God is our Refuge

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Well, I had every intention of preaching Habakkuk.
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I'm not going to preach Habakkuk this morning.
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I sat right there as we sang that song and it was pressed upon my heart.
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I want you to open your Bibles to Psalm 46.
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First of all, Keith, I want to thank you for having confidence in me and Andy fulfill the pulpit while you're taking some time away.
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And I thank you for these opportunities.
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And as Andy spoke last time, we don't know when we get the opportunity to preach again because Keith's schedule has provided us in looking forward that we were going to preach.
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So we don't think he's going to be having another baby anytime soon.
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And we don't think he's going to be having any kidney stones anytime soon.
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So, but I want to say thank you for the opportunities to get to preach.
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Let's pray first.
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Father God, thank you for your word.
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As I stand before your precious sheep, Father God, I pray that you would help me to speak your word, speak your word with boldness, speak your word with power.
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Father, I pray that the words would leave my lips and that hearts would be transformed, hearts would be converted.
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And that Father, we would be encouraged knowing that Father, though we deserve your deepest wrath, we can find refuge and strength in you.
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Father, that which seems stable in a split second can become unstable.
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And Father, we just thank you that you are rock hard and steady and you are steadfast.
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You're immovable and immutable.
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And Father, we can trust in you.
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In Christ's name, amen.
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He'll stand, we will read Psalm 46.
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And I'm going to read the superscription because the superscription is inspired.
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It says, for the choir director, a Psalm of the sons of Korah set to Alamu, a song.
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It says, God is our refuge and our strength and a very present help in trouble.
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Therefore, we will not fear.
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Though the earth should change, though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea, and though its waters roar and foam, and though the mountains quake at its swelling pride, Selah.
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There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God.
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And the holy places are the most high.
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God is in the midst of her and she will not be moved.
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God will help her when the morning dawns.
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And the nations made an uproar and the kingdoms tottered.
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He raised his voice and the earth melted.
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The Lord of hosts is with us.
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The God of Jacob is our stronghold.
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Selah.
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Come behold the works of the Lord who has made and wrought desolations in the earth.
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He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth.
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He breaks the bow, he cuts the spear in two, and he burns the chariot with fire.
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Cease striving and know that I am God.
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I will be exalted among the nations.
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I will be exalted in the earth.
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And the Lord of hosts is with us.
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The God of Jacob is our stronghold.
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There is some, maybe seated, there is some historical context to Psalm 46.
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Some do believe that this was written during the time of around 701 when Sennacherib was besieging Jerusalem.
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And he had surrounded it.
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He was going to, Sennacherib was an Assyrian king.
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He was coming in, Hezekiah cried out to the Lord and God met that cry out of repentance and confession and God wiped out 185,000 Assyrians right outside the walls.
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It was a major act of deliverance for the people of God under the king of Hezekiah.
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And whether we know that is the case for sure or not, we're not sure, that is what believed is when this was written.
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But there is another time when this was used to write a very historical hymn that we sing.
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Mighty Fortress is Our God by the great reformer Martin Luther.
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And there was a time in his life when he was fighting against the Roman Catholic Church and all of what he had thought had seemed stable for a one time had been turned upside down and his protege Philip Lankton would come to him and he was not nearly as bold or brash as Martin Luther.
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And he said, sir, I don't think we can continue much further.
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I don't think we can have another debate.
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I don't think we can have another fight.
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I don't think we can have another war.
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We can't go to another battle.
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And then the Martin Luther way, he would say, come, come, Philip.
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Let's sing Psalm 46 and let them do their bidding.
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What encouraging words.
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And then he wrote the song of Mighty Fortress is Our God.
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And the great refuge that we can find in God when everything around us seems so unstable.
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Imagine those people down there who were at the hurricane.
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It comes in and has wiped everything that they had to be stable wiped away.
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Or people looking in their bank accounts and seeing that, man, their 401ks, their retirements are dissipating like the morning dew.
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Or you go to the doctor and you have an X-ray or you have an MRI and in a split second, your life has changed.
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Or you get a phone call.
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There's a sickness, there's a death.
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And everything that you thought was stable is no longer stable.
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Your life is turned upside down.
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Well, we can find strength in the Lord.
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We can find strength when that which is unstable can be found stable and faithful in the Lord.
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And I'm gonna prove that from this Psalm right here.
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The superscription says, for the choir director, a Psalm of the sons of Korah.
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Korah was a Kohathite and he was, if you've been in Samuel, I'm not gonna go through all of that.
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They were part of the worship leaders, handled all the instruments and the praise in the tabernacle in the temple.
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And it says it here that it was set to Alamut.
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Alamut comes from the Hebrew word al-ma, which means virgin, damsel.
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So it's to believe that this was set for the sopranos of the choir guild or the musical guild for them to sing, maybe even the virgin girls to sing.
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Maybe even some of your superscriptions may even say virgins, I'm not sure.
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But it says here, first and foremost, in verse one, that God is our refuge.
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God is our refuge.
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This is what God is for us.
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I love prepositions.
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The world turns on prepositions.
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We even know that for, by, grace, are you saved, through faith in Christ from scripture to God, right? We love those prepositions.
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Well, there's gonna be three prepositions right here.
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God is our refuge.
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This is what God is for us.
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We can run to God for refuge in a time for safety.
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We can run to God knowing that he is our strong tower.
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He is a fortress to us.
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The refuge is a place of safety, and that is what God is to us.
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That is what he is for us.
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But then we have that God is our strength.
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That is what God is in us.
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So not only can we run to God for refuge, we can look to God for what he is in us, which is strength.
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Where do we find our strength? Do we find our strength in the things that we have acquired? Do we find our strength in monetary things, in our prestige, or our power, or our position at work? Do we find our strength in that? If you do, it will dissipate like the morning dew.
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We find strength in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because that is what he is in us.
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He provides us with the strength to walk and to do things that we could no longer do apart from him, which is to trust and obey.
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And then it says that he is a very present help in time of trouble.
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Just to let you know, the Proverbs very clear.
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I even think Job said the same thing, that man is born for adversity, is born for trouble, just as the sparks fly upward.
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So I tell you today, if you're sitting here today and things have not been difficult for you, no prophet nor son of a prophet, but it will come.
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And it'll come, and it'll come hard, and it'll come fast.
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And sometimes those things keep coming in like those waves came in for that storm.
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They just keep coming, and they just keep coming.
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And you're like, sometimes, Lord, is this ever going to stop? But know this, that he is your refuge.
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And he is the strength.
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It says that he is for us our refuge.
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He is our strength in us.
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But then it says that he is a very present help in time of trouble.
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God is our help.
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The word, the Hebrew word is azer.
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And we talked about it in Sunday school.
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Abenezer, you know, you raise up.
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Eben is the Hebrew word for stone.
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And azer, which is what for help is.
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And we know that azer is also used in the beginning of the book of Genesis, where azer, when it talks about that God was gonna make a suitable helper for Adam, right? It says he was gonna make him an azer connecto, which is what my wife is.
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She is my azer connecto, my help's corresponding to me.
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Okay, I just want you to know, God's not your corresponding help for you.
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My wife is good to me.
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She helps me.
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She serves me.
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She serves me well.
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But she is a help to me.
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God is a help in which he does not do things to help me move along.
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He does everything for me.
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I just want you to think about something for a minute.
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What do you do that God doesn't do for you? Do it real quick.
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Yes, go ahead.
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Who did that? Did you do it? God did it.
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Why is your heart beating within your chest? Because God is continuing to provide sustenance through his providence that your heart would beat.
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God is my help in a very present.
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He is my azer.
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He is the help when we need it most.
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And when do I need God's help the most? Every second of the day.
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When do you need the help of the Lord? Every second of the day.
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There's never a time when we don't need God's refuge, when we don't need his strength, and that we don't need his help.
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And he says here, as he is our refuge, and he is our very present help in time of trouble, and he is our strength.
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It says, therefore, we will not fear.
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We will not fear.
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And then he gives four of those.
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Fear what? Though the earth should change.
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Okay.
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How many of us believe that the earth is going to change? What about climate change and all that nonsense? The climates are gonna come and go just like they've always done since the flood.
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God said it was gonna be that way.
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It's gonna come and it's gonna go.
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It's gonna get hot, it's gonna get cold.
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You're gonna sweat and you're gonna put on a jacket.
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But really, is the earth going to change? How many of you have ever been sitting out in front of the mountains or looking out at an island, and if it just fell into the sea, how many of you would be scared? I don't know about you, but I would be like, that ain't supposed to happen.
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But what does he say here? Though the earth should be changed and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea, you have no need to fear child of God because he is your refuge, your strength, and your help.
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It says though they fall into the heart of the sea.
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What does the sea represent? All through scripture, the sea is represented by chaos.
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I like the sea, I like the beach.
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I love nothing more than sitting on the beach with my toes in the sand with my wife looking at beautiful ocean.
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But God says that the sea, in heavens, there gonna be no sea.
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So it's like, what does the sea represent? It's absolute chaos.
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In a split second, in all of scripture, from a mountain could come a rushing cool wind over top of the heart of the warm water, and boom, there would be an absolute tempest that would raise.
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We even see it in the gospels where they are going across the Sea of Galilee and what happens? A tempest would come down, the air would come up, a tempest would raise up, Jesus is down there sleeping on a pillow, not bothering him a bit, and his disciples are in fear for their life.
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And they have to go down there and get the Son of God to make them quit.
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The sea is unstable, it's chaotic.
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And that which seems to be stable in this picture, which was the earth and the mountains begins to fall into that which is chaotic.
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And that which is chaotic, it says, though it waters, roars and foams.
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What does that mean that the waters would roar and foam? Has anybody ever seen the ocean or been out to when a hurricane or a storm is coming up on the, have you ever seen how much foam comes in? We live at the beach, so we see the foam blowing down the street when that happens.
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It is just absolutely boiling with foam because the waters are roaring and raging.
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It says, though the mountains then quake at its swelling pride.
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You understand that the crashing waves of the sea continually pounding on a mountain can cause it to collapse over a lengthy period of time? The constant pounding and pounding and pounding just chips away at the mountains.
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And it says, though all these things happen and that which seems to be stable, that which seems to be secure, though that begins to fall into the sea, don't worry, don't fear because God is your refuge, He's your strength and He's your help.
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And then it has a word there at the end that says selah.
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That means take a time to reflect.
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If it was maybe like a musical interlude, because this is set to be played as a music note, to just sit back and reflect on the glory of God in a very time of trouble.
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But then you have in verse four, you have the contrast of what is raging and what's the tempest of the wind and the pounding of the waves and the collapsing of all that seems stable.
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And then you got in verse four, the contrast of what's outside of this city.
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It says, there is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy dwelling places of the Most High.
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God is in the midst of her and she will not be moved.
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He's making a contrast of that which is outside of the city of God, that which is outside is raging and unstable, but look what's inside the city.
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It says, there is a river whose streams make glad the city of God.
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Now, if we were going to interpret this as a geographical location, people would think the city of God in ancient times was what? Jerusalem or Mount Zion, okay? Well, it didn't have a river running through it, did it? There was no river running through Jerusalem.
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Was there tributaries and streams that came in? Yes, there were.
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Some of them went into the city of Jerusalem and it filled up the catacombs and some of the tributaries up under the temple in the areas during the time of Hezekiah so they had fresh water.
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Hey, but this ain't a geographical lesson on Zion.
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This is a poem.
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This is where the dwelling places of God were.
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That's what it says.
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It doesn't say the dwelling places of God.
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It says the dwelling places.
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Where are the dwelling places of God? It is God's people.
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What is the city of God? The city of God is God's people.
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You say, well, wait a minute.
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That's not how they understood it back then.
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You know what? You're right.
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But we can take through redemptive revelation as God progressed that the city of Jerusalem, Mount Zion, was always typological of something greater.
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Always something greater.
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It was the people of God and it's covenantal because what does it say? I will dwell in the midst of her.
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Look, God's promise to His people is that He would be their refuge, He would be their strength, that He would be their help, and that He would dwell in the midst of them.
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That He would be in them one day.
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Look, Jerusalem, no doubt.
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Where was God dwelling? He was dwelling in a temple made with hands and of stones hewn from outside the city.
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They were brought in, stacked up, they were laid with gold.
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He was dwelling above, the Shekinah glory of God was dwelling above the Ark of the Covenant.
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But there was coming one day when that would be decimated.
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It would happen in a day when Jesus would bear the wrath of His people, He would bear the sins of His people, and then all those sacrifices that took place on that day would no longer mean anything.
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And that temple was gonna be done away with.
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And Jesus even said it.
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It would be done away with.
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And then when He resurrected on high, He sent the Holy Spirit to come and be the dwelling place of His people.
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It says the dwelling places.
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We are the dwelling places of God's people.
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I mean, of God, we are the people of God.
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In us is where He dwells.
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We are the city of God.
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We are the true Mount Zion.
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And if you don't believe that, go to Hebrews chapter 12 and read it.
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I guess I think it's somewhere around between 18 and 29.
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And it talks about, you're no longer part of Mount Sinai.
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You're no longer under the judgment of God.
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You're no longer under the law.
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But you, and it's in plural, are Mount Zion, the dwelling place of the Most High.
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And it says that God will help her.
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There's that word, Hosea, again.
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He will help her when the morning dawns.
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It's not saying that, hey, there's this night and there's this day, because we know this, that the new Jerusalem, the new Mount Zion, there's not gonna be any night.
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Why? Because it says that the glory of God fills it.
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And there's no need for gates.
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There's no need for night.
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But it's speaking of that God's always on time.
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It's speaking about a specific time.
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God is always our help when we need it at the right moment.
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Look, God's time, it ain't my time.
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I can promise you that.
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If I'm hurting now, I want God now.
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If I'm hurting in the middle of the night, I want God in the middle of the night.
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That's not God's time.
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God says, I'm gonna be there.
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I'm gonna be there when you need you the most.
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When you need me the most, I'll be there.
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And I'm gonna come in right at the right time.
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Let me ask you something.
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When has God ever let you down? Thank you.
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Never.
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I think about men that have walked with the Lord for years.
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And ne'er one of them can say that God has ever let them down.
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Polycarp, the great martyr.
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Probably in his 90s when he was executed.
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He said, how can I say anything or recant that which the God of heaven has never done me wrong? And he went to the stake.
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I think about men like that.
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You know what, we're sissified.
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God will always show up in the time of need.
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He will always show up when we think he's not doing what we want him to do.
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He always shows up on time and he provides strength and refuge and help.
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And then it says in verse six, that the nations made an uproar and the kingdoms tottered.
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He raised his voice and the earth melted.
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We know that the nations rage against the people of God.
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Look, the world didn't hate Jesus.
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Because he did good.
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They hated Jesus because of his words.
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And why does people not like the church? It's not because we don't help.
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It's because they don't like our message.
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The nations were made an uproar and the kingdoms tottered.
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Once again, that which seems stable is being shaken.
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It says that God raised his voice and the earth melted.
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You do understand that when God speaks, the world trembles.
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And think about an earthquake.
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Who causes that? God.
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God.
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You know, God just, he probably just whispers and the whole, just everything shakes.
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Can you imagine being in a building and it's shaking and that which's supposed to not shake, shakes? It says he raised his voice and the earth melts.
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You understand that there is coming a day and there ain't gonna be no nuclear blast.
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It ain't gonna be some guy who don't know his name in the White House gonna push some big red button.
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It ain't gonna be some nut job on the other side of the ocean who thinks he's got big fireworks.
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Look, there's coming a day that God's going to speak and this earth will melt from the inside out.
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Don't take my word for it.
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Take Peter's word for it.
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Because that's how Peter said it will end.
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God will speak and the earth will melt.
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But know this.
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Verse seven, that the Lord of hosts is with us and the God of Jacob is our stronghold.
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And once again, all that seems, that was stable is unstable.
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All that seems falling apart.
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And it says here, the Lord of hosts is with us.
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You know what? That is such, that small statement is a profound statement.
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Do you understand that God will never leave you nor forsake you? Never.
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Never.
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If you are being blood bought, you've repented of your sins and you have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, God will never leave you.
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He is always with you.
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He is your stronghold.
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He is your tower.
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No matter what this life brings, whether it brings hell or high water, He will be with you.
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And then in verse eight, it says, come behold the works of the Lord who has brought desolations in the earth.
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It's interesting that this psalmist says, hey, come behold and look at all the devastating things that the Lord has done.
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I mean, we think about God, we're thinking about like Andy was talking last week.
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We think about people being healed from infirmities.
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We think about people's leprosy.
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We think about Jesus saying, stretch your hand out and a dude's hand becomes new.
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Telling a guy to get up and walk.
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He's never walked before.
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Spitting in a guy's eye and he can see.
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You know, it's all these, it's not what the psalmist says.
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The psalmist says, come and see the devastations that God has brought upon the earth.
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The horrors that God has brought upon the earth.
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He says in verse nine, he makes wars to cease to the end of the earth.
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You know, there is coming a day when there will be no more war.
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There will be no more invading armies.
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We don't quite understand that because we have not had to endure that.
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Imagine being in the time that this was written when constantly the nation of Israel for their disobedience to the Lord had constantly been surrounded by nations who were trying to overrun them, oust them, come in.
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And actually because of disobedience, one day they would be kicked out for 70 years.
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But there's coming a day when God will make an end to all the wars.
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And my favorite depiction of the Lord Jesus Christ is Revelation 19.
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And he will ascend.
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And he will be on that Arabian white charger.
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And I ain't talking about no car.
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I'm talking about a big white stallion.
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You ever seen one? The backs of them are almost seven feet tall.
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And Jesus will descend and he will have all the crowns of all the nations that have been in uproar in him, they will be on his head.
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And those eyes will be like that of fire.
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Why? Because it'll burn right through them.
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It says his hair is like wool.
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I mean, I could just see him riding down the clouds, man, just hair blowing, robe, you know, eyes.
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Hold on to his crown.
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And he's coming down and he's coming in power and he's coming in glory.
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And he's got a robe.
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And that robe, you know what it is? It's soaked with the blood of his enemies.
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That's the devastations of the land.
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Meek mild Jesus in that manger.
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He ain't coming that way when he comes back.
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It says he's coming and he's coming with a sword.
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And that sword's gonna come out of his mouth and he's gonna speak a word and it's all over.
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So who cares if the nations uproar? Who cares if they wanna blow each other up? Jesus Christ will make an end.
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He will cease all the wars and he will do it to all the ends of the earth.
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It says he breaks the bow and he cuts the spear in two.
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We think about the bow and arrow and that's not real fancy today.
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You know, our war weapons, we can blow up hundreds of thousands of people by boop, just push a button.
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But not back then.
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Imagine fighting someone and you had to look at his eyes as you took him down.
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Things would be a little different today, wouldn't it? With mallets and hatchets and, you know, the arrow, at least it got you a little far away, but hey, it says here, he's gonna break all those weapons of war.
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And then it says he burns the chariots with fire.
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More accurate rendering of that would be burn the war wagon with fire.
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The chariot was a formidable, like a tank that we would have today.
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Allowing them to move at great speed with blades and things on the side to cut men down.
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And it says here, all of those weapons, all those significant weapons of war, the bow, the spear, the chariot, gonna be done away with.
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You understand the word cease means to never happen again.
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Don't mean push a pause button.
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Now, when you get to verse 10, I want you to understand that I know the vast majority of translations probably said something a little different.
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It probably said be still, didn't it? The American standard says cease striving.
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Although I believe that be still sounds better.
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That's how we have learned it.
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The word is actually, the Hebrew word is harpu, and it means to desist.
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He has just been talking about war, has he not? He says cease striving.
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Harpu means to desist, to stop, to cease.
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So stop striving.
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He's saying, look, all the nations of the world who have been in an uproar, you're coming against the city of God, you're trying to defeat and make these wars against God's people.
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He's saying you can't win.
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You can't win.
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Stop striving.
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Now, we could draw an application to the people of God for we could say the same thing.
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We should be still and know that what God is doing is perfect.
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Because he goes on to say, cease striving and know that I am God.
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Well, know what about God? Wait a minute.
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Andy says it, I say it, Keith says it.
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The most important thing is that we know God.
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Well, what do we need to know about God? How many of us have, we have no problem believing in the sovereignty of God.
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I'm not gonna do it, but I would say raise your hand if you believe in sovereignty of God.
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I hope everybody here, raise your hand.
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How many of you actually believe that God exerts his sovereignty over every affair of every person's life? That's believing in sovereignty.
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To quote R.C.
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Sproul, there's no maverick molecule that's out of God's control.
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Right there, a little speck of dust is flying right there.
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Ordained by God to float in front of my face right now.
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God did it.
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He was in control of that.
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But how many of you really believe that God is holy? You know that God is sovereign, but do you know that he's holy? How many of you believe that God is righteous? Really? God is righteous.
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And everything he does is righteous.
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We have no problem embracing sovereignty.
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But how many of us believe that God is all wise? When things don't go our way, how many of us say, God, why did you do that? Stand here today and tell you, I've said it.
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I'm not asking who are you, God, to do it.
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I'm asking why did we do it that way? Help me understand why are things unfolding the way that they are? Because God's wise.
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His ways are not your ways.
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His ways are not my ways.
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Thank God they're not mine.
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If God's ways were my ways, we'd all be in a world of hurt.
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But how many of us really believe that God is good? Really? We have no problem embracing the sovereignty of God.
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But when calamity comes, that which was stable seems to fall apart.
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Relationships, friendships, jobs, bank accounts, homes, whatever, fall apart.
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How many of us say, yeah, that was God, God's in control.
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But how many of you believe that it's good? That's tough.
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That's tough to believe.
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That's tough to embrace.
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That, man, how can that which is so hurtful right now be good? It's because God's good.
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And I trust that he's working out all things to the counsel of his own will.
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And he didn't ask for my permission.
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He didn't ask for your permission.
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He didn't consult finite, sinful men as of, hey, is this okay if I do this in your life? Because he's working things out for the good.
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Because God is good.
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Then it says, I will be exalted among the nations.
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I will be exalted in the earth.
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Every knee will bow.
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Every tongue will confess Jesus Christ is Lord.
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Everyone, every nation will bow the knee every nation will be subdued to God.
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How do we see that now? I don't know.
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But all the nations of the world will be subdued.
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It says that he will make all enemies his footstool.
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I want you to think about one time that whatever God said has not come to pass.
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It will happen.
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His enemies will be his footstool.
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He will be exalted.
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The nations will recognize that he is God and the nations will bow the knee.
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And it says that all the earth will be exalted in the earth.
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God will be exalted.
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He will be magnified.
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He will be lifted up.
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Why? Because the Lord of host is with us.
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The Lord of host is with us and he is our strong tower.
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He is a refuge.
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He is our strength and he is our help.
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No matter what comes, no matter what goes, no matter what this life brings, no matter what changes in friendships, relationships, life, bank accounts, jobs, houses come and go, careers come and go, churches come and go, it does not matter.
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The Lord God Almighty is within his people.
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And I can promise you this, Jesus Christ church will be built and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
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Now, if you're here today and you do not know Christ, God is not your refuge.
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God is not your strength.
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God is not your help.
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You're an enemy of God and the wrath of God abides on you.
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And as we sang that song earlier, deepest wrath.
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Yeah.
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Only difference between the believer and the unbeliever is we all deserve wrath except one has embraced Christ to have that wrath transferred to his son.
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That's the only difference.
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So if you're here today apart from Christ, you need to run to God for refuge.
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You need to be saved by God from God.
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That's what you need.
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And there's only one person you can find that refuge in.
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That refuge is in Jesus Christ his son who paid the penal substitutionary atonement so that sinners could be forgiven.
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And if you don't find refuge in him, you will die in an eternal death in hell forever and ever.
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We're fixing to partake of the table.
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And this table is a reminder to the believer that Jesus Christ was our refuge and our strength and our help.
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Could you find refuge in anything else that was as stable as God? Could you find any way stronger than God to run to? Who's gonna help you more than Jesus Christ? Who? No one.
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So as we prepare our hearts for the table, and as we have realized today that no matter what comes, no matter what changes come, that God is our refuge and our strength.
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And he is a very present help in time of trouble.
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And when do we need help? All the time.
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All the time.
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If you're here today and you're self-sufficient, you don't need help, and you're arrogant, and you think you can do things all on your own, you're gonna make your own way to heaven, I'm sorry this message wasn't for you.
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Sorry.
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But if you're here today and you realize you can't do it on your own, and that Jesus Christ is your only way, and that Jesus Christ is your only hope, and he's your only refuge, he's your only strength, and he's the only place of help you can find, man, this message was for you today.
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I don't know about y'all, but if that didn't help y'all, I can tell you who it helped.
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And I'm not trying to be narcissistic, but I needed to hear that today.
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I needed to hear that today.
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As the men come forward, we'll prepare our hearts.
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Father God, thank you that you are immutable, unchangeable.
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That you are a God that doesn't change.
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God, you are rock steady.
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You are mighty fortress, is our God.
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Father, I pray that as we prepare this time of communion, that you would prepare our hearts to receive the elements.
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That we would search our hearts, Father.
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See if there would be any unclean way in us.
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Father, you would bring to our hearts and minds that which needs to be repented and confessed.
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If there's a brother or sister that needs to be made right with, make it right today.
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Father, you so clearly said in your word, some are sick, weak.
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Some have even died because of taking this table, which is sanctified in an unworthy manner.
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Oh, Father God, prepare our hearts for that time.
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In Christ's name, amen.