WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:01.840 Psalm 91. 00:00:01.919 --> 00:00:09.359 I must confess that as we are doing a summer series in the Psalms, and we kind of get to pick which one we're preaching. 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:16.640 Psalm 91, if I I don't like having favorites, but if I had to have a favorite, I would say Psalm 91 is my favorite. 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:18.399 And here is why. 00:00:19.280 --> 00:00:26.960 Psalm 91 is uh many times what has lit up the screen of my phone on sleepless nights. 00:00:27.199 --> 00:00:43.359 In fact, if you are to go to my office, I have a notebook, a journal, uh, where I have handwritten Psalm 91 time and time and time and time again as I've sought to memorize this psalm and just lean on this psalm. 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:50.560 And many times when you cry out to the Father and you don't even know what to cry out, Psalm 91 is a good place to go. 00:00:50.719 --> 00:01:00.640 And so I hope that if you find yourself in a time like this, or you bookmark this psalm, that this is a psalm for the hurting heart. 00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:05.040 This is a psalm for the one crying out for refuge. 00:01:05.359 --> 00:01:10.640 So think of that as we read and study this psalm this morning. 00:01:10.799 --> 00:01:20.400 In the autumn of 1854, cholera swept through the borough of Southwark in London. 00:01:20.719 --> 00:01:35.120 And there was a young preacher, he was barely 20 years old, and he spent his days going from house to house, subjecting himself to exposure to cholera, but so he could go and comfort the dying. 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:38.640 The name of that young preacher was Charles Spurgeon. 00:01:39.040 --> 00:02:03.920 Years later, he wrote that he became so weary from being constantly surrounded by the death and dying that he felt himself sinking under the weight of it until one day, when he was walking home from yet another funeral, he noticed a scrap of paper that was posted in a shoemaker's shop, and it was posted on the window. 00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:15.039 On it, someone, probably the store owner, had written on it and displayed for the community to see these words from Psalm ninety one verses nine and ten. 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:27.680 Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place, the most high who is my refuge, no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent. 00:02:28.240 --> 00:02:32.719 Spurgeon said that the effect from reading that on his heart was immediate. 00:02:33.120 --> 00:02:42.879 He wrote later that in essence that faith took hold of the promise that he could go forth and continue ministering in such a difficult time. 00:02:43.120 --> 00:02:51.520 His fear of the plague left him, and he went on boldly visiting the sick without dread and without harm. 00:02:51.759 --> 00:02:56.319 Now that's a beautiful story set against the backdrop of tragedy. 00:02:57.120 --> 00:03:02.639 But it raises a hard question for us as the church, as a people of God. 00:03:03.199 --> 00:03:06.240 It's a question that we don't need to stray away from. 00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:11.599 Because we know that there are Christians who did die of cholera. 00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:26.560 We know that there have been believers all throughout time who have died of varying illnesses, who have died in car accidents, who have died in wars, faithful missionaries continue to be martyred. 00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:30.240 Godly parents have buried their children. 00:03:31.039 --> 00:03:39.520 We have seen the far reaches of devastation that we have experienced as people because of effects of the fall. 00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:47.520 So what do we do when we read a psalm that says, No evil shall be allowed to befall you? 00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:50.960 Is this promise true? 00:03:51.680 --> 00:03:56.000 And if it is true, for whom is it true and in what way is it true? 00:03:56.879 --> 00:04:05.520 And this morning we're going to answer that question the same way that we have walked through every psalm in this series by standing at three different vantage points. 00:04:05.759 --> 00:04:07.360 First, the historical horizon. 00:04:07.520 --> 00:04:11.120 What did this psalm mean to the original audience? 00:04:11.360 --> 00:04:14.400 Secondly, the Christological horizon. 00:04:14.560 --> 00:04:17.199 How is this psalm pointing us to Christ? 00:04:17.439 --> 00:04:20.000 How is all of Scripture pointing us to Christ? 00:04:20.160 --> 00:04:22.480 And third, the congregational horizon. 00:04:23.279 --> 00:04:29.920 What does this psalm mean through those horizons, through the historical horizon, through the Christological horizon? 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:31.839 What does this mean for you today? 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:39.360 What does this mean for us as a church today, as Christ's blood bought people gathered here this morning? 00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:42.879 So follow along as we read Psalm 91. 00:04:44.079 --> 00:04:49.839 He who dwells in the shelter of the most high will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. 00:04:50.079 --> 00:05:00.639 I will say to the Lord, My refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust, for he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the deadly pestilence. 00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:05.519 He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge. 00:05:05.759 --> 00:05:08.639 His faithfulness is a shield and a buckler. 00:05:08.879 --> 00:05:18.959 You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. 00:05:19.199 --> 00:05:24.800 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. 00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:28.879 You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked. 00:05:29.199 --> 00:05:38.319 Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place, the most high who is my refuge, no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent. 00:05:38.639 --> 00:05:42.959 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. 00:05:43.279 --> 00:05:48.480 On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. 00:05:48.800 --> 00:05:55.519 You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent, you will trample underfoot. 00:05:55.759 --> 00:06:01.920 Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him, I will protect him, because he knows my name. 00:06:02.160 --> 00:06:14.240 When he calls to me, I will answer him, I will be with him in trouble, I will rescue him and honor him with long life, I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. 00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:18.480 So firstly this morning, the historical horizon. 00:06:19.199 --> 00:06:22.319 This truly is a song of refuge for a pilgrim people. 00:06:22.399 --> 00:06:27.439 And we think about a pilgrim people, we think about the people of Israel, but we also think about ourselves. 00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:32.079 We are in the wilderness, waiting to get to glory. 00:06:33.759 --> 00:06:41.040 It carries no superscription, no author's name, no historical note, but it is placed right after Psalm 90. 00:06:41.199 --> 00:06:43.439 And we should know that this is not accidental. 00:06:43.600 --> 00:06:54.240 Psalm 90 is titled A Prayer of Moses, the man of God, ancient Jewish tradition, in fact, attributes Psalm 91 to Moses as well. 00:06:54.480 --> 00:07:04.959 We don't know for sure if that's true or not, but whether or not that is so, it seems that the editors of the Psalms wanted us to read these two Psalms together. 00:07:05.199 --> 00:07:08.800 Psalm 90 is a psalm of human frailty. 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:11.439 You return man to dust. 00:07:12.160 --> 00:07:15.759 We bring our years to an end like a sigh. 00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:18.879 We're lucky if we get to 80. 00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:21.360 That's what Psalm 90 says. 00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:42.560 Dust. 00:07:42.720 --> 00:07:48.639 We are nothing but dust dwelling in the shelter of Almighty God. 00:07:48.800 --> 00:08:02.560 That is the movement from Psalm 90 to Psalm 91, a recognition of how frail we are, directing our glance straight to the Almighty God that we rest in. 00:08:02.800 --> 00:08:06.000 Those two have to be viewed rightly. 00:08:06.399 --> 00:08:16.399 If you don't view yourself as frail, I have no need for the shadow of the Almighty, for which you would be gravely mistaken. 00:08:16.639 --> 00:08:23.839 And then we notice the imagery that Psalm 91 uses, imagery mainly of the wilderness and imagery of war. 00:08:24.079 --> 00:08:37.519 We see the snare of the fowler, the terror by night, the arrow that flies by day, pestilence stalking in darkness, lions and outers underfoot, striking your foot against a stone on a rocky path. 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:39.360 What does this sound like? 00:08:39.840 --> 00:08:42.559 You may not connect the dots, that's what I'm here for. 00:08:43.360 --> 00:08:52.320 This is exactly the world of Israel for 40 years between Egypt and Canaan. 00:08:52.720 --> 00:09:06.159 A pilgrim people in a dangerous wasteland, wandering in the wilderness with no walls, with an army that's not worth a name, no fortress of stone. 00:09:06.559 --> 00:09:11.600 In the wilderness, they had one fortress, and that was God Almighty. 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:18.960 And God is very well introduced to us in the opening of Psalm 91. 00:09:19.200 --> 00:09:28.399 In fact, in the first two verses, we are introduced to four different names of God right out of the gate. 00:09:28.559 --> 00:09:39.200 And the psalmist is stacking these names up for us very quickly, very intentionally, and very boldly telling us from the get-go who this God is. 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:58.799 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, the name Elion, the God exalted above every throne and every power, will abide in the shadow of the Almighty, Shaddai, the God of overwhelming sufficiency, the God who provides. 00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:20.799 The name by which he bound himself to Abraham, I will say to the Lord Yahweh, the covenant name, the name that was revealed at the burning bush, and my God in whom I trust, Elohim, and note the little word my. 00:10:34.639 --> 00:10:42.399 This is the one that we are stacking up, a fortress for you to take refuge in. 00:10:53.120 --> 00:11:00.480 This is the castle that's being built for us as a people to come and take refuge in. 00:11:00.639 --> 00:11:02.080 This is the fortress. 00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:08.320 I mean, it's one thing to say, uh, you know, where do you go in the event of a tornado? 00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:10.879 You know, where do you go in your house? 00:11:10.960 --> 00:11:13.120 You know, where does someone direct you? 00:11:13.679 --> 00:11:22.000 You know, you want someplace strong, you want someplace safe, you want something that can stand, that can hold. 00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:25.200 I mean, you can call anything a fortress. 00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:28.320 But is it truly a fortress? 00:11:29.200 --> 00:11:36.240 And the psalmist, before he points you towards that fortress, he shows you what this fortress is. 00:11:36.480 --> 00:11:45.440 And we already have this towering image of a God who is worthy to serve as a fortress for his people. 00:11:47.200 --> 00:11:51.519 Verse 1 is a declaration about the one who dwells with God. 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:57.840 In verse 2, a single voice stops forward and says, I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress. 00:11:58.080 --> 00:11:59.200 And then it changes. 00:11:59.360 --> 00:12:05.200 Verses 3 through 13, that psalm turns and directly addresses the person. 00:12:05.440 --> 00:12:08.159 He will deliver you, he will cover you. 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:16.480 And so now the language turns from an eye to a direction, as if they're talking to us. 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:18.159 You will not fear. 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:22.799 And then in verses 14 through 16, we see God speak himself. 00:12:23.200 --> 00:12:33.200 The Almighty takes the microphone from the psalm and makes eight I will promises over the one who holds fast to him in love. 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:44.480 So the psalm begins with a man declaring his trust, and it ends with God declaring his commitment. 00:12:45.440 --> 00:12:48.240 That's the shape of this covenant faith. 00:12:48.559 --> 00:12:52.080 God's always faithful to his covenant with his people. 00:12:52.320 --> 00:12:56.399 And we have this imagery in this psalm, this imagery of refuge. 00:12:56.720 --> 00:13:00.320 And the pictures here are drawn from two very different worlds. 00:13:00.559 --> 00:13:01.840 Intentionally so. 00:13:02.159 --> 00:13:03.679 Some are military. 00:13:03.919 --> 00:13:09.279 We have a refuge, we have a fortress, we have a buckler, we have a shield. 00:13:09.519 --> 00:13:17.120 These are all military terms, things that give us defense, things that give us protection. 00:13:18.559 --> 00:13:25.440 And then in the same psalm, we have words that are tender and almost nurturing. 00:13:25.679 --> 00:13:28.080 Well, not almost, they are nurturing. 00:13:28.720 --> 00:13:31.200 He will cover you with his pinions. 00:13:31.679 --> 00:13:34.399 Under his wings you will find refuge. 00:13:34.559 --> 00:13:38.000 And the image of the wings looks back to the Exodus itself. 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:46.399 You yourselves have seen how I bore you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself, Exodus 19, 4. 00:13:47.039 --> 00:13:49.759 And forward to the wings of the cherubim. 00:13:50.000 --> 00:14:00.159 Remember the wings of the cherubim stretched out over the mercy seat in the tabernacle to dwell in the shadow in the shelter of the Most High. 00:14:00.320 --> 00:14:02.639 This is sanctuary language. 00:14:03.120 --> 00:14:05.519 This is the sanctuary of God. 00:14:06.159 --> 00:14:15.840 It's his fortress, it's a place under his wings, it's a place of shelter, it's a place of refuge, and it's a place of worship. 00:14:17.120 --> 00:14:23.759 It's to live, as it were, in the Holy of Holies itself. 00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:32.240 Nearer to God than the high priest himself dared to go. 00:14:33.120 --> 00:14:37.360 That's where this psalm is inviting us to take refuge. 00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:51.440 So we have these two descriptors that portray that our God is mighty, and he's an infinitely strong warrior, in whom his children can safely hide behind. 00:14:52.559 --> 00:14:55.120 And he's also the great nurturer. 00:14:55.519 --> 00:14:59.200 Like a mother holding her child in a thunderstorm. 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:05.200 He takes his children into his arms and he lovingly and tenderly consoles them. 00:15:05.440 --> 00:15:15.120 He's not just a warrior that knows how to fight, he's a loving father that knows how to be tender and gracious and merciful and kind and comforting. 00:15:15.759 --> 00:15:20.639 And here's the thing: he's infinitely perfect at both of those. 00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:36.960 You know, when we often talk about parenting, um, it's really interesting to see the love of a mother and the love of a father come out in parenting your children and how similar and yet different those things are. 00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:40.960 A mother is good at loving her children in a motherly manner. 00:15:41.279 --> 00:15:48.159 I read one time that a mother is very good at nurturing the child and who they are now. 00:15:48.399 --> 00:15:52.879 The love of a father is very good at nurturing a child and who they will become. 00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:55.840 And we need both of those loves together. 00:15:56.000 --> 00:16:03.519 And we know that sometimes we as dads may not be as good at maybe nurturing as a mother is. 00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:07.360 But the Lord is perfect in all of these. 00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:12.720 He's not lacking in any of these attributes of who he is. 00:16:13.120 --> 00:16:20.320 He is simultaneously a great warrior defending his children and a great nurturer who comforts them. 00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:26.879 It's difficult to imagine these two images being combined into one God, and yet they are. 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:32.480 And that's the God that you and I are here to worship this morning and whom we take refuge in. 00:16:32.879 --> 00:16:35.519 But there is a tension in this psalm. 00:16:35.679 --> 00:16:38.000 There's a tension that we shouldn't avoid. 00:16:38.159 --> 00:16:40.000 We don't want to avoid tensions. 00:16:40.240 --> 00:16:42.960 The promises of this psalm are absolute. 00:16:43.120 --> 00:16:44.320 We can trust in them. 00:16:44.480 --> 00:16:51.120 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but he but uh but it will not come near you. 00:16:51.440 --> 00:16:54.320 No evil shall be allowed to befall you. 00:16:54.639 --> 00:16:58.320 Angels will guard you in all your ways. 00:16:58.559 --> 00:17:06.640 And yet, Israel's own history is full of faithful men and women who suffered terribly. 00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:11.359 Job was righteous and calamity buried his children. 00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:16.480 Jeremiah trusted the Lord and was thrown into a cistern. 00:17:16.720 --> 00:17:22.240 The martyrs of Hebrews 11 were stoned, and they were sawn in two. 00:17:23.680 --> 00:17:40.720 If we read Psalm 91 as an unconditional insurance policy against all earthly harm for all who recite it, the psalm becomes false and worse, it becomes cruel and it makes scripture out to be a liar. 00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:42.559 But we know that this is not true. 00:17:42.640 --> 00:17:46.160 We know and believe that every single word of scripture is true. 00:17:46.319 --> 00:17:51.920 How can we align Psalm 91 with our brothers and sisters in Nigeria? 00:17:52.079 --> 00:17:55.279 I read another this morning, I took a picture of it. 00:17:56.480 --> 00:18:01.119 Uh Pastor Ezekiel Dacomo. 00:18:02.720 --> 00:18:10.960 He's buried nine of his relatives who have been killed by Islamic extremism in Nigeria. 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:17.359 And now they've sent him a letter and said, if you don't stop, we're coming to kill you too. 00:18:17.599 --> 00:18:20.880 And this is what he posted on the internet. 00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:29.119 My name is Reverend Ezekiel Dacomo, and today I speak not with hatred, but with a heart full of pain and faith. 00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:35.279 A few days ago, Felani Herdzman sent a threatening letter to me and to members of my church. 00:18:35.519 --> 00:18:40.160 The letter was written in both Hassa and English, and its message was terrifying. 00:18:40.319 --> 00:18:45.359 They have vowed to attack me and kill me soon, just as they killed nine of my relatives. 00:18:45.599 --> 00:18:49.759 Copies of these threatening letters have already been handed over to the security operatives. 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:52.319 Many people have asked me if I am afraid. 00:18:52.559 --> 00:18:53.839 My answer is no. 00:18:54.720 --> 00:19:00.880 Is my crime that I preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and refuse to remain silent while innocent people are killed? 00:19:01.200 --> 00:19:04.960 If that is my crime, then I will continue until my last breath. 00:19:05.279 --> 00:19:08.880 Jesus Himself warned us in John 15, 20. 00:19:09.359 --> 00:19:13.119 If they persecuted me, then they will persecute you. 00:19:13.359 --> 00:19:16.880 I did not choose this path to be safe. 00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:23.359 How does Psalm 91 line up with that? 00:19:24.480 --> 00:19:27.599 Nine of his relatives, he's already buried nine of his relatives. 00:19:27.759 --> 00:19:29.599 They're probably coming to kill him. 00:19:29.839 --> 00:19:31.839 How do you line this up? 00:19:32.079 --> 00:19:34.160 He's going to send his angels to guard you. 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:40.799 Are they not, does Nigeria, does the church in Nigeria just not get the higher quality guardian angels? 00:19:41.039 --> 00:19:42.240 What's going on? 00:19:42.400 --> 00:19:44.880 How do we piece this together? 00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:51.200 Who can truly claim these promises in Psalm 91 that no evil shall befall us? 00:19:51.440 --> 00:20:02.799 Verse 1 describes a pattern, the one who dwells, who abides, who has made the Most High His habitation, who holds fast to God in love, who knows his name. 00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:08.319 Like Psalm 15, which asks, O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? 00:20:08.640 --> 00:20:25.279 Psalm 91 quietly raises this question: where is the man who dwells so completely in God that every one of these promises lands on him without any leftover, without remainder? 00:20:26.160 --> 00:20:35.359 Israel sang this psalm for a thousand years, waiting, whether they knew it or not, for that man to appear. 00:20:35.519 --> 00:20:38.880 And this is where we get to the Christological horizon. 00:20:39.200 --> 00:20:43.759 We see the first one who fulfills dwelling in that shelter. 00:20:44.559 --> 00:20:58.079 And when that man appeared, Jesus Christ, the first person recorded in Scripture who quoted this psalm to him was Satan. 00:20:58.640 --> 00:21:00.720 This is Satan's favorite psalm. 00:21:00.960 --> 00:21:02.240 Did you know that? 00:21:04.160 --> 00:21:05.200 Think of that. 00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:18.160 In the wilderness, when Jesus went into the wilderness and was tempted by Satan, the very landscape and backdrop upon which Psalm 91 was written, Jesus finds himself there. 00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:37.440 Satan takes Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and said, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, He will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against the stone. 00:21:39.519 --> 00:21:43.839 Satan quoted Psalm 91, 11 and 12 to Jesus. 00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:47.200 Satan is a diligent student of Scripture. 00:21:47.359 --> 00:21:53.680 He's far better than any of our seminary professors and our seminary students and our preachers and our academics. 00:21:53.839 --> 00:21:57.359 Satan knows Scripture more diligently than any of us. 00:21:57.920 --> 00:21:59.759 And he is a deceitful handler. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:00.880 Of it. 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:06.319 Now many commentators notice that he kind of clips the quotation a little bit. 00:22:06.480 --> 00:22:08.000 Does that sound familiar? 00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:10.559 We hear that a lot in today's society. 00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:13.039 People kind of clip the quotations of scripture. 00:22:13.200 --> 00:22:16.319 Sounds like an old trick from the serpent himself. 00:22:16.559 --> 00:22:34.559 He omits the phrase, in all your ways, the ways of humble obedience, and he twists the promise of protection that God gives in Psalm 91, and he twists it into a dare, a demand that God prove himself on our terms. 00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:39.200 If God truly is who he says he is, Jesus, then go on. 00:22:39.839 --> 00:22:40.799 Jump off. 00:22:41.279 --> 00:22:43.359 His angels will protect you. 00:22:44.400 --> 00:22:46.400 Now here is the deep irony. 00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:55.279 Satan quoted this psalm to the only man in history of whom it is completely and unconditionally true. 00:22:56.000 --> 00:23:10.720 Jesus is the one who completely dwelt in the shelter of the Most High from eternity in the bosom of the Father and in his incarnate life through unbroken communion, perfect trust, sinless obedience. 00:23:10.880 --> 00:23:25.920 Every line of verse one finds its full weight in him, in Jesus, precisely because Jesus truly trusted his Father completely and refused to test him. 00:23:26.319 --> 00:23:32.400 Again, it is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test, was his answer. 00:23:33.359 --> 00:23:36.559 Faith rests on God's promises. 00:23:38.240 --> 00:23:41.200 Presumption performs experiments on them. 00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:43.680 Jesus shows us the difference. 00:23:46.240 --> 00:23:58.079 Now, the question is, if Jesus kept, if he's the only man that this has been fulfilled in, that we see who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, the question then shifts. 00:23:58.640 --> 00:24:04.079 Does God keep his promises in Psalm 91 for Jesus? 00:24:04.880 --> 00:24:12.319 All these promises that we see that no evil shall befall you, he will command his angels concerning you. 00:24:12.480 --> 00:24:15.519 Did God keep these promises for Christ? 00:24:15.839 --> 00:24:21.759 Well, angels did minister to him in the wilderness after the temptation in Matthew 4.11. 00:24:21.920 --> 00:24:27.039 And in Gethsemane an angel was sent to strengthen him, Luke 22, 43. 00:24:27.920 --> 00:24:33.599 Verse 13 says, You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot. 00:24:33.759 --> 00:24:43.839 From the earliest centuries, the church has heard in that echoes of Genesis 3.15, the seed of the woman crushing the serpent's head. 00:24:44.160 --> 00:24:47.440 Jesus is the serpent trampler. 00:24:47.920 --> 00:24:51.599 He bound the strong man, he cast out demons with the word. 00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:58.720 Paul tells the church the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. 00:24:59.839 --> 00:25:04.240 But we still have some difficult questions to answer. 00:25:04.640 --> 00:25:06.240 Because then we see what? 00:25:06.720 --> 00:25:08.400 We see the cross. 00:25:09.119 --> 00:25:16.160 We see the nails, we see the darkness, we see the cry from Christ. 00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:20.559 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:25:21.039 --> 00:25:25.759 So my question to you is was God's promises in Psalm 91 broken? 00:25:26.319 --> 00:25:30.160 Did God not fulfill his promise to Christ in Psalm 91? 00:25:32.480 --> 00:25:38.799 Surely the cross is not what it looks like to dwell in the shelter of the Most High. 00:25:38.960 --> 00:25:46.880 You told me to come into your refuge, and now I'm laid out in front of everybody. 00:25:50.160 --> 00:25:55.680 Surely this is not what it looks like for God to take Christ under his wings. 00:25:58.319 --> 00:26:12.960 On Good Friday, it looked to the world as though evil had befallen Jesus Christ, as though the plague of God's own wrath had come near his tent, and as though no angelic legions were coming to his rescue. 00:26:13.519 --> 00:26:17.039 Though Jesus himself said he could ask for twelve of them. 00:26:18.799 --> 00:26:42.160 But here's the glory of the gospel that we have to understand this tension, that Psalm 91 is completely true, and that Christ is the one who fulfills it, that Christ completely dwelled in the shelter of the Most High, and that God fulfilled all of his promises in Psalm 91 to Christ, and you and I are inheritors of that. 00:26:42.400 --> 00:26:44.880 This is the beauty of the gospel. 00:26:45.119 --> 00:26:52.720 The Father did not deliver his son from death, he delivered him through death. 00:26:53.839 --> 00:27:07.920 Listen again to verses 14 through 16 with ears not in tune with the cross of Good Friday, but with the empty tomb of resurrection Sunday. 00:27:08.480 --> 00:27:13.519 Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him. 00:27:14.079 --> 00:27:17.359 When he calls to me, I will answer him. 00:27:17.839 --> 00:27:22.880 I will be with him in trouble, I will rescue him and honor him. 00:27:23.279 --> 00:27:28.880 With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. 00:27:29.359 --> 00:27:40.480 Hebrews 5 7 tells us that Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to him who is able to save him from death. 00:27:40.799 --> 00:27:46.640 And here's what we read in Scripture He was heard. 00:27:49.599 --> 00:27:52.960 Christ was heard by the Father. 00:27:53.599 --> 00:27:59.279 And he was not heard by the cup passing over him. 00:28:00.480 --> 00:28:09.519 But God the Father answered the cries of God the Son with a resurrection on that Sunday morning. 00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.400 I will rescue him and honor him. 00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:22.240 And now Christ is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high. 00:28:22.559 --> 00:28:25.519 With long life I will satisfy him. 00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:37.279 He is alive forevermore, and death has no dominion over Christ Jesus, the one in whom this psalm is fulfilled. 00:28:37.839 --> 00:28:51.359 Now, through the gospel, we learn as a people that Christ paves the way for us to join him in Psalm 91 in dwelling in the shelter of the Most High. 00:28:51.599 --> 00:28:56.559 You know, this isn't something that we can force ourselves into. 00:28:58.240 --> 00:29:09.359 Jesus is not only the true dweller in the shelter of the Most High, He Himself has become the shelter itself for everyone else to flee to. 00:29:10.799 --> 00:29:12.000 You see what this means? 00:29:12.160 --> 00:29:20.160 Jesus Christ fulfilled this psalm, and in doing so, he himself is the fortress by whom the psalm is talking about for his people. 00:29:20.799 --> 00:29:36.720 The refuge of the refuge imagery of this psalm find its final form in the cross, where if you imagine the cross, you imagine the people of God taking shelter under the wings of God. 00:29:36.799 --> 00:29:39.039 And what do we see at the cross? 00:29:39.200 --> 00:29:53.039 We see Jesus Christ with his arms outstretched for his people to come underneath his outstretched arms while he takes our sin upon himself. 00:29:53.519 --> 00:29:58.960 And this is where he is our refuge and our strength. 00:29:59.200 --> 00:30:18.400 This is why Jesus said in Matthew 23, 37, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often I would have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and we see the wings of our Almighty God stretched out on the cross. 00:30:18.640 --> 00:30:26.559 It's because Christ outstretched his arms on the cross that we as his people are now able to have a fortress to come under. 00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:31.519 Without the cross, without the resurrection, none of it exists for us. 00:30:33.039 --> 00:30:40.319 In Christ, God not merely offers us a fortress, he is our fortress. 00:30:41.440 --> 00:30:49.200 And the pierced, broken body of Christ is the door by which we go through to enter into it. 00:30:49.519 --> 00:30:55.440 And thirdly, the congregational horizon, what it means to live under the shadow of the Almighty. 00:30:55.519 --> 00:31:10.160 So, what does this mean for us as a congregation today and this year with our diagnoses, with our mortgages, with our anxieties, with the bad phone calls? 00:31:12.319 --> 00:31:15.759 How do we apply this in all of that? 00:31:16.160 --> 00:31:19.039 Let me press four applications for you this morning. 00:31:19.279 --> 00:31:25.920 Number one, do not use this psalm as a charm, but trust the God of the Psalm. 00:31:26.559 --> 00:31:43.359 Archaeologists tell us that Psalm 91 is the psalm most frequently found on ancient ambulance, copied onto scraps of papyrus, rolled up and worn around the neck as protective magic by pagans and superstitious Christians alike. 00:31:43.680 --> 00:31:47.680 People have always been tempted to treat these words as a talisman. 00:31:48.000 --> 00:31:52.960 Recite the verse, wear the verses, and no harm can touch you. 00:31:54.000 --> 00:31:58.079 But that's Satan's hermeneutic from the pinnacle of the temple. 00:31:59.519 --> 00:32:09.039 Clipping the promise of protection loose from the relationship and turning God into a mechanism of luck. 00:32:11.359 --> 00:32:19.440 The promises of Psalm 91 belong to those verse 14 describes, those who hold fast to God in love and know his name. 00:32:19.680 --> 00:32:28.880 Psalm 91 is not a magical spell to be recited, but it lays out a savior to be trusted. 00:32:31.519 --> 00:32:34.960 Don't look at it as a piece of paper to put into your pocket. 00:32:35.599 --> 00:32:39.680 Look at it as something directing you to put your soul in the hands of Christ. 00:32:40.799 --> 00:32:44.640 Scripture is not to be abused for earthly comforts. 00:32:45.279 --> 00:32:51.200 To think that this psalm is going to protect you from calamity is rooted in the prosperity gospel. 00:32:51.599 --> 00:32:55.440 This psalm does something much better than that. 00:32:55.759 --> 00:33:07.279 It promises to deliver you through the calamity and find your end in Christ and in all the inheritance that He has bought for you in glory. 00:33:08.160 --> 00:33:11.599 No calamity can take that away from you. 00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:15.920 Number two, take the real protection of God's promises. 00:33:16.160 --> 00:33:19.359 Nothing can touch you outside of your Father's will. 00:33:19.920 --> 00:33:25.759 So does this Psalm rightly read actually promise God's people protection in this lie? 00:33:25.920 --> 00:33:30.880 You know, so if we still carry that tension and we know that, okay, what does it promise? 00:33:31.039 --> 00:33:32.480 Yes, it does. 00:33:32.960 --> 00:33:34.880 Real present protection. 00:33:35.119 --> 00:33:53.200 The 1689 Baptist Confession puts it this way: God upholds, directs, disposes, and governs all creatures and things from the greatest even to the least, by his most wise and holy providence. 00:33:54.240 --> 00:34:02.640 What this means is not one arrow flies by day, not one pestilence stalks by night. 00:34:03.119 --> 00:34:26.079 Apart from the hand of our Father, nothing, and I mean nothing, can befall the child of God that has not first passed through the Father's love and been assigned for a purpose for your good and for his glory. 00:34:26.800 --> 00:34:38.159 What this means, dear brothers and sisters, is that every calamity that comes your way, if you are in Christ, has been sifted through the hands of your Father. 00:34:40.159 --> 00:34:44.559 And he will use them for your good and for his glory. 00:34:44.880 --> 00:34:52.960 And he owes you no explanation on this earth as to why and as to how that's going to work out. 00:34:54.159 --> 00:34:57.519 But he's worthy of your trust and of your faith. 00:34:58.480 --> 00:35:06.400 Everything that happens to you as a child of God has been filtered through Romans 8.28. 00:35:06.880 --> 00:35:08.159 Everything. 00:35:14.559 --> 00:35:17.599 Go look at your yard, watch the wind blow. 00:35:17.920 --> 00:35:25.199 Not a blade of grass moves without the hand of our provident God. 00:35:25.760 --> 00:35:36.400 And we can look at that and we can know and we can trust that nothing that happens to us is outside of his goodwill. 00:35:44.880 --> 00:35:53.599 And never in scripture, never does he tell you that you're gonna find out about it before glory. 00:35:54.079 --> 00:35:54.719 Never. 00:35:55.119 --> 00:35:57.199 That's where we struggle so much. 00:35:57.840 --> 00:36:05.920 That you need an explanation as to why something's happened, that you need answers. 00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:11.440 That's Satan. 00:36:12.639 --> 00:36:16.320 That's Satan tempting you with the twisting of Psalm 91. 00:36:17.679 --> 00:36:20.159 God's proven that he's trustworthy. 00:36:21.039 --> 00:36:23.360 God's proven that he's covenantal. 00:36:24.000 --> 00:36:25.760 God's proven that he's good. 00:36:26.960 --> 00:36:33.280 And I promise you, in glory, you will have every answer. 00:36:36.400 --> 00:36:46.400 We see the impetus of this truth shine brightly in our Christians and brothers and sisters, our forefathers that have gone before us. 00:36:46.800 --> 00:36:51.280 Church history shows us what this faith looks like on the ground. 00:36:51.519 --> 00:37:01.039 In the year 249, a horrific plague swept the Roman Empire, the plague of Cyprian killing at its height thousands a day. 00:37:01.440 --> 00:37:15.760 Dionysius, a pastor, the pastor at Alexandria, one of our early church fathers, recorded that the pagans were thrusting away their own sick at the first sign of fever, and they fled. 00:37:18.639 --> 00:37:21.039 But the Christians stayed. 00:37:21.519 --> 00:37:32.719 They nursed the dying, they closed the eyes of the dead, and many of them caught the disease themselves and died. 00:37:34.320 --> 00:37:39.840 And Dionysius says the church honored those deaths as a kind of martyrdom. 00:37:40.880 --> 00:37:47.119 Notice in Psalm 91, it does not make us invulnerable. 00:37:49.280 --> 00:37:52.639 It made it makes us unafraid. 00:37:53.199 --> 00:37:57.199 It made those who have gone before us unafraid. 00:37:58.719 --> 00:38:06.719 They were free from the tyranny of the fear of death itself, and that freedom turned into love for their neighbors. 00:38:07.039 --> 00:38:13.119 Go and tend to the sick at risk of dying yourself in the name of Christ Jesus. 00:38:15.119 --> 00:38:25.599 And what history tells us is this act turned an empire's head toward Christ. 00:38:26.159 --> 00:38:33.280 And in less than a hundred years, an empire that persecuted Christianity declared Christianity. 00:38:34.480 --> 00:38:44.400 Twelve centuries later, when the plague struck Wittenberg that we talked about last week last week in 1527, Martin Luther faced the same question. 00:38:44.480 --> 00:38:46.079 And he wrote a little tract. 00:38:46.239 --> 00:38:48.239 I told you last week about the song. 00:38:48.480 --> 00:38:51.840 We sang it today, Mighty Fortresses Our God. 00:38:51.920 --> 00:38:58.639 But he also wrote a little tract called Whether One May Flee from a Deadly Plague. 00:39:00.079 --> 00:39:05.199 And I want you to just wrap your mind around this scenario because we don't live in that. 00:39:06.320 --> 00:39:11.280 You know, um we just have a weird society. 00:39:11.679 --> 00:39:13.280 We just have a weird culture. 00:39:13.519 --> 00:39:14.400 You don't believe me? 00:39:14.480 --> 00:39:16.159 How do we respond to COVID? 00:39:16.880 --> 00:39:18.880 I'm a hospice physician. 00:39:19.199 --> 00:39:25.599 I I took care of people dying from COVID on their deathbeds, and we kept their families out. 00:39:27.199 --> 00:39:31.199 Because I didn't, but as a society, we did. 00:39:32.480 --> 00:39:35.599 This is just so foreign to us. 00:39:37.920 --> 00:39:41.920 So he writes this track, Whether One May Flee from a Deadly Plague. 00:39:42.159 --> 00:39:44.000 Deadly Plague Hits Tyler. 00:39:44.639 --> 00:39:45.920 What do you do? 00:39:46.400 --> 00:39:48.880 What how what what do you do as a church? 00:39:49.599 --> 00:39:50.480 How do you organize? 00:39:50.719 --> 00:39:52.079 Beacons, how do you organize? 00:39:52.239 --> 00:39:53.760 Elders, what do you do? 00:39:54.079 --> 00:39:55.760 Church members, what are you gonna do? 00:39:56.079 --> 00:40:00.079 Deadly plague hits, ravishes our community. 00:40:00.480 --> 00:40:02.000 How are you gonna respond? 00:40:02.159 --> 00:40:07.760 We're gonna leave it up to the government, we're gonna leave it up to we've got hospitals in town, they're overflowing. 00:40:08.639 --> 00:40:10.559 This is what the church was faced with. 00:40:10.719 --> 00:40:13.440 They were faced with like real, real things. 00:40:13.679 --> 00:40:17.920 And maybe we should just be faced with those things. 00:40:18.320 --> 00:40:22.880 Maybe that's what would cause us to turn it around. 00:40:23.039 --> 00:40:36.239 I'm like I'm digressing a little bit, but at what point at what point do we just say so much of our earthly comforts have numbed our souls? 00:40:37.599 --> 00:40:41.760 To where we bicker about things that are stupid? 00:40:42.639 --> 00:40:47.440 To where we as a as a church just lose sight of the Great Commission. 00:40:49.360 --> 00:40:52.880 You know what is it what does it mean to be a church? 00:40:54.559 --> 00:40:56.960 What does it mean to make disciples? 00:40:57.920 --> 00:41:00.800 What does it mean to to do these things? 00:41:01.119 --> 00:41:04.320 Well, Martin Luther knew. 00:41:04.960 --> 00:41:08.559 So he writes this tract, whether one may flee from a deadly plague. 00:41:08.719 --> 00:41:11.920 And his answer was full of sanctified common sense. 00:41:12.159 --> 00:41:14.000 Use medicine, air out the house. 00:41:14.079 --> 00:41:19.119 So he wasn't running away from the he wasn't saying, you know, science is bad, you know, ignore them. 00:41:19.280 --> 00:41:23.840 Hey, take the medicine, air out your house, do all the things they're telling you to do. 00:41:24.000 --> 00:41:26.960 Don't tempt God by being reckless. 00:41:27.280 --> 00:41:30.639 You know, don't go to somebody with COVID and say, cough on me. 00:41:30.800 --> 00:41:32.239 That's not what you do. 00:41:34.320 --> 00:41:55.280 But Luther himself stayed, turned his home into a ward for the sick, and wrote, I shall ask God mercifully to protect us, and I shall serve my neighbor, and if God should wish to take me, he knows where to find me. 00:41:57.360 --> 00:42:02.800 What would happen if that boldness existed in this church? 00:42:03.519 --> 00:42:05.920 I'm gonna fulfill the Great Commission. 00:42:06.639 --> 00:42:12.400 And if and if God wants to take me, He knows where to find me. 00:42:14.320 --> 00:42:18.079 That's Psalm 91, verse 2 in working clothes. 00:42:18.159 --> 00:42:20.320 That's what it looks like on the ground. 00:42:20.719 --> 00:42:26.719 My refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. 00:42:27.440 --> 00:42:35.199 I can go into the pit and do the ministry of the gospel and not be afraid. 00:42:36.239 --> 00:42:38.239 Thirdly, pray this psalm. 00:42:38.400 --> 00:42:42.480 God is inviting you to call on him in times of trouble. 00:42:44.000 --> 00:42:50.320 As powerful and sovereign as our God is, we should equally see in Scripture that he is tender towards his people. 00:42:50.400 --> 00:42:52.960 These two truths about God are so great. 00:42:53.280 --> 00:42:55.840 He is so powerful and yet he is so tender. 00:42:56.079 --> 00:43:00.559 Verse 15 reveals the tender voice of God as a promise in the Psalm. 00:43:00.880 --> 00:43:03.920 When he calls to me, I will answer him. 00:43:04.400 --> 00:43:07.199 I will be with him in trouble. 00:43:07.519 --> 00:43:11.679 Notice God does not say, I will keep him out of all trouble. 00:43:12.000 --> 00:43:14.719 He says, I will be with him in it. 00:43:15.199 --> 00:43:32.960 That is the promise that holds when the biopsy comes back wrong, when the marriage is straining, when the child wonders, when termination comes, when you get the heartbreaking and life-changing phone call. 00:43:33.840 --> 00:43:36.159 That promise does not go away. 00:43:36.639 --> 00:43:41.119 I will be with you in times of trouble. 00:43:42.719 --> 00:43:48.320