, the Lord, a good Lord, not a hard master, not a tyrant, the

Lord who is good. He's a stronghold. In the day of trouble, when the day of trouble comes, where are you going to go?

And the answer to that question really is where are you going now? Right, some of you have your proverbial tornado shelter full with so much junk that if a tornado did come, you couldn't flee in there.

And that's how your spiritual life is, too. You think, oh, yeah, well, when it gets serious, maybe

I'll go to Christ. No, friend, is Christ your stronghold now? As days come, as days go, where do you turn to understand meaning and purpose?

Where do you go to cultivate godliness? Where do you go for righteousness and sanctification and forgiveness?

Is Christ your stronghold? Are you cultivating a warm, experiential

Christianity where Christ is known and loved and enjoyed? His word is attended to,

His people are desired, His worship is a priority, His preaching is a delight.

I'm afraid, practically speaking, this is just not as true of us as it should be.

Psalm 27, verse 1 says it this way, The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall

I be afraid? Is Christ your stronghold? Hey, church, listen to me this morning.

Is Christ your stronghold? If Christ is your stronghold, then why are you afraid of man?

Why don't you share in the gospel with your employer or those who work with you or under you?

If Christ is our stronghold, we are able to live fearless. I don't mean careless and I don't mean reckless, but I do mean fearless.

Of whom shall I be afraid? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Why are you afraid? This morning, some of you are afraid about fitting in. If I live this way, if I believe this way, if I'm serious about family worship, if I'm serious about evangelism, if I'm serious about the church, people will think

I'm weird. You're afraid. Why are you afraid? Why are you afraid to have a gospel conversation with that neighbor, with that friend?

If God is our stronghold, right? God is our stronghold. Let the church live without fear.

Because we have a stronghold in Christ. Nahum 1 7 compels us to faith in this glorious God.

The Lord is good. A stronghold in the day of trouble, and I'll just add here because I think it's right.

I think it is an application. He's a stronghold in many days of trouble. I'm going to press this a little further now for a moment.

In 1870, the Jews were shown with finality that Moses is not their stronghold.

The Jerusalem was destroyed along with the second temple. The Mosaic Covenant has been fulfilled and abrogated in Christ.

Just a side note application here would be your good works are not your refuge, right?

But back to the main point, Jesus had told the Jews nearly four decades prior to 70

A .D. He said this in Matthew 12 6. I tell you something greater than the temple is here.

The Jews were looking at some physical building as their way to God. In Matthew 27 51, at the death of Christ, we read this.

And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom and the earth shook and the rocks were split.

In other words, access to God is not through a physical temple.

We don't need a physical stronghold. In fact, I would hate to say it, but what if something happened and this building was taken away?

This building is not the stronghold. It's Christ. Now, it's

Christ alone, but God promises in Christ what Haggai in Hebrews calls an unshakable kingdom.

Now, stay with me for just a moment here. An unshakable kingdom, that is a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

So let's say that you were big enough to hold the world in the palm of your hands. All right, that's a thought.

You're big enough to hold the world in the palm of your hands and you could shake it like a snow globe.

What would be shaken? Governments would be shaken, buildings would be shaken, houses would be shaken, finances would be shaken, families, lands, all these things would be shaken.

What then cannot be shaken? Turn in your Bibles for a moment to Hebrews. Go ahead, turn over to Hebrews chapter 12 for just a moment.

I want to make a point here. I'll come back to Nahum. Hebrews chapter 12.

Listen carefully. We're talking about God as our fortress and then we're talking about these promises, a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

But if we can shake the globe and all these things can be shaken, then what cannot be shaken? Hebrews 12 verse 18.

For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and the voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further message may be spoken to them.

For they could not endure the order that was given. If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.

Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I tremble with fear. But now listen carefully.

Verse 22. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly

Jerusalem and to the innumerable angels and festal gathering and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven and to God, the judge of all and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

See that you do not refuse him who is speaking, for if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.

At that time, his voice shook the earth. But now he has promised yet once more, I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.

This phrase yet once more indicates the removal of things that are shaken, that is, things that have been made in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.

Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and all for our

God is a consuming fire. You know what cannot be shaken in this world today?

There is, in essence, one thing that cannot be shaken in this world today, and that is the church of the living

God. I'm telling you this morning that the church, that heavenly city, that festal gathering, the angels and the firstborn from the dead and the spirits of those departed made righteous.

This speaks of the church and the church is the unshakable kingdom. Buildings can topple, yes.

Pastors can fall, yes. False believers can apostatize and abandon the faith, yes.

But the church, hear me today, will forever endure. Why? This brings me back to the text in Nahum 1 .7,

the church is unshakable because God is unshakable and he's the stronghold.

So Benjamin Keech says it this way, all the attempts of hell and wicked men will certainly prove vain and unsuccessful against the church and people of God.

So zoom out for a minute. You see these things happen. You see terrorist attacks and you see pastors who fall and you see gross immorality and you see churches that seem to be on the brink of apostasy.

And sometimes you see them abandon the faith altogether. And you hear me clearly. There is no way.

There's no biblical way to have Jesus as your king and not be living in his kingdom on Earth, which is his church.

So this really transforms everything in response to the text. The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble.

He knows those who take refuge in him. Here is the goodness of God to his people.

He is my refuge in the person and work of Christ. God is a very present help in times of danger.

He is my rock and redeemer. He is my shelter from the storm. He is my light. He is my salvation.

Salvation from what? From his own wrath due to me because it has been atoned for in Christ shed blood.

He is the door I have entered in by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

And what he has brought me into when I enter into that door, what I enter into is an unshakable kingdom.

You understand? That is, if Christ is my stronghold, the church is my domain.

And this changes everything. I'm going to give it to you in a way that I hope is memorable as you walk out the door later.

When God is my fortress, his kingdom is my focus. When God is my fortress, his kingdom is my focus.

Now, when you talk this way, people ask dumb questions, I know. I thought there were no dumb questions.

Well, there are some dumb questions. So people say things like this. Well, what are you saying? You're saying everyone just needs to give up their job and go into ministry and.

No, well, in a sense, maybe that's true, because in a sense, everybody in the church should be minister, right?

You should minister. But as far as formal ministry, as far as the office of elder or deacon, that's not what we're saying.

We're not saying give up all these things and just do church work. No, we're saying be a good shoemaker.

Be a good truck driver. Be a good house builder. Hey, be a good beekeeper. Be a good plumber.

Be a good teacher. Be a good secretary. Be a good nurse. Be a good electrician. Be a good lawyer.

Be a good businessman. Be a good engineer. But all these things you understand, please hear me.

They're they're they're serving a higher end. What the kingdom of Christ.

And if the God is your fortress and the kingdom is your focus, that means that the priority is all given to the furtherance of Christ.

You're investing yourself in a healthy church. You're building your lives around a healthy church.

You have to back up and see your life as one whole thing. That is a lot of people live this way.

I got my work life over here. And these people, I got my recreational life over here. And these people have my family life over here and these people.

And then over here, I have the church whenever I think about it. This isn't true.

This is not true. If God is our fortress, this is not true. All of this rather is brought under the kingship of Christ.

And what happens there? He's a stronghold. My friend Jay Randall Easter said it this way. When everything falls apart, safety is found in the kingdom.

If the Lord is your fortress, the kingdom is your focus. So practically,

I work, I make money. I use my skills and my time and my resources in doing what?

In serving the kingdom. I'm a good shoemaker. What I do, though, is when

I'm making shoes, I use the relationships I've developed in making shoes to further the gospel of Christ.

I use the money I make from making shoes to give to the furtherance of the mission of Christ.

I take my skills of being able to make shoes and I serve the body of Christ. Here's Brother Steve.

He needs new shoes. I have no idea. I'm not even looking at him. I don't know what his shoes look like, but he needs new shoes.

I'll help him because I have the skills and the knowledge for shoes. And I know that if he has shoes, he can live and serve better for Christ.

You understand how this all works? It's like everything that I'm doing, it's under the priority of kingdom focus because God is my fortress.

That is, the church isn't sitting on the back burner of our lives. It's not even the front burner.

It's the whole kitchen. Maybe I use this from what I just returned. It's not the meat.

It's not the cheese. It's the whole enchilada, right? That's what we're talking about, because God is our stronghold.

Everything we are, everything we're doing, what God is doing in the world today, it's all centered in the church.

And an expression of that is right here in this little out -of -the -way place. I did the math to make sure.

Eight billion people in the world today. So I wanted to say 99 .9 % of people in the world today have no clue this place even exists.

So I did the math to say I didn't want to be too hyperbolic. I don't mind being hyperbolic, but I wanted to give you a stat.

So 99 .9, so .01 % of the world's population is eight million.

I very seriously doubt that there are eight million people in the world today who could tell you, number one, where Perryville, Arkansas, even is.

And number two, if some of those happen to know where Perryville is, they ain't going to be able to tell you anything about Providence Baptist Church.

So I think, if anything, my stat is too low. But here we are in this little place that 99 .9

% of the people living in the world today, they don't even know it exists.

Providence Baptist Church in Perryville, Arkansas. God is going to defend His church.

God is going to protect His church. God is going to persevere His church to the end. It doesn't mean that our church makes it to the end when

Jesus returns. Not every single church endures to the end. But it does mean that the kingdom will.

And it does mean that our focus is here when our investment is here in the local church.

When our priority is here. When these things are true, the dividends echo through eternity.

If God is our fortress, the kingdom is our focus. And some of you need to consider today.

Is God your fortress? So here's what we're going to do. We're going to land the plane. I want to, to the best of my ability, take the weight from off of this pulpit.

And I want to put it on your shoulders. Put it on the whole congregation. All I've told you today is true.

The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble. He knows those who take refuge in Him.

You've sat under the truth today. You've sat under the preaching, the right preaching of the word of God.

Now the weight on your shoulders is this. What are you going to do about it? How are you going to respond to this?

Some of you have found lovely strongholds in this world. And I mean you think that they're lovely.

Your feelings, right? Your stronghold is just whatever you think.

It's your feelings. However you feel, that dictates everything. And people out need to walk around on eggshells because of how you feel.

Some of you, it's some particular sin, or pattern of sin. Or it's money, or work, or entertainment, or drugs, or pornography.

We've talked about these things. And you're happy in those things. And you're thinking, man, I don't care what you say.

I'm not leaving that. And to you I say, listen carefully. The day of trouble, it's not that it might come.

It's not that maybe one day it could come. The day of trouble is coming. And your only option, your only rational option, is to repent and flee to Christ as your only refuge and redeemer.

Give up those other strongholds and run into the fortress who is Christ. Turn from sin and trust

Christ alone for salvation. Only those who turn to the Lord experience the goodness of His salvation.

We'll talk about that next week. But He only covenantally knows those who take refuge in Him. So go.

Some of you, you are Christians. But what you're trying to do this morning is put your feet in multiple strongholds.

You've got Christ, but you're trying other things too. Is there an area you can think about, even identify, ask

God to identify, even right now that you see as a faulty stronghold?

Yes, God, I've trusted in Christ. I'm a Christian. But I've also been leaning in this area too.

My money, politics, whatever the case may be. And can you ask God to expose that this morning and repent of it?

Go all in. Can you go all in on a God like this?

The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble. He knows those who take refuge in Him.

I think about when I was a little bit younger, my kids were younger. I don't remember which ones. Probably the boys mainly, but I think probably all five of the older ones.

We haven't done this with Margie yet. But you're on the pool, right? You're in the pool. You set them. Now, mamas don't really do this as much, a little more nurturing and stuff like that.

But dads are like, you know, they're on the side of the pool. And they're like, you're going to jump to me. You're going to get in trouble if you don't jump.

And they're like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And finally they jump and what do you do? Well, if you're a good dad, you let them fall under the water so it scares them.

And then you pull them back up. You catch them. Can you go all in on a

God like this? You must. Some of you this morning have failed to make the connection of the fortress of God and the focus of His kingdom.

And I'm asking you today, you need to make that connection. If God is your fortress,

His kingdom is your focus. Give your life to the local church. You're just going to. No, I'm just asking you go all in on what

God is doing in the world today. How can you serve and love and invest in and further the ministry of Christ in this place?

How can you ensure it's not all about you, but it's all about Christ? Will it be costly?

Of course it will be costly. Every good investment is costly. And this is the greatest investment.

A life given to the building and advancing of a healthy church. Don't complain.

Look for a need and serve. Friends, family, whatever you do today, don't leave here complacent.

Don't leave here unconcerned and unaffected. Don't leave here today and just get back to the monotony.

I don't know what happened after COVID. If a switch flipped with me, but it's like after COVID with a lot of people.

I just want to get back to normalcy. And what we need is not normalcy.

What we need is revival. Resolve today that you'll seek the Lord until He brings it home to your heart.

The Lord is good. Stronghold. In the day of trouble.